The Final Encyclopaedia

Childe Cycle #7

by Gordon R. Dickson

In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter cultures: the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress. Hal Mayne is an orphan who was raised by three tutors: an Exotic, a Friendly, and a Dorsai. He is the only human capable of uniting humanity against the Others. But only if he is willing to accept his terrifying destiny...as savior of mankind.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Collections

704 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1984

About the author

Gordon Rupert Dickson was an American science fiction author. He was born in Canada, then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota as a teenager. He is probably most famous for his Childe Cycle and the Dragon Knight series. He won three Hugo awards and one Nebula award.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asimov's Foundation is probably the best known sf future history series. For a long time this has seemed odd to me, because it really doesn't hold a candle to Dickson's Childe Cycle. Dickson had a vast vision of telling the story of future human evolution. Not evolution to be a bit taller and smarter or having gills or the ever popular beings of pure energy, but evolution to a new level of Creativity. One of the main threads of the series is how space colonization lead mankind to fracture into multiple cultures (the main three emphasizing Courage, Faith, and Philosophy) and whether these groups will stagnate and implode or recombine into a improved blended whole.

Unfortunately Dickson didn't have the skill or endurance to bring off such a vast project. (Frankly I'm not sure who would.) Of course as a product of "Golden Age" SF no one should be surprised at the paper thin female characterization, especially in the earlier books. The "Courage" sections have trouble reaching above quite decent but standard military SF. The "Philosophy" sections tend to get too talky. The "Faith" sections seldom achieve that needed deep emotional oomph. Mind you, none of it is bad, it's just that Dickson is trying the literary equivalent of simultaneous climbing multiple Mount Everests.

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Even a grumpy old pedant like me can say that sometimes you should look beyond the limitations of the author to the vision and wonder they are trying to share with you.

Dickson died before finishing the final book in the cycle. (Never mind the six prequels he wanted to write.) If you are interested in the series probably the best way to read them is in order of publication, so Dorsai! first.

[prcardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 2/5

After the first four Childe Cycle books, I counted myself a Dorsai fan. There was a mysteriousness about Dickson's universe. Inchoate abilities seeming to verge on the supernatural, a partially explained science of metaphysics, evolutionary branches with yet-to-be-understood implications, an interstellar economic system not matching anything in real world history, and a regular return to the topic of charisma. All this situated in military science fiction made for a remarkable series. That mysteriousness was the main draw though. The author who builds on and depends so much on the enigmatic faces a quandary: how far can you push the mystery without revelation? How long before you have to bring order and sense to it all. The fifth and sixth books of the series were a frustration - sidequels and prequels, fill-in-the-gap short stories or novellas that did little to push the series forward or to answer the readers' longstanding questions. In The Final Encyclopedia, Dickson finally movies the story forward. And not by some small increment. This was no 200-something page novel like the first six; you get nearly 700 pages of material advancing the saga. Dickson finally provides a grounding to so much that has been puzzling for so long; we finally get some ground rules and boundaries for powers, abilities, and possibilities. For those readers long awaiting answers, this is that volume. It was such a misfortune, then, to find that I didn't appreciate Dickson's answers.

The mechanics of the Childe Cycle have always been tantalizingly opaque. There was a fragility to them; one knew that if they breathed too hard on them that they would all fall apart. It was the kind of story you didn't want to ask hard questions about because it seemed that the tale would unravel and that the wondrous possibilities it so boldly presented would collapse into shambles. This is what happened when Dickson makes his reveals. The author set the series up for magnificence, but when it came time to deliver, the words on the page never satisfied the promises. Our protagonist is again supposed to be a savant, but the only way Dickson succeeds in doing this is by dumbing down the opposition. Those with the gift of oratory are supposed to be making mesmerizing speeches that captivate audiences, but the transcripts of those speeches convey only flowery optimism. Feats of logic and deduction are supposed to establish a character's genius, but the rationale and conclusions are stretched and strained. Excruciating decisions supposedly arise, but a myriad of plausible other options are left apparent, making it difficult to experience ththe intended drama. I found myself repeatedly promised brilliance only to be shown Dickson's imperfectly realized will to it.

I'm jealous of those that were able to read this and maintain their suspension of disbelief, but it was just not to be. Looking ahead, I see that the majority of the final five volumes of the series return to prequels and sidequels. I'm just not interested enough at present to read on to find the resolution of this tale. I might revisit the series someday, but for now I'm taking them off the reading list and withdrawing my name from the Dorsai fan club.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretentious. This was a re-read. I don't remember what I thought of this the first time, but I wanted to like this more than I did. When I read this series before it was certainly before reading The Dark Tower, a series I definitely didn't like. But it was interesting to realize that both were inspired by the same poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning. Clearly an inspiring poem, but not to me. I like what this book and series was trying to accomplish, basically explain human evolution, specifically as to a direction it could be heading. The book is strongly philosophical which also means wordy. It ties up many loose ends and basically explains a number of the earlier books. Intermixed in this are more adventurous bits as Hal hides out and trains at life as a miner and revolutionary guerrilla. Mostly this book is a swing and a miss. Dickson took too long getting to this book and kind of lost his way. Still I'm looking forward to re-reading the last few books. 3.5 of 5.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was kind of Dickson's Dune in that it was superior space opera. Intricate culture building and culture clashes. An attempt to guide multiple civilizations to prevent decline. Hal Mayne is no messiah figure, but there is some aspect of this. There are some interesting contrasts between this and dune and the problems of stagnation. While Dune is the superior novel, I certainly enjoyed my re-read of this one after some decades.

[Steve Setzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the finest science fiction novels I've ever read (and I've read hundreds since I encountered this one twenty-something years ago).

This book is true science fiction, not just an adventure story in space. Oh, there's plenty of adventure and danger, and even a classic coming-of-age story. But the coming-of-age is deep and multi-layered, starting from the protagonist's physical maturation and ending with the grand sweep of…but that would be a spoiler. And while some of the in-book "science" is typical for space opera, the core problem is itself scientific and inductive, involving the entirety of…whoops, spoiler again.

Never mind, except to say that art, philosophy, science, courage, and faith combine in the story, and in Dickson's telling of it.

The book stands alone although it's linked to other Dickson books like Dorsai. The others are good (sometimes very good), but this one is awesome.

[Wilson E. Stevens Sr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third time reading this book in the series. This time I am reading the series in order, and this is one of my favorite books of the series. One of the features of Science Fiction that I like is the ability to explorer a verity of life, social, and technology ways of living. What would happen if something unusual took place? This series is about the Dorsai people, their world, philosophy, lifestyle and the impact such a planet of warriors have on civilization as it is known at that time. In this book, the Encyclopedia is finally finished, and the third administrator Hal Mayne is appointed. Open conflict has begun between the Others and those following Hal Mayne that oppose them. Be prepared to hear philosophy never-ending and boring, repeated over and over again to the point that it ruins the pleasure of reading the book.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

The galaxy is made up of four types of humans. They are the techno-mage Exotics, the Spartan warrior Dorsai, and the religiously fanatical Friendlies. Everyone else is generic human. They have been getting along well enough for two hundred years. Now a fifth type of human has appeared, the Other. The Other is an amalgam of the three specialty humans, and these Others are taking over. All that can stop them is Hal Mayne, a 16 year old boy.

Hal was found as a baby in a derelict spacecraft with no one else aboard and the ship's computer wiped. He was taken in and raised on Old Earth by three men, an Exotic, a Dorsai, and a Friendly. They raised him in isolation but taught him many things, until the day the Other Bleys Ahrens showed up looking for Hal. From there Hal flees across the galaxy, to escape Bleys but mostly to grow up, learn about people, and develop his super powers. He goes to all the places and learns about all the peoples. He goes to the Dorsai world to understand warriors, he goes to the Exotic world to understand pacifist philosophers, he goes to the Friendly world to understand jihadists, and he goes to a crappy mining world to learn about regular people. He has many adventures, grows up (literally), and learns a great deal about himself and how he is instrumental in stopping the Others from taking over the galaxy.

Dickson uses all his talents in this book. He starts with some large world building and basic character building within the backdrop of what should appear to be day to day drudgery but is made interesting in itself. He gets into his war porn mode for a good while and is his usual excellent self at that. He then gets all philosophical and metaphysical with Deep Thoughts and focusing the inner eye and stuff, but that part is essential to the overall plot of saving mankind from itself and is the basis for the whole Childe Cycle.

There's a reason why a 700 page book filled with technobabble and navel gazing won the major awards, and that's because it is really good.

[Some Random]

DNF. Chicago, March 2025.

Did not finish. And yet, I realize I've read this book before. Let me see...
This is the story of an orphan from Old Earth who is on a journey of revenge against a powerful and ambiguously evil foe that murdered a close family member. Along the way he meets a beautiful and useless girl (let's not waste time on words like woman) who tries to convince him that he should work for Wikipedia since the current director is almost dead and the antagonist is the only other person in the entire universe with schizophrenic hallucinations.
Along the way, our intrepid (super)hero will meet all the right people and best all the wrong people using magic powers that advance the cause of transhumanism through misunderstanding history, physics, genetics, evolution, psychology and any other area of study we, I mean he, drunkenly stumble across.

So yeah, I thought the last book was an all time low. At least this one is a rewrite of the one before that. Glad I can save time by never reading anything by Dickson ever again. I mean, it seems like even Dickson believes that doom scrolling Wikipedia would be a better use of my time since that's supposed to open my third eye or something; and here I thought it would be TVtropes.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This long novel is the 1984 addition to Dickson’s Childe Cycle, a future history which he began in 1959 with Dorsai!, and which includes a number of other novels and shorter works.

My first impression was that this one is significantly better written than its predecessors. There’s a more literary quality to the style, characterization is better, events and locations are described in more detail.

However, I gradually came to realize that this veneer conceals a weak and incredible plot; and the book is further marred by the author’s increasing obsession with mysticism and sentimentality. Beneath the attempt at modern literature lurks an underlying story whose concepts and plot belong back in the 1940s with the murky beginnings of modern sf, and which frankly deserve to have been left back there.

The early volumes of the Childe Cycle were quite readable, bread-and-butter sf, but I suspect it’s all downhill from here.

(Review written in 1985, slightly edited in 2024)

[dejah_thoris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The TOR paperback attempts to answer the question of how many pages can you bind together and sell for $4.95? It also features a four point type to answer the question of how much content can you provide for $4.95? Fortunately, it's QUITE a lot. Still reading and weeding from my father's collection.

The world building is still excellent though there are gaps that aren't always addressed. For example, what happened to the Newtonians? Why didn't they become one of the great Splinter Cultures? (I assume it's because three is the easiest number to work with as a writer.) I also had a hard time buying the Donal Graeme reincarnation. Fortunately, there's a wonderful essay at the back of the book that pulls everything together.

Overall, I love Hal Mayne and Dickson's ability to write each chapter of the cycle as its own unique work while still connecting the story across time. Will definitely read the other books if I come across them.

[James]

The Childe Cycle, also known as the Dorsai series, is Gordon R. Dickson's future history of humankind and its ultimate destiny. Now one of its central novels return to print in a two-volume corrected edition.In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter cultures: the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress.Hal Mayne is an orphan who was raised by three tutors: an Exotic, a Friendly, and a Dorsai. He is the only human capable of uniting humanity against the Others. But only if he is willing to accept his terrifying destiny...as savior of mankind.A towering landmark of future history, The Final Encyclopedia is a novel every SF fan needs to own.

[Carbonel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story buried under the endless bafflegab

There's an interesting make-believe universe here. Some of the characters make you want to follow their story. There's an intriguing epic conflict, that keeps one turning the pages to see how it works out. But sweet hannah's macrame hand basket the endless crapulent pile of pseudo-mysticism that the protagonist drones on and on about. Often to himself. Even if you're the kind of chap that reads Epictitus for funsies , who gives a rat's pink patootie about a makes believe fantasy metaphysics?

And (spoilers) it's half a story: the conflict is not resolved. Now I remember why I never finished this series the first go-round.

[Steve R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 1984 novel, the best by far by Dickson, and good enough to prompt me to read virtually all his other works, especially those in the Dorsai series, of which this is supposedly the seventh. It involves the attempts of Hal Mayne to unite the Exotic, the Friendly and the Dorsai factions into which the human race has splintered. Page turning excitement and very well developed scenarios and characters made me read this book twice - an indication I've failed to be able to show in my Goodreads account. If I had the time, I would definitely reread this incredible work.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cerebral read. Long book, very long series, which I didn't realize until after I had started this book. The book stands alone OK. I did enjoy the story, but I'll never be able to get through the entire series, at this late date. Maybe if it was 5,000 pages, instead of a potential 8,400 . . .

[Ernest W White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing Philosophy

An interesting combination of stories and philosophy, this is my first comment, although I've read the entire series to this point over the past few weeks. Mr Dickson writes a story on a par with Heinlein, but his prose is prone to wordiness on occasion. Nonetheless, these tomes are well worth the reading and considerable reflection.

Ernie

[Al "Tank" · Rating 3 out of 5]

696 pages of very teeny type. Hard to read. Dickson rambles on, mostly in the head of his hero, Hal Mayne, to the point of boredom. This would have been a much better story if it were half as long (no, not split into two books). If so, it could be a much better read.

It did get off to a good start, but bogged down around 1/5th of the way into it, with spurts here and there.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5. Brings together many threads from the previous books in a very satisfying way, leading toward a larger story only hinted at before. Makes me want to go back a re-read those with more understanding of what is happening beneath the surface. This is a very ambitious space opera with interesting elements reminiscent of Asimov, Herbert, and Moorcock.

[Lisa Hannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Childe Cycle always stirs

There are so many echoes in our current situation in the U.S. with this whole cycle... I've read it a half dozen times, and will probably read it again before I'm done.

[Howard Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th Time

I have read this book 4 times now as well as the Childe Cycle Series....it never gets old. The first time I read this series I was in my twenties. You cannot beat Gordon R. Dickson....Loved all of his works.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technically probably the best book in the series. I think I started with this one then had to read all the other books in the series. In many of them, I fell in love with the characters but this one still stands up as amazing writing.

[Dwight Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most epic of the Childe Cycle series so far

The most epic of the Childe Cycle series so far, i’ve enjoyed it quite a bit. Even if I did find some of the descriptions and some of the monologues a little bit wordy.

[Mel Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorden R Dickson's SF has always appealed to me. His fantasy, not so much. I've reach every book in the Childe Cycle several times. Another favorite is "Wolf and Iron" which I've read twice.

[David Nichols · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arch, sententious, weighed down by leaden prose and dud characters.

[Alexandre · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, so boringly pretentious. I stopped about 120 pages in ... I was contemplating a gallon of ice cream to make me feel better, it was time to stop, zero star of course.

[Lawrence Duplessis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hal Mayne is the search for self. He is the mythical child rescued from the wilderness, and as he grows to adolescence the wilderness calls to him. What is his purpose? What will he find?
The Final Encyclopedia represents a place, but it is also the hope and culmination of many journeys.
The novel is worth reading on its own, but really shines as it unites the threads of humanities' progress and struggle.

The author cites "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" a few times as history is important to the overall story. In the poem by English author Robert Browning, a line from Shakespeare is used .. which may remind readers of a tall fellow and a young beanstalk-climber.
Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum
I smell the blood of a British man.
— King Lear, Act 3, scene 4

Lord Byron also wrote of Childe Harold(Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, by Lord Byron)
Yet ofttimes in his maddest mirthful mood,
Strange pangs would flash along Childe Harold's brow,
As if the memory of some deadly feud
Or disappointed passion lurked below

Childe
CHīld/
noun archaic literary
noun: Childe
a youth of noble birth.
"Childe Harold"

The Childe Cycle is the growth and evolution of humanity and its splintering into three separate and unique cultures, the Dorsai, the Exotic and the Friendly. The Dorsai are martial, the Exotic are scientific and semi-mystical, while the Friendly are fiercely(fanatically) faithful. All these splinter cultures inhabit poorer worlds than Earth and supplement their meager planetary income trough off-planet work. Much of this work is war. The first books in the series dealt with the Dorsai, a warrior society, and individuals and families that best illustrated the attitudes and strengths of their culture.
Readers were introduced to the Exotics and the Friendlies in Tactics of Mistake early in the series. Regular humans still exist, but they seem less vibrant. There is something pure about distilling ideas to their most essential, and perhaps that is true of people.
In the end though, is something lost? That will be for the reader and Hal Mayne to discover.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book (though tremendously long) that at last states, more or less plainly, what's going on in Dickson's Childe Cycle series. Along with the other main-trunk novels of the series, _Dorsai!_ and _Necromancer_, this book continues to lay out Dickson's arguments about history and evolution by setting up the final conflict (this was to have happened in the unpublished final volume, _Childe_, which will not probably never see the light of day) between two evolutionary forms of humanity. The "hero" Hal Mayne grows from an isolated, socially awkward individual into a person who is capable of altering humanity's interactions with the universe, and this is conveyed in convincing and compelling fashion throughout the novel. It's clear from this book what the final conflict would have entailed: not a conflict of brute force (though, as "villain" Bleys Ahrens tells Hal, that would have played its part), but more a manipulation of the symbolic Creative universe that had been locked away in Hal's former existence as Paul Formain in _Necromancer_. It probably would have used the very same weapon that the "villain" (I put these words in quotes because they are handy shorthand; there's little that's traditionallyh formulaic in what Dickson is doing in these works) of that book, Walter Blunt, set loose on Earth in the trippy, surreal climax: an overload of symbolic possibility that the human race is not ready to come to grips with or to use effectively, and which Formain locks away from the physical universe in order to allow the rise of the Splinter Cultures in physical space. This series has the scope of Herbert's _Dune_ series, and if the composition isn't quite as compelling, Dickson actually handles the evolutionary implications at the personal level better than Herbert did.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the lists for reading chronological leave Young Bleys, Others and The Antagonist till after Chantry Guild. I read Young Bleys before The Final Encyclopedia and I did not care for the book, I did not like Bleys or his mission. His childhood was interesting enough. What a difference when I started the Encyclopedia, huge with tiny print and after Bleys I was hesitant and felt like it would be a mountain and did I really want to climb it but it grabbed me from the first page and held on right through. It brought together so much and never lost the thread. Hal is a much more charismatic hero and his journey so much more interesting and engaging. This was Dickson still prime with a handle on his creation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found underlinings from the first time I read it. When Hal reaches the Encyclopedia and starts to research the history...it felt like deja vu. We are living in a historical turning point in social evolution with the rise of racism, fascism, oligarchies, a President who lies constantly and blatantly and his followers know and do not care and the rest of his country does nothing seemingly helpless in the face of lawlessness. Misogyny is being normalized and women have somehow become the enemy to be controlled and caged and weakened. Fundamentalism and xenophobia are on the rise...it all resonates with what I am reading and this book written in 1984 is prescient.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10
This is a complex, somewhat mythical saga of the coming of age of Hal Mayne and the maturation of his understanding of the challenge facing the human race--to embrace stasis or change. Hal comes to believe that change and growth are the only ways the human race can survive, but his evolutionary counterpart, Bleys Ahrens, believes stasis is the mechanism of survival.

The scope of this story expands considerably upon that of the earlier books in Dickson's Childe Cycle, but remains true to its roots.

My score would have been higher except for the two long sections of the book where the philosophy and "deeper meanings" of the story get fleshed out. These chapters provide necessary insights and information; however, to me they seemed too long and disrupted the rhythm of the overall story.

It appears several of the remaining books focus more on Bleys, which I think will be interesting since we have only seen him through Hal's eyes to this point.

All in all, a thought-provoking and complex book with larger than life characters--but it's a story that demands such characters.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book answers a lot of the previous questions, ties up threads that have been left dangling. I wish it had been about 1/2 the length. Certainly 1/3 could have easily been cut. There is a lot of repetition of points previously made. They're hammered home here, multiple times each.

It's an interesting theory that Dickson puts forth: an almost intelligent racial evolution. While I found it repetitive, some readers might like the various ways he puts the same material; different perspectives & situations that make his point very clear.

This story certainly didn't wrap up the series. I could stop here easily enough & thought about it. I'm going to take a minibreak, but will continue reading. The next book, Other, covers much the same ground as this one, but from the opposing POV, I believe. That should be interesting.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the entire Childe cycle when I first read them 25 years ago. But, with The Final Encyclopedia (the 5th book I believe) I realize that I just read a large number of pages in a novel in which nothing much happens. Hal Mayne, the protagonist starts out as a young child and through the course of the book grows up. However, mostly he flys to the Dorsaii, or to the Exotics, and then to the Friendlies asking for their help but not giving them any details. He does this 2 or 3 times until the end when they say that they will help him. And, oh yea, he's the reincarnation of an earlier character that died many years earlier. But a whole book dedicated to him finding that out is boring.

I love the ideas in this book, the concept the human race might "splinter" into separate cultures and emphasize different attributes of the race. But, there are other books in the Childe Cycle that creates characters that are better fleshed out, and are actually someone you can care about.