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Childe Cycle #8
The Chantry Guild
A lone ship entering Earth space rouses Hal Mayne from his researches aboard the Final Encyclopedia. Piloting the craft is Dorsai Amanda Morgan, returning from her work with resistance fighters of the Younger Worlds, bearing terrible—though not unexpected—news:
Bleys Ahrens, commanding the cross-cultural hybrids known as the Others, is tightening his deadly hold on the Younger Worlds, bleeding them of able adults and materials with which to build a space war fleet. With a massive attack through the phase-shield, he will cause the Younger Worlds to wither and die, once more confining the human race to Earth.
Amanda beckons Hal to the planet Kultis, where the monastery-like settlement of the Chantry Guild has mastered the powerful Alternate Forces so inextricably linked to the Creative Universe Hal resolutely sought…so secretly guarded behind their motto: Destruct.
As the Occupational Troops close in on the Guild’s hidden enclave, all the years of struggle—all the lives Hal has lived—converge in what may be humanity’s final critical moment…
Bleys Ahrens, commanding the cross-cultural hybrids known as the Others, is tightening his deadly hold on the Younger Worlds, bleeding them of able adults and materials with which to build a space war fleet. With a massive attack through the phase-shield, he will cause the Younger Worlds to wither and die, once more confining the human race to Earth.
Amanda beckons Hal to the planet Kultis, where the monastery-like settlement of the Chantry Guild has mastered the powerful Alternate Forces so inextricably linked to the Creative Universe Hal resolutely sought…so secretly guarded behind their motto: Destruct.
As the Occupational Troops close in on the Guild’s hidden enclave, all the years of struggle—all the lives Hal has lived—converge in what may be humanity’s final critical moment…
428 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1988
50 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Gordon R. Dickson
587 books377 followersGordon 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.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 14, 2024
A little slow at the start, but not bad once it got going. And I'm fascinated by how … metaphysical the quest that drives the plot is.
I picked the book up on a whim, a battered paperback copy from a used bookstore in a strip mall in Tennessee. I knew Dickson mainly by reputation, and knew that the Dorsai were arguably his most famous creation. The book mentioned them on the cover, so I figured I'd give it a try.
Turns out that this is, like, the eighth or ninth book in a series. Unfamiliarity with the previous volumes definitely hindered my enjoyment, and probably spoiled a number of points should I ever decide to read any of them.
So Hal Mayne lives in the Final Encyclopedia, a satellite repository of the sum total of human knowledge. It–and Earth itself–are protected by an impenetrable phase shield. They need it because of a slowly growing fleet of spaceships massing outside, the forces of the Others, led by Hal's nemesis, Bleys Ahrens. Hal has been working on finding his way into something called the Creative Universe, a process involving lots of meditation and mental focus. If he fails to achieve it, then Earth will fall. And then he receives word of the Chantry Guild, an isolated group on a distant planet that might be able to help him with the breakthrough he needs …
It's certainly quite a Space Opera plot. We have two men, both prime physical and mental specimens, who are arch rivals, with the fate of the Universe at stake. As I said, it's a bit slow out of the gate, mainly because of all the exposition that needs to cover the backstory and to set up what the Creative Universe is and why it's so important–it's much more metaphysical than I'd expect from an SF novel.
I wish I'd picked a different Dickson book to start with, ideally one where the Dorsai are more the focus. This one wasn't bad, but it probably means a lot more to anyone following the series than it does to the casual reader.
I picked the book up on a whim, a battered paperback copy from a used bookstore in a strip mall in Tennessee. I knew Dickson mainly by reputation, and knew that the Dorsai were arguably his most famous creation. The book mentioned them on the cover, so I figured I'd give it a try.
Turns out that this is, like, the eighth or ninth book in a series. Unfamiliarity with the previous volumes definitely hindered my enjoyment, and probably spoiled a number of points should I ever decide to read any of them.
So Hal Mayne lives in the Final Encyclopedia, a satellite repository of the sum total of human knowledge. It–and Earth itself–are protected by an impenetrable phase shield. They need it because of a slowly growing fleet of spaceships massing outside, the forces of the Others, led by Hal's nemesis, Bleys Ahrens. Hal has been working on finding his way into something called the Creative Universe, a process involving lots of meditation and mental focus. If he fails to achieve it, then Earth will fall. And then he receives word of the Chantry Guild, an isolated group on a distant planet that might be able to help him with the breakthrough he needs …
It's certainly quite a Space Opera plot. We have two men, both prime physical and mental specimens, who are arch rivals, with the fate of the Universe at stake. As I said, it's a bit slow out of the gate, mainly because of all the exposition that needs to cover the backstory and to set up what the Creative Universe is and why it's so important–it's much more metaphysical than I'd expect from an SF novel.
I wish I'd picked a different Dickson book to start with, ideally one where the Dorsai are more the focus. This one wasn't bad, but it probably means a lot more to anyone following the series than it does to the casual reader.
December 15, 2010
With this novel, the stage would have been set for the final conflict between two evolutionary forces of human history, but it was not to be. Instead Dickson focused on a sidebar trilogy about protagonist Hal Mayne's opponent (see reviews of _Young Bleys_ and _Other_). This novel is fascinating for what the reader can glean about Dickson's process of trying to work through the implications of the philosophical and scientific frameworks he'd used to create the previous novels in the series. He is successful at making explicit what, until this novel, had remained unstated: the process that led to the severance of the Creative Universe from the "Real" Universe at a crucial period of human history. Dickson also neatly ties together certain strands that were still loose, and shows why his earlier novel _Soldier, Ask Not_, is actually a central novel of this series rather than one of those that merely illuminate the topics he is interested in exploring. Make me sad to think that, in all likelihood, I will never find out how Hal Mayne overcomes the great odds against him and his side and sets the human race on a new evolutionary path. With the information in _The Chantry Guild_ and _The Final Encyclopedia_, you can see the outlines of what Dickson had in mind, but not the specifics. Hopefully his estate, if they decide to go with a writer who would finish the last volume, _Childe_, will not allow the hack job that was done on the last of the Bleys trilogy, _Antagonist_. It might be better to leave the door closed than to have it ruined by an author who does not fully understand the issues and the universe Dickson created.
December 2, 2018
A bit disappointing. A re-read but I'm pretty sure I've only read this once before. Well, I suppose this could be the third time. I've wanted to read the Childe Cycle straight through and see if it holds together and it kind of doesn't. There were definitely pieces to this one I liked. But I have trouble buying the whole Creative Universe concept. It was much easier to see how all the books lead up to this one when the other books are not just a distant memory. But too complicated and not executed well enough to make up for it. But it's hard to separate a remembered liking for the series from a current opinion. 3.5 of 5.
May 27, 2016
Dickson really, really wants his readers to understand the philosophy underpinning his Childe Cycle series, and that sometimes gets in the way of his storytelling. This book could have been tightened up without losing the focus on Hal's journey to gain entrance to the Creative Universe. In doing so, perhaps the philosophy would have seemed more vital.
March 19, 2017
Every time I read this book (or any book in the Childe Cycle, really), I am newly enraged that Gordon Dickson wrote all those sidebar stories before FINISHING THE CYCLE!!! Because every time--every single time--I am desperate to read the end, and it will never be ended.
May 24, 2024
It's been three years since Hal Mayne put Earth behind the shield wall to protect it from the Others and study the Final Encyclopedia to find the way to success. He's gotten nowhere with that and is having a crisis of confidence so he is ready to give up. Amanda shows up and convinces him to try one more thing. Go to Kultis where the occupied Exotics have restarted the old Chantry Guild. Hal goes to Kultis, has some run ins with the occupiers, and the Guild help him to hear the sound of one hand clapping. He discovers that to beat the enemy he must allow the sand trout to cover his entire body, become the worm, and rule with such totalitarianism for 50,000 years that the human race never accepts a tyrant again. Not exactly that but something equally nonsensical.
This is a continuation of the storyline that picks up right at the last book and leads directly into the next book. It's all about Hal and his search for the answer, so much of it is taken up with philosophical mumbo jumbo and contemplating one's navel. There is a bit of guerrilla action involving a night raid on a camp, but mostly it's just Hal walking in a circle. Literally. Even with the weird reincarnation stuff and the pseudo religious creative universe stuff it was not boring and the plot made sense. It was just a very long voyage to get to the idea that sometimes when you get stuck on a problem you have to step back from it for awhile to get moving again.
SPOILER ALERT: The secret is Bifrost.
This is a continuation of the storyline that picks up right at the last book and leads directly into the next book. It's all about Hal and his search for the answer, so much of it is taken up with philosophical mumbo jumbo and contemplating one's navel. There is a bit of guerrilla action involving a night raid on a camp, but mostly it's just Hal walking in a circle. Literally. Even with the weird reincarnation stuff and the pseudo religious creative universe stuff it was not boring and the plot made sense. It was just a very long voyage to get to the idea that sometimes when you get stuck on a problem you have to step back from it for awhile to get moving again.
SPOILER ALERT: The secret is Bifrost.
January 18, 2019
Hal Mayne has gone as far as he can while at the Final Encyclopedia. He feels he has failed and wants to do something to bring the conflict with the Others to a head, but can't think of what to do. Then Dorsai Amanda Morgan arrives in a small space ship with the news that takes him from the Final Encyclopedia to one of the conquered Exotic Worlds to observe a new development. While there he finds the missing key needed to use the Final Encyclopedia like he feels it should be used to fight the others. Now does he have time to learn to use this key?
November 9, 2025
I've been reading Dickson f9r years but have never finished rhe Childe Cycle, and now I know why. The Chantry Guild is tedious, the editing is sloppy (as it is in books 1-8), and when Hal finally figured out how to access the Creative Universe, it felt like a "so what?" I was very disappointed with the whole story.
December 14, 2023
Very wordy
August 14, 2024
This was Required reading
August 9, 2009
Not as enjoyable as I had hoped, but maybe I had a little bit too much nostalgia for some of the other books in the series leftover from my childhood. I remember reading Dorsai! and The Final Encyclopedia multiple times. And I've been trying to rack my brains to remember if I ever read this one before. I felt like I had, but I couldn't remember much of anything as I was reading it currently. All in all it seemed to lack the sweep and scope that I remembered, and the central character of Hal Mayne just seemed like kind of a mope this time out.
December 23, 2012
The Childe cycle is, to my mind, a fascinating exploration of the facets of humanity. Dickson breaks off pieces and takes them to extremes in other books of the cycle. Now, in "The Chantry Guild" he tries to reassemble those facets into a whole.
May 14, 2019
This should have been the last book. The three Bleys books just don't fit. It would have been great if the actual final book Childe had been written but this actually ended on a positive note. I still have two books in the Bleys trilogy to read and am not sure I can force myself to do so.
July 23, 2007
Ouch! Didn't even get the title right on a book in a good series. This is "The Chantry Guild" by Gordon R. Dickson.
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August 22, 2008The Chantry Guild (Childe Cycle) by Gordon R. Dickson (1988)
July 21, 2009
book 8
March 24, 2011
A pretty slow moving book.
July 21, 2012
Unfortunate uncompleted Childe Cycle.IMHO you should read only first 4 books and disregard all the rest
March 18, 2012
I never really could get into the rest of the series as I enjoyed Donal too much. This was another one of my failures but the prose in Dickson's books are well worth the try.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews