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Saga of the Well World #4
The Return of Nathan Brazil
This book, part of the "Well World" saga, relates the adventures of Nathan Brazil. The other parts are "Midnight at the Well of Souls", "Exiles at the Well of Souls", "Quest for the Well of Souls" and "Twilight at the Well of Souls".
289 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
25 people are currently reading
601 people want to read
About the author
Jack L. Chalker
132 books357 followersBesides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 7, 2022
Like the second and third volumes in Chalker's Saga of the Well World, volume four and five are really one book split into two; as such, The Return of Nathan Brazil is really a set up for the events to transpire in the next volume. This takes place around a 1000 years after the last installment, and the 'Com' has grown dramatically, and actually now incorporates several other species. Mavra and Obie, the supercomputer AI, have been wandering around galaxies doing this and that; the 'rescued' women qua superwomen from the last volume have started their own planet and are now called Olympians with a religion to find Nathan Brazil. Brazil, however, has been laying very low for hundreds of years...
Things are not all quiet, however. A strange 'virus like' hive species has arrived in our galaxy and started doing what they always do-- infect and control any intelligent life. After this was discerned, a nasty war ensued, with the com losing. As a last resort, they invented a weapon that destroys just about everything, including space itself. This unwittingly created a rip in the space/time matrix that is expanding, and in fact, represents the end of the universe. The only way to stop it/fix it is to find Nathan Brazil, take him to the Well World, and fix it. Unfortunately, Brazil is nowhere to be found and time is running out...
Again, this is more of a prelude to the upcoming events on Well World than a stand alone story. The invading aliens are a pretty cool idea, as are the Olympians, and Chalder introduces some new characters that are also fun-- a mini T-rex lizard and his travelling companion the Gypsy (as mysterious figure indeed)-- who team up with Mavra to find Brazil. All in all, a fun, but rather shallow installment in the series. 3.5 stars!!
Things are not all quiet, however. A strange 'virus like' hive species has arrived in our galaxy and started doing what they always do-- infect and control any intelligent life. After this was discerned, a nasty war ensued, with the com losing. As a last resort, they invented a weapon that destroys just about everything, including space itself. This unwittingly created a rip in the space/time matrix that is expanding, and in fact, represents the end of the universe. The only way to stop it/fix it is to find Nathan Brazil, take him to the Well World, and fix it. Unfortunately, Brazil is nowhere to be found and time is running out...
Again, this is more of a prelude to the upcoming events on Well World than a stand alone story. The invading aliens are a pretty cool idea, as are the Olympians, and Chalder introduces some new characters that are also fun-- a mini T-rex lizard and his travelling companion the Gypsy (as mysterious figure indeed)-- who team up with Mavra to find Brazil. All in all, a fun, but rather shallow installment in the series. 3.5 stars!!
July 7, 2012
I came into this reading experience knowing only the cover of this book. It shows a (top-nude) female centaur and a scaly green lizard in a tight-fitting red vest smoking a cigar acting shocked to see what looks like a haggard Robert-Redford circa late-80s type sitting in a chair with divine light glowing from behind him. This scene is definitely in the book, so points there, right off the bat. As this is Vol. 4 in a series there are some serious narrative problems I, a newby to the Well World Saga, encountered over the course of the text. Certain scenes, particularly in the last third, were basically incomprehensible.
The first 100 pages or so are spent introducing this big bad menace to Galactic Civility As We Know It called the Dreel, who are basically a Borg/Pod type collective intelligence that take over and assimilate other lifeforms by virally invading through nasal cavities. You don't want to get close to someone exhibiting Dreel-like behavior. Super-efficient, they can take over whole planets this way in, like, weeks.
The cigar-smoking lizard creature is named Markoz, a high level undercover investigator/enforcer whose species (officially referred to as the Chugach (Mountain range reference???)) is immune to the Dreel and is chasing them across the galaxy trying to contain and exterminate. He seems to serve the same role in this series as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones: comic relief, treated like an outsider by his peers (because of shallow judgements based on physical appearance) yet with an insider's sway and connections that allow him to move anywhere in the story, Markoz is also remarkably difficult to kill off.
But then the Dreel just get completely dropped from the story for mostly centaur-related reasons, which is understandable. An entire planet, Olympus, of 2 million Centaurs (or Olympians as they are known galaxy-wide) is introduced in satisfyingly anthropological detail. There are secretary-centaurs, police centaurs, snipers, frat-boy sex slave centaurs, it's rich stuff. Although he doesn't just come out and say it, Chalker clearly thinks of the Centaur as the highest possible form of intelligent life in the universe. And he may be right. Centaur Platonism would be a good album title.
All this ends up being the dressing for introducing Nathan Brazil, title character and entity with a serious identity complex. Honestly, having read the book I still cannot adequately explain who/what Brazil IS. Quantum superposition is invoked. Revisionist Judaeo-Christian theology (the most unnecessary and embarrassingly written passages of the entire novel, for sure). Captain Horatio Hornblower. Chalker just can't seem to make up his mind. It reminds me, typing this now, of Starbuck in the Battlestar Galactica remake. A bunch of hand-wavy stuff just get thrown out there and is left unexplained.
The novel ends on a Matrix Reloaded-style cliffhanger as a body is discovered, presumably setting up the action for the fifth and concluding volume in the series. I cannot say I am intrigued enough to read this volume, but if, in a few years time say, I found myself browsing the crusty bookshelfs of some youth hostel around South America or Thailand and came across another of Jack Chalker's tomes, preferably something written later than 1979 allowing for him to develop his craft and knowledge of technology more, I would probably pick it up. Which is way more than I can say for Piers Anthony. I'll probably make another attempt to finish Centaur Aisle later this month but I need a break...
The first 100 pages or so are spent introducing this big bad menace to Galactic Civility As We Know It called the Dreel, who are basically a Borg/Pod type collective intelligence that take over and assimilate other lifeforms by virally invading through nasal cavities. You don't want to get close to someone exhibiting Dreel-like behavior. Super-efficient, they can take over whole planets this way in, like, weeks.
The cigar-smoking lizard creature is named Markoz, a high level undercover investigator/enforcer whose species (officially referred to as the Chugach (Mountain range reference???)) is immune to the Dreel and is chasing them across the galaxy trying to contain and exterminate. He seems to serve the same role in this series as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones: comic relief, treated like an outsider by his peers (because of shallow judgements based on physical appearance) yet with an insider's sway and connections that allow him to move anywhere in the story, Markoz is also remarkably difficult to kill off.
But then the Dreel just get completely dropped from the story for mostly centaur-related reasons, which is understandable. An entire planet, Olympus, of 2 million Centaurs (or Olympians as they are known galaxy-wide) is introduced in satisfyingly anthropological detail. There are secretary-centaurs, police centaurs, snipers, frat-boy sex slave centaurs, it's rich stuff. Although he doesn't just come out and say it, Chalker clearly thinks of the Centaur as the highest possible form of intelligent life in the universe. And he may be right. Centaur Platonism would be a good album title.
All this ends up being the dressing for introducing Nathan Brazil, title character and entity with a serious identity complex. Honestly, having read the book I still cannot adequately explain who/what Brazil IS. Quantum superposition is invoked. Revisionist Judaeo-Christian theology (the most unnecessary and embarrassingly written passages of the entire novel, for sure). Captain Horatio Hornblower. Chalker just can't seem to make up his mind. It reminds me, typing this now, of Starbuck in the Battlestar Galactica remake. A bunch of hand-wavy stuff just get thrown out there and is left unexplained.
The novel ends on a Matrix Reloaded-style cliffhanger as a body is discovered, presumably setting up the action for the fifth and concluding volume in the series. I cannot say I am intrigued enough to read this volume, but if, in a few years time say, I found myself browsing the crusty bookshelfs of some youth hostel around South America or Thailand and came across another of Jack Chalker's tomes, preferably something written later than 1979 allowing for him to develop his craft and knowledge of technology more, I would probably pick it up. Which is way more than I can say for Piers Anthony. I'll probably make another attempt to finish Centaur Aisle later this month but I need a break...
March 29, 2013
Like another reviewer here on GoodReads, I initially read this series out of order. The title "The Return of Nathan Brazil" grabbed my attention one day in my first year of college. Luckily, all but the last two books in the series can be read independently of the rest. Once I had gobbled up "Return", I quickly tracked down the rest of the five. I've been rereading them ever since.
This is one of few examples of an author who can sustain an interesting storyline over five titles. Most lose steam as they attempt to complete a basic trilogy. Although I eventually began to find Chalker's themes repetitive in his other series, these five books will always rank as one my top favorites in Science Fiction storytelling.
This is one of few examples of an author who can sustain an interesting storyline over five titles. Most lose steam as they attempt to complete a basic trilogy. Although I eventually began to find Chalker's themes repetitive in his other series, these five books will always rank as one my top favorites in Science Fiction storytelling.
November 1, 2013
This was the 1st book I read in Chalker's "Well World" Saga. Even with reading it out of order, I quite enjoyed the book. I thought it was a interesting concept to have a whole world in hexagonal sections where different species-races developed in eco-spheres of their own. Finding out who Nathan is was like watching the mother ship come over Devils Tower in "Close Encounter of the Third Kind" for me. I have read it several times over the years and will again.
January 24, 2019
This one is interesting in a number of ways. Right off the bat it postulates a hive-mind micro-organismal spacefaring culture, the Dreel, attempting to subjugate all other intelligences. Previous books in the series addressed the anxiety America was feeling about communism in the 1970s by the more direct depiction of the spread of totalitarian "Com" worlds that subjugated their population using genetic manipultion, cultural training, and drug addiction. 750 years later, in this one, the Com has mellowed out, and this new thread has emerged.
Next, it approaches the fear of uncontrolled technology destroying the ecology, another major stream of 70s anxiety, when Zinder's principles are rediscovered and used to fight the Dreel, causing a permanent rift in space-time that will eventually destroy the universe. Not subtle, but still very interesting given the period, and weirdly relevant again in the face of climate change.
I have been warning friends who read Chalker that he was writing as an older guy in the 70s and 80s and that they should not expect a feminist outlook. I still wouldn't say these books are exactly progressive, but I think there's scholarly work to be done assessing the nuances of the power and prominence of Mavra Chang and the Olymian culture, and the different extents to which those represent warnings about the growing power of women as a threat to male power, versus recognition of the VALUE of that growing power and the roadblocks that patriarchy have thrown in its path. In short, I think I may have overstated that warning, not least because when Brazil, the Man Who Will Save Us All, finally reappears, he's deeply flawed and squeamish about the whole thing.
A final point of interest - this book takes place almost entirely NOT on the Well World, instead focusing on the evolution of societies that began from seeds the Well World sowed. When the eventual crisis appears, we have had the opportunity to really see what's at stake. This was a bold bold choice for Chalker to make, given the likelihood that what most readers really love about the series was the Well World itself and the wild variety of ecologies and species there, and the detailed interactions of interhex politics, and of non-tech, tech, limited tech, and magical hexes.
I think people will be tempted to dismiss this book as a transitional distraction simply setting up for "Twilight at the Well of Souls" - but doing so would be a mistake.
Next, it approaches the fear of uncontrolled technology destroying the ecology, another major stream of 70s anxiety, when Zinder's principles are rediscovered and used to fight the Dreel, causing a permanent rift in space-time that will eventually destroy the universe. Not subtle, but still very interesting given the period, and weirdly relevant again in the face of climate change.
I have been warning friends who read Chalker that he was writing as an older guy in the 70s and 80s and that they should not expect a feminist outlook. I still wouldn't say these books are exactly progressive, but I think there's scholarly work to be done assessing the nuances of the power and prominence of Mavra Chang and the Olymian culture, and the different extents to which those represent warnings about the growing power of women as a threat to male power, versus recognition of the VALUE of that growing power and the roadblocks that patriarchy have thrown in its path. In short, I think I may have overstated that warning, not least because when Brazil, the Man Who Will Save Us All, finally reappears, he's deeply flawed and squeamish about the whole thing.
A final point of interest - this book takes place almost entirely NOT on the Well World, instead focusing on the evolution of societies that began from seeds the Well World sowed. When the eventual crisis appears, we have had the opportunity to really see what's at stake. This was a bold bold choice for Chalker to make, given the likelihood that what most readers really love about the series was the Well World itself and the wild variety of ecologies and species there, and the detailed interactions of interhex politics, and of non-tech, tech, limited tech, and magical hexes.
I think people will be tempted to dismiss this book as a transitional distraction simply setting up for "Twilight at the Well of Souls" - but doing so would be a mistake.
January 6, 2026
The original 5 book Saga of the Well World, is really 3 separate but intertwined stories. The first story is in book 1. The second story is in books 2 and 3. The third story begins in this book and concludes in book 5. I've just finished reading Book 5 and will give my review for that separately.
The events in this book take place about 700 years after Book 3, and most of the book does not take place on the Well World, but rather back in the human part of the galaxy, which has changed a lot, mostly for the better, from how it was in the previous books. But a new threat arises which sees the familiar characters of Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang having to return to the Well World.
These books are always at their best when they're on the Well World, and this one is no exception, so it's the final third of the book that I most enjoyed.
These books have a special place in my heart because of how much they meant to me when I read them when I was much younger, so I will always rate them highly, but this is probably the weakest of the 5 books in the series.
The events in this book take place about 700 years after Book 3, and most of the book does not take place on the Well World, but rather back in the human part of the galaxy, which has changed a lot, mostly for the better, from how it was in the previous books. But a new threat arises which sees the familiar characters of Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang having to return to the Well World.
These books are always at their best when they're on the Well World, and this one is no exception, so it's the final third of the book that I most enjoyed.
These books have a special place in my heart because of how much they meant to me when I read them when I was much younger, so I will always rate them highly, but this is probably the weakest of the 5 books in the series.
January 5, 2023
MY NAME IS IN THE TITLE. I NEED A POSTER OF THIS.
Of course I had to buy it. Turns out it's 4th in a series, but can be read standalone. It's weird. NO doubt. The cover on the version I have is actually ten times cooler than the one on Goodreads. My cover has a lizard (thing) wearing a vest, smoking a cigar, while a man (the title character, Nathan Brazil) sits in a chair next to a topless female centaur. THIS SCENE IS IN THE BOOK. (Google this, please.)
It's honestly not bad writing, it's just weird 80s(?) sci-fi, and the plot is all over the place. My love for this book can be summed up from this excerpt from the description on the back: "the infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil-sometime freighter captain, often the Wandering Jew, perhaps even God"
....It is not very often that you get a Titular Character, named after yourself, who is also....all of that.
10/10 WOULD READ ABOUT CIGAR SMOKING LIZARDS AGAIN.
Of course I had to buy it. Turns out it's 4th in a series, but can be read standalone. It's weird. NO doubt. The cover on the version I have is actually ten times cooler than the one on Goodreads. My cover has a lizard (thing) wearing a vest, smoking a cigar, while a man (the title character, Nathan Brazil) sits in a chair next to a topless female centaur. THIS SCENE IS IN THE BOOK. (Google this, please.)
It's honestly not bad writing, it's just weird 80s(?) sci-fi, and the plot is all over the place. My love for this book can be summed up from this excerpt from the description on the back: "the infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil-sometime freighter captain, often the Wandering Jew, perhaps even God"
....It is not very often that you get a Titular Character, named after yourself, who is also....all of that.
10/10 WOULD READ ABOUT CIGAR SMOKING LIZARDS AGAIN.
Read
April 30, 2021I still can't put this series down, no matter what I find in it to criticize.
Mavra's pretty quick to use Obie to reprogram other people's minds, when you'd think she would remember what it was like to have her own mind and body changed against her wishes. It creeps me out to have the good guys steal moves from the villains...
Mavra's pretty quick to use Obie to reprogram other people's minds, when you'd think she would remember what it was like to have her own mind and body changed against her wishes. It creeps me out to have the good guys steal moves from the villains...
August 19, 2017
Weakest book of the series so far, it rehashes a bunch of events and background info from previous books, and it's all labored setup for what is hopefully a return to action in the next book. Could probably be safely skipped.
November 25, 2020
"Still, we saves a lot of lives, a few planets, maybe a civilization or two."
She nodded and smiled. "It's a record to be proud of. And, most of all, it was fun, too."
Part one of two - read twilight in the well of souls right after.
She nodded and smiled. "It's a record to be proud of. And, most of all, it was fun, too."
Part one of two - read twilight in the well of souls right after.
June 29, 2023
Well I absolutely blasted through this one! So much was I absorbed that when the book so abruptly ended on a hell of a cliffhanger that I stared at the completion percentage on my Kindle in disbelief, amazed that I had already reached the end. And then- immediately into the next one!
December 28, 2017
The first part of this story; had hoped this would have been a complete story. Ah well, on to the next part...
Guilty pleasure SF - as expected.
Guilty pleasure SF - as expected.
December 18, 2022
Out of the series, this one was slower. It took time to build. I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first three. However, this book is just setting the stage for the next one.
December 3, 2023
Mavra Chang is an amazing character for this book. She is a natural leader.
April 12, 2025
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July 13, 2025
Return
Nathan Brazil makes a reluctant return to the Well of Souls in book four of this series. The saga continues.
Nathan Brazil makes a reluctant return to the Well of Souls in book four of this series. The saga continues.
January 10, 2023
My least favorite of the series
September 25, 2024
[2024] comfort books. I bumped this a star because I keep coming back to g back to it (and the series). I finally cleared three ARCs and review and feeling the impediment of the dreaded reader’s block coming on, I’m trying to ward it off (I can’t even continue the Pratchett I started!)
[Update, 2020 reread]
Sometimes I reach into the “comfort books” stash for a diversion. I have a review to write, a few other books to finish - one being an ARC of tremendous length and depth - and more in the wings...always. But though I know what happens next, I’ll have to reread Midnight now!
———-
Excellent. Chalker told some great stories.
The was my first realization that some authors don't track their work well, particularly the serials. All the more strange as only two years had passed since the publication of the previous novel. Well. At least he was consistent in his error here.
[Update, 2020 reread]
Sometimes I reach into the “comfort books” stash for a diversion. I have a review to write, a few other books to finish - one being an ARC of tremendous length and depth - and more in the wings...always. But though I know what happens next, I’ll have to reread Midnight now!
———-
Excellent. Chalker told some great stories.
The was my first realization that some authors don't track their work well, particularly the serials. All the more strange as only two years had passed since the publication of the previous novel. Well. At least he was consistent in his error here.
March 1, 2025
In a desolate sector of space floats the Well World: the ancient Markovian supercomputer that first created and now maintains the Universe.
While attempting to repel an insidious intergalactic invasion, Mankind resorts to a weapon of such awesome destructive power that it undermines the Well World's control of time and space and threatens the very existence of the Universe.
It was up to Mavra Chang--victim and veteran of the Wars of the Well--and Obie, her colossal computer companion, to find the only being capable of going to the Well World and repairing the damage at its source.
But the infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil--sometime freighter captain, often the Wandering Jew, perhaps even God--did not want to be found.
But Mavra and Obie were never two to take no for an answer...
While attempting to repel an insidious intergalactic invasion, Mankind resorts to a weapon of such awesome destructive power that it undermines the Well World's control of time and space and threatens the very existence of the Universe.
It was up to Mavra Chang--victim and veteran of the Wars of the Well--and Obie, her colossal computer companion, to find the only being capable of going to the Well World and repairing the damage at its source.
But the infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil--sometime freighter captain, often the Wandering Jew, perhaps even God--did not want to be found.
But Mavra and Obie were never two to take no for an answer...
February 28, 2009
All of the well of souls books explores the strong social problems of our own world in a tale of science fiction. Social injustice, prejudice, close-mindedness - all are some of the common problems that plauge the inhabitants of the strange worlds and cause their problems and lead to the wars between species. Its just like our own world, except instead of different species we have different races or nationalites. Chaulker, like Clarke, explores terrestrial human issues thru extrterrestrial worlds.
May 22, 2024
This book is the first half of the a story that takes place 700 years after the previous book. Characters are interesting. It does build suspense, albeit quite slowly.
It continues the tradition of a good classic sci-fi book, which is my opinion, even though a bit dark, has an optimistic spin and energy about it. A good read. Jack L. Chalker has some dark world changing subjects a lot, but they do not have the feel of the dark dystopian horror that some, maybe even many, sci-fi books tend to have.
It continues the tradition of a good classic sci-fi book, which is my opinion, even though a bit dark, has an optimistic spin and energy about it. A good read. Jack L. Chalker has some dark world changing subjects a lot, but they do not have the feel of the dark dystopian horror that some, maybe even many, sci-fi books tend to have.
December 7, 2010
I read this at the hotel in Boston and at the airport. In this volume, humanity rediscovers Gil Zinder's theories, and, in trying to fight off a deadly foe, pretty much blows a hole into the space-time continuum. Obie and Mavra need to find Nathan Brazil and make him return to the Well World to try to fix the hole... but can it even be fixed, or is this the end of life in the universe as we know it?
Not necessarily my favorite, but I'm still really interested by the series.
Not necessarily my favorite, but I'm still really interested by the series.
June 2, 2022
This is one of 7 books in the Well World series by Jack Chalker. Some books move us forward in the story a bit more/better than this one but it seems important to the progression of the story. I find the characters both amazing constructs and very interesting personalities. All in all, the series is a very good read...
August 2, 2013
This book is the first half of a story that end with the Twilight at the Well of Souls book.
Most of this book is set off the Well of Souls world and it heralds the return of Nathan Brazil (if you hadn't figured it out). As usual mankind or the book equivalent does something catastrophic it the universe and it needs to be fixed.
Most of this book is set off the Well of Souls world and it heralds the return of Nathan Brazil (if you hadn't figured it out). As usual mankind or the book equivalent does something catastrophic it the universe and it needs to be fixed.
June 21, 2016
This is only half a book and is all frustrating set up for the climax in #5. In addition, the amount of exposition is inexcusable! The are some redeeming qualities: a miniature talking dinosaur, a few good old fashioned science fiction meditations on the human condition and all of the other Well World goodies.
October 9, 2011
read this series in my late teens and really like the books. The author has a great imagination and gives an answer to how the earth came to be populated and how myths such as unicorns and mermaids came to be. Very entertaining.
January 31, 2012
I always liked Jack Chalker's science fiction. It is not the space opera kind. The Return of Nathan Brazil was the first well of souls I read and I liked it the best. It kind of fits the information/Google Age well even if it predates it. We are all just a computer program and Nathan Brazil is ...
February 6, 2014
This series embodies the struggle for freedom against despotism at the expense of great destruction. The world at the time of its writing was in the same place. Iconoclastic but relevant and entertaining.
July 22, 2013
A great read overall. was a little bit disappointed it took so long to get back to the Well world itself however I fell that perhaps the next book could almost have been joined to this. Looking forward to the next one.
November 16, 2013
I would stop with book #3, the one before this. For me, this is all a bit too much and only serves to continue into the next book, but I was well ready for this one to end before it did and it only leaves you open for the next one like #2 in the series did.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews