What do you think?
Rate this book
The Messiah Choice
Sir Robert McKenzie, owner of the Magellan Corporation, dies suddenly in a mysterious and grisly way. His daughter may be next, for a Satanic cult is determined to herald the arrival of the apocalypse.
Greg MacDonald unravels the mystery of the cult, run by scientists with a distorted sense of duty and a computer that may be the Antichrist itself.
Greg MacDonald unravels the mystery of the cult, run by scientists with a distorted sense of duty and a computer that may be the Antichrist itself.
380 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
1 person is currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Jack L. Chalker
132 books355 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).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 21, 2020
The only time I met the late Jack L. Chalker, I complimented him on a novel where Satan did his work through an advertising agency. I thought this was both an intriguing idea for the novel but an understanding of the role of the personification of evil as a deceiver and obfuscator of truth/reality. I don’t remember exactly how he put it, but he indicated that he had always had a fascination with the problem of good vs. evil. I hadn’t read The Messiah Choice at that point, even though it had been published more than a decade before in 1985, or I would have understood how much more sophisticated his understanding of good vs. evil could be.
To show something of where Chalker was going with The Messiah Choice, I should quote this word of counsel given to a main character on pages 186-187: “…without the shedding of blood there is no remission. To save yourself is simply to choose the correct path, though that is hardly simple. To save the world requires the ultimate choice, the Messiah Choice, ….” That choice, as one might expect, is a tough and costly one. The entire thesis of the book is predicated on two concepts. First, the story is difficult to classify as either science-fiction or fantasy within itself because the line between the two is as ambiguous as the oft-cited remark I first read in Heinlein’s Magic, Inc., any sufficiently advanced technology will seem like magic to a more primitive perspective. So, even in 1985, before the days of 3D printing, Chalker was positing the idea that a sentient super-computer could not only control the virtual but transform the physical. Are the amazing phenomena experienced in this novel a result of computer- or supernatural transformation? Readers will need to decide this for themselves given the way the story wraps.
Second, the story is built upon what philosophy and theology call “theodicy,” the problem of evil, particularly assuming the existence of a benevolent deity. Such statements as the following reflect the theodicy problem. “Now, consider a God who would not only permit but encourage war and plague and massive suffering and misery. Consider a God who would not only allow, but command the Lord Satan to do his worst to humanity.” (p. 116) “Hell is rampant, as it always has been. And do you know why? Because that’s the way God ordered it to be. He’s supposed to be all-seeing, all-knowing, omniscient and omnipresent, yet He’s never gotten over the fact that He made humanity in His own image and humanity proceeded to screw itself up.” (pp. 123-124) Add to this the problem of seeming unanswered prayer: “She knelt there, head bowed, for quite some time, and prayed to God, to Mary, and Jesus and the saints, to deliver her, even to strike her down, but to end this thing. But, as usual, there was no answer, no response at all.” (p. 161) But in dealing with the idea of evil, Chalker offers a rival perspective to those who simply question the idea of God. “…they brought themselves to the brink of extinction. And when by their own foolishness they brought this upon themselves, they blamed not themselves and their impulses but Heaven, and cursed it, and took the easy path that Hell always offers.” (pp. 184-185) “Misery can be a learning experience, as can joy. Evil promises immediate rewards, but an eternity of misery followed by oblivion. Sacrifice promises immediate suffering, but an eternity of joy and reward.” (p. 185) “Evil is always with humanity, for without it how can good be determined?” (p. 185) Chalker is even-handed in presenting the philosophies behind the two (at least) factions in conflict.
Naturally, in a journey replete with moral ambiguity and difficult ethical decisions, there is a third path. That third path is relativism and not to be confused with being tolerant or easy-going. The Messiah’s Choice also includes those who don’t feel a need to choose, much like the early 20th century philosopher, C. L. Stevenson. In our fictional form it reads: “Primitive, though, now as ever before, was a relative term, one used by modern man, modern civilization, to judge on the basis of the way a culture looked and what a culture used in relation to their own digital watches and jet planes and computers. It did not measure the soul, nor admit that a different value system might be no less sophisticated than their own.” (p. 182) So, throughout the story, you can expect to be patronized by the arguments of evil, challenged by the arguments of good, and harangued by the arguments of relativism. Yet, as in real life, that relativism doesn’t really accomplish anything when both factions are trying to gain control and people are victimized by one side or the other (even good has its collateral damage in this story).
In addition to philosophical and theological references, I thought it was interesting that Chalker chose the Babylonian names used in Daniel for the three Hebrew men who were thrown into the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In Daniel 3, threatened with a fiery martyrdom, these heroes insisted that God could save them, but even if God didn’t save them, they would remain faithful. So, Chalker uses the three names as code names for three members of what appears to be a suicide squad. In this case, though, instead of three, young Hebrew men, one is a Christian woman from Lebanon, one is a Muslim from Nigeria, and one is a Sikh from India. That seemed like an interesting choice for me.
While considering consequences of various moral positions, I found one reference in The Messiah’s Choice to be most prescient. One example of evil brought up by a character states, “Now people take it upon themselves to drive into crowds and play ‘smash the pedestrian’ in many major cities.” (p. 279) Written in 1985, this is long before the modern wave of driving into crowd incidents associated with terrorism. I don’t remember such incidents in the ‘80s, so it seems like Chalker was eerily ahead of his time in this observation.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I suppose one reason I hadn’t read it before is that it was published by a short-lived small specialty press named “Bluejay Books.” The publisher ceased publishing in 1986, the year after this novel was copyrighted. Although founded by an experienced science-fiction editor and husband of a recognized science-fiction author, the publisher must have been either so rushed, underfunded, or both that the copy editing suffered. As a former editor, I often see typographical (maybe, typesetting) errors and page right by them. I haven’t read other Bluejay Books, so I’m not certain, but it seems like these books have a lot of them (judging from the small sample size of this book). In The Messiah’s Choice, I made note of a few: “Book of Revelations” instead of “Revelation” (p. 64), “realy” (p. 75), “chaple” (p. 108), “somthing” (p. 114), “utensiles” (p. 139), “same of Christ” instead of “name” (p. 194), , and “sometime” instead of “sometimes” (p. 315) jumped out at me.
The Messiah Choice is quite enjoyable, so I’ll complete this review with a comment by the main protagonist after he is captured by a villain and complimented for the challenge he had provided for the, apparently, victorious villain. “I appreciate the flattery, but it seems that fighting gallantly isn’t enough to win the war. I’d rather be less impressive, get some breaks, and win.” (p. 270), and “sometime” instead of “sometimes” (p. 315) jumped out at me. Typographical or typesetting errors or not, I’ll try to check out a few more books from this short-lived line.
To show something of where Chalker was going with The Messiah Choice, I should quote this word of counsel given to a main character on pages 186-187: “…without the shedding of blood there is no remission. To save yourself is simply to choose the correct path, though that is hardly simple. To save the world requires the ultimate choice, the Messiah Choice, ….” That choice, as one might expect, is a tough and costly one. The entire thesis of the book is predicated on two concepts. First, the story is difficult to classify as either science-fiction or fantasy within itself because the line between the two is as ambiguous as the oft-cited remark I first read in Heinlein’s Magic, Inc., any sufficiently advanced technology will seem like magic to a more primitive perspective. So, even in 1985, before the days of 3D printing, Chalker was positing the idea that a sentient super-computer could not only control the virtual but transform the physical. Are the amazing phenomena experienced in this novel a result of computer- or supernatural transformation? Readers will need to decide this for themselves given the way the story wraps.
Second, the story is built upon what philosophy and theology call “theodicy,” the problem of evil, particularly assuming the existence of a benevolent deity. Such statements as the following reflect the theodicy problem. “Now, consider a God who would not only permit but encourage war and plague and massive suffering and misery. Consider a God who would not only allow, but command the Lord Satan to do his worst to humanity.” (p. 116) “Hell is rampant, as it always has been. And do you know why? Because that’s the way God ordered it to be. He’s supposed to be all-seeing, all-knowing, omniscient and omnipresent, yet He’s never gotten over the fact that He made humanity in His own image and humanity proceeded to screw itself up.” (pp. 123-124) Add to this the problem of seeming unanswered prayer: “She knelt there, head bowed, for quite some time, and prayed to God, to Mary, and Jesus and the saints, to deliver her, even to strike her down, but to end this thing. But, as usual, there was no answer, no response at all.” (p. 161) But in dealing with the idea of evil, Chalker offers a rival perspective to those who simply question the idea of God. “…they brought themselves to the brink of extinction. And when by their own foolishness they brought this upon themselves, they blamed not themselves and their impulses but Heaven, and cursed it, and took the easy path that Hell always offers.” (pp. 184-185) “Misery can be a learning experience, as can joy. Evil promises immediate rewards, but an eternity of misery followed by oblivion. Sacrifice promises immediate suffering, but an eternity of joy and reward.” (p. 185) “Evil is always with humanity, for without it how can good be determined?” (p. 185) Chalker is even-handed in presenting the philosophies behind the two (at least) factions in conflict.
Naturally, in a journey replete with moral ambiguity and difficult ethical decisions, there is a third path. That third path is relativism and not to be confused with being tolerant or easy-going. The Messiah’s Choice also includes those who don’t feel a need to choose, much like the early 20th century philosopher, C. L. Stevenson. In our fictional form it reads: “Primitive, though, now as ever before, was a relative term, one used by modern man, modern civilization, to judge on the basis of the way a culture looked and what a culture used in relation to their own digital watches and jet planes and computers. It did not measure the soul, nor admit that a different value system might be no less sophisticated than their own.” (p. 182) So, throughout the story, you can expect to be patronized by the arguments of evil, challenged by the arguments of good, and harangued by the arguments of relativism. Yet, as in real life, that relativism doesn’t really accomplish anything when both factions are trying to gain control and people are victimized by one side or the other (even good has its collateral damage in this story).
In addition to philosophical and theological references, I thought it was interesting that Chalker chose the Babylonian names used in Daniel for the three Hebrew men who were thrown into the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In Daniel 3, threatened with a fiery martyrdom, these heroes insisted that God could save them, but even if God didn’t save them, they would remain faithful. So, Chalker uses the three names as code names for three members of what appears to be a suicide squad. In this case, though, instead of three, young Hebrew men, one is a Christian woman from Lebanon, one is a Muslim from Nigeria, and one is a Sikh from India. That seemed like an interesting choice for me.
While considering consequences of various moral positions, I found one reference in The Messiah’s Choice to be most prescient. One example of evil brought up by a character states, “Now people take it upon themselves to drive into crowds and play ‘smash the pedestrian’ in many major cities.” (p. 279) Written in 1985, this is long before the modern wave of driving into crowd incidents associated with terrorism. I don’t remember such incidents in the ‘80s, so it seems like Chalker was eerily ahead of his time in this observation.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I suppose one reason I hadn’t read it before is that it was published by a short-lived small specialty press named “Bluejay Books.” The publisher ceased publishing in 1986, the year after this novel was copyrighted. Although founded by an experienced science-fiction editor and husband of a recognized science-fiction author, the publisher must have been either so rushed, underfunded, or both that the copy editing suffered. As a former editor, I often see typographical (maybe, typesetting) errors and page right by them. I haven’t read other Bluejay Books, so I’m not certain, but it seems like these books have a lot of them (judging from the small sample size of this book). In The Messiah’s Choice, I made note of a few: “Book of Revelations” instead of “Revelation” (p. 64), “realy” (p. 75), “chaple” (p. 108), “somthing” (p. 114), “utensiles” (p. 139), “same of Christ” instead of “name” (p. 194), , and “sometime” instead of “sometimes” (p. 315) jumped out at me.
The Messiah Choice is quite enjoyable, so I’ll complete this review with a comment by the main protagonist after he is captured by a villain and complimented for the challenge he had provided for the, apparently, victorious villain. “I appreciate the flattery, but it seems that fighting gallantly isn’t enough to win the war. I’d rather be less impressive, get some breaks, and win.” (p. 270), and “sometime” instead of “sometimes” (p. 315) jumped out at me. Typographical or typesetting errors or not, I’ll try to check out a few more books from this short-lived line.
May 25, 2022
2.5/10
This book really was quite awful. Riddled with typos and with a plot that was both predictable, and when not predictable, cringey, it just wasn't for me. There were a few moments that were okaayyyy, but overall I felt myself hating the fact that I read this. I hate giving bad reviews to books but I can't find myself recommending this to anyone, ever.
This book really was quite awful. Riddled with typos and with a plot that was both predictable, and when not predictable, cringey, it just wasn't for me. There were a few moments that were okaayyyy, but overall I felt myself hating the fact that I read this. I hate giving bad reviews to books but I can't find myself recommending this to anyone, ever.
June 1, 2013
Typical Chalker: line between tech and magic, where is it? Evil vs. good. Good read.
September 19, 2019
Though it covers a lot of ground I've previously enjoyed in The Demons at Rainbow Bridge and its series (techno-satanism, transformation and what it means to the mind and the body, betrayal, religion, trans-humanism, etc etc) it is in a much less-polished and less-engaging way. The characters in particular are less than interesting, and hoo boy do we feel the need to spend a lot of time complaining at the end about arbitrary things that don't seem earned.
( And though I can't fault Chalker or the work for it, since this was published 35 years ago, it's hard to take some of it seriously, and hard to stomach other parts of it, given 2019's understanding of gender dysphoria and ableism. )
Read the Quintara Marathon instead. Better science. Better fiction. Better characters. Better theology.
( And though I can't fault Chalker or the work for it, since this was published 35 years ago, it's hard to take some of it seriously, and hard to stomach other parts of it, given 2019's understanding of gender dysphoria and ableism. )
Read the Quintara Marathon instead. Better science. Better fiction. Better characters. Better theology.
Read
October 23, 2025Sir Robert McKenzie's Island was a heaven for cutting edge research until blac magic was bonded to science, and the Dark Man appeared. He had the power to grand wild wishes or annihilate at a whim, mold bodies lie putty. shatter brains, twist time. Detective Gregory MacDonald and a Beautiful paralyzed heiress from a convent Angelique Mantagne, new the total horror spawned in a Caribbean paradise: the the Anti Christ was risen. Only a handful of humanity stands between him and Armageddon.
June 15, 2023
Great potential and setup, not so great follow through. Lots of outdated views on women/transgender individuals/race.
February 23, 2025
I'm not a fan of Chalker, but this one is fairly original and, at least, very entertaining.
February 13, 2013
Jack Chalker indulges in his hobby of stripping characters naked, then letting them have some not very graphic sex in between torture sessions. All this in a book that can't make up it's mind whether it is science fiction or horror. Even the characters don't know in the end, Spoiler ahead: when you find out who the King is, you will be massively disappointed.
November 6, 2014
Grade C.
May 13, 2012
An interesing book, a mix of science fiction and religion in the cold war era, where it's left up to you to decide if it's a story of technology run wild or something more...
May 10, 2012
Started out pretty good, but got weird in the middle, straightened out and then ended weird. Plus there were the usual typical Chalker sexual quirks as I think of some of his other novels.
May 10, 2012
Bleh. Good thing it was free. Actually, I dumped it from my Kindle midway so as not to waste the space.
December 6, 2013
Got a little more than halfway through and finally had to give up on this one. It just wasn't worth it anymore.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews