Conference noted::sf

_Midnight_at_the_Well_Of_Souls_ is the first of five books in the
Well World series.  The first book lays a lot of groundwork for
the later novels, this accounts for the complex plot and the 
many minor characters. The ending doesn't tie everything up neatly,
supposedly so you will be tempted to read the later books.

I found the first book to be entertaining, but not the masterpiece
my professor in science fiction class claimed.  I read all four
of the succeding novels, each one taking longer than the last.
It began to seem like a chore to finish them.  

I would recommend reading the first novel, just for the interesting
ideas.  I would not recommend the rest of the series, unless you
really love the first.

				Barbara

There  was  a  lot of complexity in Well of Souls; and I'm glad you used the
"murder  mystery"  story  analogy,  because it's quite apt in this case. The
beginning  off  a good mystery may well seem overly complex, you haven't had
time  to adjust - like the detective, you're entering in the middle (or even
at  the end) of the situation you're trying to learn about - only reasonable
that  you'll  have to scramble to catch up. Midnight at the Well of Souls is
the  introduction  to  the  Well  of  Souls  series, not the whole story. It
doesn't  even  get into chapter 1. The characters and situations are new and
confusing,  and seem more complex than they are: you'll need more experience
to straighten things out and make sense of it all.

As  for  the "solution" to the Markovian mystery, let's put it like this: in
the  Introduction,  the aged Earl of the mansion has told the detective that
there  is  no doubt but that the butler committed the crime (or maybe it was
the  butler who _admitted_ to the crime?). Being a good detective, you won't
be  satisfied  with  this  without  some  independent  investigation.  Maybe
somewhere  around  chapter 3 you'll start to wonder if maybe you weren't led
a-stray by that early opinion ...

I  rather  liked  it,  actually.  Chalker  does a good job of laying out the
evidence  a  piece at a time, and slowing bringing it together until it ends
up  making  a  good  deal  of  sense  at the end. His _Lords_of_the_Diamond_
series  has  some similar attributes, and I like that, also. I haven't tried
his new set yet, but I probably will.

	/dave

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	This reply will necessarily give away the ending of "Midnight
	at the Well of Souls" by Jack L. Chalker. If you haven't read
	the book, skip this reply - it's not all that important, anyway.




	(Hit RETURN to continue; or type SINCE to skip this reply.)
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 I was unaware that there are more books in this series, which may explain
 why my expectations were skewed. Nonetheless, I think it's a totally
 unforseeable twist of plot to reveal Nathan Brazil as not a human (suspected),
 not a Markovian (suspected), but as God? How was I supposed to guess that?

 There are real problems with portraying God as your hero. There is literally
 no challenge that he can't handle with a snap of the fingers. And if he is
 God - why is he running around the universe piloting a spaceship and cursing
 the ComWorlds? Why wasn't he able to save the Markovians? Where's the
 conflict? Okay, so the author stuck his characters on the Markovian Well
 World. Did he need to bring God into the picture to get them off? It seems
 like overkill to me...

 However - I guess I AM judging from the first chapter, as reply 2 observed.
 I've got the book here - and looking it over, there's nothing I can see on
 the cover or inside that indicates there's more. What are the names of the
 additional books? I'll read them.

 Why? Well, I mentioned that a lot of this concept seemed like it was lifted
 from "Riverworld" by PJFarmer - that's true. But Riverworld also ended in
 a totally unacceptable way - I'd like to read the same story done right.

			I may be fussy, but why not?

					Max

***** hints that may be interpreted as SPOILERS follow *****







Midnight... was probably written as a standalone novel with hooks for 
extension into a series.  The ending is somewhat improbable in the context of
a single story, but...









...I found it consistent with the ultimate ending of the series.
It's awful hard to cnceive of a meaningful and self-consistent
culmination to such a all-encompassing basis.  (My biggest complaint was the
length of parts 4&5; the two books should have been one.)
With regard to Riverworld, I got bogged down as each new entry after Scattered
Bodies cane out, just hoping that Farmer wouldn'r really burn me, but I read to
the end and was not disappointed.  The concept of Wathen (do I have that right?)
was self consistent and closed the series in a manner commensurate with its
quality (left handed praise, indeed).
Chalker has the same problem in trying to close the Lords of the Diamond series.
When you bite off more than you can chew, you can 
				1) choke
				2) swallow
				3) spit it out.
Editors will likely force you to swallow, since either choking or spitting
out will leave them with no series at all, never mind just a poor one.

Anyway, Chalker has got a real fetish for other-body other-being situations.
I've read another of his novels, a standalone, with the same theme (I forget
its name.)

Closing note: consider the enormity of the basic concept of the Markovian
universe.  It's all a fake!  A computer has to keep believing in it to
keep it around!  Remember the Monty Python routine about 30-story apartments
for low income people?

- tom]

I really enjoyed Midnight at the Well of Souls. I like complex stories so that
may be part of it. I agree that the ending was a little disapointing. It was
as if after working so hard for so long, the author got tired and took an 
easy way out to end the story.

The next two books in the series were better. BTW thanks for the replies here
that caused me to go looking for the sequels. The plots are less complex then
M@tWoS and there is less of an "easy out." They introduce almost all new characters.

The most fun one being a "self-aware" computer named Obie. Also more beings
from the Northern half of the Well World are introduced in the third book.

While the similarities to the "Riverworld" books are obvious I felt that
Chalker did a better job in the long haul ( meaning several books long) of
keeping the stories fresh and interesting. I lost interest after two books
in the "Riverworld" series (something that almost never happens to me!) but
I am going to be looking for more Well World stories.

Alfred

>in the "Riverworld" series (something that almost never happens to me!) but
>I am going to be looking for more Well World stories.

Well, there is at least one more....

	Echoes of the Well of Souls
                           ^ or World :-)

is/was available at Barnes & Noble in Nashua.  It is paperback (larger than
'normal') and goes for $10.00.  The book intro claims this is the first of
three new books dealing with the Well World.

Well, there is another: 

	Shadows of the Well of Souls

is/was available at Barnes & Noble in Nashua and Lauriats.  It is paperback 
(larger than 'normal') and goes for $10.00.  

The book mentioned in .-1 is now on the shelves in 'standard' paperback size.

-Joe

>	Shadows of the Well of Souls

I just finished reading this book.  It was QUITE a disappointment!!! While
the previous book set things up, this book did very little to carry them forth
and probably could have been done away with entirely.

The writing style itself strikes me as different enough to suspect someone
writing under Chalker's name. The hex races encountered have nowhere near the
characterizations done in the first trilogy.  The new races are really quite
lame.

just in case a spoiler flag is need:

Some male characters are changed to female ones by the Well computer, some 
female characters into males).  Most of the book then deals with the characters 
making statements about men always being in charge, how poorly women are treated
universally it seems,  a number of the main female characters all having been
raped numerous times, etc etc.  Towards the end of this book, drugs are also
picked on (their indiscriminant use by hex races etc).  Anyway, a very 
moralistic treatment, taking it out the realm of SF.  Really, it did not seem
the characters were on the Well world, but on some street in some contrived
city on earth.

-Joe

The third book, GODS OF THE WELL OF SOULS, is now appearing on bookshelves.
This the odd-sized, $10.00, book.  I found it at Lauriat's in the
Pheasant Lane Mall, Nashua NH, USA (third hex from the left :-))

-Joe