Jack L. Chalker has written nearly as many series (11) as he has stand-alone
novels (12). A Jungle of Stars (Nov 1976) was his freshman novel but was
quickly followed by his sophomore novel and most well known work, Midnight
at the Well of Souls (Jul 1977). More than a year later, Chalker would
write the sequel, Exiles at the Well of Souls (Sep 1978) along with
another in 1978, two more in 1980, and two much later novels in 1999 and 2000.
I first read Chalker in 2008 with his Rings of the Master quadrilogy (1986-1988). Basically, Midnight at the Well of Souls follows
the same formula as the Rings of the Master series—group of
characters find themselves on a quest for an artifact and undergo physical
transformations along the way. It’s a generic summary but it fits both—this
book and the latter series—to a “T.”
Rear cover synopsis:
“Who was Nathan Brazil… and what was he doing on the Well World?
Entered by a thousand unsuspected gateway—built by a race lost in the
clouds of time—the planet its dwellers called the Well World turned being of
every kind into something else. There spacefarer Nathan Brazil found himself
companioned by a batman, an amorous female centaur and a mermaid—all once as
human as he.
Yet Nathan Brazil’s metamorphosis was more terrifying than any of
those… and his memory was coming back, bringing with it the secret of the Well
World.
For at the heart of the bizarre planet lay the goal of every being that
had ever lived—and Nathan Brazil and his comrades were… lucky?... enough to
find it!”
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The planet of Dalgonia was otherwise barren and desolate, if it weren’t
for the enigmatic ruins of the alien race—the Markovians—dead for a million
years without a trace of artifact beside their crust-thick planet-wide computer
of unknown capacity. The hexagonal mystery of the city’s layout is pondered
upon by researcher Skander, but its his mathematician Varnett who discovers the
breakthrough in understanding the computer’s nature. Skander’s greed for power
drives him to murder the other crew and chase after Varnett, who both soon find
themselves at the foot of a giant portal to another dimension.
Nathan Brazil and his freighter passengers are on a long haul trip when
an emergency beacon beckons them to the planet of Dalgonia. The diverse passengers,
ranging from the cloned Confederacy diplomatic envoy to the forced-addict
farmer, descend to the planet to investigate the murder of the scientific crew.
Their search takes them to the same area as the hidden portal where they are
also transferred to same dimension.
Received by a 6-armed muscular snake isn’t the warmest greeting, but
when that same creature knows Nathan by name, the lot of them settle down to
absorb the confounding truth of where they have found themselves—the Zone is a
reception level for people (aliens or humans) who stumble upon the Markovians’
hidden portals. The reception level gives access to the greater mystery—a
planet plated with 1,560 hexagons, where each hexagonal tract of land is
dedicated to a different species of alien. Once through the access portal, each
of them will be transformed into a phenotype which corresponds to their
respective attitudes and behaviors.
The four passengers are transformed into a mermaid researcher, a
centaur wallflower, a photosynthetic creature who also researches, and an
insectile servant while Nathan, himself, remains human, whose species had
recently undergone extinction in their hexagonal habitat. Nathan seeks out the
other passengers and slowly discovers that he knows more about the odd planet
than he first thought—something is familiar, something which may explain his
immortality.
One collection of passengers, now planet-fallen and physically diverse,
is rounded up my Nathan and aim to approach the equator which is host to a
towering divide between the hemispheres and may be part of the mystery involved
in the ubiquitous casual mention of Well of Souls across every language.
Another entourage is gathered by the menacing insectile servant, whose goal is
to also reach the equator for the purpose of power. Each pilgrimage is composed
of diverse phenotypes and their respective trek to the equator takes them
through terrain which is equally as diverse as their physical composition.
Nathan, having been given human body, thought himself lucky… until he was
transformed into an antelope, a circumstance which proved have its benefits and
its drawbacks.
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The start of the novel was exciting with a strong start in the fiction
universe portrayed by Chalker. Of minor interest was the human universe of
Confederate genetic engineering, its complacent members of society, and the
erroneous supposition that even the leaders are aligned to their genetic
vocational disposition. The brief coverage of the archeological excavation of
the alien culture was pivotal in introducing the reader to the mysteries which
lie deeper inside Midnight at the Well of Souls, but soon the focus is
taken off the aliens and spotted onto the diversity within the portal.
Even the transition to the exotic hexagonal-plated planet was
momentous, but eventually the randomness of metamorphoses and diversity become
more about quantity than quality. Too many ideas can be a bad thing,
especially when the science fiction element begins to accrue a Tolkien fantasy
element with centaurs, Faeries, magic spells, and instant transformations.
Chalker does a weak job of convincing the reader of the science basis behind
such magic, but then again Arthur C. Clarke’s third law of “Any
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” comes to mind.
This is hard to digest when the border region between fantasy and science
fiction is so slim, yet it’s completely up to the author to bridge the gap
between technology and magic. Unfortunately, it feels like Chalker’s love of
fantasy got the best of him.
Chalker tries to build a romance story out of Nathan’s natural
superiority and Wu Julee’s forced inferiority. I understand Julee’s desire to
be drawn to the man of power, but Nathan’s sympathetic attachment to Julee
adopts more perversity than it does love. If Julee is such a victim of lust and
power, why would Nathan want to project the same attributes of lust and power
on his idea of a victim-cum-lover? The situation becomes increasing odd when
the Julee’s centaur manifestation coincides with Nathan’s ascent to his
antelope state… their mutual quadapedal bodily configuration quickly invites
another rather convenient state of arousal—an altogether rather bizarre sex
scene.
As stated above, the Chalker’s inclusion of Faeries and magic is a very
quick turn off for someone who dislikes Tolkien fantasy, like myself. Right
then, the book hovered around the 2.5-star mark as I waited for a decent attempt
at explaining the lame inclusion. Coming to the conclusion, enough evidence was
given to partly convince me of the technological prowess of the
hexagonal-plated planet but I thought that simply excluding the fantasy-like
elements would have proved to be a stronger mention.
The ultimate plot conclusion is too grand, too exploitive to feel
satisfactory, almost as if the single sweep of the conclusions finality can
provide all the answers to life, the universe, and everything. As for the
personal conclusions for each character, the wishes granted seem fitting yet
reflect some sexism on Chalker’s part. Where the women were once forcibly
docile, their “magic” freedom comes at the cost of shrugging off their former
burdens for the convenience of their newly found metamorphosis… it’s cheap to
see their docility change simply because their bodily form had changed.
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So, Midnight at the Well of Souls was rather well done but
failed to really entice me to read any of the sequels. I mean, this novel was
pretty well nip and tuck at the conclusion that I’d hate to see any of it
complicated or deteriorated or buffed to a shine with any sequel. I don’t think
the Well of Souls series was actually meant to be a series like
the obvious Rings of the Master initiation in the first book, Lords
of the Middle Dark (1986). Just taking a look at the covers of the
proceeding novels in the series is enough to turn me off to them. I may be
turned off of Chalker for a while unless something honestly strikes me as
something non-formulaic to the characters-on-a-quest paint-by-numbers plot.
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