Quest For The Well Of Souls (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
Jack L. Chalker's "Quest for the Well of Souls" is the third book in his seven volume "Well World Saga." It's also the second book of a two book sub-series introducing Mavra Chang. And, even though the rating shows up here as 4 stars out of 5, I'm really rating it at 3-1/2 stars out of 5. Regarding style and content, there are no surprises here: it's Chalker through and through, it's the Well World, and it nicely ties up where we were left hanging at the end of "Exiles at the Well of Souls" 22 story years ago. One thing that had me wondering if I ought to drop my rating all the way down to 3 stars is the way Chalker has mixed up the teams of characters. Instead of having a team of good guys and a team of bad guys, we've got multiple teams of both good and bad guys. It sort of makes it hard to root for the home team when it's not really your home team. Still, it's worth reading if only to tie up the loose ends from the previous book.The books in Jack L. Chalker's "Well World Saga" are:1. Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World Saga: Volume 1)2. Exiles at the Well of Souls (Well World Saga: Volume 2)3. Quest for the Well of Souls (Well World Saga: Volume 3)4. The Return of Nathan Brazil (The Well of Souls Book 4)5. Twilight at the Well of Souls: The Legacy of Nathan Brazil6. The Sea Is Full of Stars (The Well of Souls)7. Ghost of the Well of Souls
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.
What do You think about Quest For The Well Of Souls (2003)?
There were parts of this book that were incredibly good and fit very well in the world. And parts that just seemed to drag on. But, I did like the end. Sort of.
—Duxcaelo
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.
—Ian
