• Midnight at the Well of Souls

  • By: Jack L. Chalker
  • Narrated by: Peter Macon
  • Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,570 ratings)

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Midnight at the Well of Souls

By: Jack L. Chalker
Narrated by: Peter Macon
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Publisher's summary

At the heart of a bizarre planet lay the goal of every being that had ever lived.…

Below average in height and unprepossessing in appearance, Nathan Brazil is an unassuming if cynical starship owner, carrying passengers and cargo for a living - hardly the sort of person to hold the fate of the entire universe in his hands.

But when Nathan detours from his route to answer a distress call, a hidden stargate hurls him and his passengers to the Well World, the master control planet for the cosmos. Billions of years ago, a godlike race unlocked all the secrets of space and time and remade the universe according to their grand design. Then they vanished and left behind the Well World to maintain the pattern of the universe.

Now someone is searching for the planet’s hidden control room - the Well of Souls - to seize control of the cosmos. Nathan must stop them, but this planet causes bizarre metamorphoses in visitors, changing them into centaurs, mermaids, and giant insects seemingly at random. As a result, Nathan no longer recognizes his friends, let alone his unknown enemies. His task seems hopeless - until his long-suppressed memories begin to return and he realizes who he really is.

©1982 Jack L. Chalker (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A big, bold book that takes traditional science fiction and turns it upside down!" (Leigh Brackett, science fiction author and screenwriter on The Empire Strikes Back)

What listeners say about Midnight at the Well of Souls

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Step Through The Portal, And Be Changed Forever!

It's been a while since I've penned a review - So much listening, and so little time.

However, I'm ready to begin another series of reviews on Audible scifi/fantasy selections.

So, let's begin with Jack L. Chalker's "Midnight At The Well Of Souls."

Why is this audiobook first? Simple. It's the beginning of a FANTASTIC series that will captivate you with a rich, rewarding listen, and have you wanting the next in the series, Exiles at the Well of Souls, which is also available.

This is the opening book for a VERY powerful series, one that pushes the boundaries of typical science fiction as you know it. Imagine, if you will...

The Well World: A world created by a long-vanished race, covered in vast, country-sized hexes, each housing a different intelligent alien species. Crossing the boundaries of the hexes can change the very air you breathe, the laws of physics, technology and even magic. Each hex represents the birthplace of that species, and some are at war with others. They can take over other hexes, enslave an adjacent hex's species, and can even forcibly swap hexes with another race. Creatures of myth, fantasy and nightmare vie for control of a planet they cannot leave, but can eventually rule. Even mankind occupies a hex on this planet.

One half of the planet houses carbon-based hexes, the other half alarmingly alien hexes, and each hex is the birthplace for these races and their migration into the universe eons ago. This world is countless light years away from our own, unknown, hidden and waiting for an opportunity to rewrite the universe to its own making.

The story begins with a host of human castaways that accidentally travel to the Well World, and are each randomly changed to a new species in different hexes.

It is all part of a very large story that will soar across the surface of the Well World in its telling, as many races and hexes to vie for a rare and valuable treasure that can change the Well World and our universe forever!

Despite all this, I haven't given away any spoilers whatsoever!

Chalker's Midnight At The Well Of Souls was so well received when it was first published, that he went on to write many more novels to expand the stories both upon the Well World, and even light years beyond it. Be careful, Audible listener. Once you travel down this wonderful rabbit hole, you might very well not turn back! It truly is that amazing.

So, step through the portal, human, and be changed forever!

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ESOTERIC

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?
I have found that most of the reviewers that like this, start by saying they read it when they were teenagers. I can see a teenager liking this, especially one new to Sci/Fantasy. They aspect of meeting new creatures such as Cousin Bat, would seem interesting to the novice listener or this could bring back good memories. To the well read in this field this is STAGNATION. The bulk of the book is running around a built world meeting strange creatures, such as human plants, centaurs, batmen, half snake and half walrus, etc... The first few that you meet are interesting and done well by Chalker. I found the human plants and the episode of the twining to be pretty cool. I really liked the Kafka moment of the man turned into a female insect. The problem is that this all gets old and redundant.

Science/Fantasy
Another reviewer remarked that this is science fantasy and I feel that is a perfect description. It started out pretty interesting, with an archeological dig on a unpopulated planet of an extinct race. This starts one of our first Introductions. We also meet some interesting characters. The planet had been run by a brain that was the world itself. I was soaking all of this up. I also enjoyed the space truck driver and the introduction to his world. It all seemed pure Science Fiction. Then they fell into the well and the story went strictly fantasy. At first it seemed even this would be worth listening to, but about five hours in, it becomes monotonous. I hung on for two more hours hoping it would return to the well written story it started as, then Jim the Impatient called it quits.

World of Tiers
This is very similar to Farmers, World of Tiers. It is also reminiscent of Anthony's, Split Infinity. The book is dedicated to Roger Zelzany and his style is evident. You will find most of Chalker's work in the paperback section of you used book store and it seems their is a reason you will not find him in hardback. I have one more of his books on my wish list, hopefully that will be better, as it seems he has lots of talent.

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Finally! Chalker's Best Series!

This is the first book in a wonderfully imaginative series that takes me back to my early teenage years when I first discovered it. Chalker creates a weird and detailed setting for the novel and the characters are memorable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intelligent science fiction stories.

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The Good, the Okay, and the Weird

I REALLY liked this book in the beginning. I liked it pretty good in the middle. I liked it well enough to try to finish it by three quarters. I didn't really like it at the end.

Why? It's hard to say exactly, but it started out as a cool story with a interesting concept, a wide array of characters and a goodly amount of mystery. Near the end, most of the mystery was gone, the characters got stale, the story broke down, and things just went off the sci-fi rails.

Maybe it was just my mood, the phase of the moon, or maybe this review is right. In any case, it would be a worthwhile read just for the first half, very inventive! The narration is very good as well.

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Doesn't hold up well in the modern era.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I loved this series back in the 80s when I was a teenager, but like so much Sci Fi from then it does not hold up well against the works of modern writers like Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, etc.. The world/universe is almost cartoonish and the villains rather laughable and some of the characters actions are inconsistent or unbelievable. I would call this more Science Fantasy than Science Fiction.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm actually listening to Exiles at Well of Souls to see if it gets any better...so far it has not.

What three words best describe Peter Macon’s voice?

Deep, deep, and deep!

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Surprisingly boring - couldn't finish

Your mileage may vary - I was actually a bit surprised that I found this one so dull. I think it might be because I didn't care even slightly about any of the characters, and thus had no real interest in whether they lived or died or turned into wacky aliens. The fact that this is only book one in a series might have been a turn-off too, since it basically guarantees the characters will not get a denouement this time around.
There was also a profound lack of mystery - stuff just happens. People get sucked through a big black circle and turned into aliens, and if nobody in the book finds this strange or interesting, why should I?
The alien species are kind of interesting, but it just wasn't enough to go on for pages and pages and pages.

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Surprisingly Terrific

If you could sum up Midnight at the Well of Souls in three words, what would they be?

Really Good Sci-Fi

What was one of the most memorable moments of Midnight at the Well of Souls?

Hard to say...Chalkers' overall writing style was breezy, enjoyable and entertaining. The entire book is part adventure, sci-fi, fantasy and character development. I found myself getting drawn in bit by bit and didn't want it to end. Thankfully there are others in this series.

What about Peter Macon’s performance did you like?

At times it was stilted...maybe the performance demanded it..overall I liked him a lot

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes...I just never do that with audible. I usually listen to books in my car and at the gym.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand why Chalker was not more popular and well known. This writing is on par with early Asimov and the style is reminiscent of classic science fiction. This is entertaining, fast paced, and utterly enjoyable. Something that will let you relax and take you out of your every day. Loved it.

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I'd probably have enjoyed this in the 70s

When I was a teenager this would probably have been exciting. Not up to the standard of Larry Niven, but not bad. But I'm not 14 any more.

The story was hackneyed and the characters and the science were both laughable. Technology has moved on and left this book behind in many areas, in other ways the science is what it should be in SciFi... inexplicable.

In science fiction it is a mistake to try to explain how your science works, because your, most likely dumb, explanations don't bear any scrutiny and that breaks the scientifically inclined reader out of the story. The animal sex and the teenage boy like preoccupation with the sexual organs of anything female were really amusing in a pathetic sort of way. By the way, the bit on the outside is the vulva, the vagina is inside, and it's not a cavity, that's just a bad word for it. Did the author have no experience of anything female?

Anyway, there's a huge and nasty case of deus ex machina at the end, the sort of 'rocks fall, everybody dies' ending that authors despise.

The delivery was pretty wooden, like the reader couldn't believe he was reading this, any more than I could believe I paid money for it.

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Couldn't get through it.

it just went from bad to worse. It started out as a passable space opera, but ended up some kind of bizarre HR Puffinstuff trip. Couldn't finish.

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Star Wars meets Wizard of Oz...

Great book and the voice acting is one of the better i have heard. worth the buy

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