Midnight at the Well of Souls

By: Jack L. Chalker

Narrated by: Peter Macon

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

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)

Et Tu, Wuji

Surprisingly good sci-fi. It’s difficult to figure out the direction of the story and how it is going to progress but it remained interesting and curious in its exploration of various worlds and civilizations. I think if it had not been intriguing I would have just questioned the path and seen the collecting of characters as just another fantasy story of some adventurers haphazardly encountering each other to join each other on a common journey. Although, I still think it followed that basic arc it was a good journey and a somewhat unique story bringing fantasy together with mythology and science fiction.

Awesome Sci-fi novel. Highly underrated

loved it don't have time to right more amazon requires words so words words words words words words words words words

Cloud is a joke

The book is excellent. I have read the book many years ago and now that I have found it on audible I thought I would listen to it. But unfortunately I have to listen to it from the cloud and I can't get past 6 hours before it refuses to go any farther. But everything else is great. I hope to finish it sooner or later. If not I will have to find the book itself so I can finish it.

Story seems really good

I can’t get past the monotone same voice and inflection for every character and the narration.

Great story. Great reader.

Loved it. Very creative. Kept me hooked. Loved the depth of the story, the world, and the deep thought put in by the author.

Entertaining

I really liked the out of the box concepts in this story, & performance was very good

Brilliant world building

I had no idea what I was getting into and while it took a little while to ramp up, the ever expanding universe and possibilities were pretty awesome.

Well Crafted Story

This first book of the well of souls series definitely grabbed my attention. Great world building. The story sometimes drags and the characters can be hard to follow, there's a half dozen that get equal time and at least in audiobook at times I got lost and wondered which one I was following. Overall I anjoyed the book and the narrator's reading was good to listen to. I'm definitely going on to the second book.

Still a good scifi/ fantasy years later.

read this book when it was initially published when in high school. one of the first scifi series i started reading along with Piers Anthony and Alan Dean Foster. loved the well word books then and still think it holds up after all the years.

a fun and dynamic world with great dialogue

the worlds were fun to explore and the dialogue helps enhance the experience within each. I'm also convinced the narrator is Vin Diesel