http://pro-libertate.net/20110111/149-read-gates-creation ( )

It turns out that this is a sequel - and a copy of the predecessor is in a warehouse along with the vast majority of my other books. So that is mildly irritating but not the book's fault...

Reading this book I was quickly and persistently reminded of [b:The Great Book of Amber|5367|The Great Book of Amber (Chronicles of Amber, #1-10)|Roger Zelazny|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348965047s/5367.jpg|8810]. I haven't checked which series started first but the correspondences are manifold: murderous family plots and feuding; protagonist who spent much time on Earth; ability to create whole universes; gates/trumps between places.

The Amber stories are better than this, however. Better world building, better characterisation. Better prose. This is my first encounter with [a:Philip José Farmer|10089|Philip José Farmer|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234714074p2/10089.jpg] and I can't say I'm positively impressed. ( )

Not very entertaining. Farmer, in my estimation hit his peak with the "Riverworld", and so this mild take on "Orpheus goes after his wife, but his father doesn't want that to happen", is not very good. ( )

Again, mildly enjoyable. There are some deeper themes here - what the Lords have become, alienation from parents and siblings - but mostly it's a fascinating journey through some seriously weird settings (the World of Tiers is positively normal beside some of the stuff Urizen came up with). Aside from a little with the inhabitants of the air-island, there's basically no interaction with people outside the Lords themselves - in many places there aren't any other people, but even back on the waterworld the inhabitants of the first island and the Mother Island are generic, not fleshed out at all. A lot of nasty tricks and a lot of nasty people - the Lords are shown to be childish, selfish, greedy, capable of casual and not-so-casual betrayal, and overall people there's no reason to like. Heck, Theotormon ends up being a better man than most of his siblings. Luvah is presented as better, but his actual actions don't particularly support it - he doesn't betray Wolff when Wolff needs support, but that's about it. By the end of the book, only the good people get to get away, though. And this book is another chase to rescue Chryseis - she needs better defenses if she's going to hang around Wolff. ( )

This book also has Wolf as the primary character. I've read it a couple of times over the years & am re-reading now as part of the full series. It also weathered the decades well. Again there are some holes in it, but it was a great read. We learn more about the 'Lords' & how they are just regular people who have high technology that they don't understand. They're not very good people, either. ( )