A Well Of Souls Does Not Sound Hygenic

One side effect of not having internet access over the weekend was I did a lot of reading. Let's talk sci-fi stories.

Exiles at the Well of Souls - This was the first part of a two-part series, based on the blurb at the end of the last page. A scientist develops a device that can change reality however you want, so long as you provide the appropriate information to the machine. Naturally, a power-hungry guy with dictatorial desires coerces the scientist into building a larger version for him. The first trial run ends up sending the entire asteroid base to the Well World, established by a race called Markovians.

The Markovians advanced as far as one could physically and materially, but weren't satisfied. So they built a patchwork world (think the Beyonder's Battelworld from Secret Wars, or Cynosure from GrimJack), let their scientists and artists shape a section as they wished, then willingly became new species, one for each section. Then they were observed and once they 'prove out' were sent to some world that matches (or more likely was altered by their versions of the reality-altering machine to match) the conditions inside that section. Then they redesign the section and start again.

Into this enter 6 humans, because both their spaceships flew over non-technological sections, all the systems shut down, and they crashed. Their spaceships are of immense interest to several of the races, because the engines are powerful enough that whoever has them could leave the Well World, and I guess reach the asteroid's reality-altering machine and do, whatever they wanted I suppose. I don't quite understand how in all the sections labeled high-technological (there are probably at least 500) none of them have developed sufficient engines on their own. In the past, when the Markovians were observing, I could see them sending species that reached that point out before it happens, but there's supposedly one Markovian left, and no indication its checking to see whether a species has 'proved out'. Still, none of them have gotten that far along? So it turns into a race between several interested parties to reach one of the engines first, with some of the humans on both sides.

Normally, I'm all for a story that introduces lots of disparate groups that have their own societies. But most of these seemed pretty basic, not all that different from various human societies, except for what the inhabitants look like. Plus, also the focus on reproduction in each species seemed forced. It was there, but it mostly felt unnecessary, didn't particularly advance the plot or help flesh out the world they're in.

The Mountains of the Sun - This is the typical story where humans return to Earth after it's been ravaged by some cataclysm. The are still people there of course, and so the two groups interact. On the plus side, it isn't a case of there being hostilities, because Cal is a curious person and has managed to use that to gain control of his tribe. Since he's curious rather than frightened or angry at these "Ancestors" (as they perceive the people from Mars), the rest of his people go along.

The two sides don't come together until fairly late in the book, as most of the story is concerned with Cal exploring beyond the regions he's supposed to, and how he uses that to his advantage. It's a little strange he encourages his people to follow him, because I get the impression he doesn't care much about them. He mostly wants to explore, and he could have done that with his wife Sylve and left the rest of them behind. Maybe he wanted them around so he could keep rubbing in how foolish they were to believe in the river of fire that existed beyond the mountains. That is part of why he keeps Sylve's father around, to remind him of his past misdeeds. He is sort of self-absorbed and unconcerned with anything that doesn't help him.

The Martians planning to reclaim the Earth face a decision. They've been told to not interfere (Prime Directive stuff), but there are some challenges to that, and how the survivors on Earth are perceived. The Martians had mostly looked at them as something to study, but not much more than animals. Actions and decisions made by Cal and some of the others convince them perhaps that's an inaccurate perspective. Feels a bit like commentary on European Imperialism, or maybe the Cold War powers using other nations as proxies in their pissing matches.