More Than Fire: A World of Tiers Novel

From Kirkus ReviewsFarmer's World of Tiers yarns--a mingling of classical and American Indian mythology, William Blake-ish romanticism, and Edgar Rice Burroughs-like high adventure--have been appearing variously since 1965; this book (according to the publishers) presents the ultimate showdown between the hero, Kickaha, and Lord Red Orc--one of the arrogant and decadent super-race that created the Tiers, a succession of pocket universes (the Tower of Babylon tier, the Atlantis tier, the Amerind tier, etc.). Though recent volumes have been presented for review in these pages, series fans will wish to investigate. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.Product DescriptionPhilip Jose Farmer is one of the living giants of the science fiction genre. His first published story, "The Lovers" (1952), won him the Hugo Award for Best New Writer and launched one of the most important careers in the history of the field. Perhaps the Riverworld novels and stories are the best known of his more than 90 books. Certainly next in rank of popularity has been his World of Tiers series.Beginning in the 1960s with The Maker Of Universes, and continuing in The Gates Of Creation, A Private Cosmos, Behind The Walls Of Terra, and The Lavalite World, Kickaha, an Earthman travels, fights, loves his way across the pocket universes. He is the implacable enemy of the decadent and arrogant Lords, a combatant who could have stepped out of the pages of Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces. And Kickaha's greatest and most deadly foe is the Lord, Red Orc.Now, in More Than Fire, Farmer concludes this epic series with the ultimate battle between Kickaha and Red Orc, with the entire existence of the pocket universes at stake. The long-awaited climax of one of the most popular and long-running adventure series in the history of science fiction is a colorful, complex, bloodthirsty, sexy explosion. The fast-paced story spans many worlds of wonders, reveals many secrets of the history of the World of Tiers, and ends with a shout of victory.From Publishers WeeklyHugo Award-winner Farmer ( Red Orc's Rage ) returns to his popular World of Tiers for a disappointing conclusion. Tiers (like Earth) is in a continuum of often very different "pocket" universes, created by the super-powerful Lords. These universes are connected through interdimensional gateways, like the one that 20th-century earthman Paul Janus Finnegan crossed to find the tiered world of Alofmethbin and become Kickaha the Trickster. Since then, Kickaha has lived an adventurous and heroic life trying to thwart Red Orc, who plans to recover the lost secrets of making and destroying universes in order to annihilate all other universes and create his own. For the most part, Kickaha and his lover, Anana, wander aimlessly from universe to universe until they're captured by Red Orc, who (in the manner of foolish villains everywhere) toys with them long enough for Kickaha to escape and force a final climactic confrontation. The World of Tiers novels were always mainly action and adventure--nothing deep--but here Farmer fails to deliver even that: the action is flat, the plot hopelessly contrived, the characters less engaging than in previous outings and the new worlds less vivid. And the prose is often worse than even pulp adventure should be: "Sometimes he glimpsed art forms that seemed to have been originated by an insane brain. But that was because of his own cultural mindset." Even die-hard fans of this series will likely be disappointed.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Author: Farmer, Philip Jose

Publisher: Tor Books

Binding: Hardcover

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0312852800

ISBN-13: 9780312852801