The Fall of the Towers
by Samuel R. Delany
The Fall of the Towers (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 01-03)
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Come and enter Samuel Delany's tomorow, in this trilogy of high adventure, with acrobats and urchins, criminals and courtiers, fishermen and factory-workers, madmen and mind-readers, dwarves and ducheses, giants and geniuses, merchants and mathematicians, soldiers and scholars, pirates and poets, and a gallery of aliens who fly, crawl, burrow, or swim.Tags
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The Fall of the Towers is an omnibus of a trilogy Delany wrote early in his career, and while it is nowhere near the quality of his best works, it is hard to believe that he was a mere 22 years old when he completed it; it already shows a degree of accomplishment (not to mention sheer inventiveness) that many writers never manage to achieve.
Rather to my surprise, I felt myself reminded of John Brunner's Meeting at Infinity that I read a while back (and the comparison does not seem to be completely off the mark, seeing how Delany dedicates the final volume of the trilogy to Brunner and his wife Marjorie) - like Brunner's novel, Delany's trilogy has a somewhat crude pulp-ish as its unassuming foundation (alien invasion in Brunner, two show more trans-galactic super-beings battling it out in Delany) on which they both build a splendid narrative edifice by means of dazzling imagination, brilliant invention and colourful writing (although still far from the blinding linguistic luminescence of Delany’s later works like Nova), supported by some solid world-building (I found it particularly remarkable that both authors gave some thought to how the economics of his world works - or indeed, does not).
Where Delany's later novels build up vertical complexity, i.e., use a small cast of characters and a basic plot but add layers upon layers of world-building, character depth, mythical resonance and literary reference to that, The Fall of the Towers extends mostly into the horizontal plane - while characters appear (comparatively) flat, there are a lot of them, and the plot is quite sprawling, which I suppose is quite appropriate for a trilogy.
Even so, the whole thing whizzes by at a very high speed, fast enough to leave the reader dizzy at times from the dazzling display of words and ideas Delany fires off. I do not want to come across as nostalgic, but I am feeling very tempted to say that they just don't make them like this any more - looking at today's sedentary, sprawling space operas with their extensive and detailed world-building and comparing them to the fast and furious fireworks of Delany or early Brunner (or Zelazny or Eillison or...) is almost like looking at a balding, beer-bellied guy in his advanced middle age and wondering whatever became of the lean and hungry teenager with the visionary gaze that he used to be... show less
Rather to my surprise, I felt myself reminded of John Brunner's Meeting at Infinity that I read a while back (and the comparison does not seem to be completely off the mark, seeing how Delany dedicates the final volume of the trilogy to Brunner and his wife Marjorie) - like Brunner's novel, Delany's trilogy has a somewhat crude pulp-ish as its unassuming foundation (alien invasion in Brunner, two show more trans-galactic super-beings battling it out in Delany) on which they both build a splendid narrative edifice by means of dazzling imagination, brilliant invention and colourful writing (although still far from the blinding linguistic luminescence of Delany’s later works like Nova), supported by some solid world-building (I found it particularly remarkable that both authors gave some thought to how the economics of his world works - or indeed, does not).
Where Delany's later novels build up vertical complexity, i.e., use a small cast of characters and a basic plot but add layers upon layers of world-building, character depth, mythical resonance and literary reference to that, The Fall of the Towers extends mostly into the horizontal plane - while characters appear (comparatively) flat, there are a lot of them, and the plot is quite sprawling, which I suppose is quite appropriate for a trilogy.
Even so, the whole thing whizzes by at a very high speed, fast enough to leave the reader dizzy at times from the dazzling display of words and ideas Delany fires off. I do not want to come across as nostalgic, but I am feeling very tempted to say that they just don't make them like this any more - looking at today's sedentary, sprawling space operas with their extensive and detailed world-building and comparing them to the fast and furious fireworks of Delany or early Brunner (or Zelazny or Eillison or...) is almost like looking at a balding, beer-bellied guy in his advanced middle age and wondering whatever became of the lean and hungry teenager with the visionary gaze that he used to be... show less
I picked this book up from a book sale at a local grocery store about ten years ago. It was the only science fiction book on the table, but I had never heard of Samuel Delany before, so I picked it up and started reading the first page:
The green of beetles' wings... the red of polished carbuncle... a web of silver fire.
I bought the book on the strength of that striking image alone, and found that the book that followed lived up to its promise. This one had been in the queue to be reread for ages, but it's been on my mind lately, so I decided to pick it up again.
From the plot, this sounds like fairly typical American science fiction from the 1960s, the era of Vietnam War protests and psychadelic drugs, even if a creative one. What sets show more it apart is the quality of Delany's writing, from the striking word choice and imagery that has stuck in my head for years to the narrative structure of the book. The Fall of the Towers follows a broad ensemble cast and intertwines their stories and POVs, slowly teasing out bits and pieces of the worldbuilding and the story, not all in chronological order. There is no single genius here, no ultra-competent Heinleinian hero who shows everyone up, only a cast of mere humans whose ideals, flaws, virtues, and choices drive the plot.
I am happy to say that this book held its ground and maintained its place on my keeper shelf during the re-read, and that I look forward to digging out the other Delany books I've acquired that have been languishing in my TBR pile for ages.
More details at my blog.
This review was written for the A More Diverse Universe tour, celebrating the work of authors of color in the field of speculative fiction! If this work sounds interesting to you or if Delany's work is new to you, check out the tour list- there are several reviews of Delany's other work, along with work from a wide variety of authors famous, mid-list, and obscure! show less
The green of beetles' wings... the red of polished carbuncle... a web of silver fire.
I bought the book on the strength of that striking image alone, and found that the book that followed lived up to its promise. This one had been in the queue to be reread for ages, but it's been on my mind lately, so I decided to pick it up again.
From the plot, this sounds like fairly typical American science fiction from the 1960s, the era of Vietnam War protests and psychadelic drugs, even if a creative one. What sets show more it apart is the quality of Delany's writing, from the striking word choice and imagery that has stuck in my head for years to the narrative structure of the book. The Fall of the Towers follows a broad ensemble cast and intertwines their stories and POVs, slowly teasing out bits and pieces of the worldbuilding and the story, not all in chronological order. There is no single genius here, no ultra-competent Heinleinian hero who shows everyone up, only a cast of mere humans whose ideals, flaws, virtues, and choices drive the plot.
I am happy to say that this book held its ground and maintained its place on my keeper shelf during the re-read, and that I look forward to digging out the other Delany books I've acquired that have been languishing in my TBR pile for ages.
More details at my blog.
This review was written for the A More Diverse Universe tour, celebrating the work of authors of color in the field of speculative fiction! If this work sounds interesting to you or if Delany's work is new to you, check out the tour list- there are several reviews of Delany's other work, along with work from a wide variety of authors famous, mid-list, and obscure! show less
The galaxy suffered from a great fire centuries before, which caused the destruction of the transfering device (I've read this in French so I don't know the exact term used in English for this) humans' only access to the stars, cutting off all the planets from one another. At the planets' surface, the great fire also caused the emergence of a barrier of radiations which prevents humans from settling beyond a certain point.
The Empire of Toromon on Earth has therefore been forced to grow and develop isolated for several centuries; cut off from part of its own continent by the radiations and cutt off from the rest of the galaxy. But lately, the barrier of radiations has expanded and the dead city of Telphar is now beyond human reach. show more Toron's government sees this, as well as the shooting down of several of its aircrafts on recognition missions as the act of an invisible enemy... invisible and unknown enemy upon which it decides to declare war.
In this political, economical and technological mess, lifetime-sentenced Jon Koshar manages to escape from the mines of tetron and makes his way back to Toron. Trouble is, no one has ever managed to escape the terrible guardians of the forest (once again, not sure the translation is correct). The thing is, Jon's not exactly alone and free. He's been contacted by an extraterrestrial triple life form and so have two other humans. This triple being warns them of the intrusion of the Lord of the Flames in their world.
Is the Lord of the Flames responsible for the expansion of the radiations? Who are the other two humans selected by the triple being and how is Jon with their help supposed to counteract the irresponsible actions of his government?
While I've taken my time reading this trilogy (yeah... two weeks. Hey, I've been busy, 'k?), I must say that I've greatly enjoyed this space opera. The intervention of two extraterrestrial life forms never draws the reader's attention away from Delany's first concern, human reactions and interactions. Supported by strong characterization, Delany introduces us to a world full of diversity (the radiations have had some interesting effects on parts of the human population).
The only thing that bothered me at times were the transitions and the conveniency of some situations... this may be because none of the books are very long (count about 500 pages for the whole trilogy). Some things just happened too quickly in my taste, decision taking, change of minds that I would've liked to have a little bit more time and pages to consider and understand... but maybe I'm just slow on the uptake... but like I said, this was one of his earlier pieces of work... some young writers have done far worse and let's not give out names ;-). Same went for certain situations, for example Jon and Alter witness an explosion and they decide to alert Arkor and Petra about it. They take refuge into some kind of bar and ta-da here come Arkor and Petra in the very same bar, saying they know about the explosion and want Jon and Alter to go on some sort of expedition... there were similar types of shortcuts throughout the book, nothing big, but without them, the plot would have appeared more solid and real.
http://edroxy.livejournal.com/23185.html show less
The Empire of Toromon on Earth has therefore been forced to grow and develop isolated for several centuries; cut off from part of its own continent by the radiations and cutt off from the rest of the galaxy. But lately, the barrier of radiations has expanded and the dead city of Telphar is now beyond human reach. show more Toron's government sees this, as well as the shooting down of several of its aircrafts on recognition missions as the act of an invisible enemy... invisible and unknown enemy upon which it decides to declare war.
In this political, economical and technological mess, lifetime-sentenced Jon Koshar manages to escape from the mines of tetron and makes his way back to Toron. Trouble is, no one has ever managed to escape the terrible guardians of the forest (once again, not sure the translation is correct). The thing is, Jon's not exactly alone and free. He's been contacted by an extraterrestrial triple life form and so have two other humans. This triple being warns them of the intrusion of the Lord of the Flames in their world.
Is the Lord of the Flames responsible for the expansion of the radiations? Who are the other two humans selected by the triple being and how is Jon with their help supposed to counteract the irresponsible actions of his government?
While I've taken my time reading this trilogy (yeah... two weeks. Hey, I've been busy, 'k?), I must say that I've greatly enjoyed this space opera. The intervention of two extraterrestrial life forms never draws the reader's attention away from Delany's first concern, human reactions and interactions. Supported by strong characterization, Delany introduces us to a world full of diversity (the radiations have had some interesting effects on parts of the human population).
The only thing that bothered me at times were the transitions and the conveniency of some situations... this may be because none of the books are very long (count about 500 pages for the whole trilogy). Some things just happened too quickly in my taste, decision taking, change of minds that I would've liked to have a little bit more time and pages to consider and understand... but maybe I'm just slow on the uptake... but like I said, this was one of his earlier pieces of work... some young writers have done far worse and let's not give out names ;-). Same went for certain situations, for example Jon and Alter witness an explosion and they decide to alert Arkor and Petra about it. They take refuge into some kind of bar and ta-da here come Arkor and Petra in the very same bar, saying they know about the explosion and want Jon and Alter to go on some sort of expedition... there were similar types of shortcuts throughout the book, nothing big, but without them, the plot would have appeared more solid and real.
http://edroxy.livejournal.com/23185.html show less
Set in the technologically uneven, post-nuclear Empire of Toromon, 500 years after a Great Fire. Jon Koshar, along with the Duchess Petra and mathematician Clea, combat the tyrannical Lord of the Flames, navigate a manufactured war, and overthrow a ruling elite within an isolated society. The Toromon Empire is the only surviving human habitation, surrounded by radiation belts, often described as a cramped, Dead City setting.
The "Author's note in the Revision of this Edition" explains how and why changes were made to the original standalone books. Intricate but understandable story and characters I cared about and lots of threes.
This book was interesting. It was my introduction to Delany, and there were many things I liked about this book, but there were also many things I did not. I never felt any true connection to any of the characters, though the world was fabulous. The resolution left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, as well.
Very good early Delany... inconsistent but very entertaining and unsettling. Also remarkably topical, as the SF Site review notes.
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Published in 1970
58 works; 7 members
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196+ Works 28,825 Members
Samuel R. Delany Jr. was born in Harlem, New York on April 1, 1942. He is a science fiction and short story writer. His first novel, The Jewels of Aptor, was published in 1962. He has written more than 20 novels and collections of short stories, memoirs, and critical essays. He has received numerous awards including the Nebula Award for best novel show more for Babel-17 in 1966 and The Einstein Intersection in 1967, the Nebula Award for best short story for Aye, and Gomorrah and Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones, the Hugo Award for best short story for Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones in 1970 and for his non-fiction book, The Motion of Light in Water, and the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gay Literature in 1993. He is as a professor in the department of English at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. (Bowker Author Biography) Samuel R. Delany is a professor of English & Creative Writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. (Publisher Provided) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Fall of the Towers
- Original title
- The Fall of the Towers
- Original publication date
- 1970; Note: while the copyrights of the individual books of this trilogy are given, the date for the book is not!
- Epigraph
- ...The eager ridge, the steady sea,
the flat roofs of the fishing village
Still asleep in its bunny,
Though as fresh and sunny still are not friends
But things to hand, this ready flesh
No honest equal but my a... (show all)ccomplice now
My assassin to be, and my name
Stands for my historical share of care
For a lying self-made city,
Afraid of our living task, the dying
Which the coming day will ask.
W. H. Auden
Horae Canonicae - Dedication
- These three are for Marilyn, of course.
Out of the Dead City:
This part is for Peter Solaff
Towers of Toron:
Yes, Antoine, I was writing another novel
City of a Thousand Suns:
For John and Marjorie Brunner, for, at least,
the loan of the typewritter - First words
- The green of beetles' wings...the red of polished carbuncle...a web of silver fire.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Free to build and destroy they too, approached the City of a Thousand Suns, to be struck by blue smoke, dispersed by sudden lightening, dropped from a web of silver fire...the red of polished carbuncle...the green of beetles' wings...
- Original language
- English
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