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The machine that controlled all life wouldn't tolerate any interference. People who refused to be regulated had to be disposed of - isolated, driven insane, murdered. A small group of men had dedicated themselves to fighting this Frankenstein of man's technological achievement. Secretly they laid plans to destroy the machine and all its worksincluding the millions of people who had accepted their robot-like existence. Either way, the human race was doomed!Tags
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Well this was unexpected find. I knew it was situated at the very beginning of the Dickson's Childe Cycle but I was not expecting it to be origin story of the Malcador the Sigilite :)
Humanity is at the cross-roads, expansion to outer space is starting up and several factions start to appear, technocrats that are using AI (or is it other way around?) to provide people with all they need but it seems that ultimate result is to make a docile, compliant mass out of people; Chantry Guild that speaks in very strange terms of magic and new-age like topics, and see only future of humanity through utter destruction of existing society, and finally religious zealots that are against all the others.
In this messy situation, at the critical point in show more time, steps in our hero, man with what you might call sixth sense [that maybe something more in the end]. As such he attracts the attention of all parties because he is anomaly and as such he either needs to be controlled or removed from the board. But they are all in for a quite a surprise.
I truly enjoyed this book. Author's view of humanity's future is very contemporary, especially AI that is so beautifully portrayed as completely in-human-like in its reasoning but devastating and unrelentless when it comes to achieving its goals. As a matter of fact portrayal of the society in the book is very very contemporary (AI algorithms, "anomalies", marching people, oh my.....).
Same as Dune, book sees future of humanity not as homogeneous species but as a set of various "branches" that need to be given breathing room to develop and not stifle each other. Actions of our hero are very similar to actions of Emperor Leto II - after the existing civilization is brought to violent end (what you might call end of its natural life), humanity is released and allowed to spread uninhibitedly among the stars thus creating basis for Dorsai universe society.
If you enjoy W40K this book might be read like birth of Malcador, The Sigillite :) it is uncanny how story resonates even with that fictional world.
Highly recommended. show less
Humanity is at the cross-roads, expansion to outer space is starting up and several factions start to appear, technocrats that are using AI (or is it other way around?) to provide people with all they need but it seems that ultimate result is to make a docile, compliant mass out of people; Chantry Guild that speaks in very strange terms of magic and new-age like topics, and see only future of humanity through utter destruction of existing society, and finally religious zealots that are against all the others.
In this messy situation, at the critical point in show more time, steps in our hero, man with what you might call sixth sense [that maybe something more in the end]. As such he attracts the attention of all parties because he is anomaly and as such he either needs to be controlled or removed from the board. But they are all in for a quite a surprise.
I truly enjoyed this book. Author's view of humanity's future is very contemporary, especially AI that is so beautifully portrayed as completely in-human-like in its reasoning but devastating and unrelentless when it comes to achieving its goals. As a matter of fact portrayal of the society in the book is very very contemporary (AI algorithms, "anomalies", marching people, oh my.....).
Same as Dune, book sees future of humanity not as homogeneous species but as a set of various "branches" that need to be given breathing room to develop and not stifle each other. Actions of our hero are very similar to actions of Emperor Leto II - after the existing civilization is brought to violent end (what you might call end of its natural life), humanity is released and allowed to spread uninhibitedly among the stars thus creating basis for Dorsai universe society.
If you enjoy W40K this book might be read like birth of Malcador, The Sigillite :) it is uncanny how story resonates even with that fictional world.
Highly recommended. show less
I know its a prequel, though the second book published in the series, and I haven't read the first one but this sure seems to have a lot of first book-ism going on. Its super unclear whether the powers our one (super strong)armed protagonist Formain, our antagonist, or various other parties exhibit are semi-mystical in nature, genetic, produced by technology, or psychic...and/or which of those explanations is being actively used by parties in the book as obfuscation or which various folks actually believe. Other than a lot of really vague rambling about the Alternate Laws. Add in a lot of very vague supernatural/metaphysical talk that doesn't seem all that important to the plot nor to be serving a ton of world building purposes. There's show more also some messianic stuff mixed in near the end. I'm also still really confused by all the pseudo-masonic trappings of the Chantry Guild.
Its a pretty mixed bag...as short as it is I think it could've used a lot of tightening up and maybe just been a novella. I know the other Dorsai books are considerably longer, and I wonder if this wasn't just kind of a space filler. Something Dickson put together to bridge a gap in time for his publisher before the next book in the series was ready, assembled out of fragments of backstory he had kicking around in his head padded out considerably to meet length requirements and in an effort give a little more context to some of what would happen in later books. show less
Its a pretty mixed bag...as short as it is I think it could've used a lot of tightening up and maybe just been a novella. I know the other Dorsai books are considerably longer, and I wonder if this wasn't just kind of a space filler. Something Dickson put together to bridge a gap in time for his publisher before the next book in the series was ready, assembled out of fragments of backstory he had kicking around in his head padded out considerably to meet length requirements and in an effort give a little more context to some of what would happen in later books. show less
I've read only through chapter 3 of Necromancer, and already I want to smack Paul Formain over the head. The man gets premonitions. He ignores one and lives to regret it. In chapter 3 he gets another one and ignores it as well. Does this twit have a death wish? I certainly hope he does something sensible soon, because so far I find it hard to respect him.
I would not have even started Necromancer if my best friend hadn't recommended The Tactics of Mistake to me and my county's libraries had only the omnibus volume, Three to Dorsai!. I sincerely considered giving up and moving on to book two, but I read on. Necromancer is divided into three parts: "Isolate," "Set," and "Pattern".
NOTES:
Book One:
Chapter 1: This is Paul Formain's first day show more at the mostly-automated Malabar Mine. He has a premonition not to go down in that mine.
Chapter 2:
a. Paul is described physically, as he was described mentally in the first chapter.
b. Paul watches some persons on a news screen, including the guildmaster for the Chantry Guild.
Mentions: Sumerians, Semites, Shamash, and Adad
Chapter 3:
a. We get introduced to a song that will show up throughout this story: a love song about "apple comfort".
b. Paul learns about Walter Blunt's book, Destruct, and Walter Blunt's belief in alternate forces. He has a premonition about the book, which he ignores.
Chapter 4: Look here for names Formain found when he looked for a directory of Chantry Guild members.
Chapter 5: Paul meets Jason 'Jase' Warren, a Chantry Guild necromancer, at Jase's apartment. Jase explains the guild's aim and tests Paul.
Mentions: Leonardo da Vinci, Milton, and Einstein
Chapter 6:
a. Paul ponders Jase calling him arrogant.
b. We learn about marching societies and note a suspicious incident.
Chapter 7:
a. Kantale lives in the apartment next to Jase's.
b. Paul is asked to deliver an item to a suite in the Koh-i-Nor Hotel.
c. We meet Kirk Tyne, the World Engineer. He and his Division of Engineers make the decisions the machinery in charge of the world that only a human can make.
Chapter 8: Is Paul being framed for murder? There's a chase scene.
Chapter 9: Look here for a chant said to be a lykewake dirge.
Mention: the ancient Celts
Book Two:
Chapter 10: No-time is mentioned. Paul takes a trip to outer space.
Chapter 11: No, not THAT 'Twilight Zone'. Also, Paul gets an initiation.
Chapter 12: Paul has experiences as a journeyman, including an orientation.
Chapter 13: Paul is given the explosives test. Jase explains things. There's a last test for Paul to take.
Chapter 14:
a. The reporter changing what Paul told him reminds me of what I read about writers and highwaymen's last words.
b. Paul has an unusual experience with a squirrel.
Chapter 15:
a. It's Kirk Tyne's turn to give his viewpoint to Paul.
b. We finally see another verse of the apple comfort time song.
Chapter 16:
a. The Chantry Guild has about 60,000 members.
b. We learn where Kantele got her first name from.
c. Paul gets a disquieting announcement from the Super Complex.
Mentions: The Kalevala, [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow, ['The Song of] Hiawatha,' Kaleva, Handsome Lemminkainen, Ilmarinen, Väinämöinen, and the sacred harp Kantele.
Book Three:
Chapter 18:
a. Yep, that super computer in charge of Earth has a massive problem regarding its assessment of human sanity.
b. Paul takes a very unpleasant involuntary trip and becomes aware of Another.
Mentions: 'Il Trovatore,' [Peter Paul] Rubens' 'Adoration of the Magi,' and [John] Milton's sonnet, 'On His Blindness'.
Chapter 19: Paul has to do some thinking if he's to escape.
Chapter 20: This one opens with a play on Shakespeare's 'Full Fathom Five' and closes with Paul finally meeting Blunt face to face.
Mentions: Callimachus and Marathon
Chapter 21: Blunt has plans. Paul has another plan.
Chapter 22: "The Indian sign' is a dated term for a magic spell/curse.
Paul never became a character I cared about. Jase considered him arrogant. I believe that by the book's end we are expected to conclude that Paul is not arrogant because his opinion of his abilities is no exaggeration, but it didn't make him any more likeable. OK, I did like the look he gave Jase after the episode with the squirrel. Still, the best I can say is that I felt a little sorry for him. The ideas are interesting, though. show less
I would not have even started Necromancer if my best friend hadn't recommended The Tactics of Mistake to me and my county's libraries had only the omnibus volume, Three to Dorsai!. I sincerely considered giving up and moving on to book two, but I read on. Necromancer is divided into three parts: "Isolate," "Set," and "Pattern".
NOTES:
Book One:
Chapter 1: This is Paul Formain's first day show more at the mostly-automated Malabar Mine. He has a premonition not to go down in that mine.
Chapter 2:
a. Paul is described physically, as he was described mentally in the first chapter.
b. Paul watches some persons on a news screen, including the guildmaster for the Chantry Guild.
Mentions: Sumerians, Semites, Shamash, and Adad
Chapter 3:
a. We get introduced to a song that will show up throughout this story: a love song about "apple comfort".
b. Paul learns about Walter Blunt's book, Destruct, and Walter Blunt's belief in alternate forces. He has a premonition about the book, which he ignores.
Chapter 4: Look here for names Formain found when he looked for a directory of Chantry Guild members.
Chapter 5: Paul meets Jason 'Jase' Warren, a Chantry Guild necromancer, at Jase's apartment. Jase explains the guild's aim and tests Paul.
Mentions: Leonardo da Vinci, Milton, and Einstein
Chapter 6:
a. Paul ponders Jase calling him arrogant.
b. We learn about marching societies and note a suspicious incident.
Chapter 7:
a. Kantale lives in the apartment next to Jase's.
b. Paul is asked to deliver an item to a suite in the Koh-i-Nor Hotel.
c. We meet Kirk Tyne, the World Engineer. He and his Division of Engineers make the decisions the machinery in charge of the world that only a human can make.
Chapter 8: Is Paul being framed for murder? There's a chase scene.
Chapter 9: Look here for a chant said to be a lykewake dirge.
Mention: the ancient Celts
Book Two:
Chapter 10: No-time is mentioned. Paul takes a trip to outer space.
Chapter 11: No, not THAT 'Twilight Zone'. Also, Paul gets an initiation.
Chapter 12: Paul has experiences as a journeyman, including an orientation.
Chapter 13: Paul is given the explosives test. Jase explains things. There's a last test for Paul to take.
Chapter 14:
a. The reporter changing what Paul told him reminds me of what I read about writers and highwaymen's last words.
b. Paul has an unusual experience with a squirrel.
Chapter 15:
a. It's Kirk Tyne's turn to give his viewpoint to Paul.
b. We finally see another verse of the apple comfort time song.
Chapter 16:
a. The Chantry Guild has about 60,000 members.
b. We learn where Kantele got her first name from.
c. Paul gets a disquieting announcement from the Super Complex.
Mentions: The Kalevala, [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow, ['The Song of] Hiawatha,' Kaleva, Handsome Lemminkainen, Ilmarinen, Väinämöinen, and the sacred harp Kantele.
Book Three:
Chapter 18:
a. Yep, that super computer in charge of Earth has a massive problem regarding its assessment of human sanity.
b. Paul takes a very unpleasant involuntary trip and becomes aware of Another.
Mentions: 'Il Trovatore,' [Peter Paul] Rubens' 'Adoration of the Magi,' and [John] Milton's sonnet, 'On His Blindness'.
Chapter 19: Paul has to do some thinking if he's to escape.
Chapter 20: This one opens with a play on Shakespeare's 'Full Fathom Five' and closes with Paul finally meeting Blunt face to face.
Mentions: Callimachus and Marathon
Chapter 21: Blunt has plans. Paul has another plan.
Chapter 22: "The Indian sign' is a dated term for a magic spell/curse.
Paul never became a character I cared about. Jase considered him arrogant. I believe that by the book's end we are expected to conclude that Paul is not arrogant because his opinion of his abilities is no exaggeration, but it didn't make him any more likeable. OK, I did like the look he gave Jase after the episode with the squirrel. Still, the best I can say is that I felt a little sorry for him. The ideas are interesting, though. show less
Paul Formain, a mining engineer who loses his arm in a 21st-century utopia. Seeking recovery, he joins the Chantry Guild, a group led by Walter Blunt that uses Alternate Laws, a form of anti-science/magic, to induce chaos and evolve humanity.
Paul Formain, a gifted engineer, becomes a Necromancer, one who works with Alternate Forces, to destroy the stagnant, regulated society. The world is a perfect, computerized utopia, but the Chantry Guild, using the motto Destruct!, seeks to destroy this civilization to force evolution.
The Goal:
He initially seeks to regenerate his arm but gains a hyper-awareness of the isolation of all individuals, eventually realizing his own power to act on the Alternate Laws.
Paul Formain, a gifted engineer, becomes a Necromancer, one who works with Alternate Forces, to destroy the stagnant, regulated society. The world is a perfect, computerized utopia, but the Chantry Guild, using the motto Destruct!, seeks to destroy this civilization to force evolution.
The Goal:
He initially seeks to regenerate his arm but gains a hyper-awareness of the isolation of all individuals, eventually realizing his own power to act on the Alternate Laws.
The SF elements of artificial intelligence, parapsychology, genetic manipulation are standard devices. The characterization of Paul Formaine is reasonably developed with his malformed arm serving as an apt symbol for his malformed ambition, his missing arm for his lack of personal awareness.
The book is not as engaging as one would hope for the beginning of a powerful series. Dickson's intoduction of the Chantry Guild is, naturally, not as compelling as its later incarnation. The minor characters are two dimentional.
All said, however, the story gives a credible rationale and beginning for the Childe Cycle.
The book is not as engaging as one would hope for the beginning of a powerful series. Dickson's intoduction of the Chantry Guild is, naturally, not as compelling as its later incarnation. The minor characters are two dimentional.
All said, however, the story gives a credible rationale and beginning for the Childe Cycle.
There isn't much action in this book compared to the rest of the series & the philosophy is a bit weird, but the observations about society are fantastic. In some very interesting examples, he points out the craziness that happens when a society has everything it needs & no longer has to focus on survival. Sound familiar? It is. Amazingly so. There's also a brief look at what happens when a computer runs a society. Very interesting & worthwhile reading, even if you don't read any other book in the series.
The Chantry Guild is a strange cult that seeks to cure the world of its dependence on technology - by destroying it. Paul Formain, a young man who has suffered a couple of inexplicable life-threatening accidents is drawn to the Guild after reading their claims of the power of their Alternate Laws - which purportedly includes limb regrowth.
I remembered Gordon R Dickson as being an author whose stories I used to enjoy, although it's many years since I've read any, so I was rather disappointed that this one really didn't grab me - although I've no doubt the subtext is supposed to be an allegory for aspects of modern day life, it just didn't interest me enough to want to spend time looking for any deep meaning.
I remembered Gordon R Dickson as being an author whose stories I used to enjoy, although it's many years since I've read any, so I was rather disappointed that this one really didn't grab me - although I've no doubt the subtext is supposed to be an allegory for aspects of modern day life, it just didn't interest me enough to want to spend time looking for any deep meaning.
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A naturalized American who was born in Canada on November 1, 1923, Gordon Rupert Dickson is a popular science fiction writer. Dickson graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and made his home in Minneapolis. Among his many novels, especially notable is Soldier, Ask Not, which won the Hugo Award in 1965. For many years, Dickson's most show more engrossing project was his Childe Cycle, a series of novels about humanity's evolutionary potential, which included a group of futuristic books that are popularly known as the Dorsai Cycle. Dickson also wrote hundreds of short stories and novelettes including Call Him Lord, for which he received a Nebula Award in 1966. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Nichts für Menschen
- Original title
- Necromancer
- Alternate titles
- No Room For Man
- Original publication date
- 1962
- People/Characters
- Paul Formain (new recruit for the Chantry Guild); Walter Blunt (Chantry Guildmaster); Katele Maki (she's a Chantry Guild member ∙ Finnish singer); Jason 'Jase' Warren (Chantry Guild necromancer ∙ Guild Secretary ∙ Paul's master); Kirk Tyne (the World Engineer); James Butler (Koh-i-Nor Hotel security) (show all 18); Burton McLeod (pronounced 'McCloud' ∙ Chantry Guild cabinet member); Dr. Elizabeth Williams (psychiatrist); Kevin Malorn (murder victim); Heber (white-mustached sociologist); Leland Minault (explains things during orientation for journeymen); Eaton 'Eat' White (Chantry Guild cabinet member who works for Kirk Tyne); Pat Teasley (an engineer at the Malabar Mine); Diego (the surface engineer at the Malabar Mine); Nancy (World Engineer receptionist); a gray squirrel; a darkness across a gulf in space; the former professional solider who claims he never makes mistakes
- Important places
- the Malabar Mine; the Koh-i-Nor Hotel, Chicago Complex; Room 1412, Koh-i-Nor Hotel; Intersection of N Level 2432 and AANB, Chicago Complex; Suite 2309, Koh-i-Nor Hotel; on a space ship headed for Mercury (show all 12); Station Springboard; Room 8, Eighteenth Level, Station Springboard; Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA; 49th level of the Super Complex, core of the world's machinery; New Earth, in orbit around Sirius; Suite 1243, Koh-i-Nor Hotel
- First words
- The mine, generally speaking, was automatic.
- Quotations
- [Jase Warren explaining to Paul Formain]
'... The Chantry Guild is not interested in propagating the Alternate Laws. It only wants to train and make use of those who can already use the Laws, to its own end. And th... (show all)at end's to hurry the end that is inevitably coming, to bring about the destruction of present civilization.' (chapter 5) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'I never make mistakes.'
- Publisher's editor*
- Jeschke, Wolfgang
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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