The Tsaddik of the seven wonders

Imagine the entire universe under control of some great utility, or government department. Imagine further that you work for that entity. You have complete control of where and when (and which timeline) to appear in, or pull witnesses out of. So in your efforts to put the universe aright, you meet this guy ...

Fun book. Whimsical with some big, crazy cosmic / time-travel ideas. Interesting twist setting the whole thing on a timeline of Jewish history and mixing magic and technology in it. Reminded me a bit of Michael Moorcock and I'm sure Piers Anthony got a little inspiration from this book as well. Recommend primarily for readers of classic sci-fi and fantasy with a sense of humor.

This is billed as the first Yiddish science fantasy novel ever. It is about a tsaddik, which is a title for a very learned man. If I recall correctly, it's a bit more than a rabbi, perhaps with a mystical element involved. I forget the exact definition. (Like I can't afford to just buy a copy of The Joys of Yiddish.) Anyhoo, this tsaddik, named the Tsaddik, is quite magical and is travelling about through time. Meanwhile, in the future (I love messing with the tenses in a time travel discussion.), the Cosmo Corps has lost caseworker Lund in the past and caseworker Courtney is called in to finish Lund's mission. As you might surmise, eventually, the three men get together and, well, the story reaches its climax. (How it ends, I won't show more tell.) This book isn't memorable -- I had to skim the book to recall the plot. (Which I didn't tell you anyway.) But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It has a very Yiddish flavor to it, as any reader of The Joys of Yiddish will recognize, and I loved almost every minute. Consequently, this one stays on my shelf. Anti-Semites might disagree, but then, I wouldn't recommend anything good to them. So there.
--J. show less

It's billed as "the first Yiddish science fantasy novel ever," but there isn't enough Yiddish or Yiddishkeit (Jewish culture) to justify this. It is told from several points of view: the chapter headings tell you which is which.

Science fiction