The Pillars of Eternity
by Barrington J. Bayley
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"The Pillars of Eternity, a novel about: How clones made murder a new sexual experience... How rebuilding one man's skeleton made him the most sensitive and powerful man in the galaxy... How a deck of cards was devised that was really programmed to reveal the future... How a lost planet became the mecca of every treasure-hunter in space... How Joachim Boaz plotted to derail the entire universe!"--Pg. [4] of cover.Tags
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Bayley takes seriously the idea that science fiction should explore big concepts, but none of this gelled for me, and all the characters were just puppets, with the possible exception of one minor character who fades away after a couple of chapters. The biggest idea is this: the universe cycles, and repeats the identical sequence of events for eternity. The main character and others believe this is scientifically proven. The main character, a starship captain, through a Rube Goldberg sequence of events, suffered extreme pain beyond that any human has experienced for ten minutes. To avoid this happening again he must somehow change this cosmic cycle. None of that stands up to any kind of serious thought, and the conclusion seems to show more agree. Meanwhile, we also encounter boyish nymphgirls whose sexual goal is to be murdered so that the memory can be transferred to clones stashed away. Interesting but this leads nowhere. Near the end, we meet a cop whose pleasure is to use his authority and pheromonal enhancements to force his heterosexual underlings to have sex with him. This character disappears after a few pages. What was the point of bringing him up in the first place?
Not recommended. show less
Not recommended. show less
With the exception of Philip José Farmer's The Unreasoning Mask and Aldiss' Hothouse, I can't think of another SF novel that manages to pack so many well developed and mind-spinning ideas into such a short span of pages (and Bayley's is shorter). Truly one of the great 1970's SF novels - in a decade that produced many - and now largely forgotten!
The Pillars of Eternity is Bayley's best novel IMO. Mind blowing conclusion.
The Daw edition features a neat Wayne Barlowe cover, but the Pan edition is a twofer backed with The Garments of Caean another excellent Bayley novel. See if you can get a used copy of that!
The Daw edition features a neat Wayne Barlowe cover, but the Pan edition is a twofer backed with The Garments of Caean another excellent Bayley novel. See if you can get a used copy of that!
I was trolling about the internet one day when I should have been working and I came across the Cheap Truth summary of Barrington J. Bayley’s science fiction. I thought anything described as the “literary equivalent of psilocybin” by the “Zen master of space opera” can’t be all bad.
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/06/pillars-of-eternity-by-barrington-j.htm...
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/06/pillars-of-eternity-by-barrington-j.htm...
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ThingScore 25
Joachim Boaz was a deformed orphan before the Colonnaders took him and reshaped his body with “silicon bones.” It was only after this radical surgery and to forget his past that he renamed himself after the two pillars of eternity at the ends of the universe, Joachim and Boaz. The enhancements mean he is susceptible to torments (and later, pleasures) to an intense degree and also that he show more is more or less incapable without his spaceship in close proximity.
He sets off to the elusive planet Meirjain, which takes a complex orbit in and around the closely knit stars of the Brilliancy Cluster, where time gems allow the past or future to be observed. Unfortunately such gems are contraband.
It is a measure of Bayley’s eclecticism that these meanderings, which many an SF writer would have explored minutely and at great length, are not the main focus of the book.
There are, though, musings on the cyclical nature of the universe and on whether Joachim will suffer his torments over and over again, all in Bayley’s somewhat dry style - which involves a lot of info dumping and telling rather than showing.
It would almost be absurd to complain that this tends to be at the expense of characterisation as Bayley’s intent is more to expound ideas but it does make for a less engaging reading experience.
Unfortunately, there is, too, a degree of casual sexism which may have gone unremarked on first publication over thirty years ago but jars badly nowadays and, towards the end of the book, the least enticing sex scene I’ve ever read.
This is probably one for Bayley completists only. show less
He sets off to the elusive planet Meirjain, which takes a complex orbit in and around the closely knit stars of the Brilliancy Cluster, where time gems allow the past or future to be observed. Unfortunately such gems are contraband.
It is a measure of Bayley’s eclecticism that these meanderings, which many an SF writer would have explored minutely and at great length, are not the main focus of the book.
There are, though, musings on the cyclical nature of the universe and on whether Joachim will suffer his torments over and over again, all in Bayley’s somewhat dry style - which involves a lot of info dumping and telling rather than showing.
It would almost be absurd to complain that this tends to be at the expense of characterisation as Bayley’s intent is more to expound ideas but it does make for a less engaging reading experience.
Unfortunately, there is, too, a degree of casual sexism which may have gone unremarked on first publication over thirty years ago but jars badly nowadays and, towards the end of the book, the least enticing sex scene I’ve ever read.
This is probably one for Bayley completists only. show less
added by ropie
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63+ Works 1,920 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1982
- First words
- He came slowly down the arcaded avenue that led from the landing ground.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then he heard an immense trumpet blast that wiped out everything.
Then nothing.
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- Members
- 69
- Popularity
- 451,667
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Lithuanian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
