The Fall Of The Towers

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Samuel R. Delany

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The Fall Of The Towers (The Fall of the Towers #1-3)

by Samuel R. Delany

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 311 ratings · 20 reviews

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.

Published (first published 1970)

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Apr 20, 2009 Akiva rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is early Delaney and it shows (well technically it is a short trilogy packaged in one volume, but he plotted them together and wrote them in quick succession). It's set on an earth that has rebuilt itself into a small empire following a nuclear war, essentially making the setting a science fantasy world of aristocracies, power blades, and a weird alien consciousness always written in italics called The Lord of the Flames.

The pacing is weird and many of the events end up resolving anticlimac...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Larou added it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, fiction

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 complete...more 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 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...(less)

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May 07, 2011 Genevieve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sff, fiction

Samuel R. Delany keeps blowing my mind, and all I've read so far is his early stuff--practically juvenilia. I can't wait to get my hands on some of the later works. This trilogy is peculiar in having a pretty straightforward adventure-story plot, with telepaths and aliens and a kingdom at war, but not being written at all like a summary of its plot would suggest, not moving according to any of the expected beats. It's not without flaws, but ... the writing! so good! It's evocative and beautiful...more

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May 09, 2008 Roxane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

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 devel...more 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. 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.

There are plenty more things that I could say on this trilogy though... invisible enemy, unjustified war... does it ring any bell? While this was probably written to criticize the Vietnam War, it can easily be applied to current war in Irak. I'll also say fall of towers? *ahem* where have I heard that before? Ok, so either Delany's forty year old work is still current event or humans haven't learned from their forty year old mistakes... you pick. ;-)

(less)

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Feb 03, 2013 Stacey D. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Whoosh. Right over my head! Yes, that's what happens when I read Mr. Delany's brilliant works, filled with deep philosophical thought on life and art. Amazingly, Delany penned The Fall of the Towers in 1964 at the tender age of 22. I was really floored by many of the futuristic flourishes that Delany included nearly 50 years ago: retina scanning, fingerprint-lock recognition, phone tele-viewing and of course, uber-sophisticated computer technology. Lots of great characters that are human, animal...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

good 1960's scifi-fantasy series, worth reading for the scifi-fantasy fan interested in Samuel Delany's early work. The people in this series are well fleshed out, react to events realisticly, and change/evolve over time. No Mary-Sue or Marty Stu's in this series, unless you count the dueling alien intelligences who provide the framework for each book event.

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May 04, 2008 Gabriel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a bit stupid, but I kept getting distracted by the ridiculous name "Jon Koshar." It put me in mind of Lousi Gossett, Jr., in "Enemy Mine"-- "Your Mickey Mossss is one big stupid DOPE!" Probably just my hangup, but Ko-Shar (Action Goy!) was too silly for me.

This book, or at any rate the way it presents itself in language and plot, is locked fathoms deep in the SF ghetto. I read this because I really rather liked Delany's book "About Writing," but, far from "experimental," "Towers" is exa...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I would give it 3.5, if Goodreads had half stars. Amazing, considering he wrote all three volumes before he was even 22 years old. It suffers slightly structurally, perhaps from that inexperience, but is still a non-linear quest that will not fall the way you think it will, ever. And that's what I love about Delany, nothing is straight-forward. The action doesn't go from A to B to predictable heroic climax C. Rather A will happen, then we see vignettes of our characters' lives, then B will have...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Joe Petty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: samuel-r-delany

Read so much it's lost it's cover, I'm sure it doesn't look like the one that's shown above.

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Jul 30, 2011 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

so good it could persuade me from ever attempting to write anything.

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Jan 22, 2013 Rand rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: good-story-round-characters

Prescient.

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Apr 01, 2008 Kathy Petersen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-scifi, x-feb-08-thru-jan-09

An extraordinary journey through time and across the universe ... or is that "universes"? Delany's prose is full of brilliant colors, ambiguous landscapes, exotic but attractive characters, opposing narratives oddly interwoven. His complex yet relevant images are reminiscent in a fleeting way of Bob Dylan's, especially Dylan's work of the 1960s. Delany's book is contemporaneous with Dylan's early work, so perhaps it was something in the very air.

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Apr 23, 2010 Derek rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I kept falling in and out of like with this one. On one hand, it's unevenly plotted, with the occasional rough edge to the writing. On the other, the scenes of the cosmic battle against The Lord of the Flames were brilliant and gripping.

It had a Viriconium vibe to it in parts, and the overall effect was unsettling.

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Aug 19, 2007 Tessa M rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.

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Apr 15, 2013 Brett Cottrell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Good trilogy, worth a read, but not as good as the Einstein Intersection.

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Jul 02, 2008 Leonard Pierce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A trilogy of sci-fi/fantasy that was among the first indications of what Samuel Delany was capable of. Inconsistent, but overall quite good.

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Jul 03, 2008 Zepp rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: not folks who don't read sci-fi unless packaged in expensive tasteful Vintage editions

Shelves: sci-fix

fewer tightropes, more safety nets.
but plenty of trapeze.

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Jul 17, 2009 Hazel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I loved this as a child. Not a great book, but good fun.

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Sep 03, 2009 Caty rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Early Delaney, and it shows, but so much fun.

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Apr 21, 2008 Charles Stanford rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A bit raw, but still interesting.

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May 20, 2013 C.M. Muller rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 15, 2013 Tiberius Vallon is currently reading it · review of another edition

May 13, 2013 James marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

May 10, 2013 Justin marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 06, 2013 Garyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 01, 2013 Rachel marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 20, 2013 Jen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 16, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 15, 2013 J. Allen Nelson marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Apr 14, 2013 Mandy added it · review of another edition

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About Samuel R. Delany

Samuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7t...more Samuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7th Avenue, between 1938 and his death in 1960. The family lived in the top two floors of the three-story private house between five- and six-story Harlem apartment buildings. Delany's aunts were Sadie and Bessie Delany; Delany used some of their adventures as the basis for the adventures of his characters Elsie and Corry in the opening novella Atlantis: Model 1924 in his book of largely autobiographical stories Atlantis: Three Tales.

Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.

Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.

Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.

Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.

In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.(less)

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The Fall Of The Towers (The Fall of the Towers #1-3)

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