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53rd out of 207 books
—
132 voters
Lords of the Middle Dark (Rings of the Master #1)
Long ago, the machines had rebelled, wiping out most of humanity and exiling the survivors in widely scattered reservations. Master System ruled unchallenged, the key to breaking its power -- five microchips disguised as gold rings, carefully hidden away. But then an Amerindian called Hawks stumbled across information about the five rings, and suddenly Master System develo...more
Mass Market Paperback, 357 pages
Published
May 12th 1986
by Del Rey
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A future earth, that seems to be stuck in the 1500's. Ruled by a "Master Computer" that was developed long ago, when man was at the brink of destroying himself. Now the computer has devolved mankind into a state of technology (1500's) that can be brutal and savage...but, doesn't have the ability or technology to wipe out the world in the process.
This master computer controls all technology and knowledge in this world. However, it does use some of the "brightest" people from each culture to help...more
This master computer controls all technology and knowledge in this world. However, it does use some of the "brightest" people from each culture to help...more
Recommendation: a must-read, particularly for fans of British science fiction television.
Review: Although I'm a big fan of Chalker's "Well of Souls" science fiction series, this book sat on my shelf for close to 20 years before I finally got around to reading it last week. For some reason, it just never grabbed me; I'm embarrassed to admit it was probably the cover art, since I never actually tried to read it before last week.
Once I started, though, I was quickly hooked. The book is set in a far...more
Review: Although I'm a big fan of Chalker's "Well of Souls" science fiction series, this book sat on my shelf for close to 20 years before I finally got around to reading it last week. For some reason, it just never grabbed me; I'm embarrassed to admit it was probably the cover art, since I never actually tried to read it before last week.
Once I started, though, I was quickly hooked. The book is set in a far...more
Just saw this series and it has been years but I was in the mood... so a marathon re-read of the series ensued... and it was fabulous!
We start out many years in the future... Earth is under control of Master System, a computer. The population has been culled, changed, the universe seeded with our oddly changed descendants, and what is left on Earth has been reduced to limited populations of racially distinct groups isolated in area as well as era.
Each generation any who have the potential to cha...more
We start out many years in the future... Earth is under control of Master System, a computer. The population has been culled, changed, the universe seeded with our oddly changed descendants, and what is left on Earth has been reduced to limited populations of racially distinct groups isolated in area as well as era.
Each generation any who have the potential to cha...more
I have to wonder if Chalker just wants to see lots and lots of lesbian sex or something.
Not there was any graphic anything, but it seems like he [Chalker] is always turning his characters into females who are already with a female.
That or he has "boob envy".
Anyway. Think:
Skynet took over, but didn't wipe us out. It had to protect us, even from ourselves. But there is a master set of keys to turn off the Master System and release humanity back into its own control.
This book sets up the band of c...more
Not there was any graphic anything, but it seems like he [Chalker] is always turning his characters into females who are already with a female.
That or he has "boob envy".
Anyway. Think:
Skynet took over, but didn't wipe us out. It had to protect us, even from ourselves. But there is a master set of keys to turn off the Master System and release humanity back into its own control.
This book sets up the band of c...more
I enjoyed the concept of this book the matrix feel to it. I also enjoyed the characters created of the chief, his wives, the china girl and friends, & the champions. I didn't enjoy how chalker threw in these sexual items in their I felt like it was done just to make it fit as a pulp scifi book. It distracted vs. added to it.. as if that was all the book came to. I felt the momentum for the first 1/2 then it sorta fizzled into nothing. Yet the first half had me intrested enough that if I actu...more
My second favorite Chalker series, barely behind Four Lords of the Diamond. It's technically pure sci-fi, but of the variety where the sci-fi is so far ahead, and ridiculous, that it may as well be fantasy. Plus there's a lot of body-morphing, which has a very fantasy feel to it.
It's a "machine's take over" story, kind of like Terminator. But the Master System (this series Skynet) never breaks its base programming to "protect humanity", though the manner in which it enforces this is VERY much ag...more
It's a "machine's take over" story, kind of like Terminator. But the Master System (this series Skynet) never breaks its base programming to "protect humanity", though the manner in which it enforces this is VERY much ag...more
One of those books that I could never possibly like if I hadn't read it when younger.
Pure pulp with all sort of swashbuckling, pulp silliness, and the writing isn't much better: stuff like "she certainly felt the strong cultural ties to her ancestors and their customs and ways very strongly" is sprinkled throughout the book.
This may be the weakest book in the series, which gets a little better (hard to say with a straight face) when it moves into space.
In spite of the awfulness, I have enough no...more
Pure pulp with all sort of swashbuckling, pulp silliness, and the writing isn't much better: stuff like "she certainly felt the strong cultural ties to her ancestors and their customs and ways very strongly" is sprinkled throughout the book.
This may be the weakest book in the series, which gets a little better (hard to say with a straight face) when it moves into space.
In spite of the awfulness, I have enough no...more
Great series about a far future where a computer is charged with keeping humanity from killing itself and the choices it makes.
This is the first of four books. It wasn't the greatest but it was good enough to continue on to Book 2. I had never heard of Jack Chalker until I found these a used book sale. You could call this a basic quest story complete with not one but four rings and it includes misfit group looking for them.
Aug 09, 2012
Derek
added it
gotta love them microchips. interesting the thievery
Grade B-. Book Rm1.
10
I haven't read this series in years but it's stuck with me and I absolutely love it. It's a big complicated sci fi treasure hunt in space--our small group of heroes have to find the five gold rings that will unlock Master System, the super computer that controls the destiny of humanity. In this book we meet the key players and they concoct a series of of daring plans that ultimately lead to them meeting up with each other and starting out on their search.
good sci-fi series about the inner workings of inhabiting other worlds and fighting giant computers.
May 16, 2013
Julia2848
marked it as to-read
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Notinfrontoftheklingons
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Matthew
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Jason
marked it as amandas-books
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What's The Name o...: [SOLVED] old scifi book about mankind being ruled over by a computer [s] | 5 | 127 | Dec 12, 2012 10:34pm |
Besides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.
He attended all but one of the W...more
More about Jack L. Chalker...
He attended all but one of the W...more
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