The maker of universes

Metaphorosis Reviews
2 stars

Summary:
A dissatisfied retired man finds a strange gateway in the basement of a house that's for sale. Going through it, he finds a bizarre world of stacked disks on a spindle, full of danger, weird environments, and beautiful women.

Review:
Pretty much my entire, limited knowledge of Philip Jose Farmer comes from the Riverworld series. I thought those books were mostly very good. But it turns out that the bits I didn't like – the macho tone, the occasional lack of logic – are very much a part of the Farmer approach. In this book, they're the main part.

It appears Farmer had a modestly intriguing idea – the stacked world of tiers, and ran with it. This is pulp fiction, but not in a good way. It's all manly men, beautiful, obedient women, and a very thin plot tied together with an almost complete lack of logic. In the hands of someone like Zelazny or Anthony, this could have worked. For Farmer, it feels like a seat of the pants project written to deadline. I just can't recommend it.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.