The Sea is Full of Stars

by Jack L. Chalker

Book Overview

This exciting, action-packed novel marks Jack Chalker's triumphant return to his celebrated multivolume saga: The Well World. The Sea Is Full of Stars explores an unknown interstellar civilization, stars an all-new cast of characters, and reveals fresh secrets. But of course, The Well remains . . . After three passengers--Ming, Ari, and Angel--embark on an elite starship journey into the Realm, they unwittingly become ensnared in one man's bloodthirsty...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345394860
• ISBN13: 9780345394866
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

FANTASTIC

Must read the other Well World Series by Jack Chalker to appreciate this book. I think this series is one of the greatest works in the Sci Fi field. Unfortunately, Jack Chalker has passed away so there will not be anymore books in this series. If you liked the Well World series you will enjoy this one also.

His Best In Years!

I have been Chalker fan since the publication of the first Well World novels, and have read every book he has ever written. That being said, I have found the recent attempts to revive the Well World to be sorely lacking. Until The Sea Is Full Of Stars, that is. I have found this to be the most enjoyable book that Chalker has written in years (I found Watchers At The Well to be less than satisfying). This book, however, seems to capture the spirit and adventure of the original novels. Which makes it all the more unfortunate that the second book does not live up to its potential

Well, here we go again...

The instant that I saw that Jack had a new Well World novel out, I snached it off the shelf. The rest of the series had been so wierd and wonderful--would this new one match up? It certainly is a "must buy" for any Well World fan, although be warned that this is the first part of a two-parter and don't expect much resolution in this volume -- things just get to a fever pitch (in best serial-book fashion). This Well World novel has a whole new feel to it compared to the others -- a bit darker, but also with a bit more depth. The starting scenes in the space-going freighter and the new characters of Angel and Kincaid (and later Ari and Ming) are interesting and well-drawn. The villians in the piece are kept far in the background, and we only see them through the sometimes distant effects they have on the main cast. A quick plot synopsis: A missionary traveling between the stars meets her fellow passengers. One is a man on a quest to kill a genocidial dictator. Others are mobsters, collectors of rare gems, with a few "management consultants" thrown in. The captain of the ship is killed by a bizzare, water breathing creature, and some sort of heist is underway. As with any Well World novel, you can be sure that no-one will be in the same body (and sometimes even the same mind) by the end of the book. Of course this group all ends up on the Well World, home to the Well of Souls, Mr. Chalker's strange, hexagonal environment where the creators of our universe, the Markovians, experimented with over 1900 minature ecosystems, each with its own dominant, sentient race. We get to go to the other side of the Well World in this book, and meet some of the water-breathing, and flying inhabitants of the Well World. There are truly some new plot twists here, and even though I have read all of the Well World novels to date, this one still has me guessing. Congratulations, Jack, on another "Well-done", entertaining adventure.

READ THIS BOOK

What can I say...this man has got some serious SF skills! To tell you anything is to ruin it for you, but I will say read the intro that Chalker wrote. And you can be sure that this book begs for a sequel!

Jack Chalker was back on form in 1996

I was going to say that chalker is back on form, but the book was actually written three years ago. Hopefully, the spate of "new" chalker books coming soon will be just as good as this one. In The Sea is Full of Stars the author has blended the familiar elements of all Well World books with novel ones to create just the right tone, keeping you comfortable but interested. While the last Well saga was well written, it was mostly the same sort of story as the first set. Here we have the usual disparate group of seekers from the larger galaxy, but Chalker has definitely thought through some new concepts and problems for the planet/computer/ecological system that is the Well World. Ond day Del Rey may miss him; then again if media novels make bucks and that's all they care about, maybe they won't.