CONTEMPORARY humans with novel powers, connected through dreams to fabulous creatures living in the universe鈥檚 last surviving city 鈥� a city besieged by encroaching 鈥淐haos鈥� and threatened by the end of time itself.
It sounds promising, and for the first half of this book Greg Bear weaves several story strands into a gripping, original tale. The key characters are 鈥渇ate-shifters鈥�, able to select which 鈥渇ate lines鈥� to travel, and to discard universes in which ill-fortune awaits. Bear鈥檚 visualisation of this talent is nothing short of brilliant.
But then he seems to lose focus. He throws in too many ideas, images, mythologies and distractions. Too many invented words are not explained, and thin characterisation and inexplicable motivations compound the problems. It started so well, but whips itself up into a virtually incomprehensible final act.
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City at the End of Time
Gollancz/Del Rey