Other

To the best of my knowledge, Dickson never followed this book up and thus never really completed the Childe Cycle, which is an incredibly disappointing thing because it was heading toward an ending of some sort. However, I'm not sure if Dickson knew what kind of ending he was going to go with, since he totally stopped the series' momentum after the Chantry Guild (not the most exciting book to begin with) and started to backtrack and discuss the life of Bleys Ahern. This book picks up where "Young Bleys" left off and parallels more or less The Final Encyclopedia. Fortunately for the reader, Bleys is an interesting character in that he's supposed to be the villain but he's not truly evil, he has his own viewpoint which he intends on pursuing as far as he can take it. So exploring his personality in greater detail was a smart idea to some extent but Dickson seems to be just treading water, keeping the story light on any sort of action and high on political manipulation. The only problem is that with Bleys around it basically chucks all suspense out the window because he succeeds in everything he tries, once or twice in the story Dickson pulls out an "aha-ha!" moment but there's not exceptionally memorable that happens. He introduces one interesting subplot where Bley's Uncle Henry, a decent warrior in his own right, decides to take along to save his nephew's soul from Satan. This hints at a confrontation that never really occurs and the book is the worse for it. Also, it was hinted in the Final Encyclopedia that something not so good happened to Bleys' brother Dahno, but nothing is noted about that either. So instead the book just sort of chugs along in a connect the dots fashion, with Bleys moving from one planet to another, forming a plan and enacting it and then forming another plan somewhere else and doing the same. The one honest to goodness action sequence drags, much like it did in The Chantry Guild, by going on for way too long until you're not sure what the point is anymore. Otherwise it's all talk, talk, talk, more often than that expository in nature. So while the book is readable and entertaining to some extent, this almost total lack of drama or suspense very much hamstrings the book and destroys whatever momentum it has, you keep turning the pages through essential inertia and not because of the burning need to see what happens next. Worst of all, the book continues the annoying Dickson trend of simply ending with almost nothing resolved, doubly frustrating because Dickson never went further than this book with the Cycle. In the end, people who want to read for pure enjoyment should stick with the first few books in the cycle, up to the Final Encyclopedia. Those who want to see what kind of potential this series had should move on to the rest and wonder about what might have been.

....who in the other books was a mysterious if cardboard bad guy. In OTHER you find out more about who he is and why he's a match for Hal Mayne.

Read all of the following: Dorsaii, Necromancer, Final Encyclopedia, Young Bleys, Other, Chantry Guild in that order. You will enjoy Other's story of the not-so-evil Bleys Ahrens and the development of the Others. The Others in the Final Encyclopedia are viewed by an impressionable young teenager albeit a brilliant one. Once you get the more complex view from the other side you understand why Hal is pursued and why the Hal/Bleys relationship is so important to the series. You will want to read this book for information that happens during the Final Encyclopedia - suprisingly only a small portion overlaps in content. You will keep reading it because it is a riveting story in and of itself. A lot of new information about Bley's life is presented and the development of events key to setting up a final confrontation that you are not aware of in the Final Encyclopedia. The next book in the series picks up at the end of both the Final Encyclopedia and Other and is called the Chantry Guild.