Young Bleys

I have a feeling Dickson really had no idea how he was going to cap off his epic "Childe Cycle" and what conclusion to come to. The last two books, The Final Encyclopedia and Chantry Guild, both end in what can politely be called an anticlimax, both leaving a sort of cliffhanger for the next book to deal with. However, instead of wrapping it up after Chantry Guild, Dickson decided to focus on Hal's nemesis Bleys Ahern in the next novel (and the one after that) and show his more formative years. In one sense, this was a good idea, since Bleys (and the Others) really came out of nowhere, showing up in the beginning of the Final Encyclopedia and then making various appearances throughout that and the next novel, without us ever really finding out much about him. So this does strip away some of the mystery and gives us a look into what formed his main opposition to Hal, his view that humanity should retreat to Earth and regroup. Dickson unfortunately makes both arguments fairly reasonable and so it really doesn't seem to matter much how wins, except that all the characters get fairly hysterical over the potential outcomes. It hardly seems wrestling with the Universe over. As for the novel itself, it helps fill in the gaps, shows more of Bleys' brother Dahno (who we only saw very briefly in the Final Encyclopedia) and how Bleys got control of the Others organization and used it to further his own plans. This, alas, is where the lack of excitement comes in. Like most of Dickson's characters, most things come very effortlessly to Bleys. Since the prose is very readable and the story moves along fairly quickly you don't really notice it but it definitely takes out a lot of the drama of the book and gives you no real compelling reason to read further. Bleys is faster and smarter and just heads and shoulders over everyone else, and so the book is just victory after victory. Plus since you know he appears in the Final Encyclopedia intact, there's no real sense of "is he in danger?" because you know he lives. The most dramatic moments come at the end, when Dickson reenacts the attempt to capture Hal at the beginning of the Final Encyclopedia, which didn't really go well. That moment manages to capture the mystery and danger that highlighted that first appearance but it comes right at the end and most readers have seen it before anyway. So in retrospect, it probably would have been better for Dickson to move ahead with the Cycle instead of stepping back (and for two entire novels, Other is a sequel to this book) but it makes for an entertaining, if not totally memorable experience, for those who are fans of the series. For those who aren't, by all means, start elsewhere and work your way to this. The true riches in this series lie earlier.

I have never read any of Dickson's other books but I feel this book was very entertaining. All I know that there are 15 planets and that the religons are split into 3 counter cultures. This was very interesting to me because I come from a religious background. It reminds me of the 3 major religons of our world which are christianity, judism & muslim. I know this book is part of the Childe Cycle series but who cares. I loved Bleys Arhens who questioned the views of religon. Even though he seems powerful & becomes a genius at what he does, it didn't seem boring that he won all the time. I was rooting his him all the way. When I got to the end I was shock to find that Bleys was supposed to be a adversarial foe to Hal Mayne. So who the heck is Hal Mayne? This book got me so curious about Dicksons universe that I will find out and try to read his other books.

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 evolution of the first 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 later pursued, Bleys' personal motivations, and why the Hal/Bleys relationship is so important to the series. You will want to read this book for information and event that happen up to just prior to the Final Encyclopedia. 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 the creation of the Other empire that you are not aware of in the Final Encyclopedia. The next book in the series you should read is Other which picks up at the end of Young Bleys. [If you read Dorsaii/Necromancer first then it will be obvious why continuity flows better by skipping up to Final Encyclopedia then falling back to Young Bleys and Other.]