5/10
This book, sequel to [b:Young Bleys|263121|Young Bleys (Childe Cycle, #10)|Gordon R. Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387709873s/263121.jpg|2359973] and part of the Childe Cycle, continues the story of Bleys Ahrens, a uniquely gifted "philosopher" intent on unifying the New Worlds under the control of his Others. The majority of the books of the Childe Cycle have centered on Hal Mayne and the forces that produced him, and it is Hal Mayne who is the historical counterpoint to Bleys Ahrens.

Author [a:Gordon R. Dickson|38631|Gordon R. Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1230054159p2/38631.jpg] started the Childe Cycle with a series of compact books, stories tightly told. But as the years passed and the series progressed, it seems the underlying philosophical, social, and moral themes became more important that the story itself. Instead of using the characters, events, and consequences to convey the themes and ideas so important to the author, this book is a series of essays and lectures strung together by episodes that slowly move the plot forward. Overall, it made for pages of tedious reading broken up by some well-written conversations, meetings, or action sequences.

I am a completist, so I will finish this series, but not until I've taken a fairly long break. Unfortunately, Dickson died before writing the final confrontation between Hal Mayne and Bleys Ahrens, a book meant to be titled "Childe", so the last published book in the series, [b:Antagonist|263108|Antagonist (Childe Cycle, #12)|Gordon R. Dickson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1311989506s/263108.jpg|255046] (which was completed by Discon's assistant), will no doubt provide a rather unsatisfactory conclusion. ( )

This covers much the same time period as the previous book, [b:The Final Encyclopedia|1634982|The Final Encyclopedia (Childe Cycle)|Gordon R. Dickson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1230853798s/1634982.jpg|7429901], but is told from the other point of view (pun intended). It doesn't go quite as far along as the previous book, either, but does fill in a lot of blanks & helps us understand Bleys much better as Hal's primary antagonist.

There is one more book, [b:Antagonist|263108|Antagonist (Childe Cycle)|Gordon R. Dickson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173238985s/263108.jpg|255046], which was published after [a:Gordon R. Dickson|38631|Gordon R. Dickson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1230054159p2/38631.jpg]'s death. [a:David W. Wixon|153725|David W. Wixon|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] wrapped everything up from Dickson's notes. I should have the book shortly & will read it ASAP since the series has stretched out over almost 50 years. It's amazingly cohesive & good, not dated much at all. ( )