Exiles at the Well of Souls (1978)
Exiles at the Well of Souls is a 1978 book written by Jack L. Chalker.
The second Well World book widens the board. Gil Zinder has cracked the Markovian secret behind the planet-sized machine, and the ruthless politician and drug lord Antor Trelig means to seize it, forcing Zinder to build a computer that can rewrite reality itself. Freighter pilot Mavra Chang takes a job to rescue Zinder's kidnapped daughter, but Obie, the now-conscious machine, misfires and drops a whole world onto the Well World, wrecking her ship in a hex that forbids advanced technology. Stranded races scramble to loot the scattered wreck, and the fight to escape tips toward open war.
Quick answers
What is Exiles at the Well of Souls about?
The second Well World book widens the board. Gil Zinder has cracked the Markovian secret behind the planet-sized machine, and the ruthless politician and drug lord Antor Trelig means to seize it, forcing Zinder to build a computer that can rewrite reality itself. Freighter pilot Mavra Chang takes a job to rescue Zinder's kidnapped daughter, but Obie, the now-conscious machine, misfires and drops a whole world onto the Well World, wrecking her ship in a hex that forbids advanced technology. Stranded races scramble to loot the scattered wreck, and the fight to escape tips toward open war.
When was Exiles at the Well of Souls published?
Exiles at the Well of Souls was published in 1978.
Who made Exiles at the Well of Souls?
Exiles at the Well of Souls was written by Jack L. Chalker.
Explore Exiles at the Well of Souls guides
Exiles at the Well of Souls in our writing
- Companion guide: The Well World: Jack L. Chalker's Planet of 1,560 Species
A few thoughts on Exiles at the Well of Souls
Continue with the game Outer Wilds for the same pleasure of poking at a machine-universe until it gives up its rules. Antor Trelig's grab for a reality-editing computer echoes the cosmic power struggles of Stargate SG-1. Mavra Chang, a hard-luck pilot caught in someone else's scheme, belongs beside the working-class spacers of the TV series Firefly, who also just want their ship and their freedom.
Continuing Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang's saga after Exiles
Exiles ends with Mavra Chang stranded in a hex that forbids machines and rival species stripping a fallen world for parts. Jack Chalker kept building the Well World from here: Midnight at Well Souls, Quest for the Well of Souls, The Return of Nathan Brazil, Twilight, Echoes, Shadow, and Gods carry Brazil and Chang through the rest of Obie's unraveling machine and the long fight over who controls it.
Vanished precursor civilizations whose leftover machines still run everything
The Well World runs on tech the Markovians left behind, and Exiles turns Obie, their last machine, into a grenade nobody can fully control. Outer Wilds, Stargate SG-1, and Starcraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga send explorers into the same trap, ruins built by a dead precursor race still humming long after the builders left. The Armageddon Inheritance, Redemption Ark, and A Fire Upon the Deep carry the idea forward.
Sprawling space operas built for scale over tight plotting
Exiles trades a tidy plot for scale, wrecking a whole world onto the Well World and letting rival species scramble over the pieces. A Deepness in the Sky, 2312, Earthborn, and A Gift from Earth share that same appetite for size over speed, stretching across centuries, solar systems, or generations to build out a universe rather than rush a single story.