/lit/ - Literature

This is another of my batch of paperbacks: The Fall of Chronopolis by Barrington J. Bayley. He was apparently a somewhat prominent New Age writer and close friend of Michael Moorcock, although I'd never heard of him. I saw it and picked it up because I'd just read "City Beyond Time" by John C. Wright and wondered if I'd see any influence here.

The setting and conceit are interesting, unfortunately the narrative seems to get away from the author in a big way in the last third or quarter of the book. I've noticed this with some other old SF books: they appear constrained to a certain length, so if the author doesn't get around to making his point in time he just has to wrap everything up however it stands. The last 15 or so pages are basically a DBZ battle pulled out of the author's ass, and despite the interesting setting, the author never really explores its deeper implications; maybe he just wasn't clever enough. For gonzo time travel, I'd recommend Keith Laumer's Dinosaur Beach instead.

GRI fans: there is some edgy rape. 3/5.