The Final Encyclopedia

This long novel is the 1984 addition to Dickson's Childe Cycle, a future history which he began in 1959 with [b:Dorsai! 263111 Dorsai! (Childe Cycle, #1) Gordon R. Dickson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389845085l/263111.SY75.jpg 2252902], and which includes a number of other novels and shorter works.My first impression was that this one is significantly better written than its predecessors. There's a more literary quality to the style, characterization is better, events and locations are described in more detail.However, I gradually came to realize that this veneer conceals a weak and incredible plot; and the book is further marred by the author's increasing obsession with mysticism and sentimentality. Beneath the attempt at modern literature lurks an underlying story whose concepts and plot belong back in the 1940s with the murky beginnings of modern sf, and which frankly deserve to have been left back there.The early volumes of the Childe Cycle were quite readable, bread-and-butter sf, but I suspect it's all downhill from here.(Review written in 1985, slightly edited in 2024)