http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-of-fall-of-towers-by-samuel-r.ht... ( )

see http://www.sfsite.com/07b/ft180.htm ( )

I picked this book up from a book sale at a local grocery store about ten years ago. It was the only science fiction book on the table, but I had never heard of Samuel Delany before, so I picked it up and started reading the first page:

The green of beetles' wings... the red of polished carbuncle... a web of silver fire.

I bought the book on the strength of that striking image alone, and found that the book that followed lived up to its promise. This one had been in the queue to be reread for ages, but it's been on my mind lately, so I decided to pick it up again.

From the plot, this sounds like fairly typical American science fiction from the 1960s, the era of Vietnam War protests and psychadelic drugs, even if a creative one. What sets it apart is the quality of Delany's writing, from the striking word choice and imagery that has stuck in my head for years to the narrative structure of the book. The Fall of the Towers follows a broad ensemble cast and intertwines their stories and POVs, slowly teasing out bits and pieces of the worldbuilding and the story, not all in chronological order. There is no single genius here, no ultra-competent Heinleinian hero who shows everyone up, only a cast of mere humans whose ideals, flaws, virtues, and choices drive the plot.

I am happy to say that this book held its ground and maintained its place on my keeper shelf during the re-read, and that I look forward to digging out the other Delany books I've acquired that have been languishing in my TBR pile for ages.

More details at my blog.

This review was written for the A More Diverse Universe tour, celebrating the work of authors of color in the field of speculative fiction! If this work sounds interesting to you or if Delany's work is new to you, check out the tour list- there are several reviews of Delany's other work, along with work from a wide variety of authors famous, mid-list, and obscure! ( )

The Fall of the Towers is an omnibus of a trilogy Delany wrote early in his career, and while it is nowhere near the quality of his best works, it is hard to believe that he was a mere 22 years old when he completed it; it already shows a degree of accomplishment (not to mention sheer inventiveness) that many writers never manage to achieve.

Rather to my surprise, I felt myself reminded of John Brunner's Meeting at Infinity that I read a while back (and the comparison does not seem to be completely off the mark, seeing how Delany dedicates the final volume of the trilogy to Brunner and his wife Marjorie) - like Brunner's novel, Delany's trilogy has a somewhat crude pulp-ish as its unassuming foundation (alien invasion in Brunner, two trans-galactic super-beings battling it out in Delany) on which they both build a splendid narrative edifice by means of dazzling imagination, brilliant invention and colourful writing (although still far from the blinding linguistic luminescence of Delany’s later works like Nova), supported by some solid world-building (I found it particularly remarkable that both authors gave some thought to how the economics of his world works - or indeed, does not).

Where Delany's later novels build up vertical complexity, i.e., use a small cast of characters and a basic plot but add layers upon layers of world-building, character depth, mythical resonance and literary reference to that, The Fall of the Towers extends mostly into the horizontal plane - while characters appear (comparatively) flat, there are a lot of them, and the plot is quite sprawling, which I suppose is quite appropriate for a trilogy.

Even so, the whole thing whizzes by at a very high speed, fast enough to leave the reader dizzy at times from the dazzling display of words and ideas Delany fires off. I do not want to come across as nostalgic, but I am feeling very tempted to say that they just don't make them like this any more - looking at today's sedentary, sprawling space operas with their extensive and detailed world-building and comparing them to the fast and furious fireworks of Delany or early Brunner (or Zelazny or Eillison or...) is almost like looking at a balding, beer-bellied guy in his advanced middle age and wondering whatever became of the lean and hungry teenager with the visionary gaze that he used to be...

This book was interesting. It was my introduction to Delany, and there were many things I liked about this book, but there were also many things I did not. I never felt any true connection to any of the characters, though the world was fabulous. The resolution left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, as well. ( )