Tower at the Edge of Time

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Tower at the Edge of Time
Tower at the Edge of Time.jpg
Cover from first edition
Author Lin Carter
LanguageEnglish
SeriesTales of the Near Stars
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Belmont Books
Publication date
1968
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages141
OCLC 3075831
Preceded by The Star Magicians  
Followed by Tower of the Medusa  

Tower at the Edge of Time is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his Tales of the Near Stars series. It was first published in paperback by Belmont Books in January 1968, with reprints from Tower Books in 1969, its successor Belmont Tower in 1972 and 1977, and Leisure Books in 1982. An ebook edition was issued by Gateway/Orion in May 2020. The book has been translated into German and Italian. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

Three villains, an evil ruler, a warrior, and a monk from Yoth-Vembis, seek the Treasure of Time, which lies behind a dimensional gateway in the Temple City of the Dark World of the Time Priests. To unlock the gateway they kidnap Thane, an educated barbarian swordsman who unknowingly hosts an ancient divine force. The party is then projected across the universe to face judgment before a godlike entity which destroys the villains while preserving Thane and his beloved.

Relation to other works

The Tales of the Near Stars series comprises this novel plus The Star Magicians (1966) and Tower of the Medusa (1969), all of which take place after the fall of in the wake of the interstellar Carina Empire. Its collapse has left the civilization of the surviving planets in ruins, with some isolated and others reduced to barbarism. Their cultural diversity has produced an odd mix of advanced technology and seeming sorcery amid the inhabited worlds. [2] Similarities in situation to Carter's History of the Great Imperium series have led critic John Clute to link the other two Near Stars novels to that sequence, though the Imperium books are usually considered to consist solely of three other novels, The Man Without a Planet (1966), Star Rogue (1970), and Outworlder (1971) [3]

Reception

Robert M. Price calls Tower at the Edge of Time "an entertaining and hearty adventure yarn, classic Carter [which] should be read and enjoyed on its own terms; [cautioning] I would not advise reading it on the heels of The Star Magicians , the plot of which it shares in virtually every detail." [2]

References

  1. ↑ Tower at the Edge of Time title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  2. 1 2 Price, Robert. Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds, pp. 36-38.
  3. ↑ Clute, John. "Carter, Lin" (entry in SFE: the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, updated 14 April 2025.
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