N11: The Maker of the Universes by P. J. Farmer

Book Review!

N11: The Maker of the Universes by P. J. Farmer

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended P. J. Farmer’s World of Tiers series. For this review I read the first book in the series, from 1965, The Maker of the Universes. Philip Jose Farmer immediately captured my attention within the first 2 pages of the 150-page book.

The Good

*I like when authors quickly establish sympathetic protagonists and this book wasted no time in achieving that goal.

*Normally the trope of taking a modern man and putting him in a fantasy setting annoys me, but this time I enjoyed the trick.

The Bad

*After the first 80 pages of the book, I grew annoyed with the next 30ish pages because I felt the plot complications became repetitive.

*I easily predicted the twist at the end and felt it took away from the main character.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The travel story came across like a 1-player D&D campaign focused on exploration and combat.

*The monsters included axebeaks, giant eagles, and altered creatures.

*After reading this book, I developed a theory that the characters inspired the concepts of some of Greyhawk's ancient Suel wizards who created their own planes of existence.

Overall

I greatly enjoyed 70% of the book; thus a rating of 7/10 feels appropriate.