Evil (the Lector) is on his tail chasing him across the multi-universes, hungering for that magic blood so that the Lector can build armies of inter-universe beings who will conquer all universes. And its a good thing he has companions because Dr. Zax has two erstwhile companions, consisting of a plant creature and a jewel containing an artificial intelligence. But, of course, he must come up with solutions in the form of pharmacological pills to instantly put him to sleep should a raging sabertooth charge at him. Of course, no matter what Zax does he does not wake up in walls, under the ocean, in the belly of a whale, or so forth. And, the author, Tim Pratt takes this to extremes and offers literally thousands of worlds. It is a masterpiece of endless creativity with thousands of worlds each experienced somewhat briefly. In other stories, people race through time to prevent some evil one from taking over the time continuum.ĭoors of Sleep follows in the wake of all of these ideas with a story of a man, Zax, who falls asleeps and wakes in a different universe each time he falls asleep and wakes up. Who and his amazing TARDIS, the universe changed every time he closed the callbox door and you never knew where he would end up except you knew he would be chased by Daleks. The point is the world changed every time he slept.

He tried to avoid dreaming until an evil psychiatrist started controlling his dreams. How do you neutralize a dangerous person without hurting them? How far should you go in sticking to your values in this respect?Īt one time, Ursula Le Guin posited a story where a man would fall asleep and the world would change every time he dreamed.

It made for an interesting struggle as he attempts to deal with an increasingly difficult and destructive foe. I did love the central tenet of non-violence and finding accord that Zaxony adheres to. The whole package is somewhat reminiscent of Doctor Who, although Zaxony is much more the average person (well, except for the whole multi-verse travelling ability thing) and his companions are the ones who possess extraordinary abilities. Vicki is just plain awesome, and Minna is probably one of my all time favourite book characters in terms of her understated yet extraordinary abilities and adaptable personality. The real showstopper though are the companions Zaxony finds and travels with. I loved the multi-verse and the infinite variety that we only get small tastes of. This story of Zaxony Delatree and his travels through the multi-verse was an easy and mostly upbeat read, despite the terrible villain and his awful plans.

Doors of sleep tim pratt