SF Dorsai series - good story

I've read only through chapter 3 of Necromancer, and already I want to smack Paul Formain over the head. The man gets premonitions. He ignores one and lives to regret it. In chapter 3 he gets another one and ignores it as well. Does this twit have a death wish? I certainly hope he does something sensible soon, because so far I find it hard to respect him.

I would not have even started Necromancer if my best friend hadn't recommended The Tactics of Mistake to me and my county's libraries had only the omnibus volume, Three to Dorsai!. I sincerely considered giving up and moving on to book two, but I read on. Necromancer is divided into three parts: "Isolate," "Set," and "Pattern".

NOTES:

Book One:

Chapter 1: This is Paul Formain's first day at the mostly-automated Malabar Mine. He has a premonition not to go down in that mine.

Chapter 2:

a. Paul is described physically, as he was described mentally in the first chapter.

b. Paul watches some persons on a news screen, including the guildmaster for the Chantry Guild.
Mentions: Sumerians, Semites, Shamash, and Adad

Chapter 3:

a. We get introduced to a song that will show up throughout this story: a love song about "apple comfort".

b. Paul learns about Walter Blunt's book, Destruct, and Walter Blunt's belief in alternate forces. He has a premonition about the book, which he ignores.

Chapter 4: Look here for names Formain found when he looked for a directory of Chantry Guild members.

Chapter 5: Paul meets Jason 'Jase' Warren, a Chantry Guild necromancer, at Jase's apartment. Jase explains the guild's aim and tests Paul.
Mentions: Leonardo da Vinci, Milton, and Einstein

Chapter 6:

a. Paul ponders Jase calling him arrogant.

b. We learn about marching societies and note a suspicious incident.

Chapter 7:

a. Kantale lives in the apartment next to Jase's.

b. Paul is asked to deliver an item to a suite in the Koh-i-Nor Hotel.

c. We meet Kirk Tyne, the World Engineer. He and his Division of Engineers make the decisions the machinery in charge of the world that only a human can make.

Chapter 8: Is Paul being framed for murder? There's a chase scene.

Chapter 9: Look here for a chant said to be a lykewake dirge.
Mention: the ancient Celts

Book Two:

Chapter 10: No-time is mentioned. Paul takes a trip to outer space.

Chapter 11: No, not THAT 'Twilight Zone'. Also, Paul gets an initiation.

Chapter 12: Paul has experiences as a journeyman, including an orientation.

Chapter 13: Paul is given the explosives test. Jase explains things. There's a last test for Paul to take.

Chapter 14:

a. The reporter changing what Paul told him reminds me of what I read about writers and highwaymen's last words.

b. Paul has an unusual experience with a squirrel.

Chapter 15:

a. It's Kirk Tyne's turn to give his viewpoint to Paul.

b. We finally see another verse of the apple comfort time song.

Chapter 16:

a. The Chantry Guild has about 60,000 members.

b. We learn where Kantele got her first name from.

c. Paul gets a disquieting announcement from the Super Complex.
Mentions: The Kalevala, [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow, ['The Song of] Hiawatha,' Kaleva, Handsome Lemminkainen, Ilmarinen, Väinämöinen, and the sacred harp Kantele.

Book Three:

Chapter 18:

a. Yep, that super computer in charge of Earth has a massive problem regarding its assessment of human sanity.

b. Paul takes a very unpleasant involuntary trip and becomes aware of Another.
Mentions: 'Il Trovatore,' [Peter Paul] Rubens' 'Adoration of the Magi,' and [John] Milton's sonnet, 'On His Blindness'.

Chapter 19: Paul has to do some thinking if he's to escape.

Chapter 20: This one opens with a play on Shakespeare's 'Full Fathom Five' and closes with Paul finally meeting Blunt face to face.
Mentions: Callimachus and Marathon

Chapter 21: Blunt has plans. Paul has another plan.

Chapter 22: "The Indian sign' is a dated term for a magic spell/curse.

Paul never became a character I cared about. Jase considered him arrogant. I believe that by the book's end we are expected to conclude that Paul is not arrogant because his opinion of his abilities is no exaggeration, but it didn't make him any more likeable. OK, I did like the look he gave Jase after the episode with the squirrel. Still, the best I can say is that I felt a little sorry for him. The ideas are interesting, though. ( )

This book was also published as "No Room For Man". Dickson has created a good Dorsai story here. this is a prequel, in which Dickson sets up the psychological side of the divergent evolutionary stage that will face mankind. ( )

There isn't much action in this book compared to the rest of the series & the philosophy is a bit weird, but the observations about society are fantastic. In some very interesting examples, he points out the craziness that happens when a society has everything it needs & no longer has to focus on survival. Sound familiar? It is. Amazingly so. There's also a brief look at what happens when a computer runs a society. Very interesting & worthwhile reading, even if you don't read any other book in the series. ( )

The SF elements of artificial intelligence, parapsychology, genetic manipulation are standard devices. The characterization of Paul Formaine is reasonably developed with his malformed arm serving as an apt symbol for his malformed ambition, his missing arm for his lack of personal awareness.

The book is not as engaging as one would hope for the beginning of a powerful series. Dickson's intoduction of the Chantry Guild is, naturally, not as compelling as its later incarnation. The minor characters are two dimentional.

All said, however, the story gives a credible rationale and beginning for the Childe Cycle. ( )