Exiles at the Well of Souls is the second book in the Well of Souls

Well World

The Well World is a fictional planet in Jack L. Chalker's "Well of Souls" and "Watchers at the Well" series of novels.The Well World was constructed by an ancient alien species known as the Markovians who predated the existence of the current Universe...

 series by American author Jack L. Chalker

Jack L. Chalker

Jack Laurence Chalker was an American science fiction author. Chalker was also a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for 12 years, retiring in 1978 to write full-time...

, and the first in a duology with Quest for the Well of Souls

Quest for the Well of Souls

Quest for the Well of Souls is the third book in the Well of Souls series by American author Jack L. Chalker, and completes the Wars of the Well World duology begun with Exiles at the Well of Souls...

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Plot summary

Scientist Gilgram Zinder has designed a computer based on Markovian technology which is capable of creating and modifying matter and even living creatures at will. The book begins when Zinder and the supercomputer, named Obie, are captured by drug dealer Antor Trelig, who holds Zinder's daughter hostage so that Zinder will work for him. Mavra Chang is hired to rescue Zinder and halt Trelig's plans of universal conquest, but in the process Obie is activated and accidentally makes contact with the Well World. The Well World automatically transports everyone in contact with Obie down to the planet's surface. Mavra and Zinder crashland in the Southern Hemisphere after their ship is disabled while flying over a non-tech hex, which starts a war between the races of the Well World trying to collect all of the scattered pieces of their ship in order to escape into the universe.

Characters

• Dr. Gilgram Zinder, a scientist who unlocked the Markovian physics
• Ben Yulin, his assistant and an agent of Antor Trelig
• Obie, the sentient computer Zinder and Yulin built to manipulate the basic fabric of the universe
• Nikki Zinder, Gil's daughter
• Antor Trelig, a crooked politician
• Mavra Chang, a freighter captain
• Renard, librarian, sponge addict, and Nikki's guard on New Pompeii
• Serge Ortega, formerly a human freighter captain but now an Ulik, a six-armed being that is half-walrus, half-snake