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A few important ends manage to stay untied. But along the way, Farmer offers his audience a wide-screed adventure that never fails to provoke, amuse and educate. Students of religion will find an impressive comprehension of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic ideas of the after life. History buffs should be diverted by the author's ability to mix notables, from Baron von Richthofen to U.S. Grant, like grains of sand in an hourglass. The greatest beneficiaries should be science fiction fans. For too long they have filled their shelves with charmless fantasies and technical jargon that talks to itself.
This is not to say that The Magic Labyrinth is quite the classic it might have been. Like many another puzzlemaker, Philip José Farmer has trouble with his ultimate revelation. The idea of a highly advanced society using its unearthly powers to redirect humanity is neither especially new (2001 hints at a similar solution) nor appropriate. Ten-year followers of the Riverworld are likely to feel that they have crossed deserts, scaled mountains and battled hostile tribesmen for a potty message: Farmer's El Dorado looks suspiciously like Hoboken.
Even so, the author deserves close attention. If he is not quite the figure Critic Leslie Fiedler once described as "The greatest science fiction writer ever," his imagination is certainly of the first rank. And if his prodigious saga falters, it is only after four volumes, when the journey has already provided a library's worth of merriment and insight. "In skating over thin ice," wrote Emerson, "our safety is in our speed." Until the final stretch, Farmer's velocity is breathtaking. —Peter Stoler