The Empire of Isher: The Weapon Makers / The Weapon Shops of Isher (Paperback)

An exciting classic from one of Science Fiction's greats., 7 Oct 2001

A.E. van Vogt was one of the greatest writers of the 'Golden Age'. Often eclipsed these days by Asimov and Heinlein, van Vogt deserves to stand beside them as that era's greats, and the Isher books are amongst his best.

Although profoundly corrupt, the Empire of Isher holds sway over the known universe, currently ruled by the young but ruthless Empress Inelda Isher. The only thing preventing the Empire's absolute rule are the Weapon Makers, a group of scientists who do not recognise the Empire's authority. Their Weapon Shops move through inter-dimensional space, to appear in towns and villages, offering the populace high-tech weapons.

The Empress devises a plan to finally defeat the Weapon Makers, but the machine at the plan's centre has an unforseen side-effect, snatching a man from 1951 and sending him oscilating through time, with the machine itself at the other end of a temporal see-saw.

Meanwhile, in the village of Glay, a young man named Cayle befriends the pretty Weapon Maker Lucy Rall, much to the horror of his father, Fara, a loyal citizen of the Empire. Cayle has an innate ability to alter probability, whilst Lucy has been instructed to watch over him by one of the leaders of the Weapon Makers, Robert Hedrock...

Plot twists and unexpected complications abound as it emerges that Robert Hedrock is an immortal who long ago established both the Empire and the Weapon Makers as balance and counter-check to facilitate mankind's development, but now the system is failing and he must find a way to redress the balance.

Van Vogt, who was awarded a Grand Master Nebula in 1996, has not been without his critics - perhaps because many of his 'novels', including these, are infact fix-ups and amalgums of previously written theme-linked short-stories. Indeed both Daimon Knight and David Pringle have been scathing critics. But at his best, it is hard to find a more vivid, exciting and inventive writer. Even today, 'The Empire of Isher' is a joy to read and van Vogt, who passed away in 2000 of Alzheimer's complicated by pneumonia, is still capable of delighting and surprising his reader. The word 'classic' is an over-used accolade, but in this instant it is entirely appropriate.

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