Randolph "Dilda" Carter

I hated this novel. It's really not a sf novel. It is some sort of philosophico-religio-fantasy acid trip (I know it's clumsy) with a sf framework to set up the fantasy. Ultimately it espouses some sort of gnostic reality for the universe. Did Lindsay really personally believe this? If not, what is the point of this clumsy dull, ultimately pointless, novel? Maskull's adventures are laughably unlikely: after a sf setup that transports him and two "friends" to the Arcturus system, he traverses all the interesting parts of the planet and meets all the important characters by just walking around a bit. Each character seems to present some philosophical system that is ultimately rejected and the character nearly always dies (You don't want to meet Maskull.). Maskull undergoes a number of weird transforming experiences and encounters along the way and ultimately dies after a partial revelation of who he is. In the end only Nightspore is allowed to glimpse the "truth" about things that the nefarious Krag already knows. The whole thing might have been tolerable if the ideas had not been presented in such an excruciatingly boring manner. I had to force myself through the last quarter of the novel.Other authors, Philip K. Dick come to mind, plumb some of the same depths but do it more effectively both because their writing and stories are more interesting and they ultimately leave things more open ended.The book only warranted a second star because it was thankfully not too long.