Lords of the Middle Dark by Jack Chalker is a grim look at the future Earth may have if we let the computers take over. When I started this book I first thought it was going to be heavily into the mysticism of the American Indians. I soon found that I couldn't have been farther from the truth.

In Chalker's vision of the future the human race was facing extinction by itself. So to preserve mankind, a handful of scientists turned control of the world to a master computer. To preserve the human race this Master System decides to take away weapons of mass destruction and revert humanity to a less than modern existance. North America is taken back to the stone age conditions of the Native Americans. China and Europe are reverted back to their feudal system of government.

Now, humans are not obsolete in this computer run world. Master System recruits the best and brightest and uses them to watch and patrol the other humans, do research, and colonize other worlds. However, anyone who tries to bring technology to the general population is severely dealt with by Master System.

But there are those who refuse to live by Master System's rules and search for ways to stop the machine. These rebels have discovered that the men who built Master System installed a failsafe device; five computer chips disguised to look like rings that will turn off Master System. Master System has kept this a secret and destroys any who find out about it.

An American Indian named Hawks is the latest person to find out and now Master System is after him. What will he do to acquire the five rings? Will Master System catch him before he succeeds? I don't know, you'll have to read this book and the following ones just like I will.