 Writing in a review in Asimov 's Science Fiction , science fiction and mystery author Peter Heck called City at the End of Time a " big , sweeping , heavily symbolic tale " , and " one of Bear 's most ambitious " . He said that while the story could have focused more on the future city , " in the end , the plotlines come together , and the complexities merge into a satisfying unity " . Speculative fiction writer Simon Petrie writing in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine was impressed by the book 's " grandiosity to the total synthesis of cosmology and myth " , and Bear 's " ability to encapsulate a universal future history in just the one book " , but found the mix of science , fantasy , horror , mythology and religion a little " incongruous " at times . Petrie also felt that the use of so many " viewpoint characters " results in these characters being underdeveloped , and tends to " [ blunt ] the pathos as the plot edges towards climax " . 
