I approached this book not knowing whether I would enjoy it on this re-read as I first read it years ago. I did still enjoy it but not as much as I recall; however, that was a positive as I was doubtful at first. The beginning seemed far more muddled and difficult to envisage re what the protagonist was doing - this apparently was the author's first published novel and he certainly had taken onboard the advice to plunge straight into action. Alodar is trying to raise a gondola into the air to take a soldier across to a vantage point from which he can fire a projectile weapon onto encircling invaders of the Iron Fist fort. Gradually, it is revealed that he is a journeyman thaumaturge and that there are five magical disciplines.

Alodar seeks the black robe of a master but for him it is only a means to an end: that of recovering his family's lost social position. The Queen is present in the fortress and the attack was unexpected; led by a local lord who, it is rumoured, is demon-possessed. To win favour, Alodar decides to become a suitor to the Queen but has a rival - the son of a powerful lord. Alodar works hard and his insights are pivotal in saving the Queen, but the credit is given to his rival.

This becomes a repeating pattern throughout the novel as Alodar moves from one magical discipline to another, each time using something he has acquired in the service of the previous one to try to secure his sought-after position as a suitor. Along the way he is brought to acknowledge that he has feelings for Aeriel, the Queen's closest advisor who returns them - but she, too, has to put aside her personal feelings in favour of ensuring that the best possible suitor wins the Queen's hand, and so far that is Alodar. Meanwhile, the initial revolt grows in scope and becomes more and more menacing until the entire kingdom is in peril.

The way magical disciplines are worked out in this book is probably the most complete attempt I can recall reading in any fantasy. Each has its own rules and procedures. There is also quite a lot of action and suspense regarding Alodar's progress each time and his continual frustration by someone else who steals the credit. The weakness of the story, however, is in the characterisation: Alodar is driven, determined and rather too lacking in actual convincing emotion although we are led to believe he is struggling against having feelings for Aeriel, and she, too, is rather thinly sketched whereas other characters are thinner still to the point of sometimes being caricature as in the case of the Queen. But it is a good adventure tale with the added spice of the magical systems so I rate it at a 3-star read overall. ( )

His luck is unbelievably good in spite of the occasional and fairly minor setback. Basically a savant loner. Otherwise an enjoyable read. ( )

Fantasy story of discovery in a world of magic with particular rules. It's mechanically interesting, characters are a little dry. Reminds me of bradbury and asimov. ( )

(Original Review, 1980-10-02)

Just out from Del Rey is MASTER OF THE FIVE MAGICS by Lyndon Hardy (who "became interested in fantasy while wandering through the fringes of fandom as an undergraduate at Caltech"). My skepticism was challenged by the cover blurb's claim, "one of the most logical detail of the laws of magic ever to appear in fantasy". But said claim-- mirabile dictu! --turned out to be legitimate. Can't say how much, if any, he regularized or imposed structure, for he went well beyond what was in the folklore and anthro courses I've had. A lotta things make sense, now, that were just sort of a mishmash, before. (I particularly appreciated the little covert jokes, not just the now-not-unusual employment of Maxwell's demon, but the use of painted-daisies in a magical preparation to rid a barbarian of lice, and willow bark in one to relieve pain.)

Definitely recommended for a real good overview of traditional Western European magic, wrapped up in a not very well done story.

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.] ( )

Maybe 2 1/2 stars, to be fair. Rounded down for disappointment!

The author's preface (or whatever one calls a preface when it shows up at the end of the book) was very illuminating. He admits spending the Vast Majority of his time on working out the details of his magic system, and comparatively little time on plot and characters, and it certainly shows.

The characters have no character whatsoever--the main character especially so. He's a bit of a Mary Sue, except that he's also awful several times throughout without any indication that anyone (other than mean, bad people) might think he's being awful. There's never a dark night of the soul where he comes to realize his horrible mistakes--no, turns out destiny's groomed him for even greater greatness. Very annoying.

The magical system is very specifically thought out, and I went along with the subpar book just to see how it would all transpire, but now I rather wish I'd cut and bailed early enough to just read a more enjoyable book.

Oh--and it also reads rather like one of those pre-novel novels, e.g. Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, or an Icelandic saga, etc., because it's so very plot-based and, as implied before, the lack of anything resembling psychological realism. Your emotional involvement will be similar to having a not-very-good RPG video game plotline explained to you.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
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