THE WILL OF THE WANDERER by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

The Will of the Wanderer is a 1988 fantasy novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the first in their Rose of the Prophet trilogy. Here, a god demands that two warring clans unite through marriage to combat a larger threat.

The Arabian setting is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre, which is obviously dominated by Tolkien-influenced analogs of Europe—although all the characters here are, for some reason, still explicitly white. The writers’ desert world is vividly described—it really comes to life—and the swashbuckling action fits the setting well.  

But the writers take these Arabian sensibilities and go way over the top with them. The Will of the Wanderer is a sitcom, a romantic comedy largely devoid of romance (it’s not very funny, either). Nearly every character is conveniently clueless; nearly everyone’s response to most any development is an emotional knee-jerk overreaction or something comparably ridiculous. The world is thoroughly populated by cartoon characters, mortal and immortal alike. This can make it hard to invest in the dramatic proceedings.

The plot, which operates on two levels—one with the gods and one with the humans—works well enough, although it gets pulled down by all the aforementioned frustrating buffoonery, without which nearly all the conflict would be satisfactorily resolved by the end of this volume. Moreover, the silly tone the authors use to handle their gods, faith, and religions might come across to the reader as mocking of real-world religion and its establishments, whether intentional or not.

In sum, then, The Will of the Wanderer is a passably entertaining but frequently irritating novel. I won’t be continuing with this trilogy.  

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SAGA, VOLUME ONE by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga, Volume One (2013) collects the first six issues of the Image comic written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. Here, two lovers whose people are at war attempt to flee the planet with their newborn baby.

Saga is an interesting and imaginative blend of science fiction and fantasy that calls to mind both Star Wars and Mass Effect, but which does so without feeling particularly derivative. Vaughan has created a cast of good characters, all with believable motivations. In fact, The Will and Prince Robot IV might be more interesting and more sympathetic than the wishy-washy Marko (although he gets better quickly) and the walking annoying rage tantrum that is Alana. The themes of parenting and family are particularly well done, though, which makes them endearing enough.  

Saga is consistently explicit, both in terms of violence and sex. At times, this is used to good storytelling effect (e.g., Prince Robot IV and his wife in issue #1), but more often, it’s just gratuitous. In combination with some of the dialogue, Saga sometimes feels like Vaughan is trying too hard to be edgy, and it works a lot better when he’s not.

Entirely apart from this issue, Staples’ art is quite good. Her characters are realistic, and she uses backgrounds to create a rich world. The highlight, though, is her faces, which are excellent both in their expression and consistency. The only real complaint with the art is that the heavy inks on the characters often make them look like paper cutouts overlaid on the much softer backgrounds.

So, while it’s got a few issues, Saga is a reasonably compelling story that’s rich with potential. I don’t know that I’d run out for Volume Two, but I was invested enough to wonder, at least, what happened next.

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THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD AND OTHER CURIOUS OBJECTS by Mike Mignola

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects (2010) collects Mike Mignola’s eponymous Eisner-winning one-shot and a number of short stories, including “The Magician and the Snake,” which he co-authored with his daughter Katie, then seven years old. In the title story, President Lincoln enlists Screw-On Head to thwart the plans of the nefarious Emperor Zombie.

In many ways, Screw-On Head is very typical Mignola: great quirky characters, fantastically atmospheric art, and light and minimalist plotting and stories. There are some obvious similarities between numerous Hellboy stories and Screw-On Head, although the latter is decidedly campier. It’s also extremely amusing, and it’s remarkable how effectively Mignola juxtaposes his dark gothic imagery with silly dialogue.

Mignola states in the notes that “There are no untold Screw-On Head stories,” and he’s absolutely right – he does everything he needs to do with the characters, scenarios, and genre in this single comic. In broad strokes, he accomplishes quite a bit, and better this than running the ideas into the ground.

(A note: I picked up this book after seeing the 2006 animated Amazing Screw-On Head pilot, which I found very funny. Good as this book is, and in spite of everything I’ve just written, I think I like it better as a cartoon, what with the fleshed-out backstories and the campiness and the comic delivery.)

The other stories in this volume are only peripherally related, if at all, to Screw-On Head. The heartwarming (and Eisner-winning) “The Magician and the Snake” is popular with fans, but my favorite of the rest of the stories is “The Prisoner of Mars,” which shares the title story’s manically tongue-in-cheek tone. The others are enjoyable, if light on storytelling punch.

Fair warning: this book is 104 pages, but a large chunk of that (close to 20%, maybe) is sketches and pinups. It’s an extraordinarily quick read.

Short as it is, with great atmosphere and entertaining stories, The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects is another solid offering from Mignola.

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FORGING THE DARKSWORD by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Forging the Darksword is a 1987 fantasy novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the first in their Darksword trilogy. Here, in a world where nearly everyone has some sort of magical power, the crown prince is born without it; thus a candidate to fulfill a prophecy of the world’s destruction, he’s sentenced to death.

A world where everyone has magic is reasonably fertile storytelling ground, and to their credit, the authors have created it in such a way that it bears no resemblance whatsoever to Piers Anthony’s Xanth world, which is what the basic premise calls immediately to mind. The authors have also done a thorough job of setting up this world’s society. In spite of their best efforts, however, the characters’ dread of even rudimentary technology feels a little bit silly. I suppose there’s a half-formed commentary on superstition and religious oppression in here that’s scheduled to be born in a later volume.

The plotting is Forging the Darksword’s most serious problem. The first third of the book is bogged down in exposition, as so often happens with fantasy works, but that’s hardly the worst of it. There are too many unnecessary scenes to list, ones that don’t advance the plot or the characters in meaningful ways, and as it plods across a generation, the story is just too meandering: many events seem like little more than everyday life, and although there’s some intrigue after the first third, many story elements that are supposed to be mysterious and suspenseful just aren’t. Overall, the book has very little energy, and the reader very well find himself waiting for something meaningful to happen, something important, but little does, and Forging the Darksword ends up feeling like little more than tedious setup for the second book. It piques the interest here and there, but has trouble ever sustaining it.  

The characters are also problematic. Joram isn’t the slightest bit interesting or sympathetic, which is a major deal-breaker given that the trilogy centers around him. Saryon is certainly both, but he’s too passive to have the story center around him. Simkin is a vaguely amusing caricature of Orczy’s Sir Percy Blakeney, and the sort of deus ex machina character these authors like to keep in their back pocket at all times. No one else is remotely compelling; the authors are so secretive about Vanya’s machinations that it’s hard to stay interested in what he’s actually up to.   

The end result is that Forging the Darksword is a slog. (On the bright side, given the way Bantam Spectra has done the plot summaries, you can pretty much just read the back covers of the first two books and then go straight to the third one.) And this review wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the authors’ repeated and jarring abuse of the word “literally.”

As a fan of the Dragonlance and Death Gate Cycle series, I found Forging the Darksword to be a considerable disappointment. There are sparks of life here, but they aren’t enough for me to continue with this series.

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KING by R. J. Larson

King is a 2013 young-adult fantasy novel by R. J. Larson, the conclusion to her Books of the Infinite trilogy. Here, King Akabe marries into a pagan family to obtain the land to rebuild the Infinite’s temple.

The Infinite himself sits most of this one out – that’s kind of the point, but without all the prophet business, the first half or so of the book is little more than a bunch of political intrigue and self-indulgent feel-goodery, and it doesn’t feel fresh.

Hand-in-hand with this is the plotting, which is a relatively serious issue here. There’s significant padding, as in the other books; Larson spends time on plots that every reader knows aren’t going anywhere – and then brings sudden and anticlimactic resolution to the series’ ongoing romantic subplot. King has no real overarching plot: the book meanders along without much cohesion, and there’s nothing remotely approximating a climax.

All the threat and doom that hung over the protagonist in the first two books is out the window; it’s obvious to the reader by this point that Larson has no intention of following through on any of it. Never mind the contrivedly feel-good ending; in contrast to the first two, there’s not an iota of suspense in this book.

One of Larson’s strengths is the way she handles her multiple lead characters. King has the largest cast in the trilogy, and Ela, Kien, and Akabe are all, for the most part, sympathetic and compelling. (A number of characters are, from time to time, too stupid to live, particularly in terms of their relationships, and Kien and Ela spend a good portion of the book being nigh-insufferable together, but these aren’t quite deal-breakers.)

While Larson did a pretty good job of not being preachy in Prophet and Judge, King feels a little more sanctimonious as Larson gets her characters proselytizing. Many action scenes are not at all well described, which softens the impact of the book’s events. Larson also continues her annoying tendency to change scene right before the end of a chapter in a cheap attempt to manufacture suspense.

On the balance, though, throughout the trilogy, Larson has done an effective job of executing her premise, managing to incorporate God as a character without beating the reader over the head too badly, without making the story too predictable or unforgivably deus ex machina, and without raising too many theological red flags for the Judeo-Christian readership. In this regard, the Books of the Infinite are noteworthy.

King, then, is the weakest entry in a generally solid series that started fresh and full of potential and was generally satisfying in that regard, even as it was content to cling exasperatingly to the safe and saccharine paths of young-adult storytelling.  

THE SWORD OF SHE-RA by Roger McKenzie and Fred Fredericks

So here’s one that slipped through the cracks on me during the Mammoth Read-Along Masters of the Universe Marathon: 

The Sword of She-Ra is a 1985 Princess of Power children’s book written by Roger McKenzie and illustrated by Fred Fredericks. Here, Prince Adam takes the Sword of Protection into another dimension to find its rightful owner.

This book is, essentially, a severely abridged adaptation of the first half of Filmation’s The Secret of the Sword film. Substantial changes have been made (e.g., they’re rescuing Queen Angella from Beast Island rather than He-Man, and they get there on flying goats) and the story has been rearranged (e.g., they go to Beast Island before Adam ever finds Adora).

Aside from a single page with Hordak and Shadow Weaver, the named Horde villains are nowhere to be found – it’s troopers all the way through. One wonders whether this was done out of consideration for the PoP toyline or the delicate sensibilities of the young female audience.

Fredericks’ art is generally fine. He isn’t much for backgrounds and his male characters look stubby sometimes, but the female characters look good and the pages where he really applies himself are solid. The Horde Trooper are oddly colored, though. But an Earl Norem cover is always worth getting excited about.

The Sword of She-Ra is a passable version of She-Ra’s origin story, and it’s different enough from The Secret of the Sword that it’s worth checking out for that reason alone. Plus, where else are you going to see Cringer on a flying goat (sort of)?

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