Reviews

The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt

win's review

3.0

This book was better and funnier the first time I read it, nearly 50 years ago. Not everything ages gracefully.

nwhyte's review

http://nhw.livejournal.com/684127.html[return][return]Reading "The Compleat Enchanter",[return]when I came to the fourth section,[return](set in Finland's Kalevala)[return]somehow I began to wonder:[return]Can one write LiveJournal entries[return]in iambic tetrameter?[return](Yes, I know that last word's bogus[return]and perhaps that gives the answer.)[return][return]This, a five-book compilation[return]of the works of Pratt and de Camp,[return]brings together the adventures[return]of a man called Harold Shea from[return]Ohio, mid-20th century,[return]who is, with his friends and lover,[return]thrust in various fant'sy poems,[return]first Norse legends, second Spenser,[return]third Orlando Furioso[return](also Kubla Khan here featured),[return]fourth (as mentioned) Kalevala[return]ending in Cuchulain's Ireland.[return][return]Though Mark Twain perhaps began it[return]writing of King Arthur's Yankee[return](don't think I can really mention[return]which state that wayfarer came from[return]as it has two unstressed vowels[return]in succession, so won't scan here)[return]this ambitious and effective[return]merging of mundane and mythic[return]surely was an inspiration[return]for much else in the same genre.[return][return]Even the stock story setting -[return]visitors arrive from elsewhere,[return]get entwined in local issues,[return]solve the problem (sometimes fail to)[return]disappear to next adventure[return]using magic means of travel[return]sounds a bit like Doctor Who, ne?[return][return]Also, use of spell components[return]such as "verbal" and "somatic"[return]was employed by Gary Gygax[return]in so far as I remember[return]from my teenage D&D days.[return][return]Anyway, this book is harmless.[return]Irish bit is, sadly, least good -[return]use of silly plot devices[return]to prevent our heroes making[return]any diff'rence to the story.[return]But the rest is entertaining.[return]And I think I'd recommend it.[return]Four stars in my on-line cat'logue.

morgandhu's review

3.0

L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt collaborated on a series of comic fantasy adventures featuring Harold Shea, psychologist and occasional enchanter. In our universe, Shea works in a psychology institute attached to a hospital, and along with a few of his his colleagues, has developed an interest in what they call paraphysics - the theory that all the worlds of the imagination exist, and the key to moving between them is the ability to shift one's sensory awareness from one universe to another.

In The Roaring Trumpet, the first of Harold Shea's adventures, he plans a nice trip to Ancient Ireland, but instead winds up in the universe of Norse mythology, in the midst of Fimbulwinter, with Ragnarok just around the corner. At first, Shea doesn't realise that the laws of physics he knows don't work in this universe - and neither do his matches, his gun, or anything else he brought with him, but once he works out the basic laws of magic, he gains respect as a warlock, and helps the gods prepare for their final battle. His bewilderment in dealing with the gods, giants, trolls and other magical folk from Norse legend provides much of the comedic enjoyment, and in the end, it's a fun - if somewhat bloodthirsty - romp through a mythic winter wonderland.