Simons Mith
Not a bad fantasy novel, reads a bit like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign. But were that the case it would have been more fun for the players to play through than it is for us to read about. (I doubt that it actually /was/ a D&D game, but that's how it came across, to me and at least one other reader.) Some good ideas in here which might be eminently nickable for an RPG, but only an average read, or a hair above.
Not a bad fantasy novel, reads a bit like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign. But were that the case it would have been more fun for the players to play through than it is for us to read about. (I doubt that it actually /was/ a D&D game, but that's how it came across, to me and at least one other reader.) Some good ideas in here which might be eminently nickable for an RPG, but only an average read, or a hair above.
This is a fun book, whimsically illustrated in a 'Cat in the Hat' style, and is well worth reading, if you like surreal stuff.
For example: "The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small." He is rescued from being sucked down a gigantic whirlpool by a tribe of minipirates - four and five-inch tall beings, with two peg-legs, two hooks for hands, eyepatches and triangular hats, who are the unacknowledged masters of the high seas. When he grows too big for their ship they regretfully abandon him, and he spends a number of weeks crying to entertain an island of hobgoblins. He is later taught to speak - and indeed, not just to speak, but to master all forms of verbal communication - by a couple of talking waves who argue incessantly with one another, then later is rescued in the nick of time from a carnivorous island. This book is relentlessly, unflaggingly inventive and easily matches the flights of fancy in the Phantom Tollbooth and other such works. Needless to say, Bluebear finds himself well-equipped when he enters a lying competition later on in the book. A hundred rounds - also a record, against Nussram Fhakir the Unique, just before the City of Atlantis took off and flew back to its home planet. That's just a small part of what's here - just three or four of Bluebear's 13½ documented lives. Do check this book out.
Yeah, it's supposedly a kid's book, for kids maybe around Phantom Tollbooth age, but it's a very good translation, so even if you want to pretend to be grown-up you can read it to admire the translator's art. A bit like Stanislaw Lem or the Asterix books, the translation work is itself worthy of attention. And the level of surrealism is top-tier.
This is a fun book, whimsically illustrated in a 'Cat in the Hat' style, and is well worth reading, if you like surreal stuff.
For example: "The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small." He is rescued from being sucked down a gigantic whirlpool by a tribe of minipirates - four and five-inch tall beings, with two peg-legs, two hooks for hands, eyepatches and triangular hats, who are the unacknowledged masters of the high seas. When he grows too big for their ship they regretfully abandon him, and he spends a number of weeks crying to entertain an island of hobgoblins. He is later taught to speak - and indeed, not just to speak, but to master all forms of verbal communication - by a couple of talking waves who argue incessantly with one another, then later is rescued in the nick of time from a carnivorous island. This book is relentlessly, unflaggingly inventive and easily matches the flights of fancy in the Phantom Tollbooth and other such works. Needless to say, Bluebear finds himself well-equipped when he enters a lying competition later on in the book. A hundred rounds - also a record, against Nussram Fhakir the Unique, just before the City of Atlantis took off and flew back to its home planet. That's just a small part of what's here - just three or four of Bluebear's 13½ documented lives. Do check this book out.
Yeah, it's supposedly a kid's book, for kids maybe around Phantom Tollbooth age, but it's a very good translation, so even if you want to pretend to be grown-up you can read it to admire the translator's art. A bit like Stanislaw Lem or the Asterix books, the translation work is itself worthy of attention. And the level of surrealism is top-tier.
A mediocre fantasy novel which reads somewhat like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign, but not so much fun just to read about. Not as good as its prequel, Master of the Five Magics. Sixth was a book I only read because I had it, and I had no idea the series had been continued after this point. The 'Secret' isn't a very surprising secret either. 2 stars plus, but edging towards rather than away from 'Did Not Finish' territory, and I very rarely fail to finish a book.
A mediocre fantasy novel which reads somewhat like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign, but not so much fun just to read about. Not as good as its prequel, Master of the Five Magics. Sixth was a book I only read because I had it, and I had no idea the series had been continued after this point. The 'Secret' isn't a very surprising secret either. 2 stars plus, but edging towards rather than away from 'Did Not Finish' territory, and I very rarely fail to finish a book.
Not a bad fantasy novel, reads a bit like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign. But were that the case it would have been more fun for the players to play through than it is for us to read about. (I doubt that it actually /was/, but that's how it came across, to me and at least one other reader.) Some good ideas in here which might be eminently nickable for a fun D&D campaign, but only an average read, or a hair above.
Not a bad fantasy novel, reads a bit like it was generated from quite an enjoyable (for the players) D&D campaign. But were that the case it would have been more fun for the players to play through than it is for us to read about. (I doubt that it actually /was/, but that's how it came across, to me and at least one other reader.) Some good ideas in here which might be eminently nickable for a fun D&D campaign, but only an average read, or a hair above.
There's an older edition of this from the 1980s because I read it as a kid. It's a solid piece of sci-fi with an interesting premise. Might make a good one-room play.
The mere fact that I remember the title and the plot (and half-remembered the author) this many years later should demonstrate that it's a sound piece of writing.
There's an older edition of this from the 1980s because I read it as a kid. It's a solid piece of sci-fi with an interesting premise. Might make a good one-room play.
The mere fact that I remember the title and the plot (and half-remembered the author) this many years later should demonstrate that it's a sound piece of writing.
This is a fun book, whimsically illustrated in a 'Cat in the Hat' style, and is well worth reading, if you like surreal stuff.
For example: "The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small." He is rescued from being sucked down a gigantic whirlpool by a tribe of minipirates - four and five-inch tall beings, with two peg-legs, two hooks for hands, eyepatches and triangular hats, who are the unacknowledged masters of the high seas. When he grows too big for their ship they regretfully abandon him, and he spends a number of weeks crying to entertain an island of hobgoblins. He is later taught to speak - and indeed, not just to speak, but to master all forms of verbal communication - by a couple of talking waves who argue incessantly with one another, then later is rescued in the nick of time from a carnivorous island. This book is relentlessly, unflaggingly inventive and easily matches the flights of fancy in the Phantom Tollbooth and other such works. Needless to say, Bluebear finds himself well-equipped when he enters a lying competition later on in the book. A hundred rounds - also a record, against Nussram Fhakir the Unique, just before the City of Atlantis took off and flew back to its home planet. That's just a small part of what's here - just three or four of Bluebear's 13½ documented lives. Do check this book out.
Yeah, it's supposedly a kid's book, for kids maybe around Phantom Tollbooth age, but it's a very good translation, so even if you want to pretend to be grown-up you can read it to admire the translator's art. A bit like Stanislaw Lem or the Asterix books, the translation work is itself worthy of attention. And the level of surrealism is top-tier.
This is a fun book, whimsically illustrated in a 'Cat in the Hat' style, and is well worth reading, if you like surreal stuff.
For example: "The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small." He is rescued from being sucked down a gigantic whirlpool by a tribe of minipirates - four and five-inch tall beings, with two peg-legs, two hooks for hands, eyepatches and triangular hats, who are the unacknowledged masters of the high seas. When he grows too big for their ship they regretfully abandon him, and he spends a number of weeks crying to entertain an island of hobgoblins. He is later taught to speak - and indeed, not just to speak, but to master all forms of verbal communication - by a couple of talking waves who argue incessantly with one another, then later is rescued in the nick of time from a carnivorous island. This book is relentlessly, unflaggingly inventive and easily matches the flights of fancy in the Phantom Tollbooth and other such works. Needless to say, Bluebear finds himself well-equipped when he enters a lying competition later on in the book. A hundred rounds - also a record, against Nussram Fhakir the Unique, just before the City of Atlantis took off and flew back to its home planet. That's just a small part of what's here - just three or four of Bluebear's 13½ documented lives. Do check this book out.
Yeah, it's supposedly a kid's book, for kids maybe around Phantom Tollbooth age, but it's a very good translation, so even if you want to pretend to be grown-up you can read it to admire the translator's art. A bit like Stanislaw Lem or the Asterix books, the translation work is itself worthy of attention. And the level of surrealism is top-tier.
A touching story, joyous, sad and romantic at different points. I think my favourite scene was right at the start of the book, when the traveller meets his future wife for the first time in his timeline and she's so delighted to see him again (after a gap of a couple of years, for her) that she completely bowls him over. I will usually read a 500-odd page book in two or three chunks; this one got read in a single sitting, something I don't often do. It's going to become an acknowledged classic, I'm sure of it.
A touching story, joyous, sad and romantic at different points. I think my favourite scene was right at the start of the book, when the traveller meets his future wife for the first time in his timeline and she's so delighted to see him again (after a gap of a couple of years, for her) that she completely bowls him over. I will usually read a 500-odd page book in two or three chunks; this one got read in a single sitting, something I don't often do. It's going to become an acknowledged classic, I'm sure of it.
