The Planet Wizard

reviews.metaphorosis.com

2.5 stars

On a post-apocalyptic world far from Earth, Magus Blacklaw, a traveling mountebank, is in trouble with the law. He and his daughter soon fall in with a young man, and pretty soon all three are condemned to ride a skysled to exorcize the demons of a formerly commercial sister planet.

Before John Jakes became known for historical fiction, he also write science fiction, including the excellent Secrets of Stardeep. This book, sadly, does not match that standard. Instead, it gives every indication of having been written quickly and without much thought. While not  a bad book, there's little of interest here, and little that could not be predicted even from the above one-sentence summary. To his credit, Jakes does give a little twist to the happily-ever-after ending, but it's not enough to save the book.

Unless you're a true die-hard Jakes completist, there's no good reason to read this. If you already have it, it won't hurt you, but you won't remember it.