[2021] I found a copy of this while looking for another book and bought it to replace mine lost to a fire. I found several of the comments here amusing..: griping about the heavy-handed Good v. Evil. Well, the ultimate Catholic dichotomy was Stasheff’s theme, and he crafted an entertaining fantasy around it. This time around I was anointed a little at how each encounter was an extreme (“Hi! I’m a knight. Well met! Wanna fight?” “Okay. But only a little.”) But… that theme.

I never read all of the series - had them all, but only read only the first four. Maybe I’ll get to them …

[2011] I reread this on vacation (last read more than 20 years ago.) I had forgotten how much fun a Stasheff book could be! ( )

Set in an alternative universe where Remus founded the city instead of Romulus, magic is real and is fuelled by faith; therefore, saints and demons are real too and good and evil are real and active forces. Matt Mantrell is dragged here from our own universe and discovers he has a talent for magic. Along with a talent for poetry, which gives magic direction, this makes him a wizard. He discovers Alisande, the true heir to the kingdom of Merovence, and rescues her from the dungeons of the evil king Astaulf. Then it's a race against the dark forces to gather their allies and see Alisande proclaimed queen.

I was looking for something light to finish off the year, but this dragged a bit for me, I must confess. I think the fact that everyone spoke in archaic language (think Shakespeare) tended to slow it down. Plus, I'm not the world's greatest poetry expert, so I couldn't always tell when Matt was quoting or when he was making up his own so I probably missed quite a few references. Not one of Stasheff's best, I feel.

3-3.5 *** ( )

This reminded me very much of [a:Gordon R. Dickson|38631|Gordon R. Dickson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1230054159p2/38631.jpg] and his dragon series.

Then you hit the theology/philosophy. If Stasheff isn't Catholic, then he's doing a fantastic job of pretending to be one.

And this book is a good example of why overt Spirituality in fiction doesn't appeal to everyone.

I believe in God, and this turned me off. Not in a bad way, but it just felt like Stasheff was preaching at me instead of telling a story. And I did not read this book to get preached at.

Doubt I'll read any more. ( )

Have not read this yet, but I found this first edition in a used book store and it's autographed by the author!

Matt Mantrell is a slacker. A worthless bum who can't seem to finish what he starts. Until the day he finds a scrap of paper with some runic poetry in an old book in the library. He can't seem to leave it alone, though it threatens to disrupt his aspirations of becoming a PhD. When he finally breaks the code of the runes, he finds himself transported into another world where magic is the norm and he is a powerful wizard. The question then becomes, Will he believe?

This book reminded a lot of Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series - an antihero gets transported from the current time to a parallel world where he is the savior. Covenant, though, can't afford to allow himself to believe. And that refusal to believe leads him down a road of destruction. Matt simply refuses to believe at the beginning. Unlike Covenant, Matt does eventually allow himself to test the waters, so to speak and by experimentation, he starts to understand the world he finds himself in and to, eventually, accept it for what it is. In the end, Matt finds what he's always been after - purpose and acceptance.

I read this book on the heels of the Piers Anthony Space Tyrant series and the writing styles are markedly different. I prefer Stasheff over Anthony, even though Stasheff can be harder to read. Stasheff is content to write a book with a joke or two built it and allow the story to form and end. Anthony prefers to maximize the joke density, making the overall work seem very contrived and insubstantial.

Definitely looking forward to the next in the series. ( )