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Madwand is a short novel by Roger
Zelazny, and while not one of Mr. Zelazny’s best, it
remains an entertaining fantasy.
The plot of the novel is fairly
straightforward. There is an evil magician named Spier
who has a plan for opening a malevolent gateway, and
thereby using the powers unleashed to set himself up as
the potentate of a magical realm.
The main character, Pol Detson, is a
young sorcerer who seems to stumble into his destiny of
opposition without any great drive to do so, other than
that he is attacked early in the work and seems curious
as to why. The novel takes its name from Pol’s condition
of being devoid of formal training in the ways of
magic. Rogue talents, it seems, are referred to as “madwands.”
Of interest to me was the character of
Belphanior, a demon cursed to serve the interests of Pol,
although at the beginning, Belphanior has no clear
understanding of his own nature or purpose in the
world. Seeing the world through the eyes of this demon
is arguably the most entertaining part of the book.
There is a great scene where
Belphanior meets another demon able to show him the
ropes, and while Belphanior helps this nightmare being
in a murder assigned by the creature’s master, the demon
hands Belphanior a bloody limb and says “here, do
something artistic with this.” A memorable line.
There are dragons and magical battles.
dreamscapes and mistaken identities, but for my money,
Belphanior steals the show, and I think he must have for
Zelazny too, as the demon gets the last word and comes
to feel protective of his “accursed master” Pol, even
though he has been advised that demons live in
anticipation of ultimate vengeance against their
masters.
Madwand is the middle book of a
trilogy, starting with Changeling. The third book was
never written. If you don’t mind entering a world where
the beginning is all hints and allusions and the ending
leaves storms brewing on the horizon, then Madwand can
be a good read for a quiet summer’s day from one of the
masters of modern fantasy, Roger Zelazny.
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