The Magic Goes Away

Magic Goes Away #1

by Larry Niven, Esteban Maroto (Illustrator)

Ace, 1979. Mass market paperback. Cover art by Boris Vallejo, numerous interior illustrations by Esteban Maroto. Niven's engaging foray into fantasy.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Novels, Speculative Fiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1978

About the author

Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.

Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.

Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.

He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.

Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.

Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.

He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...

Reviews

[TAP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now the Warlock imagined a fat sphere, blue and bluish-brown and clotted white. He sensed a watery film of life covering that sphere…and he sensed how thin it was. Remove the life from the world, and what would have changed?

The Magic Goes Away is solid traditional fantasy with a twist. The world is losing its magic with the exhausting of the limited resource mana, the source that fuels the power of warlocks and witches, the lifeblood of dragons and centaurs, and even the divinity of the gods. Those that can no longer tap the mana go mythic.

A small band of sorcerers, a skull, and a solitary swordsman make the trek to seek a hidden wellspring of the ephemeral mana. Their journey does not lack for trouble.

There is a lot of fun to be had in this novella. Seeing Niven, a mostly science fiction writer, playing in a fantasy world and exploring his reasonings for the hows and whys is a joy.

There is an unnecessary romance that shows up, but meh—what can you do. Straight boys had to get their fix back in the day.

Ignore the voluptuous Boris Vallejo cover, it vaguely matches some of the characters. The Esteban Maroto illustrations within are top-notch and (mostly) on point.

3.5

Criticism and SPOILER below:












It is disappointing (and not surprising) that the only Black character is an enemy/opponent.

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1981 Grade A-
2022 Grade B

Series book M1

This is actually a pretty short fantasy novel. There are only 190 pages of fairly large print, fast, and easy reading content and many, many illustrations ranging from 1/2 page to 3 pages. I've lost my taste for barbarian & magician fantasy which is the reason for the grade reduction. But this is a good one with beefcake, cheesecake, and two old magicians trying to put magic back into a world which is now mostly low tech sword and sorcery.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and frequently funny adventure involving a warrior and four sorcerers on a mad quest to return magic to the world. How would that be accomplished? Bring down the moon, of course. Beautifully illustrated by Esteban Maroto. Pay no attention to the well-rendered but cheesy Boris Vallejo cover. The only thing accurate about it is that a skull is prominent in the story.

[Ashish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niven's Warlock Series is a classic example of the fantasy genre in the hands of a science fiction writer.This has been the most scientific treatment of magic I've read yet - Mana as a finite, consumable resource, in the last days of it's availability and the two worlds it makes possible - one by it's existence, and one by it's exhausted absence. And Niven has thus built a bridge between fantasy and fact... just like he does in sci-fi, but this time coming from the other side.
He's not just used the rules of fantasy writing brilliantly - he's also shown us how they got written. And yes, written a few himself.
The satire is fairly evident as well - we see the parallels between then and today's world, running on a near-magical substance that makes life as we know it, rich, colorful, luxurious... possible. And how scarcity is changing that world.
And the hope - that when it's finally over, there will be a new world that arises, building on the remains of the old, reborn from the old with a new soul.
Long ago, one resource finished and made our today possible. Today, another will end, and turn the page for the next.
And the stories will continue.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stuff. Currently rereading 1/28/23. As good as I recalled. Prime Niven!

Well. The book held up pretty well. One of Niven's attempts at "hard fantasy," which is to say treating magic as if it was science/engineering. The fiction is novella-length. My copy, trade-pb in size, has full-page illustrations that are good, and help set the tone. Romantic adventure-fantasy in classic style! Overall it was a 3.5 star read for me, and I might go on to reread the others in the series some day.

The first story in the series, "Not Long Before the End" (1969) remains the best. Is there a copy online? Yes, bunch of pdfs, likely unauthorized so I'll let you be the judge. Many reprints: https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?5...
5 star story on my last re-read. Not to be missed!

[Phillip Berrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite genre is science fiction because of the 'Oh wow!' moments it can engender. Larry Niven is one of my favourite traditional science fiction writers and, I'm glad to say, can produce 'Oh wow!' moments even when writing fantasy.

This is the last and final book in a series of three. The major premise of all three books is that magic is a finite resource which will eventually run out. The author explores this simple premise in great depth and for those who have read the earlier books you will be pleased to hear that the character 'Warlock' plays a major part in the story.

An added bonus to this story is an included scholarly essay at the end of the book where Sandra Miesel discusses the series in detail and Larry Niven's contribution to the fantasy genre. I was particularly appreciative of her description of Niven's work in this genre as being 'Logical Fantasy'.

I recommend this book to readers of fantasy who like it to be consistent and readers of science fiction who are willing to stray into realms fantastic.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Goes Away is the first volume of Niven's long-running fantasy series. It was one of the best fantasy novels written with the same rules and logic applied as a science fiction novel should have. This first edition was also notable for being one of the first trade paperbacks that was lavishly illustrated through-out; the interiors by Maroto add a lot to the experience. It's a very good read, thought-provoking as is almost all of Niven's work. After this one appeared, subsequent volumes featured work from other authors, and a number of collaborations.

[Elar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat similar to American Gods, Good Omens, Lonely October Night, but not as refined nor captivating

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a b-grade 80’s fantasy film. Not a whole lot of depth but nevertheless an enjoyable adventure novel with fantastical elements akin to Magic the Gathering lore.

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s weird how some books just scream their age. Niven has come up with an interesting concept, covered elsewhere in two prequel-intro short stories (read those first!), that more or less culminates in this short novel or novella about a band of wizards and a swordsman (generally a sworn enemy to wizards) on a quest to restore magic to a world where the mana that powers it is slowly but surely running down. The concept runs into a competent, but slightly awkward execution, where reading the book feels the same as watching Boris Vallejo’s accompanying illustrations, like being hopelessly stuck in the early eighties.

[Skallagrimsen]

I like the central conceit of The Magic Goes Away, the only Larry Niven novel I've ever read: magic is a non-renewable resource that gets used up by casting spells, explaining why it once-but-no-longer exists. I like that it's profusely illustrated, almost to the point of being a hybrid of novel and comic book. It's a form I'm fond of and wish was commoner. But I found Niven's writing undistinguished and his story rather unmemorable. For a superior fantasy with a similar premise, I recommend On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I own it somewhere I'm sure as I recognize the cover. Read it so long ago I've forgotten everything except it was a great idea and I enjoyed it.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny, I remember strange little bits around this book.

I remember the book coming out the week of my 16th birthday. A couple of weeks after that event, I took the four-hour bus ride from the little town I lived in back to my home city of Oshawa to visit friends for the weekend. And while I was there, I visited the local Coles in the mall and picked up this book.

Of course I had to have it. It was Larry Niven, a SF author I'd been devouring for a couple of years now, ever since I read RINGWORLD. And even better, it had a Boris Vallejo cover, an artist I was quickly becoming enamoured with for his Doc Savage and fantasy book covers. And this seemed to have a vague Conan feel about it. What could go wrong?

And, on that long four-hour bus ride back home on the Sunday, I read the entire book, cover to cover. I was usually impressed with myself when I devoured a book in a day, but this one hardly counted. It seemed half the book was illustrations—granted, they were gorgeous illustrations by the talented Esteban Maroto—and the font size was...well, large.

Congratulations, young Tobin, your first case of shrinkflation, and your first novella.

I also remember feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the whole thing. I mean, this was a trade paperback, instead of the pocket sized books I typically bought. It was lavishly illustrated. It was Larry Niven!

And it was just...kind of...meh.

Now, almost five decades later, I have the opportunity to revisit it, as I'd stumbled across a copy of THE MAGIC MAY RETURN (up next in my reading order), so I figured I'd do a re-read to reacquaint myself with the world.

And now, just like when I was a freshly-minted sixteen, now I'm a freshly minted sixty-three and you know what?

It's still just...kind of...meh.

There's some interesting ideas in here, and there's a couple of times when the characters break out of their blandness and become fun for a moment, but overall, it feels very by-the-numbers. Curmudgeonly old magicians. A wise, but super-hot female magician who takes a fancy to the younger, scarred, manly, super-hot barbarian. Sure, Niven makes the barbarian a little more vulnerable because of his past sins, enough to swear off swords, but as soon as another sword presents itself, he's right back at it.

Had Niven more of the fantasy chops, and gave some depth to the characters, and some logic to the magic system, this might have been a classic in the genre. Instead, it feels more like a guy who had kind of a cool idea, and the publisher padded out the truncated plot with some pretty pictures.

We'll see what happens when Niven invites other authors into his sandbox with the next book.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this story of fading magic, there are a lot of parallels to today, just as it intentionally paralleled the energy crisis in the 70s.The interior art by Esteban Maroto is pretty good, except for how the one female character, described as wearing robes and leathers, is depicted in typical chainmail bikini.

[Thomas Van Zeijl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book surprised me quiet a bit. For how short it is, it does tell a fascinating story. Premise wise, it's great and I'd love to read more about it. It's a bit of a shame that Larry Niven is very poorly equipped to write female characters, it seems. Makes it feel slightly icky from time to time.

[Christaaay · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 STARS

They had come ill-equipped, and moved too fast. Too much had been forgotten about the gods. Perhaps nobody had ever known enough.”

Premise : Unicorns are dying. Atlantis falls. Centuries-old magicians finally grow grey-haired and tired.

The magic is going away.

But one posse of magicians—including a reanimated skull, a Grecian warrior and a Native American—determine to manufacture a solution. Together, they decide to seek out and resurrect the last living god, hardly considering the implications of raising the god of love and madness from its decaying slumber.

Thoughts : I recently came across mention of this novella in a Fantasy Reference work and found the premise intriguing. Magic as a non-renewable resource? Very clever. The very beginning introduces us to Orlandes, a Grecian soldier who helped overthrow Atlantis and only barely survived the fall. That opening grabbed my interest immediately. (Plus, there's the Grecian hunk on book cover #1. Mmm, mm.)

The humorous introduction to the next two characters also amused me. Two old magicians travel across a desert on pack unicorns—horror of horrors! What respectable magician travels on a pack unicorn?—to an inn, where they reanimate the dead skull of an old enemy, all to seek help on their mission.

The climax and results of their journey made the story worth reading, for me. I enjoyed the clever ending and what it conveys about gods and magic.

So I understand why the story might have been popular when it was published, in the seventies, what with the oil crisis and all. The popularity of this first short story-turned-novella spawned several more works set in the same universe. Some consider them classic F/SF “must reads.”

Clearly some readers found all they wanted in the sparkling satire and rigid, “logical” magic system of this short, satiric adventure quest. The theory of the magic disappearing—and the reappearance of beloved characters from previous stories—appeal very much to faithful readers of Larry Niven’s science fiction. These reviewers usually praise the sparkling satire and magic system.

Unfortunately, I found little of interest in the story beyond that original premise and the interesting climax. I wanted to skip the entire middle portion and get to the point. Uninteresting characters and simplistic character relationships dulled the whole adventure, for me; the only woman of the group is especially dull. (See book covers.) We don’t get much in the way of description, explanation or worldbuilding, either, beyond the magic system, since this is only a novella. Newcomers will find little originality beyond the premise.

Overall : Interesting premise, gripping intro and climax. Meh characters, saggy middle.

Recommendation : Clearly some readers enjoyed these stories. If the idea sounds intriguing to you—or if you’re familiar with Niven’s work, already—you might be able to get past the un-relatable characters and into the clever ideas of the worldbuilding.

If you liked this review, you can read more of my speculative fiction reviews on my blog.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Magic Goes Away is not a feel-good story at any point, really. The essay which follows the book goes into great detail about the underlying themes and intentions, and is worth a read if you want to learn about how one person interprets the books anyway. So there probably are underlying themes and multiple meanings and heaps and heaps of symbolism in the way the book is plotted and characterised. I'm not denying it, but I also don't tend to go looking for such things in what I read, and unless the author insists on slapping me in the face with allegory and metaphor and analogy, I will do my very best to overlook things like the loss of magic having parallels in today's world and society, and how the need for gods to die in order that man may rule the world is like how science and fact are replacing religion and fantasy. I can see it, but I try not to. It's not why I read books, particularly not science fiction and fantasy.

Another theme which is dealt with in the essay following the story is the idea that the intelligentsia of the world fear a takeover by the swordsmen, or the mundane, as they call those who don't do magic, should the magic or mana be completely depleted. It's a fear that can be related to by pretty much everyone, since everyone has some group they would rather not see come to power, and yet there is a scene where one of the magic-users chooses a mundane swordsman over one of her magic-using peers, to the confusion of all. There might be some message in there about how women will always choose the jock over the geek, even if she has more in common with the geek. The essay at the back asserts that there is. It was one of the more memorable episodes in the book.

In brief summation, a Greek washes ashore wracked with guilt after participating in destroying the city of Atlantis and sets off in search of magicians after recuperating. He finds them at a conference called by one who had once been great and mighty. The magician who called the conference is called the Warlock, and he hopes to convince his colleagues to agree to a very dangerous plan to restore mana to the world by taking it from the moon. After one attendee stalks off in a huff the Warlock, his former lover, his companion, the Greek, and the skull of one of the Warlock's former enemies set off on their quest. They fly on clouds, meet non-magical Nordiks and their frost giant slaves, and encounter a god whose mana they hope to steal to bring down the moon.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will point to the first sentence of this review. As someone who reads mainly as a form of escapism, I did not feel that I was escaping by reading this but, but I did not suffer overmuch in the process. Probably I should not have read the essay at the end, since it is now all but impossible to think of the story without the scholarly literary elements brought in.

Also, the names in this book are just ridiculous.

[Nape · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I remember liking this a lot better the last time I read it. It's been about six years, and even back then I considered it a problematic favorite. I don't remember a whole lot about it, other than Wavyhill, who is just a talking skull--all that remains of a once famous necromancer.

On this re-read, I think the only thing I really enjoyed about this story was the concept: Magic as a finite resource in a fantasy world. That's really it. My only positives about The Magic Goes Away are that the prose is solid and descriptive, and that the concept is cool. Oh, yeah--and the talking skull. I still like Wavyhill.

Other than that, I kind of hated this re-read. The setting really soured me. It doesn't take place in a wholly original fictional world, but some kind of weird version of the real world, where ancient Greece, Atlantis and America all exist at once. It seems like this is done as a lame attempt to borrow the reader's knowledge about all of these different real world things and use them to conjure up ideas like some kind of literary shorthand, rather than creating something new and interesting to achieve the same effect. Like, when you think of Greeks, you think of famous warriors like Odysseus and Achilles. So, sure, Orolandes is Greek. Now you immediately picture Brad Pitt in bronze armor. It seems lazy and almost nonsensical. Especially since this sort of character shouldn't exist in the same place/timeframe that contemporary America does, which I think was referenced several times in this story. I guess it should be said that I typically don't go for fantasy that takes place in the "Real world," even if it's a fantasy version of reality. The inclusion of all these things didn't really seem to serve any kind of allegorical purpose, either.

The other thing that was terrible was Mirandee, the witch. Just like in the other Larry Niven book I read, (Ringworld.) she's an awful female character. She seems to exist solely as an object to be romantically desired by the other main characters. It's one thing to include a racy sex scene or nudity in your story just for the sake of having it, but making a whole entire female character just to fulfill the utility of some kind of weird object of desire is just... I don't know, kind of cringe?

The setting and the characters rendered a lot of the story kind of unenjoyable. I didn't really care about where anybody went or if they were going to succeed, and my interest in the nuance of what they were doing wavered after about 30 pages or so. The Magic Goes Away has an interesting and unique (for the time) concept at it's core. If you can find an illustrated copy of this, (The pictures are cool.) and you like fantasy, I'd encourage you to pick it up. If you have a high tolerance for nonsense, you might be able to get a little bit of enjoyment out of this.

[A.M. Steiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A party of wizards attempt to restore magic to a world from which it has almost faded.

The idea of magic as an analogue for limited resources is central to my own stories, so I was interested to inspect someone else's approach - especially that of an author as highly regarded as Niven. I came away entertained, but also a little disappointed. This is one of Larry Niven's more accessible stories, well paced and with relatable characters, but I don't read fantasy for entertainment alone, I also want provoking thoughts.

Over a prolific career, Niven has been a one-man production line of original and interesting premises. Unfortunately, he often seems in such a hurry to get his books out the door that he doesn't give his brilliant ideas time to bed down They often ended up curiously uninspected. That's very much the case here. As with the Integral Trees (another of his I read in 2020), a fascinating set-up quickly gives way to a generic, if well-crafted, adventurous romp. That's a bit of a let-down from an intellectual perspective.

Still, it's a fun quick read. Taken as a straight-up adventure spiced with some neat ideas, it will please most readers on its own terms.

[Matthew J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine there's a TV series that's like seven seasons long. You've never watched it, but happen to tune in one night to a random episode from say, season 5. It happens to be a lame episode. It happens. TV shows with 22 or 24 episode seasons inevitably have bad episodes; filler episodes. And that's what you tuned into.
That's this novel. It feels like a random segment of a larger story. Perhaps the characters are interesting, but you don't get any of what makes them so. You can pick up a vague sense of the relationships and the overall drama, but ultimately it just feels like some random stuff that happens to some cardboard cut-out characters.
I've read a bunch of Niven and while I'd say he's hit and miss, I've never read anything where he missed by this much. It's a genuinely poorly written book with poorly defined characters, a poorly executed plot, and a poorly defined purpose. Blah.
It gets an extra star purely for Esteban Maroto's excellent and copious illustrations, which are really the only particularly good thing about this book. I wish the story lived up to the art.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well done, and arguably ground breaking work, because it's quite obvious that this book has been the inspiration if not the source of intellectual theft for numerous fantasy novels. My only complaint was the ending, but everything else was so good that I could honestly overlook the ending.

[Scott Danielson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that got more interesting for me after participating in a discussion on the SFFaudio Podcast (Episode #498).

The ideas - mainly that magic is a non-renewable resource and the well-considered implications of that - are very interesting. I didn't connect with the story, which was told in an epic fashion that I often enjoy.

[Timothy Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest hard science fiction minds of our time blends folklore from multiple cultures to speculate about why the magic always seems to be bigger, the further back in time you go. A fun read.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first Larry Niven book I ever read. I am a much bigger fan of his SiFi books but this was not a bad fantasy story. Recommended

[Trent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Congratulations, you now have a new book to top the list of Worst Books Ever Read.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good fantasy novel from Niven. This is a sequel to a couple of short stories by Niven that I may have read years ago, but one of the things that I liked best about this novel is that Niven did not spend much time on background details. All the reader knows is that magic is inexorably getting weaker in the world from a period where gods and warlocks were commonplace to the current state where gods are largely myths and the remaining warlocks vie for control of the remaining sources of magic.

The story is episodic and efficient and filled with tantalizing details about the magic. The characters include an ancient warlock, his older apprentice, the animated skull of a rival and a greek warrior who had caused the fall of Atlantis. They embark on a quest to raise the last living god so that they can steal its manna (magical power).

The book is heavily illustrated by Esteban Maroto, and the illustrations are quite striking. However, they often seem out of synch or unrelated to the story, so they are occasionally distracting.

The sequels are shared world anthologies, and I intend to read these as well.

[William Saeednia-Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was less a fantasy adventure and more an extended parable - holding a mirror up to our current world of consumerism and environmental collapse by imagining a long-long-ago world that faced the same challenges as they used up the magic in the world.

It is not a happy-ever-after tale, it does highlight the stupidity of some reactions (the world is collapsing because of overusing oil/manna? Your answer is to go and make maps so you can overuse more?) and this could be a depressing read, but it is told with wit which sweetens the pill.

Do I have any gripes, yes but not with the text - with the illustrations. I mean, I try to avoid swearing but What The ........ ? My copy was Illustrated every few pages and I think the illustrator was reading a different book to me, especially where the female character Mirandee is concerned. She is initially described as wearing blue robes, but later when they reach mountains of bundling up under woollen layers. In the illustrations her outfit.... well to refer to it as underwear would be too much....this stuff aspires to be underwear when it grows up.

Pictures aside, this weas a clever and thought provoking book.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently picked this up at a used book store, and it was like visiting an old friend. When I was in High School I loved reading anything by Larry Niven, both hard science fiction like "Ringworld" , "Tales of Known Space" and "Proector", as well as fantasy such as "Flight of the Horse". I remember reading the short story "Not Long Before the End" years ago, and loving Niven's concept of magic, as a finite, and in this story, dwindling resource, and what happens to a society built on that resource when it starts to run out. This is a sequel to that short story, where the wizard from "Not Long..." teams up with other wizards and a sorceress to attempt to locate an ancient God and use that God to restore the abundance of "manna", the power behind magic, by pulling down the moon down to earth.
I read the original story in the late 70's during another energy crisis (also exacerbated by soured relations with Iran) so the reading of this was weirdly timely, echoing and underlining our reliance on a different, but also critical dwindling and finite resource.
I guess we really haven't learned much of anything in the last 50 years...

[Sherry Sidwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my husband's single favorite book from his childhood and I read it as a read along with our son because he really wanted to see our son attempt it while schools and libraries were closed during the coronavirus lockdown. But I really should have remembered that my husband has a very dark almost nihilistic sense of humor because this being his favorite childhood book actually explains a lot about him.

In this world, magic is dying because the natural resource used to make it has been used up, and with it all the magical creatures. Enter a mortal veteran of the destruction of Atlantis trying to understand what's happening. He ends up on a roadtrip of sorts with a handful of magicians and assorted oddballs that includes a reanimated skull of a former rogue magician to try to resolve it. While there's some interesting ideas at play and some interesting worldbuilding, as the title suggests it doesn't end well.

[Rick Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

In spite of the worthy attempt to raise this to a higher critical standard by the person who wrote the essay as an afterword, this is still not much more than a rather sophomoric tale that checks off a few swords-and-sorcery boxes but doesn't rise to greatness. There are a number of characters who are clearly intended to be rendered in technicolor (although the illustrations that are packed within are in pen and ink only, sadly), but only the Boris Vallejo front cover brings that particular magic off for us. I was wanting to connect with these people--really, I did--but by the end of the quest I just wanted it over with. Niven can write, but he tends to write about things rather than people (see Ringworld for more on that). I suspect he relies on his frequent collaborator Jerry Pournelle to bring in more engaging characters, because they're rather missing from this solo effort.