Spell of Fate

Dance of the Gods #3

by Mayer Alan Brenner

As Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable comes close to solving the laws of conserving magic and tapping the gods' power base, the Creeping Sword is drawn more deeply into the fight between warring gods. Original.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks

428 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read a book on Roger Zelazny that talked about how he deliberately turned away from overwriting, and how some people thought he sacrificed depth in his stories as a result. This book has, if anything, the opposite problem; it's trying to be deep and complex, and the author doesn't quite pull it off, so it ends up murky and slow-moving instead.

The main problem with this (and the series generally) is that there are too many characters, and too many plot threads, and the proportion of reflection to action is too high, especially for sword-and-sorcery. It's entertaining enough that I keep reading, but it's never going to make it to my Best of the Year.

Also, it needed a bit more editing even before it was scanned. Though there don't appear to be a lot of obvious scan errors, so that's something.

It does finally get to action by the end, and then stops before the resolution, which presumably we will get in the last volume. I'll wait until that volume drops in price, as I did with the other three; $7.99 USD is too much for me to pay for a fairly entertaining book with significant, though not fatal, flaws.

Hangs onto its fourth star by its fingernails, since I do enjoy the characters (even though there are too many) and the story (even though I have to beat the thickets for it).

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason he decided to take out the fun relationships between the characters, *and* end it on a cliffhanger. Bad form.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

[Jsnows · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 3rd book just sort of flew by.
Maybe I've gotten used to Mayer Alan Brenner's writing style, even though I still think he sometimes tends to be over-descriptive, maybe I was just stoked to find out how the story developed or maybe I just had too much free time. I'm still not sure which but the truth is I got to the end of the book with the feeling that I'd just barely started.

As I write this I'm about halfway into book four and I get the feeling that it would have been better to release books 2, 3 and 4 as one book. Mainly because I didn't get much closure in either book 2 or 3 because both end leaving a lot of plot threads loose.

But back to the story itself. What I've enjoyed most in this book series is the unpredictability of the plot. It's never easy to write but it's even harder to write while systematically avoiding most of the usual fantasy tropes and conventions. This is definitely worth bonus points in my book.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third in the Brenner's "Dance of the Gods" series, and the best of the bunch so far.

After a couple brief slow spots near the beginning, the plot starts picking up quickly, reaching breakneck speed in the last few chapters. Plenty of twists and revelations, spiced up with some newly-revealed personal vendettas, dissension in the ranks, master plotters, mysterious archives and serious emotional complications.

These books are just flat-out fun to read.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third of a four part series. This is sword and sorcery written intelligently, with a sly sense of humor. The characters are unique and interesting.

I just began the last of the series. I had to order them from the storage stacks of a large city library; they are hard to find, but worth the effort.

[Michael McDougall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, slightly tongue in cheek fantasy adventure.