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Sun-Cross #2
The Magicians of Night
THE OCCULT BUREAU
The two wizards, Jaldis and Rhion, had dared the dread Dark Well to answer the desperate call of a world without magic. Jaldis had not survived the dreadful Void. Now Rhion was alone in a world he could not imagine -- the world of Germany in 1940.
The four would-be wizards of the Occult Bureau welcomed him to their home in Schloss Torweg. They wanted his help desperately. But they would not heed his advice against the calling up of dark magic. They needed magic to overcome the enemies they claimed were trying to conquer their fatherland. To that high mission, nothing could be neglected, however dark and ugly.
They lied to him, claiming the Dark Well had been destroyed, removing his only hope of returning to Tally and his two sons. And soon he realized he was no more than a useful prisoner.
But he knew the Dark Well still existed. And somehow, despite whatever they did to him, he must find a way back across the Void!
The two wizards, Jaldis and Rhion, had dared the dread Dark Well to answer the desperate call of a world without magic. Jaldis had not survived the dreadful Void. Now Rhion was alone in a world he could not imagine -- the world of Germany in 1940.
The four would-be wizards of the Occult Bureau welcomed him to their home in Schloss Torweg. They wanted his help desperately. But they would not heed his advice against the calling up of dark magic. They needed magic to overcome the enemies they claimed were trying to conquer their fatherland. To that high mission, nothing could be neglected, however dark and ugly.
They lied to him, claiming the Dark Well had been destroyed, removing his only hope of returning to Tally and his two sons. And soon he realized he was no more than a useful prisoner.
But he knew the Dark Well still existed. And somehow, despite whatever they did to him, he must find a way back across the Void!
354 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
20 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hambly
204 books1,580 followersaka Barbara Hamilton
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 2, 2013
A powerful conclusion to the Sun-Cross series, that puts our hero wizard from a fantasy world in the hands of the Occult Bureau in Nazi Germany. The brutality of that time and place take a toll on both him and the reader while he struggles to find a way home, thwarted by both the SS and Earth's almost non-existent magic.
September 23, 2017
Much faster read than the first book. Enjoyed it more.
June 16, 2019
A better book than the first, I think, and Hambly's penchant for historical realism shines through beautifully. It's a rather grim book, though, despite the occasional flashes of character humor.
January 18, 2010
I am a devoted fan of Barbara Hambly. I have read many, many, many of the books she's written and I visit her web site often. :) This devoation is why it's always tough for me to admit when a novel isn't destined to be on my favorites list, like this one.
The prose is wonderful, as it always is from Ms. Hambly. She's a master wordsmith. However, for this novel, I felt the use of some characters was a little unbalanced (appearing, then disappearing, reappearing and then being critical to the story?) Also, and this is strictly a personal preference, I'm not much of a WWII fan, even if I am a history major!
The prose is wonderful, as it always is from Ms. Hambly. She's a master wordsmith. However, for this novel, I felt the use of some characters was a little unbalanced (appearing, then disappearing, reappearing and then being critical to the story?) Also, and this is strictly a personal preference, I'm not much of a WWII fan, even if I am a history major!
August 1, 2024
Barbara Hambly's fantasy novels are so good I don't understand why she's not one of the top-selling authors in the genre--and, more importantly, why her books are out of print. But then I'm such a fan I probably can't be trusted.
The Magicians of Night is a weird one, but effective. The first book in this two-book series, The Rainbow Abyss, set up a fascinating world in which wizards are hated and feared. This is true in many fantasy worlds, but in this case they're so hated and feared that the ruling powers of the world--both royal and clerical--have been able to turn the wizarding profession into a dangerous one to pursue.
Yet our main character, Rhion, can't imagine being anything else. Magic is a difficult vocation to pursue, both mentally and culturally, but it's just that important to him. When his mentor, Jaldis, entreats Rhion to travel with him to another world that has lost its magic, Rhion reluctantly agrees to do so, leaving his beloved and their two children behind.
The "twist" (which I put in scare quotes because the marketing copy tells you exactly where Rhion is going to end up) is that the other world with no magic is our own, circa 1939, and the "magicians" who had reached out to Jaldis across the Rainbow Abyss for his help are Nazis.
So where the first book utilized a standard fantasy setting in which wizards are second-class citizens, the second one is a kind of Raiders of the Lost Ark setting, with occult Nazis attempting to conjure magical powers to defeat the English.
I didn't think this was going to work for me, but it did. When Rhion arrives in 1930s Germany of course he has no understanding of who the Nazis are, but he learns pretty quickly that they're not the sort of people he should be helping. But Jaldis did not make it through the Rainbow Abyss successfully, so Rhion is on his own and effectively stranded. With no magic to easily draw upon in our version of Earth, Rhion cannot easily return home without first gathering some magical energy to do so. In the meantime, he is first a guest, then a prisoner, of the Nazis whose solicitations of his aid to their sinister mission grow increasingly forceful.
Add to this Sara, a Jewish woman searching for her father who is being held in a nearby concentration camp, and Saltwood, an American spy tasked with assassinating a man whom British Intelligence calls "Professor Rhion," and you have a great setup for a thrilling adventure. Meanwhile, Hambly occasionally takes us back to Rhion's native world to find out what's been happening while he's been trapped in Germany.
The characters are so rich with personality and purpose that it's a joy to spend time with them. And, as usual, Hambly instills her fantasies with subtextual meaning. Here is the Kabbalist Leibnitz telling his daughter why Rhion succeeded where the Nazis failed:
Here is Rhion speaking of the horrors of Nazi Germany, which, unfortunately, remain applicable to our own early twenty-first century (especially so as I write this in 2024):
And here is Rhion, safely back home, considering how his newfound understanding might be used to safeguard himself, his family, and his fellow wizards, and wondering whether the use of that power might be the worst mistake he could make:
It's a spectacular book.
The Magicians of Night is a weird one, but effective. The first book in this two-book series, The Rainbow Abyss, set up a fascinating world in which wizards are hated and feared. This is true in many fantasy worlds, but in this case they're so hated and feared that the ruling powers of the world--both royal and clerical--have been able to turn the wizarding profession into a dangerous one to pursue.
Yet our main character, Rhion, can't imagine being anything else. Magic is a difficult vocation to pursue, both mentally and culturally, but it's just that important to him. When his mentor, Jaldis, entreats Rhion to travel with him to another world that has lost its magic, Rhion reluctantly agrees to do so, leaving his beloved and their two children behind.
The "twist" (which I put in scare quotes because the marketing copy tells you exactly where Rhion is going to end up) is that the other world with no magic is our own, circa 1939, and the "magicians" who had reached out to Jaldis across the Rainbow Abyss for his help are Nazis.
So where the first book utilized a standard fantasy setting in which wizards are second-class citizens, the second one is a kind of Raiders of the Lost Ark setting, with occult Nazis attempting to conjure magical powers to defeat the English.
I didn't think this was going to work for me, but it did. When Rhion arrives in 1930s Germany of course he has no understanding of who the Nazis are, but he learns pretty quickly that they're not the sort of people he should be helping. But Jaldis did not make it through the Rainbow Abyss successfully, so Rhion is on his own and effectively stranded. With no magic to easily draw upon in our version of Earth, Rhion cannot easily return home without first gathering some magical energy to do so. In the meantime, he is first a guest, then a prisoner, of the Nazis whose solicitations of his aid to their sinister mission grow increasingly forceful.
Add to this Sara, a Jewish woman searching for her father who is being held in a nearby concentration camp, and Saltwood, an American spy tasked with assassinating a man whom British Intelligence calls "Professor Rhion," and you have a great setup for a thrilling adventure. Meanwhile, Hambly occasionally takes us back to Rhion's native world to find out what's been happening while he's been trapped in Germany.
The characters are so rich with personality and purpose that it's a joy to spend time with them. And, as usual, Hambly instills her fantasies with subtextual meaning. Here is the Kabbalist Leibnitz telling his daughter why Rhion succeeded where the Nazis failed:
"It is sacrifice that gives power, you see, Saraleh," the old man whispered. "Not death, but the willingness to give up everything, to burn the future to ashes, and all that it could have been, and to let it go. That is what they did not and could not understand, wanting power only for what it could give to them. That is what raises the great power from the earth and the air and the leys beneath the ground, that thunderclap of power that went forth; that is why he conquered." (341)
Here is Rhion speaking of the horrors of Nazi Germany, which, unfortunately, remain applicable to our own early twenty-first century (especially so as I write this in 2024):
"When I came here," he said quietly, "it was because I couldn't imagine anything worse than a world where magic no longer existed. But I've seen . . ." He coughed again, pressing his hand to his side. "I've seen what is worse--a world where even the concept that other human beings are as human as you are is disappearing . . . and I see now, too, that this--this kind of lie--is what was starting in my own world, was being used like a weapon for whoever cared to wield it. That is how it starts . . ." (342)
And here is Rhion, safely back home, considering how his newfound understanding might be used to safeguard himself, his family, and his fellow wizards, and wondering whether the use of that power might be the worst mistake he could make:
Rhion knew . . . [that] Power lay in him like a fist of light, sleeping in the core of pain that lay at the center of his being. He could open that fist, and the power would radiate forth from his hands . . .
If he was willing to do it. But he knew what it would mean.
It would mean taking responsibility for this ragtag of mages who had gathered here. It would mean putting himself against the might of the Cult of the Veiled God, and against the men who found it increasingly convenient to use its lies. It would mean enduring what that responsibility, that leadership, would cost.
The power was in him, willed to him by those murdered Kabbalists, by the gypsy woman whose body he'd seen, by the old runemasters and young psychics, and even by the darkly grinning Poincelles--fragments of power that could never have been power in the world to which it had been born, fused now in darkness and in light.
But to use that power . . .
Dying would be easier. And no one could say he hadn't earned that right. (352)
It's a spectacular book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2017
Jason Bourne meets Merlin. A very enjoyable book. 2 stars more than the first.
May 26, 2022
This was definitely better than the first book, but many of the inherent problems of the universe still weren't solved.
Introducing the Tally chapters is a thought to keep track of the old world, but the old world was extremely boring. And since the third book never came out, all of the development is useless. There are other inherent problems where Hambly doesn't actually write women that are very fleshed out. Since magicians were meant to be an allegory for the persecution of the Jews, the fantasy world persecution feels very hollow when put in direct comparison with real-life Nazi atrocities.
Hambly also has a problem where she hates fat people, and it's really tiring. All fat people are evil and described using derogatory language (lots of pig eyes). It's exhausting. Couple this with every woman (you know, all four of them) having their relative attractiveness classified.
And my final big issue was the pacing. Hambly would slow down the plot to do something like character development, but most of them weren't more than surface depth so it just slowed things down for characters I wasn't invested in.
The Nazi stuff was well-researched. My dad was into some of the occult shit and I unfortunately learned some about it in my youth, and all of the mysticism rang true from what I vaguely remember. The stuff with the concentration camps was also accurate to everything I've learned. The way that Nazis would twist everything to fit into their horrible racism, even if it obviously wasn't logical.
So it was a very good depiction of how evil the Nazis were, and I appreciated getting a historical fantasy setting that I didn't have quibbles with. That's so incredibly rare for me.
When the action was happening, the book zoomed. Most of the last third of the book was great, up until the last two chapters when we trudged back into characterization stuff again.
I think....this is a good book to have left in the past. It's not really a hidden gem.
Introducing the Tally chapters is a thought to keep track of the old world, but the old world was extremely boring. And since the third book never came out, all of the development is useless. There are other inherent problems where Hambly doesn't actually write women that are very fleshed out. Since magicians were meant to be an allegory for the persecution of the Jews, the fantasy world persecution feels very hollow when put in direct comparison with real-life Nazi atrocities.
Hambly also has a problem where she hates fat people, and it's really tiring. All fat people are evil and described using derogatory language (lots of pig eyes). It's exhausting. Couple this with every woman (you know, all four of them) having their relative attractiveness classified.
And my final big issue was the pacing. Hambly would slow down the plot to do something like character development, but most of them weren't more than surface depth so it just slowed things down for characters I wasn't invested in.
The Nazi stuff was well-researched. My dad was into some of the occult shit and I unfortunately learned some about it in my youth, and all of the mysticism rang true from what I vaguely remember. The stuff with the concentration camps was also accurate to everything I've learned. The way that Nazis would twist everything to fit into their horrible racism, even if it obviously wasn't logical.
So it was a very good depiction of how evil the Nazis were, and I appreciated getting a historical fantasy setting that I didn't have quibbles with. That's so incredibly rare for me.
When the action was happening, the book zoomed. Most of the last third of the book was great, up until the last two chapters when we trudged back into characterization stuff again.
I think....this is a good book to have left in the past. It's not really a hidden gem.
February 12, 2022
This is the second book in the Sun=Cross series. The previous book ended with 2 wizards using a bridge across worlds to try and help a world where there was almost no magic. Only the younger survives and he discovers that the magicians who opened the gate from their side have not been entirely honest with him.
It's 1940. He's stepped into an SS project to help Germany win the war by employing magic. He realizes the kind of people he's with fairly quickly and looks for a way back to his world.
Oh, and while this is going on, Britain has found out about the project, takes it seriously, and has sent an assassin to kill this new magician who they see as a threat to the survival of their country.
Hambly may write about worlds that can be described as "sword and sorcery," but her work always focuses more on the people who are trying to make their way through these worlds.
It's 1940. He's stepped into an SS project to help Germany win the war by employing magic. He realizes the kind of people he's with fairly quickly and looks for a way back to his world.
Oh, and while this is going on, Britain has found out about the project, takes it seriously, and has sent an assassin to kill this new magician who they see as a threat to the survival of their country.
Hambly may write about worlds that can be described as "sword and sorcery," but her work always focuses more on the people who are trying to make their way through these worlds.
February 3, 2025
I liked The Magicians of Night more than The Rainbow Abyss, because I think that the horrors of 1940 Nazi Germany were immensely more terrifying than the issues unfolding in Rhion's fantasy world. There was also a lot more action compared to book #1, which I appreciated.
But on the more meh front, the pacing and structure felt weird at times--Hambly would introduce a character like Saltwood, only for him to not show up until a good chunk of the book later, and the tension would ratchet up in the WWII sections only to slow down in the bits with Tally in the fantasy world. The end also sets up further conflicts for further books, but after 30+ years this remains a duology.
But on the more meh front, the pacing and structure felt weird at times--Hambly would introduce a character like Saltwood, only for him to not show up until a good chunk of the book later, and the tension would ratchet up in the WWII sections only to slow down in the bits with Tally in the fantasy world. The end also sets up further conflicts for further books, but after 30+ years this remains a duology.
May 10, 2018
I have not read the 1st and 2nd parts of this trilogy, and therefore, was not very interested in Rhion's home universe. But I did enjoy this book, picked up second-hand goodness-knows-where. Hambly managed a good yarn, and I liked the character of Rhion, with all of his imperfections. He was human, not Hero.
At the same time, I was often irritated at Tom's stubborn refusal to acknowledge that there really was magic. I had to remind myself that he didn't know he was in a book. In books you can find magic and mermaids and unicorns and plots so bizarre that they could never actually happen! And Tom didn't believe in magic!
At the same time, I was often irritated at Tom's stubborn refusal to acknowledge that there really was magic. I had to remind myself that he didn't know he was in a book. In books you can find magic and mermaids and unicorns and plots so bizarre that they could never actually happen! And Tom didn't believe in magic!
November 30, 2019
This book was part of an experiment: I bought several science fiction and fantasy books by women authors at random places. Then I practiced reading them not in order, without knowing their styles or worlds. I enjoyed the first one of this series, and ordered the second from a used-book seller.
The books themselves are creative in multiple worlds. The use and appreciation of magic. The fear and discrimination of the unknown. And I am glad Rhion got home eventually.
This was a much better experience that the Pern book.
The books themselves are creative in multiple worlds. The use and appreciation of magic. The fear and discrimination of the unknown. And I am glad Rhion got home eventually.
This was a much better experience that the Pern book.
March 9, 2022
The book is mostly centered around the WWII storyline, with brief glimpses into life back in the fantasy realm. It wasn't my personal favorite, but I did enjoy [spoiler!!] the unfolding of magic at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2024
still a delight
Bought the kindle version to supplement my hard copy. Fell in love again after all these years. I wish there were more books in the Sun-Cross series. I want to know what happens next!
Bought the kindle version to supplement my hard copy. Fell in love again after all these years. I wish there were more books in the Sun-Cross series. I want to know what happens next!
May 23, 2017
Two words....Nazi Wizards
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2022
Excellent book, but extremely dark. Set during the Holocaust, so very disturbing happenings but excellently written.
September 15, 2023
Is this the end of the tale?
Rhion makes it home to Tally and his sons, but much work is left to be done. Is there a 3rd book?
Rhion makes it home to Tally and his sons, but much work is left to be done. Is there a 3rd book?
October 16, 2025
Not really my kind of book, but boy was it full of surprises!
December 20, 2021
It just didn't work. I felt the plot lagged.
January 30, 2016
Hambly can tend to be kind of dark at times, but I found "The Magicians of Night" to be almost overwhelmingly grim, at least during its first half. The previous book, "The Rainbow Abyss", ended with our hero Rhion and his mentor Jaldiss having crossed the Void to try to help the would-be wizards of a world without magic. Readers will, of course, have guessed that the magicless world is ours: they probably didn't guess that the wizards who called for help would turn out to be Nazis (well, one of them is an amoral opportunist, but that's not really an improvement). Generally speaking, Nazis make poor villains since they are depicted as embodiments of pure evil. This is poor history -- the important lesson to learn from the Nazis is not about the capability of evil people for evil but about the capability of non-evil people for evil -- and also poor literature, as characters lacking even the most basic humanity are usually fairly boring. For a brief moment, it seems that Hambly might be able to overcome this problem by allowing Rhion to form a connection of sorts with the lead Nazi wizard, Paul von Rath. Von Rath's struggle to become the wizard that he knows he was born to be reminds Rhion of his own: though Rhion's world has magic, it doesn't look favorably on it, and Rhion was disowned by his family and suffered through various persecutions thanks to his decision to pursue his magical talents. However, this hint of humanity lasts only until somebody gets the bright idea of raising magical power by torturing people to death: after that, it is of course impossible to sympathize with any of the Nazi wizards even a little bit -- and just to make sure of this, the dark powers von Rath is working with rapidly eliminate whatever humanity he may once have had -- while their minions are brutal and boorish to a man. (Ironically, when later in the book we briefly meet Goering and Himmler, they come off as far more human than von Rath or any of his subordinates, whereas the reality was of course almost certainly exactly the opposite: one more reason why the undifferentiated mass of evil approach to the Nazis doesn't work.) Even Sara, the one other sympathetic character we get in the first half of the book, stabs Rhion in the arm in one of her first appearances. And brief chapters that touch on developments in Rhion's home while he's away indicate that the dark forces of the Cult of Agon are growing steadily in power there as well. The result is oppressively dark, and only lightens a bit when the second half of the novel adds first Sara's father and later an American commando (a former Wobbly and veteran of the International Brigades, to boot). The action sequences do keep things moving a bit more, though: the first half has a lot of Rhion sitting around helplessly while horrible things happen, which makes the grimness even grimmer, so having our sympathetic characters actually do things makes for a nice change. Unfortunately, the ending just doesn't really make sense, even accounting for the fact that we're talking about magic here. All in all, I'd say this two-book sequence is one of Hambly's less successful.
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June 11, 2013Portal fantasy about a magician from another world helping an oppressed group in ours gain power. In this book, he crosses over -- and the reader discovers that the "oppressed group" are Nazis during the Holocaust.
This sounds like it could be catastrophically offensive, but it's not -- I think it tries to be respectful of the Holocaust and not just use it as background or plot grist. But while it's not offensive, it also just doesn't work as a book: it's trying to comment on the assumptions made in the fantasy genre and on the implications of some portal fantasy plotlines of being hugely important in another world without knowing anything about how that world works. But the Holocaust is just too heavy for this plotline, or for this execution of the plotline, anyway. It overweighs the entire narrative, like the fantasy elements/imaginary world wizard background are up at the top of a seesaw and the Holocaust bits are down, down, down. The Holocaust is a singularity, and the fantasy elements are destroyed by its gravitational pull.
This sounds like it could be catastrophically offensive, but it's not -- I think it tries to be respectful of the Holocaust and not just use it as background or plot grist. But while it's not offensive, it also just doesn't work as a book: it's trying to comment on the assumptions made in the fantasy genre and on the implications of some portal fantasy plotlines of being hugely important in another world without knowing anything about how that world works. But the Holocaust is just too heavy for this plotline, or for this execution of the plotline, anyway. It overweighs the entire narrative, like the fantasy elements/imaginary world wizard background are up at the top of a seesaw and the Holocaust bits are down, down, down. The Holocaust is a singularity, and the fantasy elements are destroyed by its gravitational pull.
March 14, 2015
Mashing up Nazis with magic is always going to be a bit of an uncomfortable fit. It's hard to enjoy a fantasy book when the Nazis are foregrounded. This one revolves 80% around the Nazis torture-sacrificing Jews and gypsies to try to harness magic. Quite dark.
Sara and her father, meanwhile, are wonderful characters, and the best in the book, in my opinion. I was put off by the need to shoehorn a romance in for Sara, despite her backstory and the strain of constant near-death.
Sara and her father, meanwhile, are wonderful characters, and the best in the book, in my opinion. I was put off by the need to shoehorn a romance in for Sara, despite her backstory and the strain of constant near-death.
September 22, 2008
When I read the description, I wondered whether this fantasy featuring a wizard in early Nazi Germany would be clichéd with cardboard characters. However, Hambly skillfully creates great interactions between the wizard Rhion, his Nazi captors and the people he rescues. The only quibble I have is that the plot set in Rhion's homeworld seemed tacked on and not resolved very well.
January 11, 2013
I enjoyed both books in this series. The second volume is a mix of magic and Nazis. The latter did research in the occult, but with noyhing to show for their effort. The author set up the ending in a way that leads to another book in the series. I'd read it if Hambly ever publishes one.
August 17, 2007
Crossing fantasy magic with WWII doesn't really work
January 12, 2010
I wish Hambly had written more in this series. I enjoyed it greatly.
March 31, 2011
very powerful part 2
July 27, 2012
WWII germany, moves along much better than book one.
December 10, 2012
I thought this was a great conclusion to this series. How can it not be exciting with wizards and Nazis?
March 17, 2014
Ick, Nazis.
April 30, 2017
I was not expecting that.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews