A Name to Conjure With

Zarathandra #1

by Donald Aamodt

Sandy MacGregor never asked to become a demon. But when a shifty sorcerer conjured him to the mystic realm of Zarathandra, he didn't have much choice. And in this world of high treachery and low wizardry, Sandy is nothing less than magical.

It seems that he's been drafted across space and time into a sorcerer's private army-along with a madman, a mute and a lethargic giant-to plunder the treasure-hoard of an evil god. Sandy is more than just conjure-fodder, though. He's the sorcerer's secret weapon. For in this world, the mere mention of his name can loose the very fires of Hell and scorch the gods themselves!

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

265 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1989

About the author

Donald Aamodt is an American writer. He wrote the Zarathandra sequence of comic fantasies, and is a member of the 2005 World Fantasy Convention.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true product of the 1980's, the first entry in the Zarathandra duology is deserving of its own cult following.

If you've played RPGs then you'll recognize the main story's dynamics as it moves from module (desert village) to module (desert shrine) to module (evil temple mountain). Coupled with the mechanics of sorcery as practiced by a grumpy wizard, there's plenty to recommend this for the D&D crowd. The DM in this scenario is the Goddess and she (literally) rolls the dice for our heroes.

There's a good dose of the Ghostbusters in here too.

[Amy]

"Perhaps we will never see each other again in this life, but we will have memories and a new taste to our souls."

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

It figures that anything read after a later Xanth novel would be better than any of those, so the three star rating was really expected here at the very least. What I did like about this novel is that things happen, or exist, without any true in depth explanation about why they happened, how they happened, or how they exist, they just do and the story moved on. While it is an A to B to C linear story, the simplicity of the telling without explanation was refreshing in a way. The author does not provide any explanation of how Sandy winds up in Z, how the worlds works magically, how items of magic exist, etc. It is all based on the assumption that they reader can take this all for granted and perceive the world from simply how it functions vs. the people trying to live within in it. There are essentially 5 characters in the story and the evil force directing all the confrontations. The evil god, whatever his name was, creates all the back and forth, give and take, and it works. That’s good enough for me. Time to see in the 2nd and last book from this author of the goddess is able to break away and Sandy can find his way back to Earth.

[Mark Kuehne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff.