Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Gaming Magi #3

The Unicorn Gambit: Book III of the Gaming Magi Trilogy

Rate this book
Ian Farthing attempts to save Lady Alandra from Snirk Morgsteen, the Dark Lord who wants to control the world of the Dark Circle

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1986

32 people want to read

About the author

David Bischoff

162 books103 followers
aka Mark Grant (with Bruce King), Brad Quentin (with Terry Bisson)

Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
5 (17%)
4 stars
11 (37%)
3 stars
11 (37%)
2 stars
2 (6%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Peter Bradley.
1,027 reviews88 followers
July 9, 2018
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3MV...

I picked these books up as paperbacks in the 1980s or 1990s. I read the first two but never got around to reading the third.

I found these books to be somewhat tough sledding. They are clearly written as broadly-drawn farces. 1980s pop culture references appear on every page. There are a lot of inside jokes. For example, the Sorcerers Fabrication Works Association is clearly the SFWA, i.e., the Science Fiction Writers Association, so I have to assume that the description of various SFWA members must map onto some science fiction writers from the 1980s.

The problem is that the humor is mostly lightweight, over-broad, predictable and dated, which does not make it a total loss.

Fortunately, there was a story line that sort of worked, but, of course, the story is based on hanging a lampshade on all the overdone tropes of fantasy writing.

So, as humor, it was lightweight; as fantasy it was light weigh; as the combination, it was not much better.

For some reason, I felt compelled to finish this book after thirty years. I didn't hate it, I was actually rooting for it, but on the whole I feel disappointed.

PSB
Profile Image for Peter Bradley.
1,027 reviews88 followers
June 17, 2018
Please give my review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3MV...

The Unicorn Gambit (The Gaming Magi) by David Bischoff

I picked these books up as paperbacks in the 1980s or 1990s. I read the first two but never got around to reading the third.

I found these books to be somewhat tough sledding. They are clearly written as broadly-drawn farces. 1980s pop culture references appear on every page. There are a lot of inside jokes. For example, the Sorcerers Fabrication Works Association is clearly the SFWA, i.e., the Science Fiction Writers Association, so I have to assume that the description of various SFWA members must map onto some science fiction writers from the 1980s.

The problem is that the humor is mostly lightweight, over-broad, predictable and dated, which does not make it a total loss.

Fortunately, there was a story line that sort of worked, but, of course, the story is based on hanging a lampshade on all the overdone tropes of fantasy writing.

So, as humor, it was lightweight; as fantasy it was light weigh; as the combination, it was not much better.

For some reason, I felt compelled to finish this book after thirty years. I didn't hate it, I was actually rooting for it, but on the whole I feel disappointed.

PSB
Profile Image for W G Walters.
Author 5 books8 followers
November 15, 2020
This is an incredible concept, a game within a game, with the two games interacting with each other. The Destiny Dice and Wraith Board are fantastic, but the last book, The Unicorn Gambit, is just too silly to be taken seriously. This last book is worth it for its reasonable conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.