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The Devil Is Dead Trilogy #3
More Than Melchisedech
Book 3 of The Devil is Dead Trilogy
This tells of an astonishing band of adventurers seeking the Devil himself. It is a tale of demons and changelings, monsters and mermaids--and of how it is not always serious to die, the first time it happens.
Originally published in 3 volumes
Tales of Chicago
Tales of Midnight
Argo
Now features its previously fragmented trinity between a single pair of digital covers, and also includes four of the short stories which factor into the 'Argo' mythos
This tells of an astonishing band of adventurers seeking the Devil himself. It is a tale of demons and changelings, monsters and mermaids--and of how it is not always serious to die, the first time it happens.
Originally published in 3 volumes
Tales of Chicago
Tales of Midnight
Argo
Now features its previously fragmented trinity between a single pair of digital covers, and also includes four of the short stories which factor into the 'Argo' mythos
ebook
First published January 1, 1992
44 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Lafferty
541 books308 followersRaphael Aloysius Lafferty, published under the name R.A. Lafferty, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit. He also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and a number of novels that could be loosely called historical fiction.
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May 3, 2016Rather longer than the first two books in the "Argo" or "The Devil is Dead" trilogy, _More Than Melchisedech_ is a polymorph, it keeps changing shape. It starts out looking like the life of a magician (the titular Melchisedech, or sometimes Michael, Duffey). Then it becomes a set of apocalyptic fantasies. And it ends as - but that would be giving away too much, wouldn't it?
And that's just the main novel: it is epilogued with a few short stories that compliment and contribute to the whole, and, indeed, the ending of the trilogy proper is embedded in the last of these stories, "How Many Miles to Babylon," in which - but that would also be giving away _much_ too much.
But this third book _does_ explain the lanky and disjoint feel of the trilogy as a whole. It is about huge issues like, well, the Apocalypse, and the nature of the Church, and what it means to be human (and superhuman and subhuman and parahuman), and the whole thing may be a huge shaggy human story.
But be that as it may, it's an engaging - in a lanky and disjoing way - novel, funny - in a "H'mmm" way more than a "Bwahahaha" way - and full of depth, though the depths of it are not easily plumbed: I'm quite certain that I missed a great deal.
The closest thing to a comparison I can come up with for Lafferty's masterpiece is Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle, a monumental work that says as much by what it doesn't say (and alludes to or elides) as by what it does. Sadly, Lafferty never had the publicity or popularity (well, more or less) of Wolfe, but his work is still there for those who can find it.
And that's just the main novel: it is epilogued with a few short stories that compliment and contribute to the whole, and, indeed, the ending of the trilogy proper is embedded in the last of these stories, "How Many Miles to Babylon," in which - but that would also be giving away _much_ too much.
But this third book _does_ explain the lanky and disjoint feel of the trilogy as a whole. It is about huge issues like, well, the Apocalypse, and the nature of the Church, and what it means to be human (and superhuman and subhuman and parahuman), and the whole thing may be a huge shaggy human story.
But be that as it may, it's an engaging - in a lanky and disjoing way - novel, funny - in a "H'mmm" way more than a "Bwahahaha" way - and full of depth, though the depths of it are not easily plumbed: I'm quite certain that I missed a great deal.
The closest thing to a comparison I can come up with for Lafferty's masterpiece is Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle, a monumental work that says as much by what it doesn't say (and alludes to or elides) as by what it does. Sadly, Lafferty never had the publicity or popularity (well, more or less) of Wolfe, but his work is still there for those who can find it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review