What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gaming Magi #2
Wraith Board
Now available along with
THE DESTINY DICE
and
THE UNICORN GAMBIT
in Omnibus format.
THE GAMING MAGI
WHAT IF LEWIS CARROLL HAD WRITTEN "A GAME OF THRONES"
It would have been something like THE GAMING MAGI
Here, In Book Two, WRAITH BOARD our hero treks further into the Dark Circle, where live creatures beyond fantasy.
Will he live long enough to discover the bizarre secrets of his true identity?
Read the books that inspired countless computer game creators!
THE GAMING MAGI
BOOK THE DESTINY DICE
BOOK WRAITH BOARD
BOOK THE UNICORN GAMBIT
THE DESTINY DICE
and
THE UNICORN GAMBIT
in Omnibus format.
THE GAMING MAGI
WHAT IF LEWIS CARROLL HAD WRITTEN "A GAME OF THRONES"
It would have been something like THE GAMING MAGI
Here, In Book Two, WRAITH BOARD our hero treks further into the Dark Circle, where live creatures beyond fantasy.
Will he live long enough to discover the bizarre secrets of his true identity?
Read the books that inspired countless computer game creators!
THE GAMING MAGI
BOOK THE DESTINY DICE
BOOK WRAITH BOARD
BOOK THE UNICORN GAMBIT
- GenresFantasy
238 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
32 people want to read
About the author
David Bischoff
164 books103 followersaka 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.
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
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 31, 2014
A wonderful second novel in the series. Full of action, medieval prose and corny humor-- it moves fast and entertains with a great writing style that mixes Shakespeare and Monty Python. Throw in a few badda-bings, and you'll get the idea.
I would highly recommend that you read all three books in a row. They're written to be consumed quickly, and character development takes place at a good clip, leaving one with a strong desire to know what comes next. I especially like the development of the main character, Ian Farthing, who transforms from a deformed coward into something much more interesting. I won't say more to avoid spoilers. Lastly, I like that this is not pure fantasy. In the style of Nightworld, Bischoff chucks in his unique take on robots and other SF elements that make his Fantasy palatable to SF lovers like myself.
I would highly recommend that you read all three books in a row. They're written to be consumed quickly, and character development takes place at a good clip, leaving one with a strong desire to know what comes next. I especially like the development of the main character, Ian Farthing, who transforms from a deformed coward into something much more interesting. I won't say more to avoid spoilers. Lastly, I like that this is not pure fantasy. In the style of Nightworld, Bischoff chucks in his unique take on robots and other SF elements that make his Fantasy palatable to SF lovers like myself.
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.
March 26, 2022
A fun imaginative story, illustrated by a talented artist I got lucky to meet!
March 24, 2014
The cover of my copy of Wraith Board, the second volume in David Bischoff’s The Gaming Magi series, features an expanded and more imaginative version of that classic kitsch painting of the dogs playing poker. Specifically, there is an alligator in an aviator’s goggles, a walrus in a tuxedo, a horse wearing a Dickensian outfit, and a humanoid version of a bird, an elephant, and a pig, respectively. Instead of playing poker, they are playing a role-playing game with magical polyhedral dice. The conceit would be that these humanoids are gaming magi in one part of a multiverse who are directing (very indirectly) the actions in another part of the multiverse in order to resolve a conflict in their own existence.
If I were feeling particularly snarky, I would suggest that David Bischoff’s light and entertaining Wraith Board is a “budget” version of Terry Pratchett or the late Douglas Adams. The humor is, as humor is wont to be, uneven and there are moments when one isn’t sure whether a given scene is really intended to be comic or aspires to a serious point (Yes, I know those aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but sometimes the presentation has greater clarity than one finds in this volume.). Admittedly, some of my problems with the texture of this book may be a result of reading this volume without the foundation of the first volume. And, my snarky suggestion isn’t really fair because there are moments in the novel where the humor, chaos, and misdirection is every bit as clever as those two bulwarks of the genre I just cited.
My assumption is that Wraith Board with its “rescue the princess” leitmotif is a parody. In all fairness, we’re not talking about the comic fantasy novel version of The Legend of Zelda because there is the metagame plot in which readers try to figure out how much of the “transcendent” world of the gaming magi depends upon the resolution of events in the more “imminent” world of the “rescue the princess” motif. Is the “game” world in which the magi are “playing” essentially a simulacrum run by magic instead of computers? Is it a model intended to come up with an answer similar to Adams’ “Forty-two?” One wonders about the effect of free will within the character actions in the “rescue” motif and any causal effects in the world of the “gaming magi.”
In some ways, the story seems like a theistic perception of the multiverse—some cosmic struggle is going on in an transcendent environment while free beings are enticed and guided toward a desirable objective without being forced into said objective. But, I confess that I may be reading that into the book—in spite of the fact that there are several religious references throughout the book. Here are some of those references that I felt were presented in a clever way.
In one scene, a talking cat warns Princess Alandra that one of the characters may well be planning to do a “John the Baptist number on your head.” Alandra responds, “How so? I realize my messianic properties—I mean, my being the Key and all that—“ And this obvious misunderstanding is quickly clarified, “No, no—head on a platter!” (p. 96)
In another scene, a collection of crosses, mandalas, circles, squares, etc. are described as deliveries from the Religious Relic of the Month Club. The priest who collects these excuses his idiosyncrasy (idiosyncretism?) by stating, “I’ve plenty of idol time around here.” (p. 173) In fact, the priest goes on to express his purely syncretistic view as, “I belong to the obscure Cult of Mr. Nobody—the powerful and pervasive force in the universe who is everywhere at once, yet nowhere at all.” (p. 173) He goes on to claim that he can represent all religions because, “I believe in none, yet I know that all are true.” (p. 174) Then, unable to resist a pun, the priest declares, “Heretical today, gonetical tomorrow!” (p. 175) just before he disappears in what Princess Alandra assumes is God’s judgment upon him for blasphemy.
While the word play isn’t as intense as that in, say, the work of Piers Anthony’s Xanth works, I did like the horse-faced magus named “Nostril Daymoos,” the bad pun in the previous paragraph, and the magical weapon known as “The Pen That Is Mightier Than The Sword.” And occasionally, I just became caught up in prose like, “The draft seemed to sing through the hall, as though it were the interior of a flute, and the doors that filed down the passageway the stops.” (p. 171)
Yet, as good as some portions of the book may have been, it is not a tidy, self-contained story and while some of the writing is quite brilliant, some of it leaves me with ambiguous feelings. I will probably check out the third volume, The Unicorn Gambit, but I hope my brief look at the book will help you make up your own mind about the series.
If I were feeling particularly snarky, I would suggest that David Bischoff’s light and entertaining Wraith Board is a “budget” version of Terry Pratchett or the late Douglas Adams. The humor is, as humor is wont to be, uneven and there are moments when one isn’t sure whether a given scene is really intended to be comic or aspires to a serious point (Yes, I know those aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but sometimes the presentation has greater clarity than one finds in this volume.). Admittedly, some of my problems with the texture of this book may be a result of reading this volume without the foundation of the first volume. And, my snarky suggestion isn’t really fair because there are moments in the novel where the humor, chaos, and misdirection is every bit as clever as those two bulwarks of the genre I just cited.
My assumption is that Wraith Board with its “rescue the princess” leitmotif is a parody. In all fairness, we’re not talking about the comic fantasy novel version of The Legend of Zelda because there is the metagame plot in which readers try to figure out how much of the “transcendent” world of the gaming magi depends upon the resolution of events in the more “imminent” world of the “rescue the princess” motif. Is the “game” world in which the magi are “playing” essentially a simulacrum run by magic instead of computers? Is it a model intended to come up with an answer similar to Adams’ “Forty-two?” One wonders about the effect of free will within the character actions in the “rescue” motif and any causal effects in the world of the “gaming magi.”
In some ways, the story seems like a theistic perception of the multiverse—some cosmic struggle is going on in an transcendent environment while free beings are enticed and guided toward a desirable objective without being forced into said objective. But, I confess that I may be reading that into the book—in spite of the fact that there are several religious references throughout the book. Here are some of those references that I felt were presented in a clever way.
In one scene, a talking cat warns Princess Alandra that one of the characters may well be planning to do a “John the Baptist number on your head.” Alandra responds, “How so? I realize my messianic properties—I mean, my being the Key and all that—“ And this obvious misunderstanding is quickly clarified, “No, no—head on a platter!” (p. 96)
In another scene, a collection of crosses, mandalas, circles, squares, etc. are described as deliveries from the Religious Relic of the Month Club. The priest who collects these excuses his idiosyncrasy (idiosyncretism?) by stating, “I’ve plenty of idol time around here.” (p. 173) In fact, the priest goes on to express his purely syncretistic view as, “I belong to the obscure Cult of Mr. Nobody—the powerful and pervasive force in the universe who is everywhere at once, yet nowhere at all.” (p. 173) He goes on to claim that he can represent all religions because, “I believe in none, yet I know that all are true.” (p. 174) Then, unable to resist a pun, the priest declares, “Heretical today, gonetical tomorrow!” (p. 175) just before he disappears in what Princess Alandra assumes is God’s judgment upon him for blasphemy.
While the word play isn’t as intense as that in, say, the work of Piers Anthony’s Xanth works, I did like the horse-faced magus named “Nostril Daymoos,” the bad pun in the previous paragraph, and the magical weapon known as “The Pen That Is Mightier Than The Sword.” And occasionally, I just became caught up in prose like, “The draft seemed to sing through the hall, as though it were the interior of a flute, and the doors that filed down the passageway the stops.” (p. 171)
Yet, as good as some portions of the book may have been, it is not a tidy, self-contained story and while some of the writing is quite brilliant, some of it leaves me with ambiguous feelings. I will probably check out the third volume, The Unicorn Gambit, but I hope my brief look at the book will help you make up your own mind about the series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews