The Tritonian Ring

by L. Sprague de Camp

Night falls on the bronze-age world of Poseidonis, a continent threatened with destruction. In the smoke of the magician's fire appears the figure of the witch Gra. "What wish the lords of Lorsk with me?" "Advise us how to avert the menace of the Gorgons," the magician answers. "Send Prince Vakar to seek the thing the gods fear most!" And so begins the quest....

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

212 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was written in 1953 and it shows; it is also one of Sprague de Camp's 'zany' S&S romps rather than his more serious fantasy/science fiction. Your enjoyment of The Tritonian Ring will largely depend upon your reaction to the humor infusing the story. Basically, the story revolves around a quest by young prince Vakar to find the thing the gods most fear-- the trionian ring. The ring is made of 'star metal' (e.g., iron) while the story is set solidly in the bronze age, but the key thing about the ring is that it makes the wearer impervious to magic, and indeed, the gods themselves.

Vakar is tasked to find the ring in order to thwart an invasion by the Gorgons, a people who keep 'pet' medusas that, while not turning you into stone, freeze you completely. So, Vakar sets off with his favorite slave and a translator, as they know a long journey with lots of trials and tribulations will ensure. The series of bizarre and strange peoples they encounter both moves the story along and exemplifies Sprague de Camp's humorous intentions.

If you are in the mood for a farce, you could do worse, but as sexism plays a dominant role in the humor here, it can be a bit much for modern sensibilities to say the least. One liners like "Vakar never killed women as his philosophy was waste not, want not" give a bit of a taste of what lurks in this text. Oversexed Amazons, sexy undersexed queens, horny female satyrs (the cover art)... Vakar encounters them all and takes care of business. The action scenes are super at times, but are really just a backdrop for more one-liners and such. 2 corny stars!

[Nomadman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consider this a minor classic of S&S and one of de Camp's more accomplished solo works (most of his well-known stuff was written in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt).

Unlike his Conan pastiches, which while readable could hardly be considered much more than vaguely inspired hackwork, The Tritonian Ring is a far more original and personal work. De Camp was irritated by what he saw as historical inaccuracies, or rather implausibilities, in the works of Howard and co, who despite working in the regions of fantasy frequently attempted to place their works in a believable pre-historical framework. The Tritonian Ring was his remedy to that. Iron, for instance, is totally unknown, to the point where its very existence is considered magical, horseback riding is extremely difficult due to the total absence of stirrups, no buildings attain more than about two storeys, etc.

Unfortunately, his very goal of attaining historical verisimilitude is undermined by a rather too jokey and lightweight tone. De Camp was never a particularly gritty writer, and while the book doesn't shy away from violence and grue, the whole work comes across as somewhat lacking in seriousness. Non-serious S&S can work, of course, but it needs to be strong in other areas, humor, bawdiness, sparkling dialogue, inventiveness etc. The Tritonian Ring contains most of these elements, but it never truly excels in any of them. Many of the settings feel bland and nondescript. Characters never really move beyond the two-dimensional. The plot, a fairly standard hunt the artefact quest, contains few surprises.

Nonetheless, de Camp knew how to entertain, and The Tritonian Ring moves along at a cracking pace for every one of its 200-odd pages. Worth reading, if only as a fun historical curio.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based upon the entertainment value de Camp’s short story “The Rug and the Bull”, in Flashing Swords #2, edited by Lin Carter, I decided to give this book a chance.

I admit, I have bias against de Camp, purely for his taking over of the Robert E Howard franchise, particularly the Conan stories. My only encounters with de Camp have been through those.

However, I did enjoy the afore mentioned short story in FS2, and the man was called out on Appendix N, a list of literary influences upon the Dungeons & Dragons game as Gary Gygax saw fit. He is actually pointed out as a major influence (for his stories with Fletcher Pratt) alongside Robert E Howard, A. Merritt, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance and H.P. Lovecraft.

The Tritonion Ring is a novel released in 1951, which means it precedes Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I am always interested in fiction that was published before TLotR as I am an amateur student/enthusiast of the history of the Fantasy Genre. I read this nearly concurrently with Poul Anderson’s pre-Tolkien novel The Broken Sword, which was a 2017 re-read for me and one of my favorite Fantasy novels.

Ring is the beginning of de Camp’s Pusadian Series, of which “The Rug and the Bull” is a part; however, it takes place centuries prior to the later stories. If the Rug and Bull is a litmus test of the Pusadian Series, then I expected humor in this novel.

I did enjoy Mr De Camp’s amorous centauress, but the rest of Prince Vakar’s adventures fell flat.

Tritonian Ring is a humorless tale. De Camp meant it to be an exemplary example of realistic world-building, he makes the claim that poor world building was REH’s greatest downfall.

I’m not arguing his claim against REH, but this novel was a dud. I force read my way through. While I might track down more of the later stories in his Pusadian Series, I can not recommend this with a clear conscience.

[Mala Spina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un classico del fantastico mediterraneo e dello Sword and Sorcery. Un eroe atipico con una missione in cui non crede e con un finale inaspettato.
E' una grande avventura piena di ironia in pieno stile De Camp.

[Andrewcharles420 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prince Vakar of Lorsk is hunted by the gods for a premonition that he will play a future part in their destruction. Vakar learns from his wizard that he must seek out 'that which the gods most fear', and sets out on a months long quest where he wanders through all the kingdoms of the world to find it, the titular ring, made of 'star-metal' (a meteorite).

This story seemed fairly mundane for a fantasy-hero quest, the hero goes from one tight situation to another, overcoming long odds and winning all the women. The action reminded me a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter on Mars series--thoughtlessly violent without really being gory or focused on it. Violence just happens (again and again). The kingdoms and magic didn't have a lot of character either--many different places seemed just caricatures of different races or countries. Frequently magic played its part by a magician offering to cast a few spells for or against the main character.

The most interesting aspect of the story is near the end where Vakar decides not to fight his brother for his stolen throne, but tells his people to seek him out when they want to rise up, he'll not renounce his title, he'll just be in the kingdom next door. I also caught anti-religious themes in the book (or at least themes against their pantheon of gods)--at one point a sorceress predicts the demise of their current gods but says, "No; there will be gods, but mere ineffectual wraiths, kept in being by their priests to enable these priests to live without toil on the offerings of the credulous." This statement resonates in a world without many discernible miracles.

While I wouldn't say the book was bad, I would not recommend it to anyone--there are better worlds of fantasy and more modern/relevant takes on the genre.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vivace, rocambolesco, simile ad un fumetto in prosa, "L'Anello del Tritone" e' una pietra miliare di quella Sword & Sorcery di ascendenza dunsaniana che sfocio' nella SAGA negli anni '60. Forse un po' troppo grottesco e aneddotico per i miei gusti; i personaggi indubbiamente -e volutamente- piatti per caratterizzazione trovano riscatto nella sottile ironia dell'autore, che pone il romanzo eternamente in bilico fra l'avventura e la farsa.
Altamente consigliato a due tipologie di persone:
1) Dungeon Master di giochi di ruolo fantasy: il romanzo contiene una lunga serie di spassosi e ben congegnati episodi cui attingere per scrivere le proprie avventure.
2) Chiunque si interessi di storia del genere Fantasy ed in particolare di quella branca di pura cappa e spada eroica post howardiana (e pre tolkieniana) che ebbe in Lee Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber e Jack Vance gli esponenti piu' brillanti.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 (if I could). Vakar, the protagonist, is interesting, a bundle of tensions: he is non-magical in a magical world; he is a philosophical person forced to play brute warrior; he wants to just 'settle' down and is forced to roam. These conflicts, often inner ones, make for an intriguing character. The fantasy setting is enjoyagle, a bizarre mythological, pre-recorded history (pre-Atlantis sinking) past. Some negatives now. The dialog seemed flawed. Much of it was stilted and affected, and not in a pleasing way. The plot was exciting but not really cohesive, just a series of loosely connected events, a circus menagerie of crisises, followed by a captures, followed by escapes: Vakar arrives to a new place, Vakar encounters a challenge/threat, Vakar gets captured, and Vakar escapes in a bloody mess. And repeat. This is fun in a shorter form but one becomes slightly numb to it over the course of a novel. Still, glad to have read it as a literary historical curio.

[Fletcher Vredenburgh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing early S&S novel from Sprague de Camp. While he works out his world and its civilizations with logic and consistency, the story is hampered by terrible attempts at humor. De Camp preferred the clever hero to the strong one, but too often his protagonist, Vakar, reads like little more than a puppet for authorial insights/opinions instead of actual intelligence or, well, cleverness.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book by de Camp. I'm not a big fan. His stories often seem a bit short on adventure, although the settings are well done. The prose is certainly adequate but doesn't sing to me.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this in the cheap section of McKay’s in Nashville. It has a striking cover, sadly not attributed, in the style of Tolkien’s own Hobbit and Lord of the Rings covers from my seventies-era copies of those books. And the title blurb says:

Thrilling sword and sorcery for the fans of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”.

It is very, very unlike Tolkien’s stories, however; it’s a lot more like Gulliver’s Travels, with Prince Vakar Zhu, the main character, going from land to land, each kingdom getting weirder as he goes along, in search of the “Tritonian Ring”, which is “the thing the gods fear most”.

This is an era in which the gods nightly visit people in their dreams, especially royalty, urging their followers to specific actions or giving them warnings of the future. Prince Vakar, however, is deficient in that respect, and is unable to receive such visits.

The gods themselves frame the story, and are somewhat laughingly atheist.

Entigta’s tentacles writhed. “If we cannot communicate with this mortal, how shall we deflect him from his intended path?”

“We might pray to our gods for guidance,” said the small bat-eared god of the Coranians, whereupon all the gods laughed, being hardened skeptics.

This appears to be set in an ancient era where Atlantis still exists and magic is both common and powerful. There are spells for blasting through walls, and at one point a magician even uses a hold person (not so named, but with that effect) on Vakar and his servant. It also appears to be in an age of bronze.

The story is a sort of rise to civilization. At the start of the story, Vakar treats his servant poorly; as the story progresses, Vakar slowly learns that slavery is an evil and regrets his past actions. The power of the gods will weaken if the thing they fear takes over. Men will be left to reason out their own actions instead of relying on guidance from self-interested supernatural creatures.

The thing the gods fear is a meteor of some strange metal, which I suspect is steel due to its appearance and ability to withstand water. If not steel, however, it’s almost certainly iron.

[Josephine Draper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rollicking good fun read. Old fashioned fantasy set in a quasi greco-roman universe with gods and monsters, and heroes who think nothing of killing someone and never mind about the bodies, someone else will clear those up.

In short, it's fantasy with very few strings attached. The sort of naive, immature fantasy that came before Tolkien reinvented the genre. Not to say it's not fun - it is a lot of fun. But the way in which our hero, Prince Vakar, blithely drags his unwilling slave halfway around the world before getting him killed in a quite inconsequential way, with never a further thought about him, is upsetting in today's world. More mature fantasy would have consequences attracted to the trail of bodies.

So, read, enjoy in the mental bubble gum sense, but hopefully you, like me will be slightly unnerved by the colonial superiority complex which Prince Vakar has and be grateful to have more mature and responsible literature to turn to afterwards.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generic, subpar sword and sorcery novel that's mainly of interest due to its early date (early 1950s), between Fritz Leiber's early Lankhmar stories and the magazine revival of the subgenre in the early 1960s with Lin Carter's Thongor, Moorcock's Elric, and Leiber's late Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories. Oddly situated between out-and-out Howardian adventure and heroic fantasy of the Tolkein-pastiche variety until the very end when the individual scope of sword and sorcery wins out. The writing style itself is basically one and a half stars; cliched, boring, and dreary to the point of minor annoyance without ever actually angering me enough to give it a single star. De Camp is no Le Guin, or a Howard, for that matter, despite his later aggressive rewriting of Howard's work.

[Eric Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book when I was 14, and didn't have the patience to finish. I'm so glad I picked it up again at age 60. What a thoroughly delightful romp!

DeCamp creates a psuedo-Greek milieu from an age in which Atlantis has not yet sunk, and the gods are all nautical powers, granted their might by their worshippers. Auguries predict that Prince Vakar, heir to the throne of Pusad, will lead to the destruction of the gods, should he lay hands upon the artifact known as the Tritonian Ring.

Because of this, the gods plot to destroy the prince and have their vassals take over his kingdom.

But Vakar has other plans.

This is a don't-miss, full of ribaldry and sly humor, with no lull in the action.

Highly recommended for any fan of fantasy.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of potential, but it is only partially realized. De Camp has a superb imagination, and his fantasy world is quite creative in its incorporation of myth. Many of the societies are creatures are lifted from classic myth and legend, and De Camp does breathe life into these aspects. Unfortunately, this life often feels cartoonish as if De Camp himself is afraid to take his fantasy too seriously. This does undercut the story because the reader seldom identifies with the protagonists. Still, an enjoyable read very much in the tradition of Unknown magazine (although I don't think this was originally published there).

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

De Camp loves his picaresque fantasy tales. This is one of his better ones...but there's a "but." With older fantasy books, there's often problematic content. With this one, there's some particularly egregious stuff, to the point I'm actually going to take a whole star off my rating as a result.

[Jonathan Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed more prehistoric gods. The story is strained in spots.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Vakar hated killing women, on the grounds of waste not, want not"

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasy novel involving some "gods", magic, a quest, and a battle-finale.
A Quick read from the early 50's.

[Tatiana]

It was funny, the tempo was good and I liked numerous links to classic myths.

[H. P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not typically a big fan of the meddling, minor gods trope. It’s theologically incoherent and usually makes for nonsensical worldbuilding. Neil Gaiman’s highly overrated American Gods is the worst offender. Ken Liu does a bit better in The Grace of Kings and The Wall of Storms. The Tritonian Ring works better, perhaps because it’s got a Clash of the Titans (the 1981 version, the good one) vibe going for it. Gods who, like the gods from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, “were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering.” Only they're way more over the top than anything we’ve ever seen on film.

Long story short, they decide our hero Vakar, a Prince of Lorsk, is the threat and begin meddling to cause his demise. That, among other things, means an invasion by the Gorgons (not a coincidence, that name), who, among other things, defile the natural order of things by fighting in formation. (Vakar approves of this, as he approves of other modern blasphemies such as writing and riding horses.) The king’s magician consults a familiar, who tells them to “Send Prince Vakar to seek the thing the gods fear.” So we have a McGuffin quest! They just need to figure out what the heck the McGuffin is.

And so Vakar is off on his adventures. My copy of The Tritonian Ring is a skinny 212 pages, and Vakar blows through about two dozen kingdoms in that span. de Camp doesn’t screw around with the plot. de Camp ties myth in with pre-history, and apparently has a reputation for knowing his bronze age better than Howard. But as he himself admits, “[t]he story has nothing to do with my serious opinions on such subjects as lost continents, human prehistory, and the origins of civilization.” Who needs a serious consideration of the possibility of Amazon societies when you can instead turn it into a fantasy version of The War of the Roses movie? This is pre-history, but there are plenty of recognizable allusions. Lorsk is on the island continent of Pusad, obviously Atlantis. We eventually learn the reason why the Gorgon name lived on after their society perished. That and entirely fantastical fare, from conniving and sinister sorcerers to giant crabs and snake statues that may or may not be statues. de Camp isn't embarrassed in the least to be writing sword and sorcery.

It’s all old-fashioned pulpy fun, if Prince Vakar is rather more modern. Prince Vakar, you see, is a likeable jerk. And not of the “charismatic petty villain” variety, but rather a basically decent human being limited by both the nasty, brutish, and short nature of his world and his own flaws. Mostly a smart mouth. Enough of the deadpan snarker to appeal to modern readers, but more rooted in a hot temper and manful pride. Forward-thinking but rooted in his time (nothing more progressive than horses over chariots). He handy enough with the sword but survives primarily through a combination of superior armament, dumb luck, and quick thinking (and quicker feet).

He meets his match in Queen Porfia. When Vakar first meets her (technically, their second meeting, but the first on-page), Porfia is in no need of saving. She is politically savvy, relatively secure in her throne, and sexually aware, if the three are all pressured in some way by the political need for a husband or permanent consort. She does shortly come in need of saving, but only because Vakar pulls her within the circle of his own troubles.

It is, as I said, a McGuffin quest, but even in 1951 de Camp was playing with the tropes. Even after Vakar determines what the McGuffin actually is he and de Camp throw in another twist. And I found the final revelation around the McGuffin entirely effective. The McGuffin actually matters. And how so is rooted in existing myth and canon while still being interesting and different. The Tritonian Ring is a book that takes storytelling seriously without taking itself seriously. For a quick, pulpy read, de Camp brings it to an enormously satisfying close. There is romance, happy endings, and just desserts, if not always in the way that we or the characters expect.

[Nemo Erehwon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The gods are worried. The omens are bad for them. All their problems seem to stem from one of northern kingdom, so they decide to eradicate it using an invading human force.

The kingdom receives word of the impending invasion, and the arrogant Prince Varak, a naif in the ways of the world, is sent to seek that which the gods fear.

He's headstrong, impetuous, and not so good at planning.

Travelogue of a prince on a quest, and finding many weird cultures. There is an understated bawdiness.

Use a dictionary of medieval terms. There are plenty.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. It is a fun sword and sorcery read; readers of "grimdark" look elsewhere as this doesn't take itself too seriously.

It is a true shame some publisher has not collected DeCamp's other Pusadian stories and released them as a collection. Or better yet publish them with The Tritonian Ring in a hardcover omnibus edition with some illustrations and a map.

[melo · Rating 4 out of 5]

un fantasy dove l'eroe e gli dei si prendono tutti pochissimo sul serio. un fantasy che andrebbe letto più spesso, forse proprio per quello.

[Francesco Manno · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://panopticonitalia.blogspot.it/...

[Alessia La pöta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny!