Changeling [Paperback]

Roger Zelazny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1981

Two stories by the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author Roger Zelazny following the development of an evil wizard's baby taken to earth unaware of his dark magic past. He returns to his home land and is a powerful sorcerer, but he has many enemies and one want him dead...In 'Changling', the people had long suffered under Det Morson's power...lived in terror of his dragons and other minions. When at last, the wizard Mor joined the fight, Det and his infamous Rondoval castle were destroyed. But the victory was not complete, for the conquerors found a baby amidst the rubble: Det's son, Pol. Unwilling to kill the child, Mor took him to a world where the ways of magic were considered mere legends - a world called Earth. Years later, the boy grew to become Daniel Chain, a nightclub guitarist possessing mental energies he doesn't understand. But those mental abilities will soon determine his fate in a terrifying clash of power...on a world which, as yet, he knows nothing about. In 'Madwand' Pol Detson, son of Lord Det of Rondovel, has come home. He is now a powerful sorceror of unsurpassed natural ability - in a world where the power of magic is the only kind that matters. But Pol is still an untrained talent, a 'madwand'. To take control of his powers, to rule in his father's place, he must survive arduous training and a fantastic initiation into the rites of sorcery. As friends, Pol has one dragon and one thief. As enemies, he has the most powerful wizards of the land. And at least one of them wants him dead.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Zelazny wrote many novels, short stories, and novellas, including Nebula and Hugo Award winners 24 VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI, BY HOKUSAI, PERMAFROST and HOME IS THE HANGMAN. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace (April 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441102549
• ISBN-13: 978-0441102549
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,485,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read me before buying!, October 5, 2003

By 

Brandon B. Alspaugh (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Changeling (Paperback)

Before I go ahead, a caveat: This is NOT a compilation of both Changeling and Madwand. It is only Changeling. That said, you'll probably be better served buying the two from a used-book store (the good Mr. Zelazny is passed away, so I don't much care about enriching whomever owns the copyrights at this point). It's unfortunate iBooks has decided to start milking the great man's work for every dollar by no longer offering compilations of at least two novels.

This is perhaps the most fun for any fan of Zelazny to read; it lacks the density and breakneck pace of Creatures of Light and Darkness and Lord of Light or the tiresome rehashing of his later Amber books. The blend of science and technology is never done better. Hand this to a kid who thinks there's nothing in wizardry beyond Harry Potter.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Zelazny lets a potential masterpiece slip away, February 23, 2002

By 

Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changeling

This is a modest fantasy/adventure featuring a burgeoning sorcerer and an overachieving master of technology who have been switched at birth. Pol Det is the inheritor of Randoval, the lordly castle of a magical kingdom in another dimension, and Mark Marakson is the genius of engineering and technology. Old Mor, a wizard from the magical realm, switches these two as babies, hoping to avert a recurrence of the cataclysm that has so often ravaged his world. In the technological realm, Pol is a guitarist, a detached dreamer who never seems to fit in. In the magical world, Mark's mechanical inventions frighten and anger a community that associates science with destruction. Only the beautiful Nora seems to understand Mark's passion, skill, and frustration. Will these two young men ever discover the secret of their linked destinies? If so, will they become fast friends or mortal enemies? And what role will be played by the mysterious thief who has purloined some valuable figurines, and the hidden caverns full of sleeping dragons?

Overall, this is a modest entertainment with a fascinating setup that too-quickly deteriorates into just another tale of spells and dragons and talismans and so on. Zelazny's fiction is notable for its experiments in form as well as substance, and this book shows every promise of being much more than it finally turns out to be. He effectively defines the process used to work magic spells, he creates characters with a little more than just one flat dimension, he pits his magician against technological forces that go well past swords and catapults, and manages to surprise us more than once, but still doesn't quite deliver the kind of masterpiece we feel the story merited. We expect more from Zelazny, and we almost think we are going to get it, but around page 80 or so, he abandons subtleties like character study and opts instead for the more prosaic quest-for-powerful-weapons-to-defeat-the-bad-guy material. From that point
on this book is pretty average, almost as though the author tired of struggling to keep his story innovative and original and just went ahead with standard dragons-and-sorcerers fare. This is not to say that fantasy fans won't enjoy it; this reader's disappointment rather stems from the recognition of just how close Zelazny came to revolutionizing the whole form, before frittering the opportunity away.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book - If you know what you're getting into, August 3, 2011

By 

Linda Wang - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changeling (Paperback)

This is the story of Pol Detson, the evil wizard's son who was sent to Earth of prevent him going in the footsteps of his father - an evil wizard who was killed when the whole populance rose against him.

Now the inheritance of Castle Rondoval - with its secrets and the monster army slumbering underneath - is waiting for the right wizard.

However, the baby who was brought into the world instead of Pol, Mark, is a champion of forces far removed - the forces of mechanical progress. And though he is no wizard, still he enslaves the people and holds them in a mechanical grip of death.

Now Pol is returned to this world to come into his inheritance and fight for the spirit of his world ...

Zelazny's book is the first part of the Wizardworld book, so be warned. That aside, this is a great book, both symbolic and filled with action and even a little drama.

I would say however, that as one of Zelanzy's early works it is quite different to the Amber series - more subdued perhaps - as if Zelazny was still searching for the right way of writing.