Customer Reviews

Living God (A Handful of Men, Part 4)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The tetralogy - circumstances make it a trilogy for part two is not available - which I have read translated in the Dutch language, is a work of a great craftsman, who is able to convert a rudimentary plot to a thrilling novel with appearant ease. Therefore it is not a work of great inspiration, but rather a product as a result of a production process which however doesn't intervene with the enjoyment. The characters are wellscetched and behave in proper alignment to their origin and environment, thus painting a fully beleavable world, which is enhanced by parallels to our own familiar world. They all are moving towards a certain goal that is not being reached by "the good guys" until the end of part four. The two other books (part 1 & 3) end with a cliffhanger, making you filled with anxiety for the next one, frustrated when it isn't available. My overall conclusion is that the available three books form a worthy addition to the bookshelf of the tru! e fantasylover who isn't so much interested in the artistical value of a book as in having a good time reading it.

Another exciting and well written book in The Handful of Men series. Dave Duncan is one of the five best fantasy writers ever and thankfully he is still at it. An author with his talent, who actually keeps producing books, is a rare treat these days. Thank you Mr. Duncan.

"The Living God" is the fourth and final volume of "A handful of men" which is itself the second of two marvellous fantasy quartets. (Hence this is the last volume in a series of eight books if you take the two quartets together.)

"A handful of men" is a direct sequel to Duncan's quartet "A man of his word" and is set about 15 years after the last book of that quartet.

The full sequence of eight books is:

A MAN OF HIS WORD

1) The Magic Casement
2) Faery Lands Forlorn
3) Perilous Seas
4) Emperor and Clown

A HANDFUL OF MEN

5) The Cutting Edge
6) Upland Outlaws
7) The Stricken Field
8) The Living God

Each quartet is a full and self-contained story, but in my opinion the eight books work best when read in sequence.

The titles of the four volumes of "A handful of men" are taken from Masefield's poem, "Tomorrow." The lines which inspire the titles are

"Oh yesterday the cutting edge drank thirstily and deep,
the upland outlaws ringed us in and herded us as sheep,
they drove us from the stricken field and bayed us into keep,
But tomorow by the living God, we'll try the game again!"


At the start of "The Living God, the dwarf sorceror, Zinixio, has formed a coalition of wizards known as "The Covin" who are magically compelled to serve him. Zinixio calls himself the Almighty, has enslaved almost all the world's magic users, replaced the rightful Emperor, Emshandir V, with a puppet, and started the most ghastly war between all the races of men and dragons.

The deposed Emperor, and King Rap of Krasnegar, are still fighting against the power of the covin, but their position is desperate. The only way they can hope to defeat Zinixio is with the help of - a living God.

Superb adventure in a consistent and very clever fantasy world: strongly recommended.

This book is the coup de grace in Mr. Duncan's "A Handful of Men" series.
As an individual work it stands as an excellent example of High Fantasy with a fresh take on magic told in a unique author's voice. As the fulfillment of the series it surpasses expectations. I was so involved in the characters and events that my attempts to foresee the plot failed twice, although the ending made complete sense and even delighted me.

To sum up I find this work the crowning achievement in an engrossing series.

Pandemia is one of my favorite worlds. I read Dave Duncans A man Of his word series ten years ago, and I have owned a copy of ever since. Whenever I feel the need to return to my Favorite fantasy series of all time, I just start with Magic casement and keep on reading. I am now just finishing readin "A living God" for the sixth time and the entire series just keeps on getting better. Read all eight books set in pandemia and just hope that Mr. Duncan writes another dozen. A Liing god is simply the capstone of a masterwork.

This book was the in my view the best work Mr. Duncan has yet done. I enjoyed it until the very last word of the very last page. Thank you for writing it.

I can still remember reading Dave Duncan's incredible series A Man of His Word. I could hardly put the books down! When I saw that he was continuing the series, I was a little surprised, because I felt that the series had ended with a sense of finality. I purchased the first three books and enjoyed them although they are just not as good as the first 4. I went ahead and purchased the fourth book in hardback as soon as it came out, and I was EXTREMELY disapointed with Mr. Duncan. In this novel, he completely trashes several of the major characters. In the first series, he was the master of the "escape-in-the-nick-of-time", but in this one book, not only do several important characters get stuck in bad situations, but they also do not escape. Mr. Duncan seems to take a perverse delight in abusing the characters that we had come to know and enjoy. I almost went back to the bookstore and demanded a refund, and after 10+ years, I am still very annoyed with Mr. Duncan over this book.

*Edit: After 15 years, I'm still very annoyed with Mr. Duncan over this book.