Paths of the Perambulator (Spellsinger 5) [Mass Market Paperback]

Foster Alan D (Author), Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Spellsinger Series | Publication Date: 1985

With Clothahump and Mudge the Otter, Jonathan Meriweather, the Spellsinger, now faces the greatest challenge of all - for the mysterious Perambulator is threatening the very fabric of the universe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Foster's Spellsinger series follows the adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather, a law student and budding rock musician who's been transported to a world of talking animals. Here, his songs have a magical power, which he uses to aid his friend, the aging wizard Clothahump. Their latest challenge begins as an SF version of Kafka's "Metamorphosis": they awake transformed into crabs. Other such temporary changes offer them visions of their hearts' desires, switch their sexes, etc. It's all the work of a trapped perambulator, a powerful, primal creature that drifts through alternate universes, leaving changes behind it. Their struggle to free the perambulator and save their world is full of the usual Foster inventiveness, but the limited characters are wearing thin. This is one of the weaker entries in an amiable series. November 8
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“One of the most consistently inventive and fertile writers of science fiction and fantasy.” —The Times

“Alan Dean Foster is a master of creating alien worlds.” —SFRevu

“Foster knows how to spin a yarn.” —Starlog

“Foster does a fine job with his misfit heroes and even with his minor characters.” —Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 279 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown Paperbacks (a&C) (1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857230914
• ISBN-13: 978-1857230918
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,468,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Average Sword 'n Sorcery, June 15, 2000

By 

Ugly Bob (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paths of the Perambulator (Spellsinger 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Spellsinger series has been one of my favorites since I was nine, and I still find myself flipping through a volume every now and then. In this fifth book in the series, reluctant hero Jon Tom and a new band of aliies are on a mission to save the world (yet again). A being of pure chaos has accidentally got itself caught in Jon Tom's adoptive universe, and unless it's freed soon, the world will end. This book is characteristic of the series, full of high adventure, wonderful humor and believable, detailed characters which make this series such a geat read. Foster's unusually personal approach to characters, both essential and otherwise, is given a bit more exposure in Paths' than in most other volumes in the series. While Paths' may not be one of the best books in the series, it's still an excellent read. I reccomend this for SCA members who at any time have thought "You know what we need? A big talking otter with the sophistications of a small lump of gravel and a sex drive you could use to move a thirty ton truck."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Philosophy????????, October 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Paths of the Perambulator (Spellsinger 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

For those who are like me and have kept track of the series, I'm not going to mention character descriptions. For those who've never read any of the books, I suggest reading "Spell Singer 1", otherwise, you'll have no idea what is being discussed.

Mudge, in this installment goes well beyond his normal complaining self...and some of his predicaments left me rolling with laughter. The book delves far deeper into Clothahump's feelings than any in the past.

The book does start off, however, with some very confusing, and questionable points of logic...i.e. the concept of "nothingness". I'll not spoil it for you, but keep in mind, you don't have to understand that to enjoy the book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars bizarre book for sure [no spoilers], April 4, 2004

By 

Oscar "DaRK KNighT" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paths of the Perambulator (Spellsinger 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Paths of the Perambulator" is the wacky fifth volume in the Spellsinger adventure about Jon-Tom and colleague Mudge.

Back cover of book:

There Goes the Neighborhood!

Nobody wants to be around when a freak of supernature called a Perambulator enters the world, bringing with it some really weird shifts in the fabric of existence...like suddenly turning Jon-Tom into a giant blue crab, or Mudge the Otter into a nasty disease...

But the mad Perambulator is there to stay, unless the wizard Clothahump can muster all his power and boot it into the next dimension. So, despite the bumblings of Sorbl the drunken owl and the fitful runes of a koala amateur wizard, Jon-Tom, Mudge, and Clothahump make their way ever deeper into the realms where Chaos perambulates...to find a deadly foe that only the combined forces of illogic can hope to defeat....

End back cover of book.

If the first four volumes were strange, this one is the strangest with neat new characters to compliment the foursome of Jon-Tom, Mudge, Clothahump, and Sorbl. The storyline is quite weird and while written in the middle 1980's, the referred songs are dated but still give a good chuckle at their usage. I enjoyed this volume for its bizarre nature and Jon-Tom's improved spellsinging. The foes and spells encountered continue to be distinctive to the series.

As a fan of the classical, rock, and heavy metal music genres, I find the magic Jon-Tom creates with his duar exciting since I believe a well-constructed song can affect people with its intensity and power in a primal aspect.

Thank you.