Present Tense: Round Two of the Great Game [Hardcover]

Dave Duncan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996 | Series: Great Game (Book 2)

Reappearing on earth after a three-year absence, wrongly accused fugitive Edward Exeter describes an alternate universe that he calls Nextdoor and resists his assignment as the Liberator.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hunted by the local gods, burdened by the faith of his friends, and driven relentlessly by his conscience to do the best he can for those who depend on him, Edward is drawn into a local war on Nextdoor. When he finally returns home, he is still wanted for murder and must go into hiding before he enlists, but a dodge through Nextdoor en route to New Zealand shows that he cannot simply walk away from the prophecy of the Filoby Testament. Will public-school notions of honor and duty suffice to save a world?

From Publishers Weekly

A man falls naked out of the sky onto a WWI battlefield, landing in sight of four British soldiers. Apparently near-catatonic, he's placed in a mental hospital where he is eventually recognized by an old friend who helps him escape. Edward Exeter has been playing dumb, we learn, in part because his story is so unbelievable, and in part because he's been accused of murder. Exeter has spent the last three years in an alternate universe, Nextdoor, as detailed in Past Imperative (1995); in this second novel of a trilogy, we learn that two organizations, the Service and the Chamber, have for centuries been waging interdimensional war?the Great Game?over Nextdoor and other alternate universes. Many of the worst events in our history, in fact, result from this secret war. This premise isn't particularly original, of course, but Duncan has come up with an unusual wrinkle. Magic exists, but it can be accessed only by entering an alternate universe. Thus, someone from our world can become a virtual god in Nextdoor, while a person from that universe gains powers only in our world. Exeter is destined to be Nextdoor's Liberator and to defeat Zath, the evil God of Death. Unfortunately, he doesn't want the job. Duncan writes succinctly, avoiding the verbiage that bloats so many other contemporary fantasies. And while his novel contains fewer pyrotechnics than most heroic fantasies, it features gritty, well-developed characters, several of whom change and grow believably in the course of the book. 25,000 first printing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (T); 1st. ed edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380973251
• ISBN-13: 978-0380973255
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,705,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Duncan is a prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction, best known for his fantasy series, particularly The Seventh Sword, A Man of His Word, and The King's Blades. He and his wife Janet, his in-house editor and partner for over fifty years, live in Victoria, British Columbia. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Next one please, and hurry up!, August 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Present Tense: Round Two of the Great Game (Hardcover)

I waited for this book for quite a while and I was not disappointed by it when I finally got hold of it. The complexity of Nextdoor and Home and the other worlds as well as the gods and and their Human pawns is very entertaining. I also enjoy a good "destiny" story like this one with cryptic references to a future that will come true no matter what you do to prevent it from happening, and usually in a very surprising way as well.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Successor to Kipling, November 23, 2011

By 

boring617 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Present Tense (Round Two of The Great Game) (Paperback)

Really good--worthy sequel to Kipling, which is saying something. As a fan of Edwardian British fantasy and fiction, I'm a sucker for any of the modern popular fiction writers who borrow from that era, but Duncan is something special: has has the sensibility and the attitudes right.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Game - Interesting Fantasy Series, May 12, 2006

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Present Tense: Round Two of the Great Game (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an unconventional and imaginative fantasy/parallel world series. Duncan develops a parallel Earth with rather different astronomy, geography, and history. Some forms of magic allow talented individuals to move back and forth from our Earth to the Earth of the Vales, the society next door. The key feature is that strangers, people from our Earth on Valia or Valians in our universe, can acquire substantial magic powers through the accumulation of 'mana' stemming from acts of worship or sacrifice by the natives of that world. On Valia, this results in a society dominated by 'strangers' who have set themselves up as deities. The Great Game series describes a complex challenge to one of these deities in the form of the actions of the Earth born protagonist of this series, an idealistic Edwardian youth. Duncan's parallel universe is constructed well and his writing is solid. In several of his books, he has dealt with issues of duty and sacrifice, and this is no exception. There is a particularly nice use of the confrontation of youthful Edwardian idealism with harsh political realities. The plotting is clever as well, making creative use not only of the magical themes but also of the great influenza pandemic of 1917-18.