The Rover [Hardcover]

Mel Odom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2001

Edgewick Lamplighter (Wick to his friends) is a humble librarian in the isolated halls of Greydawn Moors until dreams of wanderlust and a bit of dereliction in his duties result in his being shanghaied to a far-off land.

Captured by pirates, sold into slavery, and adopted by a gang of thieves, Wick soon finds himself with more adventures than even a halfling librarian can imagine.

Rival gangs, goblin marauders, evil wizards, and monstrous dragons are soon after the wee adventurer and his newfound allies in a tale of treasures and treachery, magic and mystery, where even a little guy can rise to the occasion and save the day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This amiable, inoffensive Tolkienesque fantasy from bestselling author Odom will satisfy the same teenaged and young adult readers who flock to the author's Buffy and Angel novelizations. Older readers, however, will find the adventures of Wick, the book's hobbit-sized dweller hero, tedious. As a "Third Level Librarian in the Vault of All Known Knowledge," Wick can read, unlike most of the odd creatures he meets oxymoronic "big dwarves," trolls, goblinkin, Boneblights in a series of contrived encounters that make up the overlong story. Shanghaied by pirates (dwarves who seem on the verge of bursting into Gilbert and Sullivan's "Tarantara, tarantara"), Wick saves the pirate ship from a flaming female Embyr, but the plot doesn't really catch fire until midway through, when humans, in particular the engaging leader of a band of thieves to whom Wick is sold as a slave, push the dwarves offstage. In the familiar tradition of The Lord of the Rings, Wick rescues a beautiful elven lady from a web spun by a huge spider, decodes a puzzle using his reading skills and defeats a colossal dragon by inadvertently dropping its gem-heart into a lava mountain. It's no wonder that by tale's end "the little librarian," as the author likes to refer to Wick, has grown in self-confidence and esteem. With the movie of The Fellowship of the Ring on the horizon, this knock-off from the Master can only benefit from the reading public's insatiable appetite for all things Tolkienian. (Aug. 27)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Edgewick Lamplighter is a third-level librarian in the basement of the Great Library. The bookish, fearful, pint-sized fellow's vast knowledge of the world has been acquired through reading. When the Master sends the halfling to deliver a package/letter to a warder on the Yonderling Docks, his curiosity gets the best of him. Wick follows the man down an alley and saves him when he is attacked by creatures called Boneblights, sent by the evil Lord Kharrion. Wick is shanghaied by pirates, given to goblins to be sold as a slave, and then adopted by a gang of thieves. In for the adventure of his life, the quiet librarian wants nothing more than to be at home in bed reading. The development of Wick's character is as good as the weefolk in Terry Brooks's The Sword of Shannara (Ballantine, 1983) and in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (Houghton, 1938). Odom has created a likable, believable character who will continue his adventures as a newly promoted Second Level Librarian in charge of great books. Fans of the movie version of Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring (Houghton, 1982) will be looking for books to satisfy their interest in weefolks. Readers will enjoy the wealth of creatures in this tale of magic, mystery, and self-discovery, and will stand up and cheer for this little guy who reaches for his best shot and saves the day.

Linda G. Sinclair, Alexandria Library, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (August 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312878826
• ISBN-13: 978-0312878825
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write in a number of fields, but always with the hope of telling an interesting tale that will incite a reader to think for himself or herself, to examine his or her own place in the world, and offer a little nudge in the direction of dreams, faith, and personal growth in spite of whatever odds a person has to face. I also believe we were all put here for a purpose. Hopefully, several purposes. I'm a father, a little league coach, a teacher, a friend, and a writer. I struggle to keep that balance, as many of us do these days, but I hold tightly to the belief that I'm doing all I can be doing, and doing what I should be doing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, September 11, 2001

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rover (Hardcover)

Edgewick "Wick" Lamplighter, Third Level Librarian and (Hobbit-like) Dweller, spends all of his life in the service of the Vault of All Known Knowledge. However, though the library is his job, his mind rests on the adventure novels that form a small corner of it. He dreams of adventure, until one day, much to his dismay, his dreams come true. Shanghaied at the docks, he finds himself amongst pirates, slavers, thieves, mercenaries, goblins, wizards, and a whole horde of nasties! This is the roller coaster-ride story of a little man in a big world!

This book started out somewhat slow, and I began to fear that the whole thing would be too slow and verbose. However, once Wick's adventures began, the whole story took off! In this book, Mel Odem paints a picture of a fascinating world, which he populates with interesting characters, and fills with gripping adventure.

Unlike many other Fantasy books, which focus on an era of climactic struggle between good and evil, this one looks at such a world some hundreds of years later. The pieces were not put back together, but instead a Dark Age descended. This is a great book, one that I highly recommend to all Fantasy readers (especially fans of Dungeons and Dragons).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wick's Big Adventure, October 1, 2002

By 

Carolyn Faseler (Norman, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rover (Mass Market Paperback)

THE ROVER by Mel Odom is an entertaining tale about Edgewick (Wick) Lamplighter, a librarian in the Vault of All Known Knowledge. Wick, a three foot high dwarf-"dweller", is shanghaied by pirates and experiences an heroic journey that takes him to many exotic and dangerous places. During his adventures his curious nature slowly evolves and he becomes a giant of heroic proportions. The bad guys in Wick's world are goblinkin who delight in torturing dwellers, an Embyr who is a beautiful young woman trapped in a forgetful and flaming body, and Shengharck, a vicious dragon who can crisp his enemies in a heartbeat. When Wick finally gets back home to Greydawn Moors, he realizes that the books he'd chosen to read had provided him with lots of important knowledge about the world unknown to him previously.

Mel Odom is a gifted writer who works in many fields: fantasy, game related fiction, science fiction, movie novelizations, horror, young adult, juvenile computer strategy guides, action-adventure, and comics.

Wick's growth throughout the story is phenomenal. Frightened of shadows in the beginning, his courage is activated by evil doers and eventually zooms into the stratosphere at the end. Getting the answers to perplexing questions and mysteries is no problem for Wick because he draws on a vast reservoir of knowledge extracted from books deemed frivolous by Grandmagister Frollo. Because none of the bad guys can read, Wick's story reveals how evil is perpetuated by ignorance and superstition.

The "little librarian" will capture the interest of an extensive array of readers who can look forward to two more books in this series of page-turners. Don't miss them.

Mel Odom's huge and loyal following of readers have loved these novels in the fantasy genre: THE LOST LIBRARY OF CORMANTHYR, THE THREAT FROM THE SEA TRILOGY, and RESSURECTION.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! Do not believe publishers weekly, June 19, 2003

By 

Junior (Lakewood, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rover (Mass Market Paperback)

This wondrous novel was a nice, lighthearted and easy read. It will probably only take you a week to read because you just want to know what happens next. This fantasy book is a great read for anyone at any age. Even though there really is not a plot the events are ones that will entertain you forever as Edgewick Lamplighter takes them on. The events are not quite original yet Odom makes them engrossing. You will flip the pages faster than you can imagine with this delight read. I LOVED THIS NOVEL!!! I wish I could give it ten stars!