Customer Reviews

The Tritonian Ring

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From the back...The gods of Poseidonis-or Atlantis-were powerful and real. Now they were determined to destroy the kingdom ruled by the father of Prince Vakar, the one man whose mind they could not read. The only way to save the kingdom was to discover that thing which the gods feared most. To find it, Prince Vakar set out across the largely unknown world where dangers multiplied with every league. There he found savage countries and strange people-the wild Amazons; a voluptuous, ensorcelled queen; a too-charming girl who was half-horse, half-woman; dangerous magicians who ruled hordes of headless slaves...and the Gorgons, who could paralyze their victims at a glance. Behind was his ambitious brother, determined that Vakar must fail. Even closer were unknown enemies set on his trail by the suspicious gods. And to add to his troubles, Vakar had no idea of what he sought!

A tour de force. When good hack writers do their best you should expect something very readable and this book certainly is. Fantasy usually comes in 2 flavors: 1) The boy who learns better and gets the girl, the kingdom or whatever. 2) The Hobbit or King Arthur rides again. Here you get something entirely different. You get the story of 1) The king, the god or whoever who is told that something or somebody will be his/it's downfall, tries to destroy the problem (ie. the hero) and in doing this causes the very disaster he/she/it is trying to avert. The story is 2-3000 years old, but it is still a good one if properly handled. 2) The coming of the iron and the going of the old gods and the old magic. 3) One of DeCamps usual reluctant/practical heroes (or intelligent cowards) doing the best he can with what he has. The hero gets the girl and one suspects that eventually he will also get the kingdom, but at the end of the book the hero leaves the kingdom and his not very nice brother to one another in order to live with the girl (who has a very nice kingdom of her own). If you like grown up fantasy this is a Must Read.