A Wizard in Midgard [Paperback]

Christopher Stasheff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1999

Under the nom de guerre of Gar Pike, renegade psychic wizard Magnus D'Armand travels the stars fighting injustice and oppression, like his father, Rod Gallowglass, the Warlock in Spite of Himself. But unlike his famous father, Magnus refuses to play by the rules, sowing the seeds of freedom and revolution throughout the galaxy.

In A Wizard in Midgard, Gar finds himself on a planet modeled on the Norse interpretation of Earth -- complete with dwarves, giants, and people all constantly at war with one another. Immediately upon his arrival, he rescues a young girl caught in the middle of the conflict. But can Gar and Alea unify three separate races who have hated each other since their birth?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Planet healer Magnus d'Armand, aka Gar Pike, takes on Norse mythology and the proto-Nazi mentality spawned by its use in Wagner's Ring cycle in Stasheff's sixth installment of his The Rogue Wizard saga. Landing on Siegfried, a planet settled centuries earlier by Terrans, Gar falls afoul of the vicious slave-keeping Midgarders, normal-sized humans who fight continually with huge giants and tiny dwarves. An accident to the original colonizing ship's defrosting unit killed most of the initial settlers, forcing the inbreeding that created the planet's three races. With the help of Alea, a large but lissome escapee from Midgard slavery, Gar telepathically implants the songs and dreams of peace and freedom that will heal this unlikely but appealing world. Stasheff's Crayola-colored backdrops and childish stick-people befit his simplistic but morally decent messages: love your enemies, treat women as equals, govern your society with justice. When Gar and Alea sail off into the galactic sunset (though occupying separate bedrooms), not overwrought Wagnerian thunder but bouncy, reassuring strains of "It's a Small World After All" echo through the imagination.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The sixth adventure of Magnus Gallowglass, aka Gar Pike, takes him to a planet whose civilization is literally Wagnerian. Thanks to a series of accidents and wars, its population is divided into normal-sized Midgarders, Jotunheim giants, and Niebelheim dwarves. The Midgarders constantly persecute the other groups, though without much success. Stasheff works out the two good societies--the giants and the dwarves, that is--with considerable wit and ingenuity, but puts the Midgarders at the mercy of his political agenda, which he advances more than he has in at least some previous books. This time Magnus is less a deus ex machina than he has been in previous adventures, and most of his deeds are presented from the perspective of the Midgarder woman Alea, who is persecuted because of her height. She has telepathic potential, though, on account of which she accompanies Magnus off-planet once necessary reforms have been set to work. Alea may also make stalwart series readers hope that Magnus' loneliness is nearly at an end. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc; Reprint edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812549279
• ISBN-13: 978-0812549270
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,726,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my favorite Wizard book so far!, February 14, 2000

By 

salamanderfire (Smallville, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Wizard in Midgard (Paperback)

This was a great book! I had been wondering how Stasheff could solve Magnus' girl problem. In this book, Magnus meets the woman who is his true love. She has been hurt as badly as he has and distrusts men. She recognizes his problem, too. At the end of the book, she leaves with Magnus. They will have a platonic relationship at first, but I know that eventually they will heal each other. I was pleased to see that Stasheff did not solve Magnus' problem in one book. The adventure part is one of the best ever. The world is based on Norse mythology. Inbreeding has created three races: dwarves, giants, and "regular" humans, who oppress the other two groups. Magnus, as a half giant, is enslaved at one point. Alea, his new friend, is also a half-giant (she is six foot five) who is an escaped slave. She and Magnus travel to the strongholds of the giants and dwarves to encourage them to rebel against the Midgarders(normals). They also meet a snotty band of half-giants who mistreat their wives and children. I liked the end of the book. Magnus starts a rebellion that will take more than twenty years to complete. Magnus used myths and stories to inspire the people- I loved that touch. Magnus is my favorite Stasheff character, and he has matured a lot since A Wizard in Absentia.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Stuff., May 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Wizard in Midgard (Paperback)

Magnus is off on another adventure, this time via Norse Mythology. On the way, he picks up another companion, Alea (to replace Dirk). Much romantic potential there, and it's about time! Stasheff has been hinting about it for several books now. The world he has created is quite interesting, though the plot is similiar to the rest of the series. But then who really cares, since it's all great fun anyway!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Wizard in Midguard,but why?, December 16, 1999

By 

Cheryl Gagnon - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Wizard In Midgard: The Sixth Chronicle of the Rogue Wizard (Chronicles of the Rogue Wizard) (Hardcover)

A wizard in Midguard was a great disappointment to me, as a regular Stasheff reader. Having finished Quicksilver's Knight immediately beforehand, I was ready for some of the expected Stasheff magic with this story, especially since the last two Wizard books had left me rather lukewarm. I wasn't surprised to see the theme of Norse Mythology, as there are various references to it in his other work, and I had fully expected a novel dealing with it in detail. To my disappointment, our dear author expected the reader to have a much greater background on the subject than the average person, and did not use his best descriptive techniques to pull the reader head over heels into the story. To me, the book read more like an outline, and after the great lengths taken in Quicksilver's Knight to make the love interest a very three dimentional heroine, Alia seemed more like a plot device to move Magnus through the story. It will be interesting to see if Stasheff rounds out the character of Alia, in the forthcoming book, A Wizard and a Warlord, and attempts to make her Magnus love interest, which totally violates the premise of locking Magnus' heart away in the magic casket, as logically, the 'right' woman would come equipped with a key from the start (no fair finding one conveniently!), or uses her as a vehicle to further alienate him from the rest of the universe. Either way, A Wizard in Midguard is a must for those who wish to continue the saga of Magnus Gallowglass, Rogue Wizard, but alas, the book does not get my vote as an interesting read for its own sake.