Customer Reviews

The anubis Murders

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first book in Paizo Publishing's Planet Stories line. I think it is great. I've long been a fan of mystery and fantasy fiction. This novel pulls both together along with a heavy dose of Egyptian mythology.

The novel is written by Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying game. The novel itself is not set in the D&D universe; rather a world like ours with countries' names changed slightly to add a familiar, yet different feel.

The plot is that influential mages and rulers throughout the world are being systematically targeted by a mysterious cult that seems to be connected somehow to Anubis. Setne Inhetep, a cross between Sherlock Holmes and an Ancient Egyptian priest, is called off of vacation to investigate these magical deaths. Will he succeed in his mission? Buy the book and find out!

While it is not going to win any awards for the most literary book I have ever read, I do feel it is a good read for both casual and frequent fantasy readers. This book is just pure fun. I have read over 60 books this year, and this is probably the most enjoyable one I have read.

Gygax wrote a few other books with Inhetep as the protagonist. They are The Samarkand Solution and Death in Delhi. The Samarkand Solution is set to come out in the Planet Stories line in March 2008.

Hope this is helpful to you.

First off, great cover art by Andrew Hou! It immediately gives the impression that, although the novel is written by D&D creator Gary Gygax, The Anubis Murders isn't set in the generic medieval Europe that is so common to fantasy novels.

Second, interesting protagonists. Magister Setne Inhetep, a worshipper of the Aegyptian god Thoth, specializes in solving mysteries and catching criminals. He's depicted very similar to Sherlock Holmes, actually, down to identifying people's occupations by merely glancing at their hands or disguising himself as street riff-raff to infiltrate nefarious organizations. He's aided in crime-solving by Rachelle, officially his slave, but actually his body-guard and adventuring companion.

Third, a good mystery. High-level leaders, kings, and sorcerors are threatened with death unless they turn over power to a mysterious Master of Jackals. When they refuse, they're soon found murdered in ways that are seemingly impossible. Who is the Master of Jackals and what ties all of the murders together?

Fourth, middling execution. Gygax is certainly competent as a fantasy writer, and sometimes very good--the opening chapter is quite atmospheric, for example. As a mystery writer, however, he's unfortunately below average. The Master of Jackals is revealed to be a character never before seen, and the way Inhetep solves the mystery doesn't seem particularly plausible to me. In other words, this is not the type of whodunnit that can be solved in advance by a careful reader, because the solution comes from way out of left field. A good introduction by Erik Mona speculates that perhaps Gygax thought that the mere mention of the villain's name (taken from real-world Finnish mythology) would be enough to make readers gasp with excitement. If so, he thought wrong.

Overall, not great but not terrible--and a good example that writing a solid mystery novel is harder than it appears.

The Anubis Murders is a fun read that is a good kick-off to the Planet Stories line. I quite enjoyed the book.

The Good
The characters are distinctive and the protagonists are interesting and engaging. I especially liked the rapport between them, and there was never a dull moment when they were featured. The plot moves along at a nice pace and the action is well-written.

The Bad
The only thing that was a bit out of place was the ending, which, without spoiling it, leaves a little room for improvement. Suffice to say, it's clear that this book was not meant to competely stand alone, as there is certainly unfinished business.

The Very Bad
If you are new to Gary Gygax's novels, and/or if you intend to read his "Gord the Rogue" series, then skip the introduction by Erik Mona. For some reason, Mona makes the very questionable decision to throw out a pretty major spoiler for both the novel and the Gord-The-Rogue series.

Again, I enjoyed the novel and look forward to more great stories in the line.

The Anubis Murders was first published in 1992 and then reprinted in 2007 by Paizo's Planet Stories. The latter edition comes equipped with an introduction by Dragon Magazine's Erik Mona that discusses both Gary Gygax's influences and his unique position as an influence.

The Anubis Murders is, for what's it worth, more sparing on both the introversion and the petulance. The book is still set in an RPG game world, but this time it is linked to Mr. Gygax's "Dangerous Journeys" RPG. The story follows Magister Setne Inhetep, wizard-priest of Aegypt and dilettante of the mystery. Setne is accompanied by Rachelle, his foxy young bodyguard and personal Watson.

The book begins with the murder of a powerful sorcerer. An attempt to summon an air elemental backfires and the conjurer is devoured by a demon instead. The scene set, the reader is then whisked to Setne and Rachelle's vacation in sunny "Iberia". After some nude water-frolicking with his bodyguard, the wizard is interrupted by the arrival of three delegates from "Avillon". The Avillonese (Avillonian?) need Setne's help. It seems that the conjurer-snacking wasn't an isolated incident. An eldritch terrorist known as "The Master of Jackals" has been blackmailing the many kings and dukes of "Aeropa". To refuse TMoJ is to invite disaster. The murder of the powerful wizard was merely a demonstration of TMoJ's unstoppable power. Pay up - or else.

Although Rachelle is keen to go forth and fight evil, Setne's curiosity remains unpiqued until the Avillonians link TMoJ to a member of Setne's native "Aegyptian" pantheon: Anubis. The jackel-headed god isn't a bad guy, so Setne feels compelled to go forth and defend his divine honor.

The mystery, such as it is, thickens. Setne is himself blamed in a wave of anti-Aegyptian sentiment. He also uncovers a strange cult - supposedly of Anubis, but, upon scratching the surface, seemingly of some darker power. Rachelle, despite being a supposedly-invincible warrior, is promptly kidnapped and spends most of the book as a hostage, leaving the wizard on his own. This is for the best, as the scenes between Setne (the near-immortal) and Rachelle (the persistently under-dressed) have a distinctly Gorean element to them. No matter how you paint it, old men buying five year old girls at the market and grooming them into sexual partners? Not romantic, just creepy.

Despite being set up as a mystery, this is no more a novel of detection than your average Twitter feed. The who and the how of the central crime is unsolvable to the reader - especially since a last-chapter twist introduces completely new villains into the mix. There's certainly a conspiracy involved, but Mr. Gygax prefers to explode now and explain later. Setne magically blasts his way across the landscape, pausing intermittently to recap some of his more cryptic maneuvers. Mr. Gygax's style glorifies the means rather than the result - what Setne accomplishes is of far less interest than the components, reagents and wands he used to do it.

Mr. Gygax is no mystery writer, but he is one of the finest imaginations when it comes to the detailed systemization of magic. Fortunately, in what might be the book's saving grace, the practice of magic is core to the crimes committed. By writing the story about spellcasting, the author has the excuse to prattle on endlessly about occult mechanics. There's enough relevance to keep from being entirely self-indulgent, and, to be honest, there are less interesting topics ("spellbook" fiction rather than "kitchen sink"). If a supposed mystery has to be a thinly-veiled introduction to some random topic, it might as well be magic. The Anubis Murders is an inferior work of fiction and a great introduction to the Player's Handbook.

Bizarrely, the authorial decision I found most off-putting involved the setting. The adventure takes Setne all through Avillon, including the city of "Camelaugh" and the lands of "Cymru" and "Caledonia". The other Aeropean countries (including "Skandia" in the north) go unvisited but are oft-referenced. Everything is exactly as you'd picture. The Avillonian people are Arthurian and Celtic ("Kelltic"), the Aegyptians build big pyramids, the "Teutons" are stubborn and the "Phonecians" build ships. (Honestly, that last one bothers me most of all. That's a typo run rampant.) There's also an air of undeserved self-congratulation about the entire thing - tiny little touches to prove that Mr. Gygax knows more from the World Book Encyclopedia than you do.

A fantasy world should either wholly absorb the reader or absent itself entirely - it should never be a distraction. Setne isn't actually a bad character. The Aegyptian is slightly cheeky and a wee bit arrogant - not wildly out of place on the Howard/Leiber spectrum of sword & sorcery protagonists. However, he's certainly not so compelling that he can overcome Mr. Gygax's misplaced devotion to world-building. Or world-appropriating, as the case may be.

At the conclusion of The Anubis Murders, the reader has only a vague sense of whodunnit and why, but is swimming in hows and wheres. It is, in essence, game tie-in fiction. Ignore the plot, buy the supplement. And if you don't like the story? Buy the rulebook and write your own. You too can blow stuff up like Setne can! (Slave girls not included.)

The Anubis Murders by Gary Gigax it's a curious way to begin a line about classic sci-fi writers (many of them unknown to the common reader), but as Erik Mona (in the prologue) and James Sutter (in PaizoCon 2009) exposed there is a reason. Gary Gigax with his new game (not new any longer, and well known to most or all of us) and the early novels based on his first setting, both of which had a profound influence from this classic authors, exposed us to fantasy in ways that had been left forgotten in time.

Yes, fantasy and sci fantasy still existed, but the source that influenced lots of them and in the end the hobby in which we participate were left in the past and when reprinted... they lost much of what was worth on them.

So I suppose to begin Planet Stories was a tribute to the man who brought this lost world back to us. But why the Anubis murders, considering he had stories before it? Well Erik explains it plainly in his prologue so I won't ruin a good story... but I would also think it's like to have a fresh beginning.

The Anubis Murders is presented in a world not so different than ours during the classic era, a quite defined world where Camelot brushed elbows with the "Ancient Egypt", a world where Merlin is a renowned wizard, but no more, a land where gods influence the world and an ancient evil stirs.

So why began with Anubis Murders? Because, it's a good place to begin with.

The Anubis Murders is a refreshing look of the world and a refreshing read, one of the first stories in which we have a cleric (ok wizard priest) as the main hero. Not a man to take sword or "adventurous" even if he does follow adventure wherever it takes. Setneh Inhetep, servant of the pharaoh, wizard-priest, uncanny detective and a man with a rich background, made human for the fact that he not only has virtues, but also flaws he can understand and accept... if not change. Setneh takes us into the path of danger while analyzing his surroundings, seeing beyond our sight, but giving a few clues so we can arrive to his same conclusions by our own insight.

The Anubis Murders in the end is a detective stories of the pulp era happening in a world not so different than ours, and where magic should have made it easy to arrive to an early ending. But taking this into account I believe Gygax arrived to an elegant performance of why would magic doesn't uncover the mystery after a few chapters.

Yes, the story is NOT perfect and it has a few flaws. It falls in clichés (understandable with Gigax experience and how true he was to the classic sources) and his heroine Rachelle, even when she could easily be an heroic character he tells us early in the story that she can be as much heroine as lady in disgrace. No complains here, I did liked Rachelle.

Another small detail is how in the last chapters he exchange in descriptions one character for another, I suppose Paizo left this intentionally, letting the source be as true to itself as they could. The careful and attentive reader would, by the end of the book, certainly know of what I am talking about.

And if the fanatics of magic needed any more impulses or reasons to read this... you won't find a better example of 'Time Stop' anywhere; a vivid, vivid and creative use of magic. A living magic miles away of "I cast Magic Missile".

All in all, The Anubis Murders is a great detective story in the middle of a Sword and Magic universe. Enjoy the reading, I know I did.

The Anubis Murders by Gary Gygax is a fun read. It is set in an Earthlike world where a Magician/Priest from Eygpt is asked to solve strange murders of strong wizards. This Magician/Priest is somewhat of a celebrity in his world and his life is filled with challenges. Gygax is not the best writer of fantasy fiction but he is a good story teller and creates interesting characters.

It just is not an engaging read. I tried and tried to get into this book but just couldn't. I only made it through the first 50 pages. I will give the other books he has written a chance once they are published though. I will give it two stars for now. Perhaps if I return to the book at a later date and actually finish it I can update this review for better or worse. Try some of the other Paizo books that are much better such as CL Moore's "Black God's Kiss" or Leigh Brackett's "The Secret of Sinharat" as these are excellent.