A review by nwhyte
The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt

http://nhw.livejournal.com/684127.html[return][return]Reading "The Compleat Enchanter",[return]when I came to the fourth section,[return](set in Finland's Kalevala)[return]somehow I began to wonder:[return]Can one write LiveJournal entries[return]in iambic tetrameter?[return](Yes, I know that last word's bogus[return]and perhaps that gives the answer.)[return][return]This, a five-book compilation[return]of the works of Pratt and de Camp,[return]brings together the adventures[return]of a man called Harold Shea from[return]Ohio, mid-20th century,[return]who is, with his friends and lover,[return]thrust in various fant'sy poems,[return]first Norse legends, second Spenser,[return]third Orlando Furioso[return](also Kubla Khan here featured),[return]fourth (as mentioned) Kalevala[return]ending in Cuchulain's Ireland.[return][return]Though Mark Twain perhaps began it[return]writing of King Arthur's Yankee[return](don't think I can really mention[return]which state that wayfarer came from[return]as it has two unstressed vowels[return]in succession, so won't scan here)[return]this ambitious and effective[return]merging of mundane and mythic[return]surely was an inspiration[return]for much else in the same genre.[return][return]Even the stock story setting -[return]visitors arrive from elsewhere,[return]get entwined in local issues,[return]solve the problem (sometimes fail to)[return]disappear to next adventure[return]using magic means of travel[return]sounds a bit like Doctor Who, ne?[return][return]Also, use of spell components[return]such as "verbal" and "somatic"[return]was employed by Gary Gygax[return]in so far as I remember[return]from my teenage D&D days.[return][return]Anyway, this book is harmless.[return]Irish bit is, sadly, least good -[return]use of silly plot devices[return]to prevent our heroes making[return]any diff'rence to the story.[return]But the rest is entertaining.[return]And I think I'd recommend it.[return]Four stars in my on-line cat'logue.