From Publishers Weekly
The third book in the Wizard of Rhyme series (after The Oathbound Wizard ) again features protagonist Saul Bremener, a hero so selectively thickheaded that there are several places where this often pleasant narrative seems more an excerpt from Kant's Critique of Pure Reason than a novel. Stasheff has a clever concept here: that Saul is neither good nor evil, while others in his fantasy world must be either one or the other. But he fails to make him a credible character; only a severe Calvinist could describe Saul as amoral. Saul is uncommonly dense when the author desires him to be, a trait he's not likely to share with most readers, who will find themselves way ahead of Saul in figuring out what's going on. Although he is surrounded by a crowd of well-wrought supporters--a knight, a bard, a ghost, a fairy and a delightful troll named Gruesome--Saul experiences a series of adventures that are more repetitive than suspenseful. Moreover, Stasheff's pedantry and philosophical hair-splitting rapidly become tedious.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When Matt Mantrell, hero of The Oathbound Wizard , disappears suddenly, his closest friend, Saul Bremener, is worried. A search of Matt's apartment turns up a rune-covered sheepskin and spiders everywhere. His attention drawn to the manuscript, Saul barely feels the bite that transports him to Allustria, an alternate universe in which poetry is again the key to magic. Possessing a strong literary background and a wide streak of skepticism, Saul instantly becomes a powerful though reluctant wizard. But Saul seems to be the only means of toppling Allustria's reigning power--Queen Suettay--and freeing the people. Since in Allustria power is divided sharply between good and evil, Saul spends as much time debating ethics and his own fear of commitment as he does battling witches, and the whole tale is a shade deeper and more literary than the usual fantasy, albeit with a few lulls in the action. Yet there are plenty of plot twists to keep fans reading, and followers of the series A Wizard in Rhyme, of which this is the third installment, definitely will read it. Candace Smith