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A series review by Wayne MacLaurin
Dave Duncan has long been a favourite of mine. Not only is he Canadian,
but he also happens to write great fantasy. One of the main reasons I
enjoy his writing so much is that he always manages to come up with a new twist on magic.
When I finally had a chance to read The Great Game in its entirety, I was looking
forward to seeing what Duncan had come up with this time. I wasn't disappointed. In this series
Duncan combines the concept of magical energy (mana) and charisma to provide a compelling background.
Past Imperative begins the trilogy and introduces us to the main
character, Edward Exeter, and the alternate world of Nextdoor.
In (on?) Nextdoor, strangers, people from our world,
have charisma, the ability to draw on a magical force (mana)
that they can use to influence
people and generally perform magic. Mana come from many sources, including
worship and human sacrifice.
Some time in the past, several strangers set themselves up as gods, using
the mana generated by their
worshippers to perform god-like acts. Over the centuries, a complete and
convoluted pantheon has
developed. The Great Game, from which the series draws its title,
refers to the games of power that the gods play.
Edward Exeter, a young English gentleman wrongly accused of murder, is
drawn into this game when it is revealed that he is the object of a prophecy that
claims he will kill the god Death. Death is, of course,
somewhat put off by this and has
been attempting to thwart the prophecy by killing off the individuals
involved. Isn't that just like Death? Going off and killing people for no good reason...
Present Tense continues the saga and spends an equal amount of time
in both World War I England
and in Nextdoor. Edward is staunchly refusing to have anything to do with
the prophecy he seems to be the key to. Being a properly-raised young English gentleman, his main
concern is to enlist and fight in the Great War. However, Death seems particularly eager to help
Edward skip that messy "enlisting"
thing and repeatedly offers to help Edward just jump to the likely
conclusion fighting in the trenches of Europe.
As Edward struggles to join the war, he recounts his adventures in Nextdoor
as he tried to return to
England in Past Imperative. While simultaneously attempting to avoid
both Death and anything to do with the Prophecy, Edward manages to
get involved in a nasty
little war, fighting alongside a Zulu-like native tribe.
Future Indefinite finishes the series with a flurry of activity, and it is
easily the strongest novel in the trilogy. Edward, now returned to Nextdoor,
has accepted his fate as the Liberator and is trying to fulfill the
prophecy and kill Death. The mysterious Service isn't so sure that is a good thing and enlists an old
friend of Edward's and Edward's cousin to try and talk some sense into the "old boy". Meanwhile, Death
is not idly sitting by while the Liberator fulfills his destiny, and is trying hard
to kill Edward. And, all the while, the rest of the gods are conniving and plotting.
The Great Game is being played for keeps.
As a series, I enjoyed The Great Game immensely. Each book is
slightly different in style (matching the title of each... nice touch) which lends itself very nicely to the
"dual" nature of the story. I'm generally not fond of "contemporary fantasy" but Duncan uses World War
I as a backdrop to the story rather than writing a novel of punk-elves in muddy trenches. (I didn't
notice a single punk-elf in the entire series). Duncan liberally sprinkles the plot with several great
characters, lots of detail, and a fabulous "secret society," The Service, modelled after the Victorian
British Colonial Service. A great feature of the series is that each novel is stronger than the last.
I found Past Imperative somewhat slow to start but by Future Indefinite all thoughts of that
had vanished into an eagerness to finish the trilogy.
Copyright © 1997 by Wayne MacLaurin
Wayne MacLaurin is a regular SF Site reviewer. More of his opinions
are available on our Book Reviews pages.
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