Never judge a book by its cover. This may be true, but for honesty’s sake, I must say that the reason I chose to pick up Magic of the Plains: By the Sword Volume 1 by Greg Costikayan was exactly because of its cover. Particularly, I got it for its back cover which states “BY THE SWORD MAGIC OF THE PLAINS As seen on Prodigy®.” For those of you my age, this will have a certain mystique.
Prodigy® was one of the major internet service providers in the early 90s for early adopters of the world wide web in the Northeast United States, and was based in White Plains, N.Y. So if you’ve never heard of it, it could be that your experience jumped right to AOL or that you just weren’t regionally close enough to it.
The book is standard fantasy, but it’s not your dollar store variety. It is written by a master storyteller world builder in Greg Costikyan. He is credited with designing Star Wars: The Role-Playing Game and MadMaze which, for a time, became the “single most popular feature on the computer service Prodigy®.”
A shorter version of this book was commissioned by Prodigy® and available online for all Prodigy® members.
So what’s all this about then? Nijon is on a walkabout from his tribe, and upon his return he is forced out of the tribal plains and into the city of Purasham. It’s there that this warrior from the plains gets his first taste of civilization and with it wealth, thievery, and treachery.
When the king of the land’s beautiful daughter is taken by a dragon, Nijon’s true hero’s journey begins, and this is where the book shines. The adventure, the other characters Nijon encounters, the world that is all around him, and his self-reflection all make for a compelling read that you don’t want to put down.
This isn’t necessarily the fantasy of Tolkien, but perhaps it’s more in line with Terry Brooks’ and his Shannara series. I have to say my favorite portion of the book is essentially a two-page monologue that Nijon has, at the expense of a squier, Dekh, whom he picked up along the way.
Dekh, unwanted as he is to Nijon, is talking up the legends and tales of old, and what he’s heard in tales and songs and poems of heroic endeavors:
“In the legends–”
“The legends be damned! Do you think heroes of legend failed to lay the groundwork for their deeds? Ballads sing of the glory of battle, not of the untold hours of tedium that lead up to it, but never doubt that tedium existed. Success in every human endeavor requires relentless effort.”
Nijon’s rebuttal is important not just in the case of his young squire understand the larger world and how it works, but it’s a sentiment that is universal. Sure, everyone hears of the successes in tall tales and songs, but few ever mention the tedium and detail and preparation.
Nijon and the squire’s conversations goes even further, which pleased me to no end:
Dekh sat with arms folded over knees, his head between his legs. “But that’s why I left the farm,” he said miserably.
Nijon looked up. “To avoid relentless effort?”
“Yes.”
Nijon snorted. “My friend,” he said. “You will likely die tomorrow. I may, too, for I am a hero; but if I do, my death shall be heroic. You, on the other hand, are a peasant. If you die, it will be the brief incineration of a little life. To find your death, you have braved forests, deprivation, and mighty mountains. This strikes you as easier than hoeing dirt?”
“More interesting,” said Dekh.
“Ah!” said Nijon, pausing momentarily to consider this. “Perhaps so.” He took up scraping the tree again, then said, “But the hours are lousy.”
Again, Nijon’s rebuttal is spot on. This is high fantasy with kings and dragons and gods and treasure, but it is not without its lessons. Its pragmatic approach to the obstacles at hand made this a refreshing fantasy read for me. I’m fine with some might and magic, but a little engineering ingenuity or practical problem solving approach to resolution in fantasy seems almost unheard of, so this was even greater for that and many more reasons,
Thank goodness I noted the Prodigy® line on the back cover, or I never would have picked up this book. I would have thought it just one of the many fantasy novels I might enjoy but that I pass by because I have enough to read. Now, I want to know more about the other novels Costikayan has written, as he made a fan out of me in just one novel.
Come for the adventure and stay for the realism. If this isn’t your kind of fantasy, then more for me! I still have to look into Costikyan’s other books. While this cover may boast that this is Volume 1, upon further research it is Volume 1 of 1. Still, I have the Star Wars Roleplaying game he designed on my shelf, and I may have to seek out his other novels, as I really enjoyed my first trip through his fiction work.