The Immortal of World's End
OCLC 6400362 | | |
Preceded by | The Enchantress of World's End | |
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Followed by | The Barbarian of World's End |
The Immortal of World's End is a
Plot summary
Ganelon Silvermane encounters decaying island-city slipping into the water, but projecting an illusion of its former glory, the problem of scientific immortals, and the disastrous collision of a massive horde of the world's ultimate barbarians.
Sources
Reviewer Andrew Darlington also detected such influences, specifically Smith’s "Zothique" and Vance's "
Reception
Robert Price formed the opinion that the Gondwane novels were "no good." He writes "They suffer form the same malady that afflicted Amalric (and which ... blaze into fever in The Wizard of Zao and the "Terra Magica" series); the lame and self-consciously cute attempts at humor ... only succeed in hampering and tripping up novels that are straining at their halters to become straight, robust Carter Sword & Sorcery yarns."[2] The "series contain[s] the stuff of vintage Carter fantasy epics, but the books suffer ... from an omnipresent patina of frivolity that continually undermines the reader's suspension of disbelief, and ... from a queer distancing of the narration." He notes that "[o]n the whole, the Gondwane books manifest strangely lax and undisciplined writing ... commit[ting] conceptual and continuity blunders and ... rationalizing the difficulty .. in a contrived manner ... Some gaffes he never seems to notice."[4]
Andrew Darlington characterizes Carter as a "curious writer," a "fan" who "arguably never evolved far beyond that status" and calls the Gondwane books "of variable quality" though "all relatively short and effortlessly readable." Still, in contrast to Price, he finds the series "different, by degrees" from the mass of Carter's works aping the styles or settings of earlier authors, and feels the "Gondwane mythos might just be his most original creation."[3]
Gary Gygax lists Lin Carter's World's End series as a possible source of inspiration for players of Dungeons & Dragons in the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide.[5]
The novel was also reviewed by Frederick Patten in Delap's F & SF Review v. 3, no. 1 (issue #22), January 1977, p. 21.[1]
References
- ^ a b The Immortal of World's End title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- ^ a b Price, Robert M. (1991). Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. p. 70.
- ^ a b Darlington, Andrew. "Lin Carter: Another Warrior of World's End" (review). 20 August 2014. Accessed 31 October 2014
- ^ Price, Robert M. (1991). Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. p. 72.
- ^ Gygax, Gary (1979) Dungeon Master's Guide. Lake Geneva: TSR Games, p. 224