Where It's a New Author but the Same Lord Darcy

Ten Little Wizards by Michael Kurland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think Michael Kurland nailed it.

This book is a continuation of the Lord Darcy alternative history fantasy mystery (my words) series started by Randall Garrett. The original included one novel and a number of short stories, all set in a Europe where magic works and England never lost its lands in France. This novel follows up on those stories very well, with characters that feel unchanged and a setting that seems well understood and recaptured.

Kurland includes a touch more direct exposition to explain how things work than Garrett did, but in other ways seems to have followed the original in every way. The methodology and pacing are so similar. I would have liked a couple more pages of sorting out at the end of the novel, and reflecting on that I nearly dropped a star, but it's such a minor quibble. Reading (as I do) a number of other books at the same time, I found myself picking this one up again and again in preference to the other books, all of which I like quite a bit, and realized nah, this does all you want a book to do. It was a brisk, entertaining read, peopled by sympathetic characters, and I was pleasantly diverted thinking about how different things might be in another world. Lots of good stuff. All the stars. Fair play and well done to the author.

(As usual, the story involves a series of murders that seem impossible, including a couple of the "locked room" type. The mystery aspect is well handled and satisfying.)

If you like alternate histories and mysteries and fantasies, I recommend the whole series.

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Where I Was Riveted

Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I seldom read or like short stories (a little, sometimes), but I really liked this collection. Almost 700 pages long, I never got tired of picking it up, and I just wanted it to go on. (In fact, I already ordered one of the books that follow, though it's written by another author. Maybe it can keep the fun going for a bit. Fingers crossed.)

Set in an alternate Europe, where the Plantagenet descendants of Richard the Lionheart keep the throne, France and England remain united under one line, the entire New World is administered (though not much colonized, apparently) by the Anglo-French Empire, and magic works but isn't terribly common, it has a sort of steampunk feel. The original stories were set in the years they were written, in the 1960s and 1970s, but they seem 60 or 80 years behind technologically. The main enemy of the empire is the Polish empire, mirroring the east-west split of those years, but with a twist. All in all, it is clever and well carried out, leaving lots of room for more stories that we probably will never see. Alas.

Lord Darcy is rather like Sherlock, intuitive and well informed, gathering slight clues others miss, though he is much more socially adept and friendly. His assistant, Sean O Lochlainn, is a master wizard, using magic to do the kind of tests we expect forensics to do in modern stories. Together, they're highly effective, and they're both as round as they need to be for the stories to work.

I get it; deep stories need characters with tragic backstories, filling the pages with pathos. There's not a ton of that here, though. Instead, we get to see interesting people with amazing abilities be awesome while working as a team. That's my favorite thing.

(Every time I differ from the masses of novel readers--when I dislike books that everybody else loves--it's because the main characters are all kinda shitty to each other. They're not a team. They're not nice. It's every man and woman for themselves. Ack. I don't like that. In fact, I hate that. I love good friends or a found family, especially with awesome people being awesome. That's my favorite. That's this collection.)

(Others are free to continue liking the stuff I don't. I won't understand it, but that's cool.)

Anyway, these are entertaining short stories (and one novel) that I highly recommend to readers of all types--Sherlock-style mystery, fantasy, alternate history, espionage, and more--and I suspect lots of people who would love it missed it back in the 70s like I did. And if it weren't for the Austen-sounding title, I might not have taken a chance myself. Glad I did.

Good stuff.

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Where Lord Darcy Solves Mysteries for the King

Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this novel. (Technically, it's in the middle of an omnibus edition, but it's novel length, so I'm reacting to it on its own.) There's so much to like--an interesting setting, capable and engaging characters, a tricky mystery, and plenty of action.

Set in a sort-of England and France in the 1960s, the story takes place in a timeline where the Plantagenant kings never lost the throne and continued to control France as well as Great Britain. The technology lags about a century behind ours, but they excel at magic instead. This empire includes all of North and South America, though it seems to be less colonized than our world. In addition to his detective skills, Darcy--the Sherlock-like figure who is the main investigator here--is tough and good with weapons, making him a decent action hero, and although he cannot himself do magic, his partner--a good Dr. Watson stand-in--can and does. They are an effective team.

Throw in a few mysterious deaths, spies and double agents from the rival Polish Empire, and some practitioners of black magic, and you can't miss.

Something about the whole vibe of this novel and related short stories just really works for me, and I enjoy it. (As a result, I scored it quite a bit higher than the average. Not sure why some others didn't like it as well, but that's how it works.) I wish there were a bunch more novels, but we are not so lucky. I'll have to be satisfied with the chunky omnibus which still contains 6 more short stories I haven't read yet.

This probably is best for those attracted to alternate timeline stories and/or steampunk novels, especially mysteries, though it straddles several categories.

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