Fairies Sorcery and the Greek Gods
An immortal, indefatigable hero works with a cadre of displaced gods to stop an apocalyptic plot in the fantasy novel Fairies Sorcery and the Greek Gods.
In Donald R. Richter’s fantasy novel Fairies Sorcery and the Greek Gods, Baba Yaga plans to purge Earth of all supernatural life.
Eons have passed since Medusa betrayed the Greek Pantheon and aligned herself with a race of enslaving fairies, resulting in disarray. Now, God calls upon Jack to intercede against Baba Yaga’s plot, gifting him immortality and magic to help. As Jack grows younger and more powerful, he gathers allies, including contemporary iterations of Zeus and Poseidon who are eager for revenge. He escapes the attention of the other Greek gods, who dole out vicious punishments to those who cross them.
The book’s mythology incorporates multiple world religions and gods; there are also references to other planets. However, these disparate factors do not flow into a cohesive whole. And despite the ostensible stakes of Jack’s quest, little time is devoted to addressing the looming threat of Baba Yaga’s apocalyptic plans. Instead, the book focuses on Jack as he travels between locations; he talks to gods in hiding and helps them rescue their partners from magical imprisonment, but more often he engages in mundane activities like using the bathroom. His encounters with supernatural creatures, Greek gods, and legal troubles are handled in a casual manner, too. The book’s tension deflates, and it ultimately fizzles out into a lackluster conclusion.
It’s not clear why Jack is the only one capable of stopping Baba Yaga, and her absence in the story is also notable. Jack and his friend Marvin often speak of previous events and wondrous adventures, but these references are vague and rushed past. A glaring instance presents Marvin as Merlin of Arthurian legend, but this history is never brought up again. Several of the immortal characters have lived for so long that they have conflicting names and identities, muddying the text. None of the major gods, supernatural beings, or human allies Jack encounters are described in physical terms, either; the cast remains hazy. Further, in conversation, their voices bleed together: several individuals speak at once, and all sound alike despite being from different eras of history and cultural backgrounds. Further, Jack’s voice is stream of consciousness, and his speeches bleed into the prose itself, which is short on punctuation and paragraph breaks. Typographical errors also mar the prose.
In the fantasy novel Fairies Sorcery and the Greek Gods, clashing mythologies and supernatural forces are involved in a man’s quest to stop a vengeful plot.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
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