With Morlac – The Quest of the Green Magician, Alan Ruse has written what has to be the ultimate epic Fantasy saga. He manages to incorporate every form of fantasy with the possible exception of Vampires into the three stories that make up this ebook.
In fact he first published this book in 1986 as a paper book, but it has now been published as an ebook.
From This…………
To This……….. Read on, All will be Explained……
In passing I have to say I really like this cover, it splendidly sets the tone of the book, shows that Conan is lurking somewhere in the back of Ruse’s mind, and reminds me of the Sci-Fi mags I used to buy many, many years ago.
I have read a number of books by him, and enjoyed all of them in one way or another, but this one really goes to town. As ever, I shan’t discuss the plot in detail, as you can find out what happens by the simple means of buying the ebook and reading it for yourself. But suffice it to say that our hero – well that should actually be capitalised I feel, thus – Our Hero, Morlac is turned from a peaceful sea turtle into the ultimate fantasy warrior by the somewhat evil Green Magician in order to lead a small group of other’s who had also been magically changed from sea creatures to Heroes in a battle to defend the Magician’s village from an extremely aggressive nearby War Lord.
After which, we are taken on a long and complex journey in which Morlac attempts to find the Green Magician (who had disappeared when the battle to defend his village is lost). Along the way we meet a bewildering range of curious Magicians of all sort, Zombies, magic crystals, shape changers and just about every sort of creature, Beings, magicians, rocks, plants and so on that you could imagine.
Ruse describes the main thrust of the book as follows:
Conjured from the sea by the dark magic of the Green Magician to defend their village from invaders, Morlac is a being tormented by his own dual past, and under the spell of the wizard’s wicked daughter. Can he save them all…and himself? His journey across exotic lands, armed with his magicked sword “Shark” and his shell shield, is an epic sword and sorcery adventure.
The four main characters of this saga are Morlac himself, Broct, his closest partner in arms, well in this case, lots of arms, as Broct has six arms for some reason, Morlac’s girl-friend Glendauna – who has the disconcerting habit of turning into a large wolf at night, and a red head called Rila, who becomes Broct’s girl friend,, a highly skilled pick pocket but not magical in any way, .
Together this unlikely foursome encounter all manner of scary Magicians, almost all of who are totally evil and out for world domination as they attempt to find the Green Magician.
So what we have here is a lightly written, highly readable and at times even curiously funny ebook in which Alan Ruse seems to have sat down and decided to write a book which has as many of the trade mark events, characters and style of a fantasy book as he can. And I have to admit that he has succeeded in spades.
And not only has he achieved that aim, but he has produced a book which is a delight to read, not a book to take too seriously (we are definitely not in the realms of high literature here) but is simply a completely enjoyable read, exciting, even verging on scary at times as some of the more unpleasant creatures appear.
As with his other books, Ruse has produced a book which readers of almost any age or gender will enjoy… Perhaps not the thing for a 5 year old, but for the rest of us, A great and enjoyable read for train journeys, whilst eating or at any time… Go and buy it, and I am sure you will enjoy it.
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OZTHOUGHTS 