''Dragonrouge: Further Adventures in Terra Magica'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novel by American writer

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...

, the second in his series about the fictional "

Flat Earth Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Figure of the Earth, Earth's shape as a Plane (geometry), plane or Disk (mathematics), disk. Many ancient cultures, notably in the cosmology in the ancient Near East, anci ...

" of Terra Magica. It was first published in paperback by

DAW Books DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim, with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted ...

in December 1984. A trade paperback edition was published by

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limite ...

in 2001, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in February 2020.

Plot summary

The novel's setting of Terra Magica is "the world as imagined by

Dark Age The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages (–10th centuries), or occasionally the entire Middle Ages (–15th centuries), in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which characterises it as marked by economic, int ...

European geographers and

bestiary A bestiary () is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beas ...

-writers," envisioned as one that "actually exists as a world parallel to our own. There magic works, hippogryphs and mantichores roam free, the earth is flat, paynims worship

Termagant Text from a manuscript of the ''Chanson de Guillaume'': ''Tresque il vendreit de aurer Tervagant'' In the Middle Ages, Termagant or Tervagant was the name of a god that some European Christians believed Muslims worshipped. It originates in the el ...

, and there is no

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

."Price, Robert M. ''Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds''. Mercer Island, WA, Starmont House, 1991, page 86. Sir Kesrick, Knight of Dragonrouge, together with his staunch companion Mandricardo of Tartary and their lady loves, continues their perilous quest through Terra Magica, with adventures ranging from a princess to be rescued from a sea serpent, a giant of anthropophagous inclinations, and a kingdom under an enchanted curse. Again, chapter notes at the end of the book reference the sources in earlier fantasy literature of various creatures and character and place names used by the author.

Sources

Carter "admits to having got the idea for the erra Magica seriesfrom ' Thackeray's delightful treatise, ''

The Rose and the Ring ''The Rose and The Ring'' is a satirical work of fantasy fiction written by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published on Christmas in 1854, though the first edition is dated 1855. It criticises, to some extent, the attitudes of the monar ...

'', a splendid spoof of fairy tales,'" with "nods to other fantasy classics as well," including Baum's ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the ma ...

'', Cabell's ''

The High Place ''The High Place'' (subtitled ''A Comedy of Disenchantment'') is a 1923 fantasy novel by James Branch Cabell, first published in hardcover by Robert M. McBride in an edition illustrated by Frank C. Pape. It is the eighth volume in the Storisende ...

'', Beckford's ''

Vathek ''Vathek'' (alternatively titled ''Vathek, an Arabian Tale'' or ''The History of the Caliph Vathek'') is a Gothic novel written by William Beckford. It was composed in French beginning in 1782, and then translated into English by Reverend Sa ...

'', and Vance's ''

The Dying Earth ''The Dying Earth'' is a collection of science fantasy/fantasy short fiction by American writer Jack Vance, published by Hillman in 1950. Vance returned to the setting in 1965 and thereafter, making it the first book in the ''Dying Earth'' ser ...

''.

Reception

Robert M. Price Robert McNair Price (born July 7, 1954) is an American New Testament scholar who argues in favor of the Christ myth theorythe claim that a historical Jesus did not exist. Price is the author of a number of books on biblical studies and the hi ...

, writes " l the faults of arter's Gondwane and Green Star books are collected here. The humor is broader and more ham-handed than ever. ... Or at least it's supposed to be. ... I suspect that most eaderswill find it growing a bit thin before arriving at the end of several volumes of it." While conceding the series is intended as a parody or spoof, he notes " ere are some things, many things, from which

uch Uch (; ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf (; ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of t ...

does not exempt a writer," including repetitiveness, failure to think things through in advance, poor continuity that "credit exploits from ... previous book to the wrong character," and an "intrusively and self-consciously cute" authorial voice. Price also observes that the protagonists, supposedly warriors, "scarcely ever lift a sword;" indeed, " ere is almost no fighting, only a series of perils and escapes, an endless chain of rescues by magicians, fairy godmothers, flying carpets, wishing rings, etc."Price, Robert M. ''Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds''. Mercer Island, WA, Starmont House, 1991, pages 86-87. The book was also reviewed by Carl B. Yoke in ''Fantasy Review'', January 1985, and

Richard E. Geis Richard E. Geis (July 19, 1927 – February 4, 2013) was an American science fiction fan and writer, and erotica writer, from Portland, Oregon, who won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977 (tied with Susan Wood), 1978, ...

in ''Science Fiction Review'', Spring 1985.

References

{{Lin Carter (books) 1984 American novels 1984 fantasy novels Novels by Lin Carter DAW Books books