It's like a bad midnight movie in my brain
September 3, 2010 7:24 AM Subscribe
Looking for the name of a paperback fantasy novel I read in the very late 80s or early 90s. It involved conjuring demons, talismans, a mirror world, and other stuff.
Someone gave me this book, and it was outside the realm of what I usually read at that time. I have no idea if the author was superfamous or a nobody. The details as I remember them:
Some sorceress conjures up a demon but he's smaller and weaker and has some defect - he doesn't have wings? He files his teeth? I believe he considered himself a researcher of the human world, maybe kept bits of human stuff back in his demon lair. Or maybe I'm conflating that with Weasley actions in Harry Potter, I don't know.
Somehow the demon gets paired up with the woman and they end up hopping through dimensions for whatever reason. I remember one world where the people all used talismans or amulets (more talismans == more better). There was another world that had something to do with mirrored actions and maybe a desert island?
This is sounding crazier the more of this I type out. I don't think I'm combining two or more novels here.
Anyway at the end there's some gigantic showdown, of course, and I believe everyone survives, but I don't know. I think the demon and the woman fell in love. It wouldn't surprise me.
I'm not even sure why I want to know what novel this was, because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to re-read it. I can't find it via Google because, well, I tried searching for demons and talismans and wings and mirrors and didn't get very far. I guess I'm mainly curious to see if it was by some respected fantasy author or some utter hack, and to read some reviews of it.
Someone gave me this book, and it was outside the realm of what I usually read at that time. I have no idea if the author was superfamous or a nobody. The details as I remember them:
Some sorceress conjures up a demon but he's smaller and weaker and has some defect - he doesn't have wings? He files his teeth? I believe he considered himself a researcher of the human world, maybe kept bits of human stuff back in his demon lair. Or maybe I'm conflating that with Weasley actions in Harry Potter, I don't know.
Somehow the demon gets paired up with the woman and they end up hopping through dimensions for whatever reason. I remember one world where the people all used talismans or amulets (more talismans == more better). There was another world that had something to do with mirrored actions and maybe a desert island?
This is sounding crazier the more of this I type out. I don't think I'm combining two or more novels here.
Anyway at the end there's some gigantic showdown, of course, and I believe everyone survives, but I don't know. I think the demon and the woman fell in love. It wouldn't surprise me.
I'm not even sure why I want to know what novel this was, because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to re-read it. I can't find it via Google because, well, I tried searching for demons and talismans and wings and mirrors and didn't get very far. I guess I'm mainly curious to see if it was by some respected fantasy author or some utter hack, and to read some reviews of it.
Yeah, seconding Aspirin's Myth Inc. & the series of slapstick books that followed. That sounds a lot like Tananda & Aaazh (SPELLING!).
posted by Ys at 7:44 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Ys at 7:44 AM on September 3, 2010
Yeah, the Myth stuff immediately popped into my mind.
posted by devinemissk at 7:46 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by devinemissk at 7:46 AM on September 3, 2010
Darn it, I was gonna say the MYTH books, but y'all beat me to it. I just re-read all of them recently and they're still interesting.
posted by patheral at 8:15 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by patheral at 8:15 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: I am gonna say it was not MYTH, because this book - unless I was totally mis-reading it - had no sense of humor. It was serious stuff. None of the MYTH character names are familiar, there certainly wasn't any little talking dragon, etc. I'm going to say that's not it.
posted by komara at 8:27 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:27 AM on September 3, 2010
Some of the features - the mirror world, the showdown, the taslismans - are making me think of The Talisman by Stephen King, but it's pretty far off from the description otherwise. No love story, no island. But if you are mixing a couple of books in your head maybe some of the features came from the plot of that one.
posted by 8dot3 at 8:29 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by 8dot3 at 8:29 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: I remember The Talisman (by King and Straub) very well, so I'm sure those two aren't mixing.
posted by komara at 8:32 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:32 AM on September 3, 2010
Some of the details make me think of The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones, though some of the details are off.
posted by jeather at 8:45 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by jeather at 8:45 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: Further things I am remembering: I believe this runty demon ended up having to fight another demon that was something like his big brother, or in some position of authority over him. Also, in the world / dimension where the talismans were important, some of them were made by dipping something repeatedly, kind of how candles used to be made. There was also a discussion about what kind of mental and physical effects a demon felt when being summoned by a human.
posted by komara at 8:46 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:46 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: Oh, and the book was my first introduction to the word 'ichor' which is what all the demons had in place of blood, of course.
posted by komara at 8:47 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:47 AM on September 3, 2010
Best answer: Sounds like Riddle of the Seven Realms, the third in the Magics trilogy.
posted by blueyellow at 8:49 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by blueyellow at 8:49 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: That is totally it! I remember that atrocious cover. Thank you very much, blueyellow!
posted by komara at 8:53 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:53 AM on September 3, 2010
You're welcome. It's a great trilogy, most scientific presentation of Magic I've seen in any fiction book.
posted by blueyellow at 8:55 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by blueyellow at 8:55 AM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: Man, looking at reviews on Amazon and Goodreads leads me to believe this wasn't as bad a book as I remember. I'm surprised at the author, too - I expected either some huge fantasy literary name, or some absolute nobody. Looks like Hardy was good at what he was doing, but only had three books and no large following.
posted by komara at 8:59 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 8:59 AM on September 3, 2010
Didn't Jack L. Chalker have a series that fit the general description? ...my lumber-warehouse of a memory is not spitting out any specifics besides some rather gaudy cover-art, but it's the very first thing that bounced to mind when I first read the question. May be *totally* off here.
posted by Ys at 11:25 AM on September 3, 2010
posted by Ys at 11:25 AM on September 3, 2010
I think I remember this book too. Does he make a knife that is magically dull and later a potion that shields him from intense heat so he can get some gems from a mine?
posted by Bonzai at 12:37 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by Bonzai at 12:37 PM on September 3, 2010
Response by poster: Bonzai: not as far as I recall. blueyellow has probably read it more recently than I, but I don't remember any mines or knives.
posted by komara at 1:07 PM on September 3, 2010
posted by komara at 1:07 PM on September 3, 2010
I think I figured it out. From the wiki article blueyellow linked about the first book.
Interesting magic system but the books were pretty so-so.
posted by Bonzai at 7:33 PM on September 3, 2010
Basil, antagonist in the second part of the book. One of his henchmen steals an alchemical potion from Alodar and uses it to gather a vast wealth of gems for Basil. This gives Basil sufficient leverage to court the queen.So I must have read the first book. I remember part of what made alchemy so expensive was that there was always a chance of failure for each step so that for a complex potion (like the heat resistance ointment in the book) you have to start dozens or even hundreds of potions to get a few successes.
Interesting magic system but the books were pretty so-so.
posted by Bonzai at 7:33 PM on September 3, 2010
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posted by gaspode at 7:38 AM on September 3, 2010