Comments on: Books with bumbling wizards?

Question: Books with bumbling wizards?

killjoy — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:38:37 -0800

Recommendations for books with bumbling wizards?

I'm looking for light, entertaining reads in the fantasy vein. Think Douglas Adams with magic. Bumbling wizards are a must--extra points for talking dragons and unicorns.

I enjoyed Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and most of Terry Brooks' Kingdom for Sale series.

Most recent books read were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows and Martin Amis' Money.

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:41:59 -0800

The Xanth books from Piers Anthony were favorites of mine, around the time I was reading Douglas Adams. Perhaps a bit in the teen genre, but if you liked Harry Potter, that may be ok with you.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:50:08 -0800

Robert Aspirin has a series along these lines, I think.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:52:24 -0800

The MYTH series; I haven't read them but they always seem to get mentioned alongside Xanth. Both are the kind of thing where each book is fun, short, full of painful puns, and basically the same plot. (YMMV)

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:53:15 -0800

Robert Asprin's MythAdventures series.
Terry Brooks's Landover novels.
Craig Shaw Gardner's Ebenezum, Wuntvor and Ali Baba trilogies.

And by all means, read some Xanth, but stop after the first handful. Later on they just get creepy, and not in a good way.

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:54:38 -0800

Faint of Butt, you're absolutely right. I should have mentioned that. Off the top of my head, I recommend "A Spell for Chameleon," "Night Mare," and "Ogre Ogre."

... I can't remember what day it is, but I can remember the plots of these three books I haven't read since I was twelve. Go figure!

By: emyd

emyd — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:54:53 -0800

Diana Wynn Jones is good, though her wizards aren't as bumble-y as Terry Pratchett's. Howl's Moving Castle or The Lives of Christopher Chant are favorites of mine.

By: Jess the Mess

Jess the Mess — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:08:09 -0800

How about The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs?

By: kavasa

kavasa — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:10:31 -0800

Faint: I don't think Piers ever wrote anything not creepy, although "Pornucopia" in its relative honesty probably comes closest. Read his books past the age of 14 at your own peril.

For recommendations, although also v. much in the "typically read by 14 year olds" vein, you could look at any of the kender-centric Dragonlance books. You're looking for Fizban (or maybe Zifnab? It's been a while,) the bumbling-wizard incarnation of the setting's Zeus. Apologies, that's not a very good recommendation, but it's all I can come up with.

By: bove

bove — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:20:59 -0800

It has been a long time since I read this but I believe The Compleat Enchanter stuff by L. Sprage de Camp fits the bumbling wizard description.

By: bove

bove — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:28:24 -0800

Apologies, it should be L. Sprague de Camp, and the original stories were coauthored by Fletcher Pratt. I haven't read any of the stuff written in the 90s (some of which is by other authors).

By: Jorus

Jorus — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:31:57 -0800

The Last Unicorn fits your description. I'll add that it is aimed towards younger people. Disclaimer: I've only seen the movie (with The Dude singing!) (because my girlfriend made me, honest!).

By: that girl

that girl — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:32:19 -0800

Perhaps not quite a bumbling wizard, but if you're up to bumbling Chinese Elders, Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds has a similar feel to the Pratchett books.

By: yarrow

yarrow — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:49:30 -0800

The Merlin portrayed in T.H. White's Sword in the Stone is pretty bumbling, as I recall.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:53:17 -0800

Highly recommend The Once & Future King, TH White. Sword in the Stone is based on it, probably Camelot, as well. Very well written, I loved it in my teens and still loved it on later re-readings.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:53:35 -0800

Jinx, yarrow.

By: ejaned8

ejaned8 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:56:02 -0800

I just read Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. It's a magic + crime solving. It's light and a slight variation on the above requirements.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:25:24 -0800

Bridge of Birds is a delightful masterpiece. I haven't re-read it in years, and I still remember it with a huge grin on my face. The first draft is online, linked in this metafilter post.

I also recently read Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest series (kind of refound through ask mefi) - it's written for kids, but I enjoyed it as much at age 27 as I did at age 8.

Actually, it's worth working your way through the wealth of children's fantasy novels - there are real gems there, ignored just because they are shelved in the "wrong" section of the library/bookstore. I read Howl's Moving Castle (mentioned above) for the first time as an adult, and loved it. Some will be serious, but much will be of a lighter fare, and I often find them a little more original than what is written for adults in the lighter side of the genre. I even prefer Pratchett's children's novels to his adult novels - he jokes about how he can tell the difference, as his children's novels win awards, but don't make as much money.

Back on the adult side - Tanya Huff has a light fantasy series about a slightly bumbling magic user, not a wizard but a "keeper", which begins with Summon the Keeper. It's a far cry from her vampire series, which is also good, but decidedly NOT light.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:39:15 -0800

I've also always been a fan of the Diane Duane Wizards series (which a lot of the media seem utterly ignorant about when they talk about Harry Potter), and this site has some reviews of the more recent ones. Actually, it has reviews of many, many SF & F books. I think I'm going to have to go spend some good time there.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:41:13 -0800

Sorry - here is the link for the Diane Duane reviews. There are actually 4 previous novels she doesn't review - they are listed at the top of the same page. (I've only read the first three).

By: ejaned8

ejaned8 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:50:01 -0800

For the swashbuckling fantasy, Jennifer Roberson particularly Tiger and Del were great. While it's not so much magicians, it definitely has that fun fantasy style.

By: chairface

chairface — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:52:35 -0800

Here's two audio short stories that contain a sort of bumbling wizard. It's for the kids and pretty dang adorable but don't let that stop you.

http://escapepod.org/index.php?s=squonk

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:09:36 -0800

Dragonlance has a bumbling wizard or two. The Drizzt Do'Urden series also features an entire family of bumbling wizards at some point, but I'm not sure which books they were in. The Harpel family shows up throughout different Forgotten Realms books.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:19:12 -0800

LibraryThing may be helpful here.

By: Windigo

Windigo — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:21:23 -0800

The book you are looking for is definitely The Last Unicorn.

The book isn't aimed at younger people, though, even though the film is.

By: jefftang

jefftang — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:23:20 -0800

Lawrence Watt-Evans' Ethsahr series is filled with various bumbling wizards.

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:03:31 -0800

nthing the robert aspirin "myth" series. granted, i read them a million years ago, but i remember they were hysterical.

my sister keeps pestering me to read connie will's "to say nothing of the dog." my sister is hilarious, so i am sure it is terribly funny.

By: Jacen

Jacen — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:21:19 -0800

If youre starting with Jim Butchers Dresden Files, you might want to start with the first book, Storm Front

By: moonlet

moonlet — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:50:51 -0800

Seconding Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest: talking dragons, capable witches, liberated princesses, and a magician who's not so much bumbling as nerdy.

By: gwyn

gwyn — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:09:33 -0800

Seconding White's The Once and Future King and Beagle's The Last Unicorn.

By: zeph

zeph — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:02:14 -0800

Nthing the recommendation for Beagle's The Last Unicorn (though I'd strenuously disagree that the animated movie was aimed at kids - I think TLU one does an amazing job of providing some moments of "woah factor" for adults, too, far more successfully than most animated "family films" ... but that's a discussion for another time and another thread) - nevertheless, Schmendrick the wizard is such a delightful character, you've just gotta love the guy. I'd love to see him and Rincewind get together for a chit-chat sometime.

Anyway, as I recall Simon Green's Blue Moon Rising fits the bill as a light fantasy novel with humorous overtones; I know it DEFINITELY had a talking unicorn that featured prominently and I'm 98% certain there was a bumbling wizard in there, too, though it's been a few years now and I can't say for certain - it might be worth checking out nevertheless. And while this is a lengthier and somewhat darker series I'd nevertheless add Weis and Hickman (of Dragonlance fame)'s Death Gate Cycle to the mix, too - Alfred the Sartan, one of the main characters, is a gangly, sensitive wizard-type with an unfortunate habit of fainting when things get stressful ... despite this, as the books go on it's very clear he's not there for comic relief, but even then if it makes you happy there's another goofy old wizard who shows up from time to time who is more of the 'comic relief type' (not to mention, he's also more or less a cameo figure from the Dragonlance novels which is rather neat if you've read those) ...

By: zanni

zanni — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:21:43 -0800

My favorite "bumbling magician" series is Master of the Five Magics and its sequels. Very fun, very readable. Not as lighthearted as the Xanth books but a very logical system of magic, which I found appealing. Good luck finding these - they're out of print.

By: PetiePal

PetiePal — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:53:57 -0800

Terry Goodkind's series The Sword Of Truth Novels are about a War Wizard, who has no idea he is one, and actually ends up being the Seeker, a special type who is meant to bring about great change in the world. Long series but well written. He discovers new powers and often solves complex problems quite by accident.