Transported into a magical alternate world of dragons, witches, and fairy-folk, skeptical engineer Holger Carlsen finds himself at the center of a looming conflict in which he is inexplicably a key figure. Reissue.
My first Anderson, June 17, 2000
and not a bad place to start (I’ve read plenty since). This book introduces the reader to the Nordic themes that pervade Anderson’s fiction, even his ostensibly hard sf (yes, this book is actually set in the world of Charlemagne’s paladins, but guess which of the paladins is the hero? You guessed it, Ogier the Dane; well, Anderson is of Danish origin, so what does one expect?). The story is fairly formulaic, but with some nice touches. Virginity doesn’t get the short shrift it frequently does in modern fiction, and the hero converts to Catholicism after his return to our world (which gave me a mistaken view of Anderson’s attitude to orthodox Christian doctrine and morals—at least, many of his other writings give a somewhat different picture, though he is certainly rather intrigued by Christianity, especially Catholicism). Often praised are the pseudo-scientific explanations for why, say, it’s dangerous to steal a giant’s treasure, or exactly what might cause someone to become a werewolf. But on the whole this is a good rather than outstanding work of heroic fantasy—a pleasant evening’s read, but not something one wants to come back to over and over again or live by the light of. One of the serious flaws, IMHO, is that the ending lacks climax. It should also be noted that this is part of a series of books describing alternate worlds—others include A Midsummer Night’s Tempest and Operation Chaos.
