The Gryphon King

by Tom Deitz

The contents of a mislaid box from the University of Georgia's Rare Book Library includes crumpled newspapers, British bestsellers, old leather-bound folios, and a sword that seems possessed by a mysterious evil

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

406 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1989

About the author

Thomas Franklin Deitz (January 17, 1952- April 27, 2009) was an American novelist from Georgia. He had a B.A. and M.A. in medieval English from University of Georgia. He was the author of the "Soulsmith Trilogy," comprised of the books Soulsmith , Dreambuilder , and Wordwright . He also wrote a popular series consisting of Windmaster's Bane , Fireshaper's Doom , Darkthunder's Way , Sunshaker's War , Stoneskin's Revenge , Ghostcountry's Wrath , Dreamseeker's Road , Landslayer's Law , and Warstalker's Track . His stand-alone novel The Gryphon King centers around a few of the characters from the later novels in the last series mentioned.

Deitz also won the Phoenix Award in 2007. This award is given at the annual DeepSouthCon to a professional who has done a great deal for Southern Fandom.

Deitz was a well-liked college instructor as well, with stints as an adjunct English faculty member at Gainesville State College, Lanier Tech, and Tri-County Community College, and received a tenure-track appointment as assistant professor in Fall 2008 at Gainesville State College. He was recognized as GSC's adjunct faculty member of the year in 2008.

In addition to writing, Deitz's creative outlets included visual art (murals, fantasy art, and more); drama (with minor roles in a number of community and college productions); model automobile collecting; costumery; and other pursuits via the Society for Creative Anachronism. He was a founding member of the SCA's Barony of Bryn Madoc.

Deitz died on Monday, April 27 2009 of heart failure. He had a heart attack in January of this year and was a candidate to receive a Ventricular assist device (VAD) but had suffered too much damage to his heart for the device to be implanted.
(From Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jeane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not good. Not the worst thing I've ever read and I was able to finish it, but I did not really enjoy it. Fantasy in general is a hard sell for me, I love fantasy movies but fantasy novels usual bore me. This one was no exception. Not to mention the way the author wrote the one POC character just doesn't sit right with me. I know this book was written in the 1980s by a man who was spent most, if not all, of his life in rural Georgia, USA but in 2022 that excuse no longer flies. And then my biggest issue with this book was the completely misleading title. In a book called The Gryphon King I excepted gryphons to be a central part of the plot, not a seemingly forgotten story line that felt like it was thrown in at the last minute. In this 406 page book it took 112 boring ass pages to get to the first mention of a gryphon. Unacceptable. Don't bother.

[Leelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read this book since December of 1989. It's been twenty-seven years, I have forgotten so much of it that it's like reading a brand new book. How many time do you reread a book and it feels like a new discovery? The tale is set in Athens, Georgia, in the 1980's. I lived in Athens in the '80's. Even in the first chapter I can see clearly in my mind the places Tom describes. I can see the people, the buildings, the trees and the weather! It used to rain so much in Athens in the winter. One year it started raining in August and hardly stopped at all until April. I miss that weather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just finished. It was weird. For most of the book it was rediscovery. But at the climax it was deja' vu. It was almost fresh like the first part of the book. It's been almost thirty years after all. But when I was reading the final battle it was like what I was reading was the echo of a memory.

Still. This is a great book. Action packed. Chock full of medieval and faery lore. These are the Tuatha Dé Danann, the powerful and capricious fae of the British Isles. Not the fairies of childhood and Never Never Land. They are not the noble Elves of JRR Tolkien either. They are selfish and powerful and not to be messed with. Tom Deitz, my old and departed friend, spun a magical and powerful tale that deserves to live long past him. I hope you read it and enjoy it as much as I have.

[Kaitlyn Golden · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.25. I felt like I was missing something at the end of this book - what was the point?, mostly. And the mythological/fantasy elements bored me except for the first chapter which hooked me. The characterizations of the six main protagonists were endearing and funny and that kept me going for the first 175 pages (also it was a quick read) and then sheer will kept me through the rest. The scenery was also well described, which is always a bonus point for me with books - I like when an author can give a clear visual of what is going in their head.

I had quite a few qualms with the plotting, but most especially what I didn't like was the overt and covert racism around LaWanda's character. Not a coincidence, I think, that she kept calling her friends Mr. and Ms. as a precursor to their actual names- supposed to be cutesy, I think? But came across as a relic of Jim Crow and I wondered if Tom Deitz even knew what he was doing. I'm aware this book was published in 1988 by an author from Georgia so it's one of those situations where a 1980s southern white guy writing a subpar fantasy novel may have felt he was incredibly enlightened to include a black main character- wow - but to someone in 2020 it seemed, at the VERY best, tone deaf, and at worst, racist and offensive.

Overall, wouldn't recommend except if you want to read simply for the witty banter among characters/the scenery descriptions (which give this book its boost from a 1 to 1.25), to improve your vocabulary, AND to understand the subtle and obvious racism that has historically been allowed to pass an editor's desk and be disseminated to the general public.

[Ruby Hollyberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just TOO much fun. Another author writing in the 80's who would be much more popular today now that urban supernatural fantasy has taken over the market. A group of eccentric college students including a Shakespearean actress, an aspiring fantasy/sci fi novel-cover artist, an Irish musician, a Cajun hoodoo-practicing African-American beauty, a down-to-earth geologist who is in the SCA (the medieval recreationists), and the main character Black Jay who studies Old Norse and fairy tales and wears only black, are living, goofing off, and taking graduate degrees in Athens Georgia, an offbeat and alternative sort of town that was weird enough already. Then a sword and a previously undiscovered medieval play arrive from England in a library donation shipment, one possessed by an evil elf lord in rebellion from his kind, and one by the ghost of the human man who once cut off his head on orders from the Elvenking. The closer the undead elf mage gets to resurrecting his stolen piece of Elfland, the more it begins to take over Georgia! And the main character, his girlfriend, and his hateful half brother who wants his girlfriend all get possessed by the players in the original tragedy. Fabulous fun, from the Old Norse professor who believes in brownies, a RenFaire, the fear of finding out someone has stolen your thesis idea, to combat with gryphons in a shifting faery labyrinth and the crazy parties and pot smoking in the town that produced REM and the B-52's.

[Beverley Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 is closer to what I would rate this book. I took a very long break between books by Mr. Deitz and going back was just like slipping on an old comfortable sweater....familiar and easy.

Mr. Deitz' books are not as complicated as most fantasies about the Sidhe and other Fae folk. They are easy to read and not a lot of odd sounding names to try to keep separated.

The stories are interesting and crossed over with the present times. I really enjoy that. On to the next in the series.

[Michelle Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.. really kept my attention..

[Res · Rating 2 out of 5]

The one where half-brothers and rivals Jay and Rob stumble upon a Medieval play and a much older sword, and mythicness starts to happen.

This was recommended to me as a good example of local color in urban fantasy, and its evocation of Austin, Texas, is reasonably good, though it doesn't live up to the page-one description of the city as a place where you can always find someone stranger than you -- the Austinites we meet are all in the normal range for college students.

It's hard to get too involved in the romance between Jay and Dal because Jay is only about 30% real and Dal is a fairly typical object of fantasy. Rob doesn't work well as a villain because his enmity towards Jay makes no sense -- he says so himself, repeatedly.

And the nonhuman parts of the plot make no sense at all; some guy has somehow gotten the power to steal from the King of Faerie (if that's who he is), and some random human blacksmith is chosen for some random reason to be his executioner, and there are these gold paths that the fey can use to walk through time and these silver paths that the thief can use to steal, and ... what?

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for SCA lovers, or people who like RPG with Elves, RenFest, Magic, & Swordplay, or just love to read Fantasy. Follows a bunch of grad students interacting with a 500 year old play, and the elves & men from that period.