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Daimbert #6
Is This Apocalypse Necessary?
Way back when they were in wizards' school together, Elerius was the best student the teachers had ever seen, but Daimbert barely managed to get out with a diploma, after all that embarrassment with the frogs. Now, years later, Elerius has served as Royal Wizard at a series of larger and more powerful kingdoms, while Daimbert has remained wizard of the tiny kingdom of Yurt. Now the old Master of the wizards' school is dying, and Elerius is ready to if his plans work out, he'll not just be in control of institutionalized wizardry, but also all western kingdoms, cities, farms, even the church. Once messy individual initiative is eliminated, everything will be run perfectly. Daimbert may be the only person who can make the world safe for mediocrity. But how can he oppose the best wizard of his or any generation? Daimbert has to find a solution somewhere, though his search will take him to the fabled Land of Dragons, to the exotic East, and even through Hell....
452 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2000
11 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 23, 2019
These are very strange books (not in the way one might think--there are some pretty weird books out there!) Even my least favourite of them is worth reading, but they're all slightly off-kilter compared to the normal run of fantasy novels, so you should know what you're getting into.
First, these are gentle books. I read the first in the series the night my beloved dog died unexpectedly, and I scoured the internet for news of a fantasy series that wouldn't upset me. Daimbert & Company is essentially the rice pudding of fantasy books. It's not whimsical and twee, it's not violent and disturbing, it's a big warm hug of nice people trying their best, generally up against some kind of antagonist that wound up in that position either (a) by accident, or (b) because they meant well. So there's suspense and tension, but (until this book) about the same amount of suspense and tension as in an episode of Friends.
Second, there's a lot of Christian religion, but it's not really urban fantasy. Every single place mentioned is not in our Earth. It's your typical fantasy realm with kingdoms and castles and a fabulous quasi-Arabian bit down south, but for some reason they're all Christian there. (Oh, and I'm a total atheist/scientist, and this inclusion didn't bother me at all, it's not proselytizing any more than Lord of the Rings tried to talk us into worship the Valar, it's just background-setting and milieu). The protagonist's best friend is a Catholic priest. So that's interesting, but it's also sort of off-putting, because I don't think it's fully thought out, it doesn't make sense. It's essentially an Other Realm that's Christian.
Third, and this goes with the afore-mentioned gentleness, everyone's very nice, and they hem and haw a bit, and Daimbert's somewhat annoying (you want to yell "just get over it already" quite a few times), and (at least in the earlier books) I felt he ought to cut Elerius a bit of slack (Daimbert just really seems to hate the guy and never gives him the benefit of the doubt). And then in this last book, it's almost like Daimbert causes the bad stuff to happen by pushing his antagonist to the brink (over 30 years, really!) but doesn't recognize it (nor does the author, I think). It's like Homer Simpson driving Frank Grimes to his death, he's just oblivious.
And yet, what a marvelous read. This one's longer than the others (I think, it's hard to tell on Kindle sometimes), and epic in scope, and full of twists and turns, and enjoyable resolutions, and it all kind of works, even while you're wincing about how Christianity doesn't make sense, or how Elerius can just go flat-out Eeeeeeevil all of a sudden. If you've read the first 5, obviously, read this one too. If you're new, read 1, if you like it, keep going!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve
First, these are gentle books. I read the first in the series the night my beloved dog died unexpectedly, and I scoured the internet for news of a fantasy series that wouldn't upset me. Daimbert & Company is essentially the rice pudding of fantasy books. It's not whimsical and twee, it's not violent and disturbing, it's a big warm hug of nice people trying their best, generally up against some kind of antagonist that wound up in that position either (a) by accident, or (b) because they meant well. So there's suspense and tension, but (until this book) about the same amount of suspense and tension as in an episode of Friends.
Second, there's a lot of Christian religion, but it's not really urban fantasy. Every single place mentioned is not in our Earth. It's your typical fantasy realm with kingdoms and castles and a fabulous quasi-Arabian bit down south, but for some reason they're all Christian there. (Oh, and I'm a total atheist/scientist, and this inclusion didn't bother me at all, it's not proselytizing any more than Lord of the Rings tried to talk us into worship the Valar, it's just background-setting and milieu). The protagonist's best friend is a Catholic priest. So that's interesting, but it's also sort of off-putting, because I don't think it's fully thought out, it doesn't make sense. It's essentially an Other Realm that's Christian.
Third, and this goes with the afore-mentioned gentleness, everyone's very nice, and they hem and haw a bit, and Daimbert's somewhat annoying (you want to yell "just get over it already" quite a few times), and (at least in the earlier books) I felt he ought to cut Elerius a bit of slack (Daimbert just really seems to hate the guy and never gives him the benefit of the doubt). And then in this last book, it's almost like Daimbert causes the bad stuff to happen by pushing his antagonist to the brink (over 30 years, really!) but doesn't recognize it (nor does the author, I think). It's like Homer Simpson driving Frank Grimes to his death, he's just oblivious.
And yet, what a marvelous read. This one's longer than the others (I think, it's hard to tell on Kindle sometimes), and epic in scope, and full of twists and turns, and enjoyable resolutions, and it all kind of works, even while you're wincing about how Christianity doesn't make sense, or how Elerius can just go flat-out Eeeeeeevil all of a sudden. If you've read the first 5, obviously, read this one too. If you're new, read 1, if you like it, keep going!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve
April 18, 2015
A full unqualified 5 stars for the searing culmination of Daimbert's adventures
If you’d asked me whether I could see myself calling this series “searing” before I’d started this book, I probably would’ve thought you were kidding. I can think of many adjectives I would’ve applied to Yurt – all of them complimentary, don’t get me wrong – but one of the things I enjoyed so much about the books was…actually, I’m not sure I can explain this. The plots of the prior ones were intricate and well done, and increasingly thrilling, but I never lost my sense of “it’ll turn out alright in the end.” The excitement of the prior books was tempered by an affable tone, some well-placed humor, and a main character who refused to take himself too seriously. Boring, the series was certainly not, but at the same time, it didn’t exhaust me the way a book full of non-stop tension might.
Never let it be said that I’m too hidebound to change my tune. Now I'm sitting here wondering if "searing" is strong enough!
Is This Apocalypse Necessary is aptly named, I think, for if you think of Daimbert’s adventures in the prior books as skirmishes against enemies known and suspected, this is the last stand. All bets are off, and nothing will ever be the same again. Apocalypse starts off like a cannon shot and then keeps upping the ante, and for the first time in probably years, there was no question about going to bed before I’d read the last word.
I wrote in my review for book five that the separate plots were starting to come together; if one paid attention, one got hints of an overarching story with its seeds planted in each of the standalone Yurt books, and I was excited to see if my suspicions about where the author was leading us were correct. Well, those suspicions were correct - in the sense that I’d be correct if I said “I’m expecting tomorrow’s weather to be a bit warmer”…the day before the planet gets knocked off course and flies into the sun. Apocalypse, indeed.
I don’t want to give away too much, so…let’s just say I was surprised, several times, and delighted, and breathless, and my already-high estimation of C. Dale Brittain just got blasted into the stratosphere. I want to go back to my review of A Bad Spell in Yurt, where I smugly typed away about this new pleasantly light fantasy I’d just found, and point and laugh at what a doofus the me of two weeks ago was. Why most of this series is out of print, I don’t think I’ll ever understand.
To say this series is “good” doesn’t do it justice, and Is This Apocalypse Necessary was so masterful that there’s no doubt that Yurt has a permanent spot on my (surprisingly short) list of all-time favorites. My only caution to potential readers is that you perhaps wait to start this final installment until you’ve got plenty of time to see it through to the end.
Standing O, Ms. Brittain.
PS: I would sell my own mother for a purple flying beast.
If you’d asked me whether I could see myself calling this series “searing” before I’d started this book, I probably would’ve thought you were kidding. I can think of many adjectives I would’ve applied to Yurt – all of them complimentary, don’t get me wrong – but one of the things I enjoyed so much about the books was…actually, I’m not sure I can explain this. The plots of the prior ones were intricate and well done, and increasingly thrilling, but I never lost my sense of “it’ll turn out alright in the end.” The excitement of the prior books was tempered by an affable tone, some well-placed humor, and a main character who refused to take himself too seriously. Boring, the series was certainly not, but at the same time, it didn’t exhaust me the way a book full of non-stop tension might.
Never let it be said that I’m too hidebound to change my tune. Now I'm sitting here wondering if "searing" is strong enough!
Is This Apocalypse Necessary is aptly named, I think, for if you think of Daimbert’s adventures in the prior books as skirmishes against enemies known and suspected, this is the last stand. All bets are off, and nothing will ever be the same again. Apocalypse starts off like a cannon shot and then keeps upping the ante, and for the first time in probably years, there was no question about going to bed before I’d read the last word.
I wrote in my review for book five that the separate plots were starting to come together; if one paid attention, one got hints of an overarching story with its seeds planted in each of the standalone Yurt books, and I was excited to see if my suspicions about where the author was leading us were correct. Well, those suspicions were correct - in the sense that I’d be correct if I said “I’m expecting tomorrow’s weather to be a bit warmer”…the day before the planet gets knocked off course and flies into the sun. Apocalypse, indeed.
I don’t want to give away too much, so…let’s just say I was surprised, several times, and delighted, and breathless, and my already-high estimation of C. Dale Brittain just got blasted into the stratosphere. I want to go back to my review of A Bad Spell in Yurt, where I smugly typed away about this new pleasantly light fantasy I’d just found, and point and laugh at what a doofus the me of two weeks ago was. Why most of this series is out of print, I don’t think I’ll ever understand.
To say this series is “good” doesn’t do it justice, and Is This Apocalypse Necessary was so masterful that there’s no doubt that Yurt has a permanent spot on my (surprisingly short) list of all-time favorites. My only caution to potential readers is that you perhaps wait to start this final installment until you’ve got plenty of time to see it through to the end.
Standing O, Ms. Brittain.
PS: I would sell my own mother for a purple flying beast.
March 20, 2014
An amazing conclusion to the stories of the wizard Daimbert and the kingdom of Yurt. Thirty years and many adventures have passed in Daimbert's time as royal wizard, but things come to a head with his arch-enemy, the best wizard of his generation, Elerius. With the master of the school of wizardry dying, he begs Daimbert to be his successor and oppose Elerius openly. Daimbert is thrilled that someone finally believes him that Elerius is bad news, but since Daimbert knows he can't match Elerius, he sets off on a whirlwind tour of the world, looking for an edge. Along the way he finds new friends as well as revisiting older ones, but can't find anything that will help him deal with a superior wizard that will also let him keep his morals.
Not only does the book keep the light hearted whimsy of the series, but also keeps the moral dilemmas of how to deal with enemies when you're not willing to take the same easy steps to power they are. Daimbert's talents for improvisation and willingness to take the difficult path rather than the easy one serve him well, even as his whole world is literally collapsing around him.
Thankfully, the author has recently published an e-book only short story that looks like it continues stories from the world of the kingdom of Yurt, even if it looks like Daimbert isn't the main character going forward.
Not only does the book keep the light hearted whimsy of the series, but also keeps the moral dilemmas of how to deal with enemies when you're not willing to take the same easy steps to power they are. Daimbert's talents for improvisation and willingness to take the difficult path rather than the easy one serve him well, even as his whole world is literally collapsing around him.
Thankfully, the author has recently published an e-book only short story that looks like it continues stories from the world of the kingdom of Yurt, even if it looks like Daimbert isn't the main character going forward.
August 15, 2016
An exciting conclusion to the Daimbert series. I continue to love the various characters, and the plot in this book is much grander than the previous books in the series. Both Daimbert's and Joachim's roles are expanded in the world, and Daimbert fights to prevent all-out war in the neighboring kingdoms. I look forward to more books by C. Dale Brittain.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2011
I didn't know that this was part of a series when I picked it up, but now I'm thinking of going back and reading the rest. This was good entertainment.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews