Book Review: Riddle Master of Hed (The Riddle Master’s Game: Book 1) by Patricia A. McKillip
(Four Stars)
“When you open your minds and hands and heart to the knowing of a thing, there is no room in you for fear.”
Sorry I missed this when first published in 1976. Better than most post-LOTR imitators. McKillip may feel that she’s surpassed this earlier effort, but this is a deeper, more satisfying tale than many more famous competitors, which admittedly is a low bar.
“Truth,” the Master Ohm murmured, “needs no apology.”
It took the entire book to get the protagonist interested in his quest, along the way he discovers that everything he thought he knew—and he was a master riddler—about almost everything, was wrong.
“I have lived a thousand years, and I can recognize the smell of doom.”
Quibbles? Lots, but none that diminish the enjoyment of the text. Go with the admittedly shallow flow.
“I’m also wondering why the High One has never acted.” “Perhaps because his business is the land, not the school of wizards of Lungold. Perhaps he has already begun to act in ways you do not recognize.”
As a Matter of Fancy 