★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Alternate History Fantasy) A powerful magician has reservations about returning to the home town he hasn’t seen since he was a boy, but he’s definitely not expecting someone to be trying to kill him. (10,118 words; Time: 33m)
"The Return of the Pig," by K.J. Parker [bio] (edited by Gardner Dozois), appeared in The Book of Magic (RSR review), published on October 16, 2018 by Bantam Books.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.637 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: It’s a fun watching the narrator cope with one problem after another as we learn about the magic system as well as the backstory.
It also captures the bittersweetness of meeting old friends after many years have elapsed.
The setting is an interesting one: an alternate Europe where Latin exists but the countries are all different from the ones we know.
Con: The narrator is a little too powerful, so there’s not much tension. This might be a nice intro to a longer story though.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
K.J. Parker Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: It’s a fun watching the narrator cope with one problem after another as we learn about the magic system as well as the backstory.
It also captures the bittersweetness of meeting old friends after many years have elapsed.
The setting is an interesting one: an alternate Europe where Latin exists but the countries are all different from the ones we know.
Con: The narrator is a little too powerful, so there’s not much tension. This might be a nice intro to a longer story though.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
K.J. Parker Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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