Books: The Goblin Tower By L. Sprague de Camp (1968)

“King Jorian was rather attached to his head. Hence, he felt his promise to steal the Kist of Avlen, a treasure trove of ancient manuscripts containing magical lore, was a small enough price to pay for a chance to escape his own beheading. But when the quest pitted him against one peril after another - a murderous wizard and his giant squirrel, a castle full of executioners, a marauding troupe of ape men, and a voluptuous 500-year-old princess who was also a serpent - Jorian began to wonder whether he'd made such a good bargain.”

The Goblin Tower is the first book in The Reluctant King series. This tale seemly owes more to Robert E. Howard’s style of sword and sorcery than say Tolkien (though there are touches here). While the gist of the story is about a warrior who must steal a magical artifact on the orders of a wizard, the rest of the book (or most of it, from my perspective) has Jorian on a bunch of random adventures that mostly go nowhere. It’s a thin premise, to be honest.

The book also uses the device of Jorian being a skilled storyteller, which allows him to tell tales that convey something of the background and history of this universe. While this might seem clever, and negates the need for lengthy pages at the back of the book to explain it all, for me, it slowed whatever momentum the L. Sprague de Camp was going for. Still, this device allows for some odd plot changes, where the author is able to use some deft humor here, and when the action and adventure do kick in, it can be exciting.

I’ve known for decades the respect that de Camp has among older (mostly gone now) fans of this genre. There were many fan conventions in the 1970s and 1980s dedicated to the art of folk tales and Filk music, which is a type of fan labor, a sub-genre of musical culture that is primarily tied science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and but gained more popularity since the mid-1970s when The Lord of the Rings began its second wave of popularity. I’ve never followed it, don’t completely understand it, but like people who go to Renaissance Fair’s, it has a dedicated following. 

In the end, this 55 year-old tale does hold up very well, but it’s also not very deep. If you can get past some the folk tales, it’s a very pleasant read.