A WIZARD IN A FEUD by Christopher Stasheff

THE ROGUE WIZARD

TOR, July 2001

Gar Pike and his 'friend' Alea continue their journey through the stars looking for worlds in need of a revolution. In A WIZARD IN A FEUD, they come upon a world that is stuck in a Appalachian-style feuding environment, each family squared off against most of its neighbors. The few who preach peace are scorned, cast out of their homes, or treated with disdain.

Gar and Alea find native peoples with psychic powers who are sickened by the continual warfare among the 'new people' as they term the human inhabitants, yet are helpless to prevent it. Lacking some groundswell of popular support for a revolution, Gar and Alea seem doomed to failure in this world that most needs a new system.

Christopher Stasheff (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by this author) is a talented author and A WIZARD IN A FEUD, like all of his works, is a page turner. I finished the novel, however, without a real sense of satisfaction. This novel, and indeed this series, has a problem. I think that the problem may be that Gar and Alea no longer project a compelling need to be doing something. If they had failed on this world, the consequences would have been a mild disappointment. Of course with a super-powerful alien friend keeping them company and protecting them from every enemy, failure is unlikely.

Author Christopher Stasheff needs to dig deep within himself and re-discover the reason why Gar needs to continue on this quest, and increase the stakes for him, both emotional and physical.

Fans of this series will enjoy another well constructed adventure. Those who are not familiar with the series are advised to start with A WIZARD IN MIND, the first, and so far best, book in the series. See also our reviews of A WIZARD AND A WARLOCK and A WIZARD IN THE WAY.

Two Stars

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