This final novel in The Reluctant King trilogy (preceded by The Goblin Tower and The Clocks of Iraz) is the most entertaining read of the three. I had already come to respect and feel comfortable with the good and brave Jorian, unbeheaded king of Xylar, and his wizard friend Karadur, and I had been waiting the equivalent of several hundred pages to read about Jorian's long-planned, very dangerous mission to rescue his chosen wife Estrildis from Xylar. As always, Jorian's adventures are, much to his own chagrin, fraught with danger and excitement at every turn, and the events of this novel are certainly no exception. For two years the Xylarians have pursued Jorian because he had escaped the kingdom with his head at the end of his five-year reign and thus thrown the politics of the country into turmoil. In Xylar, each king is beheaded after five years, and the next king is chosen by throwing the passing king's head into the crowd to see who catches it. Jorian's plan to reenter Xylar in an effort to get his chosen wife back is incredibly dangerous, but true love makes any good man risk his own life in its pursuit. In the way of all Jorian's plans and wishes, however, things never go quite the way he hopes.

All three novels in the trilogy can be characterized as humorous fantasy, but The Unbeheaded King is by far the funniest. The action begins with Jorian and Karadur flying into Xylar in a large golden bathtub (the explanation for which can be found in The Clocks of Izar); amazingly, Jorian enters the tower where his lady resides and comes close to succeeding in his objective at the beginning of the novel. Then he trips and causes an alarm to ring out, forcing him to shimmy back up to the hovering bathtub and flee forthwith. Undaunted, Jorian, back in the neighboring land of Othomae, seeks other means for achieving his overriding aim. When he asks a sorcerer to summon a demon to attempt a rescue, the banter between the unhappy demon and the sorcerer is well-nigh hilarious, with the demon complaining about being summoned from his plane unjustly and threatening to foment his fellow demons into an attack on the human plane of existence after he finishes his assignment. Very humorous examples of why you should never underestimate a demon's capacity for stupidity produced many a laugh on my part. Several of Jorian's famous escapes from danger are, as usual, fantastic and highly entertaining, and the miscellaneous stories we hear from Jorian's lips as well as those of his friends (both human and, in one case, a ghost) bring even more humor to this enchanting work of fantasy.

I am sad to see this trilogy end. I would gladly read novel after novel based on the times and trials of good Jorian and his reluctant ally Karadur. De Camp is a fantastic writer, bringing to vivid life the lands and peoples of his fictional world, steering his fantasy along at full steam, never allowing for dull moments. You do not read about De Camp's imaginative realms, you journey there yourself and watch your friends and heroes go about their business right in front of your eyes. One cannot help but me amazed at both the bad luck and the good luck our heroes are met with, nor does one ever tire of trying to figure out how they are going to get out of each successive mess they perpetually find themselves in. It may take the reader a few pages to get comfortable with the mediaeval-sounding language the characters often use, but familiarity comes so quickly that you may find yourself unconsciously uttering words like forsooth and instanter in your normal conversations and cursing any bad luck that comes your way with phrases such as "by Imbal's brazen balls."

This is one of the more enjoyable fantasy books I have read in a long time. Although the conclusion played out a little differently from what I was expecting, I was thrilled with the way De Camp ended this epic because it seems uniquely and honestly faithful to the characters and the spirit of their adventures. It is with sadness that I bid friends Jorian and Karadur goodbye after three novels, but I take with me the memory of a joyous read full of great humour, enthralling adventures, and utter fascination. If you want to read fantasy as it was meant to be written, you would do much worse than to pick up De Camp's account of the adventures of the unbeheaded king.

Third and last book in the trilogy which was later published in one volume as the Reluctant King, this volume picks up after Jorian has escaped the seige of Iraz and represents the last attempt to rescue his lady love Estrildis from captivity. Xylar will exchange her gladly for his head; as ex-king he blocks them from gaining a new king becuase their political system requires the king's head be chopped off after five years and tossed into the crowd to see who catches it and becomes the lucky person for the next five year term.

Novaria, the setting of the trilogy and several other books, is explored more. And provides the mishaps that get in his way: a demon too busy to do his job right, lasso men from Xylar trying to pull him back, evading said men while trying to sneak back, and assorted other perils. In the end Jorian does discover true love. Albeit you'll never figure out how if you are used to reading save-the-princess-kill-the-monster romances.

One thing I like about de Camp's writing is that it's fairly well thought out and detailed. Novaria is a real world with it's own character. Jorian himself is a story teller and that in itself indicates the dedication to story telling de Camp possesses because, unlike some books, Jorian actually can mesmerize the audience with stories. Unique tales at that.

L. Sprague de Camp is a master storyteller, and I quickly found myself immersed in this vivid account of Jorian's adventures. As the tale begins, Jorian is at the end of his reign as the king of Xylar. Each king of that realm serves only five years; then he is beheaded and his head tossed into the crowd. Whoever catches the head, as a wandering Jorian had accidentally done five years earlier, becomes the new king. For obvious reasons, Jorian had developed quite an attachment to his head and wanted to keep it. With the help of the old wizard Karadur, split-second timing, and good old-fashioned luck, Jorian escapes his fate. He then embarks on a quest to seize the Kist of Avlen as recompense for Karamur's aid (and to win his freedom from the geas placed upon him as part of the escape bargain). Karamur serves a faction of the region's magical conclave dedicated to dispensing knowledge and use of magic to everyone, and the secrets held in the Kist are deemed crucial to the achievement of this goal.

Jorian's travels and adventures are thrilling, both with and without Karadur at his side. He encounters terrible luck, betrayal, and great danger everywhere he goes, but he manages to press on with his tasks somehow. Wanting no more than to settle down with the chosen wife he left behind in Xylar and work as a common craftsman, he is cut out to be either an adventurer or a king. His greatest skill is actually his storytelling ability, and many of his escapes come about as a direct result of his storytelling prowess. Many of the stories he tells are even more engaging than the story of his current adventures, I must say. Jorian's world is a fascinating place, filled with untrustworthy magicians, numerous gods of all kinds, dangerous ape-men, lustful, dangerous women, and all manner of dangers. The forms of government of the realms he passes through are fascinating-one land all but forbids contact between men and women, one is ruled by a power-hungry theocracy; one relies on highly complicated yet ultra-important protocols for interacting with men of all kinds of rank. The arguments he hears as to why one government is better than others are often comical yet have unmistakable relevance to worldly matters here on planet Earth.

The Goblin Tower is the first of three books, collectively known as The Reluctant King trilogy, detailing the travels and experiences of Jorian and Karadur. These are fascinating characters experiencing fascinating things. One can only shake one's head in wonder sometimes at our reluctant heroes' ability to escape one mess only to fall into another one forthwith, but these adventures are thrilling enough to keep the reader fully immersed in this fantasy world of de Camp's creation. L. Sprague de Camp is a legendary fantasy writer, and The Goblin Tower affords the reader a wonderful opportunity to introduce himself to the works of this master craftsman of the genre.

One of the several and too few "Z" books set on the planet of Krishna, the Hostage of Zir introduces Fergus Reith, the "hero" as such of several subsequent Krishnan books, a stand-in Tour Guide for the Magic Carpet Travel Agency wrastled into leading a simple tour guide on the planet. The first tour group. Easy enough.

By the end of the book Reith is torn between completing the task and boiling the members of the group in hot oil, and that illustrates the travails these mild, ordinary people put him through with their zany and constant antics. From such simple feats as insulting locals and risking a lynch mob to such exotic fare as getting kidnapped in a power ploy, they provide non-stop hair pulling entertainment.

Not the least bit the local natives are slightly green skinned and have feathery tufts from their eyebrows. And prove to be quiet "human" despite those differences!

Set in a far corner of de Camp's Novaria world, The Incorporated Knight follows the attempts of Eudoric Dambertson to succeed in his world not by becoming a knight of reknown and fame, but by becoming a businessman of good stature, a goal looked down apon by his contemporary's, who believe the proper knight is a muscle-bound, sword swinging bone-head who's main aims in life are wenching and deeds of valor. His first attempt to win into a family with spurs and commercial bindings pits him to recover a few yards of dragon hide. Which he does, it's through a miss-chance involving gun powder and the law, which disagrees with poaching dragons out of season and throws him in the slammer. When he is freed, his intended lady love has run off with another and that's the flavor of the book.

Eudoric winds through twists and turns, a maze of dishonest honest people in his quest for financial success: he woos the daughter of a man best referred to as a murderous ******, avoids a "virgin" princess whom he saved in promise of wedlock only to have her husbands come back in stony form, outwits an ogre who in all honestly only eats those who are not of the correct religion, and manages to start a coach service despite the partners he teams up with. If you are looking for a book that isn't "He kills the monster, marries the beautiful princess, and saves the world," here's one with characters you often just want to throttle or laugh at. de Campe's people are as ordinary as the person standing by you, and for that reason are often bizarre.

L. Sprague de Camp does a masterful job of refuting the Atlantis legend. His descriptions of geography are easily understood by the average reader.

A collection of chronologically-ordered stories from the life of a single de Camp character, Willie Newbury, banker and unwilling focus of occult forces. This reads like a cross between 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' and O Henry, as perhaps edited by Rube Goldberg. Quite a lot of fun.

Rated 'G.' Suitable for all ages. Some of the humour is a little sophisticated, but that doesn't detract from the fun, IMHO.

L. Sprague de Camp is one of the most elegant classic SF writers of the century - both in his literary style and in his life. And it looks like that all his life is a masterpiece of modern fantasy, heroic and humorous, brilliant and vivid. I like the book; hope you'll like it too. Thanks, Master. Spasibo bolshoye.

CONCEPT: A History professor is whisked back in time to Rome; only a few years before it's about to fall; with his foresight he attempts to not only create a living for himself but, at a later point, to stop the fall of Rome

HISTORY SETTING: 6th century Italy; very interesting setup. I didn't know much about it and rarely is it covered except in passing as they focus on other parts of the world. DeCamp knows his material.

PACING: The story is only 260 pages long which is small for today's fantasy novels which go from 600 to 1000 pages. No particular story lasted a long time. Decamp would jump from conflict to conflict. In essence, it began with little problems, moving its way up and up to the bigger and more political ones. And, there are plenty. In fact, there are so many plots and intrigues and obstacles and conflicts, that it keeps moving along. Padway will solve one problem but then pick up at least one problem or more.

CONTEXT: Sprague knew his Roman History. There were several Historical points he factored into the story that allowed him to outthink his opponents. Moreover, I got a feel for the setting with the incense wafting out of a door, the togas, the smell of manure, the louse coming out of the maid's armpit . . . etc etc. Unlike some people, one felt they were truly living in this era. Sprague hit you with all of the senses: sight, smell, touch, sound.

OVERALL STRUCTURE: DeCamp is really good at his structure and surprises and pacing. Basically, I would divide this book up into three sections. The first part is laying down the ground work as Padway tries to figure out what has happened, to justify it, to make a living with the help of a merchant and open up a brandy sill. As high reps demand bribes, he begins to get involved in politics to a lesser extent. From there, he starts to expand his business and make friends. In the last third, which is probably half of the novel, he starts to run Rome. Puts the old emperor back on and uses him as sort of a puppet. Moves the capitol to Ravenna since that's one of the few spots which wasn't attacked by Goths. He wins the love of a Goth princess, dumps her to another man and then gets ready for several attacks upon Rome. Leads forces twice against Belisarius and then Bloody John.

WHY IT WORKED FOR ME: Other than the reasons stated above, I like Roman History and there were some very funny parts; especially in the dialogue!

FLAWS: Someone made the point that Padway was a little too ingenius at creating future inventions, as well as at maneuvering amongst all the political intrigues. There may be some validity to it but one who has studied such things wouldn't be hard pressed otherwise. It may have been a good idea to have shown that he knew of such things before since the typical professor wouldn't be able to make them nor perform political intrigues.

I've lost count of how many times I've read this book and had to replace it at least once. De Camp's depiction of the life, events and people of post-Imperial Italy are dead on accurate as far as I can tell, and the fictional aspect of the work is highly engaging.

The book gives away its 1938 vintage, when the protagonist Martin Padway is able to exchange about $5.00 worth of modern Italian coins for 93 post-Imperial silver sesterces, enabling him to survive his first 72 hours in old Rome. He could do this, of course, because in 1938 Italy, like most countries, still circulated real silver coins. I can't help wondering how the protagonist would have fared if he only had today's inflated zinc and tin tokens?

This is a well written book, easy to read and filled with fun information; however, it holds a lot of built in assumptions about history and sticks to views that are out of touch with new information. The engineering information is good, as far as I can tell, but there isn't enough of it. The book lacks illustrations that are critical to understanding engineering details and concepts.

A good intro to ancient engineering (largely civil engineering). But the author likes to reinterpret certain parts of history, and replace certain facts with his own opinion or speculation, especially in his discussion of Middle Eastern history. Apparently the author has missed the past 200 yrs of verification of biblical history.

Engineering is one of the forgotten by most histronians yet it is the main driving forces in history. People today are not smarter then they were 1000's of years ago but they do have more technology and more power. This book is a must.

This second novel in de Camp's The Reluctant King trilogy pales in comparison to its predecessor but does continue the exciting, highly enjoyable story of Jorian and the wizard Karadur. After narrowly escaping Xylar with his head, Jorian wandered far from the Twelve Cities, finding himself in one deadly situation after another all throughout the land. All he really wants is a normal, quiet life with the chosen wife he had to leave behind in Xylar. At the beginning of this novel, he has secured a surveying job not far from Xylar, finally achieving some level of anonymity. As soon as he receives a message from Karadur, who has found his way to Iraz, asking his help and promising assistance in rescuing his wife from Xylar, imminent danger immediately appears in the form of Xylarian guards who recognize their unbeheaded king. Managing a wild, very narrow escape, Jorian makes his way to Iraz, where Karadur asks him to repair the gigantic water clock that his father originally built for the king years ago. Of course, things are never quite so simple for Jorian. This time, instead of meeting danger at every turn, danger comes to him in the form of a coordinated siege of Iraz. Can this Barbarian Savior save the kingdom, not to mention his own hide--again?

This novel is somewhat shorter than The Goblin Tower, but it seems to be much shorter. Compared to Jorian's earlier adventures, not a whole lot seems to happen in The Clocks of Iraz. There is a lot of buildup in the middle of this novel, and the only really exciting actions takes place at the beginning and end. On its own merits, it is still a great read, and Jorian's talent for telling fascinating stories to aid his cause makes him one of fantasy's more interesting characters (as does his habit of admitting how much everything bad that happens to him scares him). The conclusion is a little unsatisfying, but that is primarily because it sets the stage for the final novel of the trilogy. Be sure to read The Goblin Tower before reading this novel, especially since there are numerous references to past events included in the text. de Camp is one of fantasy's most gifted writers, and The Clocks of Iraz offers ample proof of his genius.