Dog Wizard

I enjoyed this fantasy that follows the characters of Joanna and Antryg, introduced in the earlier books The Silent Tower and The Silicon Mage (sometimes packaged together under the title The Darkmage). Dog Wizard picks up where The Silicon Mage left off, but it’s something of a stand-alone since its conflict is relatively self-contained. There is continuity with the larger conflict arc in that Antryg is still a wanted criminal in his own world and this story takes you back there pretty quickly.

I was already thoroughly hooked on Joanna and Antryg. Joanna is, of course, a computer programmer from Los Angeles, and Antryg is a wizard from another world that is accessed from ours through “the void.” As an Angeleno, I enjoyed the early show more scenes of Antryg in L.A., but the new setting of the Citadel in Antryg’s world is also a treat. It’s the embattled wizards’ castle/community/training school, and it’s a splendid architectural hodge-podge with charming historical notes. The story is basically a mystery (though not of the murder variety). It suffers some from the frequent mystery genre flaw of having the mystery maintained right up to the final dramatic reveal by the expedient of simply not giving us nearly enough – or clear enough - clues to allow us to solve it. I was enjoying myself enough along the way, however, to be forgiving.

I do have to admit that I’m getting just a bit tired of the anti-magic police, who are so completely irrational and immovable in their irrationality. I’m also getting a little tired of the fact that Antryg is a very powerful wizard who the other wizards seem determined to think the worst of. No matter what horrors he rescues them from, they can always imagine that he was responsible for the horrors in the first place. It’s a catch 22 that’s wearing thin for me. That said, the punchline at the end of this book is absolutely priceless. show less

In our magicless world, Joanna and her friends have dreadful visions, and this summons the exiled wizard Antryg back to his home world. As the foremost expert on the Void, only he can solve the mystery of why gates between realities are opening at random within the mages' Citadel. But Antryg is hindered by mistrust and the geas binding his powers, and time is running out...

I was pleased to return to this universe and these characters. This isn't a perfect book: the plot gets a bit dogged down in magic/technobabble at times; nothing stalls my interest like a plot twist that centers around a paragraph of nonsense words. Antryg babbles ~amusingly~ pretty much constantly, which amused me at the start but now just reads like a patronizing show more affectation on his part. Calling guardswomen incomparable beauties and suchlike rubs me the wrong way. Just give someone a straight answer and stop trying to cozen everyone into liking you! ugh. Even Dumbledore could speak to the point when it mattered. But Hambly has rounded Antryg out enough that although I don't find his dotty patter charming the way she seems to expect I will, I do understand why he puts on the act. Joanna remains a solidly believable character, but she has very little to actually do.

Still, I'd love to read more of Antryg's world, where magic is known but constrained by an increasingly powerful Church, and wizards are sworn to remain neutral, even when it means that terror and tyranny stalk their lands. I enjoyed getting an eye into the mages' Citadel, with its odd placenames, leftover magics, and the hints of how the outside world works (like the way each wizard takes their tea suggests the class they were born into, and explains some of the tensions between them). Not the most satisfying book in the broad strokes, but the interesting bits are all in the details, from Joanna's ruminations about finally emotionally opening up (and thus becoming vulnerable) to the tension between mages and the townsfolk that supply their daily labor.

I'd be remiss if I didn't note that the cover art for this is awful and doesn't fit the characters or feel of the book in the least. show less

This is the third installment in the Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly. Despite there being three books, it really isn't a trilogy. The first two books, The Silent Tower and The Silicon Mage function as a coherent unit. Dog Wizard goes with, but stands on its own quite well. The main plot line is a great mystery, and the setting at the Citadel of the Wizards is interesting. If you have read the first two books, you will be even more excited about exploring this facet of Antryg's life. Dog Wizard also has plenty of what people love Antryg Windrose--pithy comments and insane non sequiturs. Joanna and her massive and useful purse also make an appearance. The ending will leave you calling for more and lamenting the fact that the show more mysterious workings of the publishing industry has left Ms. Hambly unable to write further in that series. show less

More or less standalone compared to the first two volumes. The bumbling affectations of the Antryg character and the stubborn bigotry of his enemies is rather wearing after three books.

There are some spoilers here, so read at your own risk...

This book didn't seem as engaging as the other two, although it has been quite some time since I read the first two books of the series. I had to read this one because it was the last book of the series that I didn't know had been written.

In this final chapter of the Windrose chronicles, Joanna is kidnapped (again) and Antryg is brought back to his home dimension to face the council of wizards' accusations that he's been tampering with the void. He investigates under their watchful eye, we see the return of 'the dead god', or 'nine-ten-two', the alien physicist from the previous books as well. Antryg saves the day, Aunt Myn the archmage dies, and the mantle falls to (I totally saw show more this coming) Antryg. He goes back to live in LA with Joanna and the book ends.

Perhaps it wasn't quite enough wrap-up for me, I like where the second book left us, it felt like a better ending. show less

Not quite as good as the first two, as the POV is Antryg's, which takes a little of the edge away.

WINDROSE CHRONICLES