WIZARD Review. "Circumnavigator’s Club Sets the Stage"

Wizard: Gaean Trilogy, Book 2

by John Varley

Narrated by Allyson Johnson

After the introduction that is the novel TITAN this second volume in the trilogy widens the scope of the story into a vast playground. WIZARD lets us foray into the inner workings of the living artificial world that calls herself Gaea. She is insane, and that is the basis for all the fun. In this volume we learn the true lay of the land through what amounts to a travelogue of the wheel. There is much that much be laid out and put in place before we can feel we know our way around the place. This necessary tour sets the stage for the main event. This story unfolds and we are allowed to see the nature of the conflict that is brewing; never mind that it is a struggle that Gaea has carefully orchestrated to suit her sense of celluloid drama, she is, after all, crazy. When reading this for the first time I felt the ever widening sense of wonder that I had come to love from Science Fiction, and even now, twenty-five years later, I still enjoy this story for that amazing rollicking appreciation of strangeness. Varley has invented a scenario where almost anything can happen and still remain in the preview of Science Fiction. The being Gaea is so significantly advanced in her technology for her works to seem like magic. This is a fun book and a grand adventure on its own. But when you are done with this one realize that the next one, DEMON, escalates the conflict to Hollywood Epic proportions. I labeled TITAN the prolog. WIZARD can be thought of as the introduction. DEMON will be the main text. Let the games begin.

Allyson Johnson’s effort here is much more satisfying than in the previous book. Thankfully there are many more characters in this novel for her to explore her vocal range. She manages to cast her voice in a deeper tone much of the time which suits me better for long hours of listening. I liked how she assigned different accents to the various Titanides. The character with the French name carries a French accent. I liked it.