Review: The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt

by Phil Sawyer

I have been trying to think of a project to contribute more to our Fellowship when I decided to re-read The Compleat Enchanter. This 341-page SF Book Club edition came out in 1975. I first read it when I was 20 years old. I am now 67 years old, so I was a little worried. Would the magic still be there? Would I still enjoy the stories, or have I changed too much?

The magic was still there! I enjoyed the stories as if it was just yesterday when I received them in the mail. Here goes:

“The Roaring Trumpet” was first published in Unknown magazine in May of 1940. We are introduced to Harold Shea and Reed Chalmers and Walter Bayard. We quickly find out that Harold is “getting unutterably bored with life.”  However, they have devised a method of travelling to the parallel worlds of ancient myth and stories. Should Harold try it? Of course! Why not?!!

Harold decides to go to ancient Ireland. But he doesn’t quite get it right and he ends up in the world of Norse Myth a matter of days before the end of the world, Ragnarök. Harold does not know where he is. On page 13 he encounters Odin himself. Harold almost dooms himself by getting sassy with Odin but is allowed to follow Odin to the Crossroads of the World. Harold asks for vegetables with his meal and ends up with the title of “Turnip Harold.”

Harold becomes very frustrated. None of his mechanical devices work. Eventually he realizes that the physics of the Norse world are different and that his mechanical devices will NOT work in this world. How can he get Thor and Loki and Heimdall to take him seriously? What can he do?

Harold joins Thor and Loki and Thjalfi, a human servant, to try to retrieve Thor’s hammer from a giant’s castle. They ride in Thor’s cart pulled by Thor’s goats. There are no springs in the cart and soon Harold loses his lunch over the side of the cart.  How to prove himself to these gods and Norsemen? Harold begins to prove his worth at the giant’s castle. By putting drops of ale in his eye he can see through the illusions of the giants. There are a number of athletic contests right out of “The Elder Edda.” On page 56 Harold tells Thor “Look! That runner of theirs. He casts no shadow. Thor glanced, and as comprehension spread across his features turned purple.” On page 58 he finds Thor’s hammer and the Redbeard is able to reclaim his hammer with disastrous results for the giants.

Pratt and Sprague have the giants talking with the lingo of Al Capone’s gangsters. They remind me of The Hobbit where the 3 trolls that Bilbo and company run into are Cockney speaking.

Harold and his favorite god Heimdall are captured. It is while in captivity that Harold finally realizes that he can perform real magic in this alternate world. He uses his new magical abilities to help Heimdall and Harold escape the giants. Harold is also an able fencer, Heimdall is amazed and “Ho, ho! cried Heimdall!” “Through the guts! Never have I seen a man use a sword as he would a spear!!”

Harold is transferred back home by an angry witch but now he knows he can survive and even thrive in alternate worlds, and he is eager for more adventures!

“The Mathematics of Magic” was published in Unknown in August of 1940. Here Harold travels to the world of Spenser’s The Faerie Queen. This time Reed Chalmers goes with him. Chalmers is an older gent and not in good physical condition, but he insists that he wants an adventure! They still can’t quite get the magic right. Chalmers tries to change water into wine but instead makes “the best Scotch whiskey” that Harold had ever tasted. Of course, the castle people at the party drink the whiskey as if it were wine and the results are what I guess you would say are predictable!

A very important event occurs on page 136 when Harold meets the love of his life, Belphebe!  Using her deadly bow, she saves them from a monster and Harold is immediately intrigued by her. I don’t want to give out spoilers but there are many adventures involving murderous knights and druids and sorcerers before they are again safely back to Ohio. And after many twists and turns Belphebe journeys to Ohio with Harold!

“The Castle of Iron” sends Harold and Belphebe to the world of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso.  A policeman and their friend Polacek accompany them this time.  “The Castle of Iron” was first published in Unknown in April of 1941. Pratt and Sprague rewrote it in 1950 and the story became a full novella.  (I would love to compare the original story with the rewrite!)  They encounter angry wizards and noble Christian and Muslim knights and adventurers and centaurs and Harold gets to use a flying carpet!  There are also bat winged dragons and misguided werewolves!

On page 335 Sprague wrote an afterword titled “Fletcher and I.”  Written in June of 1975 he recounts how he met Pratt and how these stories came to be written and how “The Wall of Serpents” and “The Green Magician” could not be included in the present volume: “first because of considerations of space and second because of contractual complications.”  The afterword is interesting when Sprague explains how he and Pratt would collaborate. Sprague writes that he did not want to write any more Harold Shea stories without Pratt but of course he later changed his mind.

All in all I very much enjoyed rereading this book! The old magic was still there! My personal favorite was “The Roaring Trumpet” because I have always loved the Norse Myths. I thought of Chris Hemsworth as Thor while reading the story. I highly recommend to all members of our Fellowship to read these stories. If you have never read them, you are in for a real treat!

Personally, I was glad that I still enjoy these stories. Lately I have not enjoyed much fantasy and science fiction. I have ordered a number of books from The Subterranean Press but none of them have awakened the old magic and wonder in me. I am not sure if it’s because these current authors just do not measure up to Sprague and Clarke and Asimov and Vance or as Lovecraft would say that I have been “poisoned by the poison of life.”  Or is it a combination of both?  After reading Smith and Howard and Lovecraft and the authors I mentioned, is it that the new authors just lack the “unearthly imagination” or is it me?

However, I will cheerfully state that these tales still have what it takes! Be sure to read them! Next, I will be rereading Lovecraft A Biography which I also have not read since 1975! 

Yours in Crom!