The Unicorn Gambit

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The Unicorn Gambit (The Gaming Magi) by David Bischoff

I picked these books up as paperbacks in the 1980s or 1990s. I read the first two but never got around to reading the third.

I found these books to be somewhat tough sledding. They are clearly written as broadly-drawn farces. 1980s pop culture references appear on every page. There are a lot of inside jokes. For example, the Sorcerers Fabrication Works Association is clearly the SFWA, i.e., the Science Fiction Writers Association, so I have to assume that the description of various SFWA members must map onto some science fiction writers from the 1980s.

The problem is that the humor is mostly lightweight, over-broad, predictable and dated, which does not make it a total loss.

Fortunately, there was a story line that sort of worked, but, of course, the story is based on hanging a lampshade on all the overdone tropes of fantasy writing.

So, as humor, it was lightweight; as fantasy it was light weigh; as the combination, it was not much better.

For some reason, I felt compelled to finish this book after thirty years. I didn't hate it, I was actually rooting for it, but on the whole I feel disappointed.

PSB