Morgon is devoted to his land, always careful never to use its resources for his own private hobbies, but he is also a scholar who went abroad to study, and someone to whom visiting a potentially lethal specter to riddle a crown away from them sounds likes a fine idea having won the crown, he keeps it hidden safely under his bed.
Princes of Hed are supposed to be dull and incurious, as devoted to the details of farming and trade as it takes to ensure the prosperity of his people. Morgon is expected to help with the manual labour and his most frequent dinner guest is the local pig herder.Īnnoyingly for his subjects, Morgon has ambitions above his station. He may be the prince but he is bound to his land and responsibilities by magic and Hed is a very small and very poor kingdom. When we meet one of the protagonists, Prince Morgon of Hed, in Riddle-Master of Hed he is one of the humbler sort of aristocrats. I had two reasons: one, I could, and two… I will get to two. I was originally asked for a review of Riddle-Master of Hed but instead I elected to reread (or possibly just read) the whole omnibus.
Riddle of Stars contains material that was initially published as Riddle-Master of Hed ( 1976), Heir of Sea and Fire ( 1977) and Harpist in the Wind ( 1979). In fact a detail at the end of the first novel suggests strongly that I did not read it because it’s the sort of detail that is quite memorable and I did not remember it.
I am not sure I actually ever read Riddle of Stars (I have a number of late- 1970s SFBC books set aside for a rainy day). I prefer the art on this this later edition but it’s still not quite right. My copy is missing its dust jacket but the art is on isfdb and I wonder if the lackluster cover is why I passed this over for 30+ years? Perhaps the success of that method explains why I am so comfortable letting other people choose my reading material now? I have owned this ever since that day long ago when I didn’t remember to send back in the little SFBC card, which was one of my standard ways to diversify my library.
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