Thongor at the End of Time

Hello to all you Terrific And Spectacular people! 

Well, I've been working on some upcoming projects (not quite ready to talk about them yet!), but I did take a little time to read another book.  As you probably surmised from the title above, the book is called Thongor at the End of Time and I'd like to tell you about it!

It was written by Lin Carter, published in 1968 by Warner Books, and is apparently the 5th book in the Thongor series.  You may recall that some time ago I told you about book 3, Thongor:  Against the Gods.  Of course, you may not recall, so I've put in a link for your enjoyment!

In the following There Abound Spoilers!

So...the story starts off with Thongor's death...hey!  I told ya there were spoilers!

But then it backs up two weeks to show the arrival of this guy called Mardanax, sometimes called the Black Druid, sometimes the Black Wizard.  Apparently, he is a surviving villain from the previous book, Thongor in the City of Magicians (which I have NOT read).

This guy Mardanax has come to exact his revenge on Thongor for winning in the last book.  He just walks right into Thongor's capital  city of Patanga (Thongor has been a king since the end of the first book--which I have NOT read--I think) and seeks out a minor nobleman named Dalendus Vool, who is secretly in cahoots with the wizards of the City of Magicians.

During some sort of religious ceremony in a public Temple, Thongor is struck down.  Mardanax then uses his magic to put Thongor's wife, the Queen, Sumia, into a trance and uses her authority to take control of the city and the kingdom.  Dalendus Vool is pronounced the Prince Regent, to rule until young Prince Thar comes of age.

Several of Thongor's allies, presumably first introduced in previous books, were arrested on trumped up charges.  The rest convened in a private meeting to discuss the suspicious situations.  This meeting was inconclusive, so Charn Thovis takes it upon himself to break into the Palace and see Sumia, to find out if this is all the product of her grief, or if something more sinister is afoot.

There, he finds Sumia in a trance and proceeds to rescue the Prince.  There's a daring chase across rooftops until they finally steal an Airboat.  However, whilst running from pursuing air patrols, they are attacked by a pterodactyl-like creature called a lizard-hawk.  They end up in the gulf far below, where they are eventually rescued by a passing pirate ship.

Charn Thovis saves the pirate Captain, Barim Redbeard, from a murderous crewman and from then on, he and the young Prince are endeared to the whole of the pirate crew.  Unfortunately, upon their docking in the pirate City of Tarakus, they are subject to the local pirate's laws and must be auctioned off as slaves.  

Redbeard vows to buy them at the auction so they can be part of his crew, but the Pirate King's wizard identifies young Thar as the Prince of Patanga and the Pirate King takes the boy as his own slave.  Charn Thovis and his pirate companions rescue the Prince and race for their boat in the docks...

During all of this, Thongor manifests in the spirit realm...which is not at all as he expected.  On a set of adventures of his own, he comes to the conclusion that he is not completely dead, but neither is he alive.  He learns the Three Truths and makes his way to Gorm, the Chief God of Lemuria.  He learns the century-spanning legacy of his Empire and is basically sent back to live the rest of his life.

Thongor is not completely dead because of a talisman one of his companions gave to him in the previous book.  It is some ward against the magic of the wizards from the City of Magicians.  Since he's still wearing it, Mardanax's magic did not have its full affect upon him.

With the young Prince stolen from them, Mardanax hatches a plan for Dalendus Vool to marry Sumia and directly become the new King of Patanga.  Charn Thovis, Prince Thar are picked up by a pair of Thongor's friends in an Air Boat, and they leave their pirate friends and rush to stop the wedding.

In the very Temple where Thongor died, the wedding is underway. The Air Boat crashes into the dome, heroes emerge, fight ensues.  Dalendus Vool is killed, Sumia's trance is broken, but Mardanax gets the upper hand on the heroes with his magic.  Then, Thongor emerges from his sarcophagus and battles Mardanax.

I don't want to just straight up spoil the ending, but I will say that there is another book after this one.

I liked the book, it was full of cheesy goodness.  The beginning was a little daunting, they name-drop a LOT of names from previous books, and they're ALL weird names.  It was a little confusing to keep straight, but after a couple of chapters, it was clear who we were actually following, and we could forget the rest!

I have only read two of these Thongor books, but I will keep an eye out for the rest!  Have you read this one, or one of the others?  If so, leave a comment telling us about it!  And I'll meet you back here next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell