Aug 24
Good Show Sir Comments: Wizard’s Bane? More like Wizard’s Baen!
Published 1989
(Average: 5.75 out of 10)
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Good Show Sir Comments: Wizard’s Bane? More like Wizard’s Baen!
Published 1989
(Average: 5.75 out of 10)Loading...
(9.27 out of 10) (9.21 out of 10) (9.03 out of 10) (9.01 out of 10) (9.01 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.95 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10)
August 24th, 2023 at 9:39 am
The Baen logo is the most convincing dragon on this cover.
August 24th, 2023 at 10:13 am
Loved this book as a kid.
Having re-read it… it’s not as good as I recalled.
August 24th, 2023 at 2:14 pm
The abscence of any buxom Baen babes makes me sad. No fire breathing, so maybe wyverns?
August 24th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
I like the braces on the lead dragon’s wings. Is that like the elastic bandages and splints gymnasts use for protection when training, do you think?
August 24th, 2023 at 6:31 pm
Young Ryan circa 1989 would definitely have read this story based upon the blurb, if not the cover art.
And to find out if the story contained any other wildlife featuring six limbs in addition to the cursor-tailed wyverns.
August 24th, 2023 at 6:49 pm
Aero windows in 1989? Must be running NeXT.
August 24th, 2023 at 6:58 pm
Despite the battle action, every living thing on this cover, including the dragons, seems just a little bored, tired of it all, going through the motions,
beset by ennui . . . .
August 24th, 2023 at 7:37 pm
Did nobody spot the big honkin’ typo? It should of course say “Wizard’s Baen”!
August 24th, 2023 at 10:52 pm
So you have dragons flying out of your wizard’s hole…
August 24th, 2023 at 11:12 pm
I saw the title font and knew who published it.
In my experience, great programmers aren’t much good at archery or large animal handling, but this is fantasy.
@FB: Agreed. These are quadrupedal pterodactyls.
@fred: Maybe they wanted some girls to buy it? The wiz there has Flowing 80s Hunk Hair, which must get tangled something fierce in flight.
@Max: I can’t even figure how or why they’re attached. I can see the logic in giving critter a helmet, but not those. Maybe they’re rank insignia? Wiz is too cool for a helmet, unlike the other dudes.
@BC: Including the artist, who wasn’t even trying on the top one.
August 24th, 2023 at 11:30 pm
@GSS ex-noob: I read that book. Wiz isn’t on the cover, he has no interest whatsoever in riding one of those dangerous, bad-tempered beasts. Maybe he’s given them a power-up or sent through the magic hole, but he’s not the Manly Warrior type.
August 25th, 2023 at 12:26 am
1989 Emster would have also tried to read this one, attracted by the Pern-esque dragons on the cover (not the version with the steering wheel…) Based on @Bruce’s mini book review, problee a DNF… Cover art is kinda fun, but the font style/placement is painful, like they picked the font before trying to fit the art around it. Very Baen-y.
August 25th, 2023 at 1:11 pm
The uppermost dragon just ran smack into the title and got its beak embedded in it. It will probably end up hanging by its beak for a while until it braces its legs against the title and pull the beak out with a cork-popping sound, at which point it will fall hundreds of feet and land with a Wile E. Coyote thud.
August 25th, 2023 at 8:43 pm
I somewhat take back my comment about dragodactyl helmets: the one in front cannot see above itself. Which is a detriment during a battle in three dimensions.
@Bruce: So, as you said, Wiz is, erm, in the hole, writing programs to power-up beasts and dudes? If he’s a truly great programmer, he doesn’t document his spells, either.
@Max: GSS! As I read that, I had the cartoon playing in my mind. Vividly written, 10/10, would watch IRL.
August 25th, 2023 at 10:34 pm
@Tor Mented: there aren’t enough D&D and Looney Toons mashups out there. (Although “What’s Opera, Doc?” is at least a distant cousin.)
August 26th, 2023 at 10:15 pm
@Tor: Sorry about the mis-attribution of credit. Too many tabs open.
@Bruce: kill da wabbit…
November 7th, 2023 at 1:55 am
Inspired by this cover, I downloaded the audio book and listened to it.
Very 1989, and also the author clearly had recently been reading Spafford’s Practical Unix Security. But otherwise fine! Juvenile and without any depth, but fine! Better than the cover, anyway.