The Mask of the Sorcerer

I bought Mask of the Sorcerer from Darrell Schweitzer at World Fantasy Con. I was writing a modern horror novel at the time and was interested in seeing different takes on forbidden knowledge. Darrell fished out Mask of the Sorcerer. As other reviewers have pointed out, the cover is awful. It looks like a guy wearing a mask, which is appropriate enough, except he seems to be holding one of those Godzilla-headed sticks that, when you press a lever, causes its mouth to open and close. In practice, this book is about Sebek-like crocodile-headed gods and monsters, but I don't think Schweitzer had Godzilla-sticks in mind when he wrote the book. Fortunately, I bought it from the author rather than off the shelf, so the cover didn't influence me much. Set in a fantasy version of Ancient Egypt, Mask of the Sorcerer follows Sekenre, a boy who will become a sorcerer whether he likes it or not. His idyllic but simple life as a Reedlander is interrupted when his father, Vashtem, kills his mother and sister. Sekenre is left all alone to puzzle out what happened and why, but he is destined for greater things. The Sybil, an ancient crone who handles the mysteries of fate, has bigger plans for him and bestows three wishes for when he is in trouble. The world in which Mask of the Sorcerer takes place in is richly detailed. Much is made about the way characters pronounce the names of certain gods, which determines where the person comes from. The notion of one's origins is a central to the book, as Sekenre unravels his father's past and his own. A sorcerer is actually the sum of the sorcerers who have died at his hand. Thus, when Sekenre kills a sorcerer, he gains all the lives that were slain before him. These ghostly sorcerers can manifest themselves with Sekenre, having arguments and dispensing advice. Mask of the Sorcerer has a lot in common with the Avatar cartoon, which details a similar young lad who has the souls of many others inside him for advice. It also has a sense of finality seen in the Highlander, in that all the sorcerers ultimately see each other as foes to be defeated and consumed. Mask of the Sorcerer is at its best when Sekenre deals with mundane events. As a young boy, Sekenre barely comprehends the world outside of his father's hut. As a sorcerer, he can rely on generations who have gone before for advice. Occasionally, the book becomes so dreamy that it's difficult to determine what's happening - Sekenre's travels into the afterlife and other worlds get a little confusing. There are occasional references to the Cthulhu Mythos. There is mention of Dholes, but the magic that arises has nothing to do with Dholes. If I remember correctly, there was also a mention of the Voorish Sign. But these references are unnecessary and a little jarring in such a finely crafted world. Ultimately, this is a tale of a boy becoming a man becoming a sorcerer becoming a god. It is the rare fantasy tale that casts divine aspirati

First, I have to unburden myself: this book has one of the WORST covers I've ever seen. If you saw this in a bookstore, you wouldn't even pick it up because it's totally amateur hour. A completely horrifying marketing decision. Anyway. This is a bit of an unusually structured novel, which takes place in a world modeled on Pharaonic Egypt. The protagonist, Sekenre, is the son of the centuries-old sorcerer Vashtem, and is an unwilling recipient of the gift and curse of sorcery. (To some degree, sorcerers here follow a system introduced in the completely unrelated movie "Highlander", in that they are quite keen to hunt down and slaughter each other, because to kill a sorcerer is to absorb all of his or her powers and memories.) After certain events, Sekenre is forced to leave the city of his birth, but has no friends, no prospects, and nowhere to go, and the sorcery that he fears and despises is borderline unreliable and scarcely under his conscious control. He soon meets a pair of exiles, and in aiding them gets caught up in their schemes. Meanwhile, he has to learn to master his powers and to fight off other sorcerers, not to mention suppress the still-powerful personalities and memories of the dead sorcerers within his mind. The unusual part of the structure is that for the vast majority of the book, Sekenre is always in the process of "becoming", as it were. He seems to drift wherever the wind takes him, and events happen to him, and he continues to react to what goes on around him, but very often he is a mere pawn and seldom is he active on his own behalf. Practically everyone around him seems to know more about his life and his talents and his destiny than he does. I have to think that the author deliberately went for a very nuanced effect where the reader keeps waiting for something to "happen", but eventually you come to realize that it's been happening all along. Sekenre makes for a different type of hero, one who wants to escape the curse of sorcery to be just an ordinary person. Far from being a master of magics and a clever trickster, he is in grave peril in every single combat, constantly getting battered and seriously injured and languishing in a state of exhaustion and illness. Yet he has a powerful will and a strong moral code, and earns himself important allies. Not your typical tale of might and magic by any stretch, but if you want a change of pace from almighty eldritch wizards in a stereotypical medieval England setting, you could do worse. Schweitzer also has collectd some Sekenre short stories in a separate volume, "The Book Of The Sorcerer". I'll have to check that out.

Darrell Schweitzer is an author whose work you should read. Not because he's been nominated for three World Fantasy Awards. Not because he's done an unparalleled job as editor for the best fantasy magazine in print(Weird Tales)for the last twenty years. Finally,you should not buy Mask of the Sorcerer because GENE WOLFE gives the book a glowing, no, an incandescent,review. You should read this book because Schweitzer is an absolute master of fantasy prose. This book follows the life of a sorcerer,Sekenre,from childhood to mastery of his craft. That life encompasses innnocence,sorrow,transcendence,and love. Every single one of my friends has LOVED this book. I think you will too.