Traveller in Black

Warning. This is not a novel, but rather a collection of four longer stories with the same theme – that Chaos (in the form of magic, gods, etc.) is being brought under control by the Traveler in Black. Here’s the shame in that. Brunner loses out on the chance to explore some interesting themes,

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an interesting world, and some interesting characters. Brunner writes these four stories very well (that’s not a big surprise), but there is so much more that could have been done.

Thing the first: A better arc for the entire story. By splitting it into four stories, there is progression in the overall story, but it does not feel as though there is development to the overall progress toward the elimination of chaos. To be expected of loosely connected stories, but disappointing nonetheless.

Thing the second: Great ideas do not get to be developed in the way I love to see Brunner expand them. In particular, the first story “Imprint of Chaos” places a human from our world into the world of the story. Because he is different (and because he thinks slightly differently – not better, just different), he is thought to be a god. The story begins to explore the ramifications of this dilemma, but is not long enough to give it its due. All of the sudden, things are wrapped up and the not-really-god is sent back, and we are left with the empty feeling of things that might have been written

Thing the third: Eliminating the redundancies in the storytelling that are required when a reader may not have read the first story. This detracts from the overall quality of the storytelling. Yes, it is required (as noted.) However, it detracts from the quality of this book.

Maybe I would not have been so bothered with this if I had known, going in, that it was a collection rather than a full-blown novel. But, my misunderstanding just brought home how great this could have been. Four good stories – don’t get me wrong. But so much more could have been made of them.

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