Andre Norton, Quag Keep (Tor, 2006; originally published 1978)
In the midst of the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) craze in the 1970's, Andre Norton published this novel set in the world of the TSR role-playing game -- apparently the first such novel ever. Twenty-eight years later, D&D is still with us, surviving a revolution in gaming technology that one might have expected to crush such a low-tech relic of another age, and Tor has reissued Norton's Quag Keep in paperback, another expression of D&D's long-term appeal.
I can't write of Dungeons and Dragons with the authority of a player; I think I attended one game (in company with my younger brother) when I was about twelve. I was intrigued by the idea of "becoming" a character like one of those in the fantasy novels I devoured, but the complexities of dice, manuals, maps, etc. were too much for me to wade through. Can the circuitous Quag Keep -- a fantasy novel inspired by a game inspired by fantasy novels -- stand on its own? Or is its appeal strictly limited to fans who have asked the question, "What if I could really turn into the character I'm playing in this game?"
Andre Norton is a master of genre fiction, with over 100 science fiction and fantasy novels and nearly as many short stories published over her 71-year career. Her professionalism shows in this book; it's smoothly written and expertly paced. From the opening scene -- in which gamer Martin Jefferson picks up a model swordsman sent to him by the mysterious Q K Productions, and suddenly is incarnated (in an unsavory tavern, of course) as the swordsman himself, Milo Jagon -- the story unfolds a scenario of journeys, battles, and magical encounters that could indeed be the script of a Dungeons and Dragons game. Here, though, the quest is to unravel the game itself, as Milo and six others seek the force that has called them into this world, and to some extent controls them, with no benign intent.
The many-sided dice that play such an important role in the game, as a device for deciding outcomes and awarding abilities and goods, are also essential here. Each of the seven companions bears a bracelet with dice attached, which magically spin when a crisis point arrives. Unlike in this world (as far as I know), the players are sometimes able to influence the dice by concentrating their mental forces at the right moment. Thus they strive to master their own fate, under circumstances that would seem to make them mere pawns.
This is an intriguing idea, but it isn't actually taken very far in Quag Keep. (See Diana Wynne Jones' The Homeward Bounders for a more in-depth treatment of that theme.) Norton's characters have almost no memory of their true identities, and in fact find that they must identify with their game personas completely in order to survive. This made me feel that the novel would actually be stronger if it could decide to be one thing or another: either a straight fantasy set in another world, or an exploration of the duality of the "real person" and the "character," with more development of both. As it is, the characters remained flat for me, portrayed in painstaking detail but never springing to life -- rather like the exquisitely crafted figurines that called them into being. The token message of "we must all work together with our different abilities" just didn't have enough substance to support it.
Norton does manage to write in a vein that has become a quagmire of clichés without descending into utter banality, and with some fun and original touches. I didn't find Quag Keep particularly memorable, but at least it didn't make me groan in despair. If you're a Dungeons and Dragons fan, though, by all means give it a try; as with the game, you may find something there that escapes me. And if you like it, take note: the sequel, Return to Quag Keep (co-authored by Jean Rabe), was also published by Tor in 2006.
An Andre Norton Web site is located here.
The latest edition of Dungeons and Dragons is now produced by Wizards of the Coast, which also publishes its own series of D&D-based novels. The official Web site is located here.
