The characters may be secondary to the historical re-creation-Angela Eckert is especially ill-used in this volume-but those looking for fantasy in the mode of L. Product details of The Dragon and the Djinn by Gordon R. Also appealing are Jim's pet hobgoblin, Hob, and the djinn named Kelb, who generally appears in the form of a small, mangy dog both provide comic diversion. While the adventures here are cut from standard fantasy cloth-kidnappings, caravans and sorcery abound-the detailing is marvelous. The father was last known to be in the Muslim land of Palmyra, and Dickson's fascination with the cultures of that area proves infectious. Here, Jim agrees to help his friend Sir Brian Neville-Smythe find the father of Brian's beloved Geronde, so that Brian and Geronde may wed. The Eckerts are 20th-century humans trapped in the 14th century, where Jim has discovered that he possesses magical powers.
In this new story about James and Angela Eckert (following The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll), the author's meticulous historical research salvages what in the hands of a lesser talent could have been a pedestrian work. Dickson continues his spectacular saga of a twentieth-century American transformed into a Dragon Knight - and transported into a fantastic medieval adventure. Dickson's style of fantasy hearkens back to the era before both the glossy epic approach of Robert Jordan or Terry Brooks and the pseudo-postmodern slickness of Ellen Kushner or Pamela Dean, but it has its own special charms. For the Djinn hold more power over good and evil than even the most powerful magicians - including the Dragon Knight himself.