I'm old enough to have bought Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice around the time it was released circa 1995-1996. With that gorgeous Michael Whelan cover, how could I not? Back then, no one knew who Robin Hobb was. Moreover, nor did we know that Hobb was a woman. The androgynous pen name was deliberately chosen when she began writing in the epic fantasy subgenre. Little did we know that the author behind the commercially successful Farseer trilogy was none other than Megan Lindholm, who already had a number of novels and short fiction pieces under her belt.
The rest, as they say, is history. The novels that comprise the Realm of the Elderlings saga have been translated into more than twenty languages and they have sold millions of copies around the globe. When Hobb's identity was revealed a few years later, I tried to track down the books written as Megan Lindholm to see what differentiated the two pseudonyms in terms of style and tone. It wasn't an easy endeavor, as the Lindholm titles, other than
Wizard of the Pigeons, sold rather modestly and were for the most part out of print. I still managed to get my hands on them, even if it took quite a while. In the mean time, Robin Hobb's popularity continued to grow and she became one of my favorite SFF authors.
I figure it's the reason why it took me this long to finally give one of those novels a shot. Megan Lindholm was a younger, less experienced writer than Robin Hobb. After all, George R. R. Martin's earlier books can't hold a candle to his amazing A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm always afraid that if you backtrack too much, you may end up reading something that is a pale shadow of the quality and originality that an author will achieve later in their career, much like Robert Jordan's
Warrior of the Altaii turned out to be.
Still, I needed to satisfy my curiosity and I elected to go for the stand-alone
Wizard of the Pigeons. Published in 1986, the book is considered one of the precursors of the urban fantasy subgenre and it's the first work that brought Lindholm wider attention in SFF circles. In the introduction for the 2020 edition, the author explains that stories are born when ideas collide. This book grew from the realization that some US army veterans went through catalyzing experiences that changed them in profound fashion. Add to that the fact that a score of years haven't been enough to erase those changes in any meaningful way, plus the knowledge that some of them have found ways to survive, just like pigeons or coyotes, in big cities that are not their natural habitat. More than three decades after it was released, the homeless problem has grown in every major city in the country and veterans of more recent wars and conflicts are still trying to make sense of what they were ordered to do and cope with the repercussions of what they did. Every time I read a book from the 70s, 80s, or 90s, I'm always wondering if that work has aged well. If anything,
Wizard of the Pigeons may be more apropos now than it was back in 1986.
Here's the blurb:
Seattle: a place as magical as the Emerald City. Subtle magic seeps through the cracks in the paving stones of the sprawling metropolis. But only the inhabitants who possess special gifts are open to the city's consciousness; finding portents in the graffiti, reading messages in the rubbish or listening to warnings in the skipping-rope chants of children.
Wizard is bound to Seattle and her magic. His gift is the Knowing -- a powerful enchantment allowing him to know the truth of things; to hear the life-stories of ancient mummies locked behind glass cabinets, to receive true fortunes from the carnival machines, to reveal to ordinary people the answers to their troubles and to safeguard the city's equilibrium. The magic has its price; Wizard must never have more than a dollar in his pocket, must remain celibate, and he must feed and protect the pigeons.
Wizard is a Vietnam vet turned homeless in the city of Seattle. In the aforementioned introduction for the latest edition of
Wizard of the Pigeons, the author recounts that many young men she knew enlisted, or were drafted, and went off to war. Those who ultimately returned were often considered still "missing in action," or so the bleak joke went. They went away as kids and came back home as strangers. Due to the anti-war sentiment, these young men were not treated particularly well upon their return. The cycle for such boys was to turn eighteen, be drafted, get sent to war, and if you survived return home to disdain and blame. Some came back as alcoholics and/or drug addicts. Some bore terrible scars, suffered from loss of hearing, or returned with missing limbs. The various disorders associated with PTSD were not well-known at the time and more often than not society reacted with horror instead of helping these poor souls who didn't know how to process what they had gone through and how it changed them. This is the backdrop for the novel and it affects the plot in a myriad of ways.
My favorite aspect is how Lindholm manages to keep the mysterious dichotomy of Wizard's existence alive throughout the book. Is he somewhat of a Merlin-like figure letting the magic of the Emerald City guide his day-to-day life, or is he a homeless war veteran hallucinating the whole thing? Is Wizard a magician who must now face a powerful threat from his forgotten past, or is he a Vietnam vet who has lost everything? Hobb has always been known for her deft human touch and some emotionally charged scenes, and you can see that she already had that knack earlier in her writing career.
I also liked how Seattle truly comes alive in this novel. It adds a measure of realism that provides an imagery that captures the vibes that permeated the city back in the 80s. You'll learn more about Seattle than you ever thought possible in such a slender novel.
Wizard of the Pigeons is a slow-burn type of work. There is a lot to process, with lots of unanswered questions. But in the end, though it's a dark and sometimes difficult read that deals with homelessness, poverty, and mental illness, in many ways it feels like a timeless piece of magical realism instead of an urban fantasy novel.
Definitely worth your while if you are a fan of Robin Hobb!
The final verdict: 8/10
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