By RODERICK MacLEISH (Tor Books; 1982)
Prince Ombra, it seems, is the “lord of every mortal nightmare.” He’s been around since the dawn of time and has taken many different forms over the years, in oft-violent confrontations with folks like David and King Arthur. His latest foe is the nine-year-old Bentley Ellicott, who resides in the tiny coastal town of Stonehaven. Bentley’s mission, revealed to him at birth, is to find the Stone of Ra and vanquish Prince Ombra—at least until the Hero’s next incarnation.
Bentley isn’t alone in having to face down the Lord of Nightmares. He has Dr. Dietrich Kreistein, a determined holocaust survivor, on his side, and also “Slally,” a young friend whom only Bentley can understand, and who’s destined to be the “rememberer” of his story. Arrayed against this motley crew are a number of less-than-praiseworthy townspeople, inanimate objects and the weather itself, all of which can be easily manipulated to serve Ombra’s whims.
PRINCE OMBRA offers up an admirably straightforward, no-nonsense narrative, although the back-story is an extremely complex one, taking up much of the first 100 of the book’s 379 pages. The tale is nevertheless lively and faced paced, with extremely well delineated supernatural battles and an H.P. Lovecraft-worthy sense of ancient, unknowable evil.
Author Roderick MacLeish, who’s probably better known as a National Public Radio news commentator (and as the writer of well-received 1970s-era thrillers like THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE and CARNABY REX), succeeds as few other modern writers have in making the symbolic conception of good vs. evil seem startlingly modern and immediate. His knowledge of world mythology is beyond reproach, and his story an endlessly thought-provoking one, yet his prose is, again, never less than extremely lively. The climax, in which Ombra tempts his young adversary with a deeply horrific vision, is particularly fine, revealing a real talent for creepy-crawly fantasy.
Reminiscent of classics like A WRINKLE IN TIME and THE NEVERENDING STORY, or a grown-up HARRY POTTER, PRINCE OMBRA remains a startlingly unique concoction, reading like, as one critical blurb proclaims, a Brothers Grimm fairy tale and a James Bond thriller combined. Even more telling is an Amazon reviewer who described it as “If Stephen King wrote fairy tales,” and if that description doesn’t at least pique your interest I don’t know what will.