'The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril' – Scott Lynch


I don't think I've ever read a entire one of Gardner Dozois' anthologies, not yet anyway. I much prefer to savour them one story at a time and know that I can pop back for another visit whenever I need another short story to keep me ticking over. And strangely, I always have Part 1 or Part 2 on my shelves... but never both in a series. Strange that.

But anyway, I'm in the middle of a thick ol' book at the moment ('The Righteous' just in case you were wondering) and needed something to keep things ticking over here; otherwise you just won't hear from me for a couple of weeks at least ;o) I only bought 'The Book of Magic, Part II' a couple of weeks ago so it was still fairly prominent in the TBR pile when I was looking for something to read last night. George R.R. Martin's 'A Night at the Tarn House' was the obvious choice, from the contents, but I wasn't after the obvious choice. I did want something that I knew I'd enjoy though so chose to have a read of 'The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril' by Scott Lynch. I'm really glad that I did, you should also give it a read if you have the chance.

Even the mightiest of Wizards may be brought low by the tinest of things, like an untied shoelace for example. The Wizard Malkuril has just died as a result of that very circumstance; his line has ended but his House will ensure that his work does not go unfinished. A new practitioner of magic, the likes of which the galaxy has never seen, is about to take to the stars but will learn that the satisfaction of real magic can be found a lot closer to home...

If you have an unread copy of 'The Book of Magic, Part II' to hand; you really need to grab it and go to the back of the book, where 'The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril' sits. It is so full of charm (and 'charms', sorry...), and just makes you feel better for having read it, that it really needs to be the first story you read in the collection. It's not the story that you think it's going to be and that's all I'll say here as I don't want to give the game away, you need to read it for yourself.

What I can say is that 'The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril' is a really touching tale about being the best you can be and how, more often than not, that will mean looking out for the little guy and making sure they're ok too. It is really sweet to see our protagonist go through that journey and realise it for themselves. Looking back over those last couple of sentences, 'Fall and Rise' sounds like some kind of Hallmark movie but there is enough sharp wit, and differing ways for wizards to die, to move this story away from being too sugary. And there's Space Wizards! Actual Wizards in Space! Whenever I read one of Scott Lynch's short stories, I always end up wishing that he'd write more in that setting and this story is no exception with deft strokes of background bearing up the plot while hinting at other adventures happening a couple of galaxies over. I don't know if I'd want to be a Space Wizard but I'll happily read more about them. Just point me at the stories.

'The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril' was just a pleasure to read, one of those tales where you get so deeply into it that you don't know where the time has gone once you have finished reading. I'm really glad I picked this story first, the rest of the collection has a lot to live up to.

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