SOJALS rating:

Very good (4/5)

I first read this in 1981 and most recently on the 5th October 2001

Chris'fer Minor is crazy and he wants to be cured. Earth medicine can't help him, so he's petitioned to go to Gaea, the living ringworld near Jupiter. Robin has epilepsy and that's no good in her world where a moment's inattention can mean death for everybody. She's going to Gaea as well.

Captain Cirroco Jones, "Rocky", former commander of the spaceship Ringmaster, has been Gaea's Wizard for the past seventy-odd years, and it's getting her down. In the early days she moved mountains and wrestled monsters, she was a hero. But in the past few years, she's given all that up and now she's just a drunk.

Her crewmate Gaby still struggles to save her beloved Rocky, and to oppose the all-powerful, but capricious, Gaea.

What a sequel to "Titan"! In my review of "Titan", following a recent rereading, I commented that the series "knocked me out when I first read them back in the '80s and they're still great fun".

Well, that was wrong. It's true that "Titan" itself didn't have quite the same impact after twenty years, but I'm astonished to say that "Wizard" bowled me over again. Such imagination and such a thrilling ride. This is one of the classic SF series.

Sad about Gaby though.