review of John Brunner's The Traveler in Black by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 20, 2014 I have a paper bag full of John Brunner bks on the floor of my bedroom, where I do most of my reading. When I need a break from whatever more challenging bks I'm reading (it's been William Gaddis's The Recognitions + others for quite some time now) I dip into the bag & pull one out. Two dips ago I pulled out Now Then, a collection of 3 novellas that include his earliest published story + a bit called "Imp...

I came across this book recently on my 'books I've read' pile, but I couldn't remember anything about it so decided to give it a re-read. It didn't take too long before I realised I had never read this book before. There is absolutely no way I would ever have forgotten the Traveller, the man with many names but only one nature. And there is no way I would ever have forgotten the phrase, "as you wish, so be it". I am so glad I found this little gem of a book, and rescued it from mis-shelving. Thi...

the Traveler in Black travels throughout a strange world, one balanced between Chaos and Order. the Traveler has one nature: to extract Chaos. the human kind should fear any being with only one nature. as the Traveler travels, tipping the balance towards logic and away from magic, those cities that follow his path disappear, and so enter the rational world. the magic slowly fades away...Brunner writes in the Vancean vein for this effort, and he does it well. spare but evocative prose with not a

I found these stories much more compelling, and amusing, than Brunner's sci-fi stuff, despite prose that is frequently quite dense.The enigmatic man in black is a divine guardian of sorts, journeying across the strange borderland between time (reality) and eternity (oblivion) on a mission to foster order over chaos. Chaos being those things not rooted in logic and reason, especially magic and sorcery. He does so in mischievous fashion, popping up like a genie and granting the ill conceived wishe...

Found this one in one of my local bookstore for just a buck!! I have been looking for a copy for years and I couldn't leave it behind, lol. The premise and artwork on the cover drew me in, even though I am unfamiliar with the author. The stories begin strong, but my interest waned with the Traveler's redundancy. "As you wish, so be it." Simplistic, but profound with the power those words convey. Aside from this I really enjoyed it and thought that it read a lot like Gene Wolfe. I recommend it.

"As you wish. So be it." The traveller in black utters these words countless times on his journeys.The Traveller in Black is the agent of the One Who, a man with many names but one nature, tasked with making order from chaos, primarily by granting people's wishes in a literal sense. He gives a god to a nation without one; he unites a girl with her lost love by making her join him as a slave.The writing is definitely denser than I thought it would be, reminding me of Gene Wolfe at times and Micha...

This one kind of threw me, since the writing can be dense and hard to follow. I was expecting something a bit more pulpy. That said, The Traveller in Black is serious, highbrow fantasy. Literature. In some ways, with its archaic language and rich descriptions, The Traveller in Black resembles Jack Vance's Dying Earth tales, though it's not as fun, as it gets increasingly serious as the traveller makes his stops along the way. In fact, these stories (a series of novellas) can be quite horrific, w...

I know I've read (& used to own this book).I was reminded of it today but recall nothing of it.This is a note to me to see if I can find it on my shelves.

Originally published on my blog here in July 2001.The five tales in this collection, which as it says is the complete set of stories about the traveller in black, were written over about a twenty year period and were revised for inclusion in this volume. The stories all have the same plot, each describing a tour made by the traveller around the cities in his domain, reducing chaos and promoting law; he makes this journey whenever a particular configuration of stars is seen in the sky. He is desc...

Somehow I expected a bit more of this one. It was enjoyable, yes, and the setting was something not seen too often (King later used a similar setting for his Dark Tower series), but all in all it was a bit too flowery in its' prose and too skimpy on actual plot. Well, technically it is a collection of short stories, although the way they are presented makes them appear more like an actual novel. There is a sense of continuity between different stories. One element from one story will for sure ap...

A nameless traveler with great powers is tasked with removing magic from the world. He does this by granting wishes which inevitably backfire by destroying the remaining vestiges of wonder and magic. At the start the Traveler laughs at the people whose foolish wishes he grants, but by the end he is deeply melancholy about the loss of magic in the world. These stories are drawn from various stages of Brunner's career and they reflect his evolution as a writer. He was clearly drawn to return to th...

Wonderful to see this back in printThe Traveler in Black is one of the iconic fantasy novels of John Brunner, a great writer who is mostly forgotten today. His reputation as a visionary writer is ascendant once again as books like “The Sheep Look Up” and “Shockwave Rider” are once again available...as is “The Complete Traveller in Black.” Brunner was a sharp critic of society, and prescient in his commentary. This book is one of his best, a social commentary masquerading as fantasy. Great book.

Although I've read some of Brunner's SF, I had not heard of this book until I started playing the White Wolf RPG game Exalted. That book lists The Compleat Traveller in Black as an inspiration, and so, even though it is out of print, I was inspired to eventually find a copy of this book and read it.It feels very much like some of Moorcock's Melnibonean work. The world is young, and still in many ways in the grip of the elder era of Chaos. The laws of science, logic and reason are still not in fu...

Normally, when I hear or read the phrase, “As you wish,” I think of Wesley and Buttercup. In John Brunner’s The Traveler in Black, the phrase has quite a different meaning. Consisting of four previously published pieces of short fiction revised to craft a coherent story arch, The Traveler in Black is the individual with many names, but one nature. He is the epitome of order in a battle between Chaos and Order proportional to Dorian Hawkmoon’s quest for balance as told by Michael Moorcock. Howeve...

My! My! John Brunner is yet another majestic wordsmith that I will have to start becoming much more familiar with; especially on the strength of these extraordinarily cogent, erudite, and downright philosophical parables, about the errant nature of man, and the Traveler in Black's witty, trans-formative adventures within a land beset with misfortune and magical malfeasance. These are beautifully written tales, whereby the enigmatic titular character, in his own inimitable way, strives, unambiguo...

Inventive. Provoking. I like this fellow of many names and the consequences of his one nature as portrayed within this book. These consequences and scenarios allow for some reflection and my thoughts wandered a number of times. I haven't jumped into a book with enchanters and riddles in a long while and it took a few chapters for me to transition, but, I was soon riding along the prose and was captivated by it. It's refreshingly non-reliant on Tolkien mythology.

The Brunner variations on a theme of order and chaos. The Traveller in Black is a force of order in a chaotic world of men, gods and demi-gods. Brunner is inventive in his vignettes of man's foibles and we are often led to conclude: "be careful what you wish for."

The traveller in black has many names but a single nature, and carries a staff of curdled light. Whenever four planets are in a certain conjunction he is bound to walk the lands on the borders of order and chaos. The task that has been entrusted to him is to working towards banishing chaos, so that the cities of the borderlands can move from the land of chaos and eternity into the real world of order and time. As well as being able to bind elementals and limit their powers, one of the other ways...

This was a book that blew me away when I first read it as a young man. It took sci-fi/fantasy somewhere I hadn't seen before. A real eye-opener, and exquisitely written. About time I re-read it...

I should really re-read this.