Dilvish the Damned was not written as a novel; it’s a
collection of linked stories featuring the same protagonist. The framing device
reads as episodic, as we skip what would be major plot points in another novel.
Each “chapter” of Dilvish, the Damned begins in media res –
since these are all linked short stories, we get a “novel” with the device of
significant events being elided. One story will be looking towards overcoming a
particular obstacle – and then the story afterwards will be set after the
obstacle has been overcome. It’s less a novel than a linked series of
vignettes. It works, but it’s not quite a unique enough device to not make me
wish that the story was more conventionally told.
The Changing Land is set as a sequel to Dilvish, the Damned,
and is written as a novel, so it’s a little less frustrating to follow. It’s
essentially a dungeon crawl, which is both kind of cool and, given Zelazny’s
inclusion on the recommend reading list to the initial Dungeons & Dragons,
unsurprising.
Dilvish is your typical Zelazny protagonist – hypercompetent,
wisecracking, notorious. If the first novel hadn’t grown out of short stories,
I’d question whether he really needs two novels devoted to his arc. Not that
the novels aren’t fun – they certainly are, even if they’re markedly different
in tone and pacing.
The ending of each book is a little disappointing, and
almost makes me wish that Dilvish hadn’t gotten a resolution, and that Zelazny had
continued to flesh out the world.
