The Wizard the Wizard [Hardcover]

While this book has adventure and the exotic mysteries of Africa, it also has a beautiful message that the reader can not walk away from and not be affected by. Much like Mr. Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", "The Wizard" is a beautiful story of redemption, forgiveness, humility, and the greatest love of all. Mr. Haggard's finest work.

The plot to The Wizard concerns a clergy man, Owen. He hears a story of missionaries to an African tribe. After preaching the tribe reasoned that if servants of God in the bible could do miracles then those particular missionaries should be able to do miracles. They executed a criminal and asked the missionaries to revive the corpse. The missionaries couldn't and so one was executed for telling lies (either about God or about his relationship to God) and the other was sent back to seek a true follower of God.

So Owen sets off to Africa in the hope that God will work miracles and show the tribe the truth. Meanwhile the old king in Africa is getting old and there are many politics involving the following: the king's two sons, the wizards or traditional spiritual leaders and Noma, everyone wants her, she wants power, she is married to the head wizard. Owen shakes things up by continually being commanded to do certain miracles. As members of the tribe convert those in power become concerned about the effect Owen is having on their personal situations.

The writing and mix of action is typical for Haggard. It has the desirable powerful woman in the form of Noma. The exotic landscape and political intrigue worked well. I liked this book except for...

Since the plot concerns a missionary, there is a bit of religious reference here. It seems that Haggard was just a tad confused about church doctrine, which never helps. Owen struggles to deal with converts who already have multiple wives fitting into a monogamous religion. He comes to the "compromise" that if they are already married its OK, but after they convert they can't marry again if they are already married. News flash: that isn't a compromise. That allowance was made for converts to the early Christian church. So the religion thing is just tacked on and is based on stereotypes of Christianity. It makes the book seem quaint at times and is probably the reason this book hasn't been reprinted recently.

If you are a big fan of Haggard or of victorian literature then you probably really like this. If you aren't either of those things then don't bother. This is a good book, but some of the themes it deals with are a bit dated. The more timeless themes are present in other works by Haggard, so try one of those instead. She and Cleopatra are both good, as are others.

A note to scholars: Haggard frequently gets knocked for being racist. In this book it seems that he is actually presenting a very unracist message and trying to make people think. For example, one of the Africans asks Owen if it is true that all Europeans are cannibals. There are other places where the stereotypes seem to be intentionally reversed, maybe to make people consider their own ideas.

This was a fun read. Obviously, the price was right (free), but even if I had paid for it, it would still have been a fun read. Typical Quartermain story. Enjoyed.

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