Oh, it is so nice when somebody totally gets it.

"It's nearly a textbook case of S&S-itis, and it's entirely satisfying, all the way through," writes Andrew Wheeler in today's post at his blog, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent. He's talking about James Enge's This Crooked Way, second of his three stand-alone novels of Morlock the Maker. Andrew describes the quintessential sword and sorcery novel as relying "on journeys for much of their plots -- not quests, precisely (or not too much of the time), but important journeys, for treasure or work, to find something or save someone or get away from somewhere, usually with more than a bit of urgency." Then he goes on to describe the way that Enge uses the traditional "fix-up" format of classic S&S to good effect, astutely sussing out along the way that the book has an undercurrent examination of family woven into its themes. He concludes, "This is a fine modern S&S novel, with a cranky and engaging protagonist who never once descends to become a mere hero. A third Morlock novel has already been published -- The Wolf Age -- and I'm happy to have that on my to-be-read pile to look forward to. It's always encouraging to discover a rich vein of the good stuff.