The Mad Goblin is one part of two which are together sequels to A Feast Unknown. The organization of this novel and its ACE Double mate The Lord of the Trees is made somewhat awkward because they are two adventures which dovetail into one grand battle which is shared between the novels. It's all rather complicated and led me this time read the books in a weird way, bouncing back and forth between them to capture the flow of both narratives and how they link.
The Mad Goblin tells of Doc Caliban's battle against the near immortal member of the Nine named Iwaldi. Iwaldi plans to destroy most of the human life on Earth to return it to a time he remembered in his prehistoric past. His plans are opposed by the Nine who send agents to his German castle to stop him. Doc Caliban with his two aides Barney Banks and Pauncho Van Veelar (sons of his longtime associates) bring the battle to Iwaldi but are soon lost and trapped in the labyrinth beneath his castle. There they encounter two humans who claim to be archeologists who have themselves been trapped by Iwaldi's forces. There is a great deal of back and forth and many deadly traps are thwarted (more or less) but eventually Doc and his allies get free of the caverns and the forces of both the Nine and Iwaldi and head to Salisbury Plain and the monument Stonehenge where the Nine are to gather to bury one of their own. This quick-paced yarn ends with a brutal battle on the grounds of Stonehenge wrapped in a dense fog which makes finding all your allies difficult. More I will not say so as not spoil it all.
Like its ACE Double companion, The Mad Goblin is designed by Farmer to be read at a breakneck pace. The action rarely stops and even when things become murky still there is an underlying motivation to race to the end. The final battle literally wrapped in the "fog of war" which allows it to dovetail effectively when the same battle is the climax of The Lord of the Trees. By the end of this story and its companion the Nine have suffered losses, but so have Doc Caliban and Lord Grandrith. The war against the Nine is not over.
More on that tomorrow.
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