The Traveler in Black

[nancylebov]

I recommend _The Compleat Traveler in Black_ (1986) by John Brunner. (It has five stories, one more than are in _The Traveller in Black.)

The unnamed main character, who has many names and one nature, is tasked with driving chaos out of the world, and creating a situation where logic and causality are all that happen. He does this by magically granting wishes which weaken the arbitrary forces.

The traveler in black starts by controlling demi-gods, then stopping people from using magic, and then stopping rich people from their cruel whims.

This is about creating a world which is suitable for human flourishing-- where people do skilled work and get the rewards of it and have happy families. There's a utopian aspect to it all-- not the utopia of redesigning people and society, but a utopia of things shaking out well when they're permitted to.

So, it's a book of wonders and monsters, rather in the style of Jack Vance, a book with a complex plot, a book about moral hazard (the traveler is getting tired after the millennia, and not quite as careful, a political book, and it's accomplished in 230 pages.

It doesn't have a murder mystery or a romance because it doesn't need them.

It's the Good Old Stuff.

Comments

[sturgeonslawyer]

I only have the original book, and I've been afraid to reread it lest I discover that the Suck Fairy had gotten to it. I think I'll see if I can't score a copy of the Compleat at a reasonable price... Thank you!

[madfilkentist]

It feels a bit self-contradictory as you've described it. "Driving chaos out of the world, and creating a situation where logic and causality are all that happen" sounds like creating a regimented world in which everything happens according to a central plan. People are supposed to fit in and be good citizens. On the other hand, "things shaking out well when they're permitted to" sounds like a recognition of spontaneous order emerging from apparent chaos.

I'm probably missing the point.

[nancylebov]

The logic (possibly reason, I don't remember which words Brunner used) involved is each person reacting sensibly to their own situation. The chaos which is being opposed isn't mathematical chaos, it's the exercise of arbitrary will.

Logic/reason/order are necessary for people to be able to use their minds to make choices. They need predictable responses from the universe.

[sennashi_dorei]

Yeah, I'm not getting logic in reality? This book sounds like science fact, not science fiction, but I think it also sounds at least slightly dystopian regardless of whether it is the scenario that exists or the one that is being strived for? The discontent feeling in my chest is a dystopian reality that seems like it can never be solved. I'm sure it's a fun read in it's own way.