Robin Hobb is one my favorite fantasy writers; I’m talking Mount Rushmore / Elite status. But there is another writer behind that name, Megan Lindholm. I’ve never read anything with the name Megan Lindholm on the book, but I’ve been seeking out her books in the used book shops I’m able to visit. When Grim Oak Press announced they would be releasing an illustrated anniversary edition of Wizard of the Pigeons, I knew I wanted to get a copy. What I discovered is that Megan Lindholm may possess some of the same abilities as a writer around powerful narrative and lovely prose, but she is quite different from Robin Hobb. The novel features a character named Wizard, a homeless Vietnam veteran in Seattle struggling to come to grips with inner demons, his past, and how he can move on despite those elements.
A gorgeously illustrated 35th anniversary edition of the urban fantasy classic, featuring a new foreword by Megan Lindholm and illustrations by Tommy Arnold.
Seattle: a place as magical as the Emerald City. Subtle magic seeps through the cracks in the paving stones of the sprawling metropolis. But only the inhabitants who possess special gifts are open to the city’s consciousness; finding portents in the graffiti, reading messages in the rubbish or listening to warnings in the skipping-rope chants of children.
Wizard is bound to Seattle and her magic. His gift is the Knowing — a powerful enchantment allowing him to know the truth of things; to hear the life-stories of ancient mummies locked behind glass cabinets, to receive true fortunes from the carnival machines, to reveal to ordinary people the answers to their troubles and to safeguard the city’s equilibrium. The magic has its price; Wizard must never have more than a dollar in his pocket, must remain celibate, and he must feed and protect the pigeons.
But a threat to Seattle has begun to emerge in the portents. A malevolent force born of Wizard’s forgotten past has returned to prey upon his power and taunt him with images of his obscure history; and he is the only wizard in Seattle who can face the evil and save the city, his friends and himself.
Wizard is not the only wizard wandering the streets of Seattle, he has allies and a dark enemy looking to destroy him. Cassie is functionally his mentor; she continually tries to help him overcome his memory block and pains even if her way of doing so is through fairytale like stories and not exactly straight-forward. Wizard is almost a blank slate when we first meet him, he doesn’t recall his name or anything of his past. This is in direct contrast to the magic he possesses, Knowing, which allows him to converse with people and give them the solution to their most emotionally packed concerns. He will be drawn to a family in a diner, or a lonely person on a bench and is empowered to use his power of Knowing.
As well drawn as the character of Wizard is, Seattle comes alive through Lindholm’s lovely prose. I’ve been to Seattle once, either 2000 or 2001 so even then I was at a remove from when the novel was written and takes place and memory twenty years later (as of this writing) so comparing Lindholm’s description to my memory is a relatively futile effort. However, the city as a character is extremely effective because of how her prose layers a blanket of magic, especially since the initial description calls it by its popular nickname “Emerald City.” Through Wizard’s eyes, we see the beauty of the everyday people but also the darkness of the night and the dangers that could potentially lie within its shadows.
What becomes clear is that Wizard is a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD and memory loss. Only when a dark entity he and Cassie know only as MIR begins make its presence known does Wizard experience flashbacks to his past. Those flashbacks are crippling to Wizard, sending him into shock. Wizard realizes he must confront this dark force but is crippled by fear despite Cassie’s support. He disconnects from his circle of trust and turns elsewhere.
Wizard of the Pigeons is a novel that can work on multiple layers, and the power of Lindholm’s prose is in the ambiguity that allows the reader for that kind of experience. It can easily be readable as a novel with real magic in Seattle while it can also be read as an account of a man suffering from severe PTSD whose coping mechanism is thinking of himself as a wizard. The third alternative is a combination of the two. For me, I see magic.
I must also comment on the physical book itself. As I intimated above, this book has largely been out of print for well over a decade. Sean Speakman, owner of Grim Oak Press decided to publish this 35th Anniversary edition and it is a book whose beauty does justice to the powerful story told between its covers. With evocative full-page color art pieces by Tommy Arnold, the book gets a truly Artistic treatment in terms of a physical book being a piece of art or an artifact.
At 250 pages in hardcover with fairly large print, the story is very tight. Lindholm packs an extremely high level of emotion in power in this intimate novel. As I said earlier Lindholm and Hobb both convey their stories through amazing prose, but this novel is much more personal and closed than the Hobb novels. Whatever name is on the cover; however, one thing both writers excel at is force-pulling their characters through the emotional wringer.
This book is a must read, must own for readers of the genre especially if you’ve enjoyed anything by Robin Hobb. Wizard of the Pigeons is a progenitor of the Urban Fantasy genre in the truest sense of magic in the cityscape and not leather-clad vampires and vampire hunters. Not that there’s anything wrong with leather clad vamps and vamp hunters, but this book is not that. This book is a beautiful testament to the power of prose, how beauty can be found and carved out of pain and through suffering.
Highly recommended
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
Grim Oak Books | Hardcover
35th Anniversary Edition, December 2020 | 250 Pages
https://www.meganlindholm.com/
https://grimoakpress.com/products/wizard-of-the-pigeons-limited-edition?_pos=2&_sid=aa6d25f36&_ss=r
Review copy purchased
Great review. I love Hobb and have been curious myself about her Lindholm work, but I’m (at best) a casual fan of urban fantasy. I need to be in the right mood at the right time.