Hand Of Chaos (Book 5 Of Death Gate Cycle)

Description: Volume five of the apparently interminable Death Gate Cycle (Serpent Mage, 1992, etc.). Now that the evil-magic serpents of the water-world Chelestra have escaped through the Death Gate, new power alliances are possible--such as that between the serpents and Xar, Haplo's powerful Patryn boss. Despite Haplo's feeble warnings about the serpents' malevolent intentions (they can assume any shape, retaining only tell-tale red eyes), Xar dispatches Haplo and his yappy-dog sidekick to the air-world Arianus, with orders to set species against species and generally create chaos among the lower- order ``mensch.'' And this time Haplo's old rival/accomplice, Albert the Sartan, languishes trapped inside the Labyrinth. So, by himself Haplo must somehow stop the elf-dwarf war by helping the human and elf magicians while placating Xar and devising a means to repel the serpents--oh, yes, and preventing various assassinations, including his own. A hypercomplicated plot whose increasingly improbable convolutions seem designed only to distract attention from the ludicrously implausible scenario, plodding narrative, and irritatingly obtuse characters. Which, being translated into Fannish, means: another smash hit.