The Wizard of Lemuria

Infobox Book |
name = The Wizard of Lemuria
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover art from "The Wizard of Lemuria"
author = Lin Carter
illustrator =
cover_artist = Gray Morrow
country = United States
language = English
series = "Thongor series"
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Ace Books
release_date = 1965
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by = Thongor of Lemuria

"The Wizard of Lemuria" is a fantasy novel written by Lin Carter, the first book of his "Thongor series" set on the fictional ancient lost continent of Lemuria. The author's first published novel, it was initially issued in paperback by Ace Books in 1965. The author afterwards revised and expanded the text, in which form it was reissued as "Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria", first published in paperback by Berkley Books in 1969. This retitled and revised edition became the standard edition for later reprintings.

Plot and storyline

The tale of Thongor of Valkarth, barbarian warrior of the prehistoric lost continent of Lemuria, who becomes humanity's champion in its pivotal struggle with the dragon kings who had previously dominated the world. As the serpent people make their play to recover their mastery, all that stands in their way are the courage of Thongor and his comrades and the magic of the wizard Sharajsha.

etting

The Thongor series is Carter's premier creation in the Sword and Sorcery genre, representing a tribute to both the Conan series of Robert E. Howard and the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He pictures the lost continent of Lemuria as a prehistoric land mass existing in the South Pacific Ocean during the ice age, on which Mesozoic lifeforms persisted after the catastrophe which wiped them out in the rest of the world. An intelligent reptilian humanoid race descended from dinosaurian forebears formerly reigned supreme as the dominant life form, but was partially supplanted as such by humanity as the continent was colonized by fauna from outside Lemuria. Humans have gradually thrown off the subjection in which they were initially held by the older civilization. Culturally, Lemuria is a mixture of civilization and barbarism, but overall is precociously advanced over the outside world, boasting a magic-based technology that even includes flying machines. The Thongor books relate the struggle of the titular hero to unite the humans of Lemuria into a single empire and complete the overthrow of the "dragon kings."

Influence

The Thongor books marked an important milestone in reestablishing the Sword and Sorcery genre in the 1960s. While a number of authors had attempted to imitate the success of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, which initiated the genre in the 1930s, their efforts remained interesting experiments, of which only Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series had really caught on. Aside from Leiber's work, Carter's was the first successful ongoing series, paving the way for an explosion of similar (and mostly lesser) works by other hands. It even inspired such spinoffs as a comic book series and a rock group. After Carter was recruited by L. Sprague de Camp to assist in continuing Howard's original Conan series, however, his interest in Thongor gradually waned. Ultimately the saga remained unfinished, and was already out of print well before the author's death. There has been no revival of interest in it to date.