A WIZARD IN CHAOS

Another adventure for do-gooder Wizard Gar Pike (A Wizard in Peace, 1996, etc.), his sidekick Dirk DuLaine, and their intelligent spaceship Herkimer, as they zoom around the galaxy looking for misgoverned planets to emancipate. This time, planet Durvie, founded by anarchists, has mostly regressed into squabbling statelets—except for the laser-packing, high-tech Fair Folk of the Hollow Hills, who masquerade as magic-powered fairies in order to parasitize the local Milesians. Naturally, Gar Pike exposes their duplicity and tricks them into accepting responsibility—but he also loses Dirk, who marries local beauty and freedom-fighter Magda and settles down. Agreeable fare for series regulars.