The Tritonian Ring Paperback – Import, 25 July 2017

The story begins by introducing you to three of the most gruesome gods you could ask for, and it just keeps getting better. The hero hails from Atlantis—he’s a prince there, but there are chickens scratching in the palace courtyard—and the gods are trying to keep him from finding a ring made of a mysterious grey metal. Our guy must contend with thrones that transform into snakes, headless guys with eyes in their bellies, Amazons as cruel as they are beautiful, and don’t forget the female satyr (rather nice, actually, but needy). Nobody ever did this stuff better than deCamp.

It was a fun read. The antediluvian world is painted as a more violent and primitive place than many stories written in this genre. This is a world where bad things can happen to characters you like and often do. What saves it from being the blood fest that it is, is the slightly narcissistic and mildly incompetent, yet well intentioned hero at the center of the tale. Often horrific results arrive for slightly ironic reasons which keeps the tone oddly light. It is an entertaining and amusing read.

The title says it includes "Other Pusadian Tales", but this Kindle book only includes the "Tritonian Ring" novel. This is disappointing. The title implies that this book is the same as the collection which also included "The Stronger Spell", "The Owl and the Ape", and "The Eye of Tandyla". This collection was published by Twayne in 1953.