''Masters of the Maze'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by American writer

Avram Davidson Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

, originally published in 1965 by Pyramid Books with a cover by

John Schoenherr John Carl Schoenherr (July 5, 1935 – April 8, 2010) was an American illustrator. He won the 1988 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing '' Owl Moon'' by Jane Yolen, which recounts the story of the first time a father ...

. The first UK edition, the only hardcover to date, was issued by

White Lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest r ...

in 1974. An American paperback reprint followed from

Manor Books Manor Books was an American publisher of paperback books. It was founded by Walter Weidenbaum in 1972 and based in New York City. Manor's library was built on assets purchased from Macfadden Communications Group, Macfadden Publications after the ...

in 1976. Ebook editions appeared in 2012, from both Prologue Books and

SF Gateway Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, a ...

. The novel presents historical and fictional characters as "Guardians" of a maze which malignant, insect-like aliens are seeking to traverse in order to subjugate Earth.

Reception

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

praised the novel as "a very fine piece of light reading" despite having "marks of the short story writer all over it"; he declared that "''no one'' but Davidson could have made of this wreck-save-the-world plot a thing of such polished beauty. It wafts of the incense of scholarship for its own sake . . . ".

Judith Merril Judith Josephine Grossman (January 21, 1923 – September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril around 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist, and one of the first women to be wid ...

praised "Davidson's incredible ear for dialogue, his sharp eye for detail, and his resulting deft touch with a wide range of characterizations", but noted that the story "falls apart" in its closing sections, losing its "almost Carrollian" quality.

P. Schuyler Miller Peter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic. Life Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as ...

described the novel as "rich", saying "This one has everything in it. . . . It has monsters. It has freemasonry. It has innumerable worlds. It has fully portrayed characters -- including a couple of monsters -- who pop up and vanish. It has a rather feckless hero who gets involved and blunders into all the feck he needs".

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part o ...

, in ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

'', describes ''Masters of the Maze'' as "an intricate Parallel-Worlds adventure with sharply characterized humans and remote Secret Masters involved in barring interdimensional transit to a remarkably vivid insectoid Alien race".

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Novels of Avram Davidson
1965 science fiction novels Novels by Avram Davidson Novels about extraterrestrial life Pyramid Books books