I regard [Jack of Shadows] as something of a find for me. Mr Zelazny has written several well-received novels already, but I had never come across him before and I read Jack of Shadows with increasing delight and a sense of satisfaction. I doubt if Mr Zelazny can be, or would want to be, characterised as a particular sort of writer—but for the sake of argument I'll suggest he falls into the imaginative fiction category, somewhere between science fiction and fairy tales. In fact Jack of Shadows opens like a fairy story, with strange names and a sort of poetical prose. And, as with all good fairy stories, we are instantly caught, both by the actual narrative and the charm of the imagination that contrived the tale….

The surface narrative is always fascinating, as Jack (who is a sympathetic character) meets, fights and evades his enemies. No...