fetish with a warrior’s spirit trapped inside. Caught
in an emotional struggle between her boyfriend
and her mother, Amelia tries to calm herself, but in
the process accidentally releases the bond that im-
prisons the warrior spirit. When she looks for the
fetish again, it is missing.
A knife disappears from the kitchen, there are
strange noises in the apartment, and one of the
lights goes off mysteriously. The reader will be well
ahead of Amelia by now, who does not recognize
the truth even when something begins stabbing
her in the calves and ankles, driving her from one
room to another. She finally accepts the truth only
when she is barricaded in the bathroom trying to
stanch the flow of blood from her various wounds.
Although she temporarily traps the doll in a suit-
case, the security bolt for her apartment door has
been damaged and will not open, so she remains
trapped. After a number of additional upsets, she
finally maneuvers the fetish into the oven, where
she burns it to ash.
Just as the reader believes the storm has
passed, Matheson changes everything. The spirit of
the warrior has finally been driven from the fetish,
but now it is lodged in Amelia’s body. Amelia calls
her mother, invites her over, then picks up a knife
to wait for her prey. “Prey” is a pure horror story
with no lofty ambitions other than to entertain
and perhaps surprise the reader. Matheson’s con-
siderable talents for painting a scene of intense ac-
tion have rarely been displayed as fully.
Prince CaspianC. S. Lewis(1951)
The second volume of the CHRONICLES OF NAR-
NIAby C. S. LEWISreturns the four Pevensie chil-
dren to that magical realm from our world.
Although they remember growing to adulthood
when they ruled Narnia, their childhood personali-
ties were apparently restored along with their bod-
ies when their previous adventure ended. Since
time runs differently on the two planes, centuries
have passed in Narnia, and the castle where they
ruled is now an abandoned ruin. The descendants
of a band of human pirates, known as Telmarines,
have founded a kingdom that has now conquered
Narnia. Prince Caspian is the rightful heir to the
throne, which has been usurped by Miraz, his
uncle. Miraz originally designates Caspian as his
heir, but when the queen becomes pregnant he de-
cides to murder his nephew instead.
The children find Narnia much changed.
Most of the animals have lost the power of
speech. Those who can still speak have been
hunted to near extinction, although when the
half-dwarf Doctor Cornelius urges Caspian to
flee, he stumbles across a community of them al-
most immediately. He and the children have a se-
ries of adventures, separately at first, while the
original inhabitants of Narnia become divided
over what the best course might be for them to
follow. Some wish to summon Aslan, the mystical
lion who saved them in the past, while others
prefer the White Witch, who they deem more
powerful. Since Aslan is a transparent Christ fig-
ure, the Witch is clearly evil personified, and the
quarrel has the expected outcome, although only
after considerable violence.
Lewis is somewhat inconsistent about the chil-
dren’s status. When one of them challenges Miraz
to single combat, he is accepted as a knight despite
his age—and, in fact, nearly defeats the usurper,
who is eventually betrayed and killed by his own
forces. Caspian eventually wins the throne, the talk-
ing animals are freed from persecution, Aslan moves
behind the scenes, and the villains are all disposed
of in proper fashion. Prince Caspianis much more
cohesive than the first Narnia book, THE LION, THE
WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE,although the setting
still contains some minor inconsistencies.The Princess BrideWilliam Goldman(1973)
Only a very talented writer could produce a self-
evident spoof of a genre that itself becomes a genre
classic. William Goldman, who leaned toward su-
pernatural horror in Magic(1976) and who used
quasi-rationalized fantastic elements in Control
(1982) and Brothers(1986), adopted many of the
elements of popular mainstream fantasy in The
Princess Bride,but exaggerated them. He interlaces
the serious elements in the plot with so much wry
humor that the reader knows better than to take
the story too seriously. At the same time, his char-
acters are so appealing that we do care what hap-
pens to them.The Princess Bride 281