Book Review: 'The Mongolian Wizard #9: The New Prometheus' by Michael Swanwick

Cover art by Gregory Manchess

I really like Michael Swanwick's 'The Mongolian Wizard' series of short stories from Tor.com, and 'The New Prometheus' is another great addition to that list.

This time, Ritter and his wolf Freki are hot on the trail of an homunculus - an artificial man created by the Mongolian Wizard - in the frozen Arctic wastes. But when they catch up to him, they find that he's every bit as intelligent and cultured as Ritter himself, and proceeds to tell him his side of the story.

If this sounds all a bit familiar, that's because it is. Chances are you have read Mary Shelley's classic 'Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus'. Swanwick's story pays direct homage (the clue is in the title of this story after all), in particular to one of the best sequences in Shelley's tale, where the monster recounts his story to his creator, Frankenstein.

It's a classy retelling, with the creature having actually fled out of harm's way of his creator's evil ways, and over the course of a civil conversation, Ritter, having been sent by Sir Toby, must decide whether the creature is an abomination and be eliminated or if he doesn't represent a risk and to leave him alone in frozen north.

'The New Prometheus' is a fantastic read that grips you from the beginning of Ritter and the creature's conversation, wondering which way Ritter will decide by the end. Swanwick gives his homage his own twist that instantly feels a part of his series. A great read!

Available to read for free, as are the rest of the series, from the Tor Fiction website.