How long does it take to read The Fallible Fiend?
The Fallible Fiend by L. Sprague De Camp takes about 3 hours 14 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
Part of Novarian series
Previous: The Clocks of Iraz Next: The Reluctant King
About 3 hours 14 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1973. 176 pages, about 48,400 words.
7 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 23 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 14 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 1 minute |
The page count is the median across 8 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Fallible Friend The protagonist, Zdim, is an indentured servant, some reptilian traits, who engages in something akin to rule-book slowdown. It may be somewhat of a stretch but there is some similarity with Till Eulenspiegel. The latter did usually impersonates a traveling journeyman when he arrived in a new township. He then interprets selective instructions in a literal, counter productive sense. Better known example, he bakes meerkats and owls when his tired master tells him to use his own head. Zdim is spirited to an earth type planet by the time honored pentagram method. He is part of an labor against raw materials exchange program. His first act of revolt, he devours Doctor Maldivius' apprentice, hide, hair and xenophobic attitude, when the honorable doctor orders him to deal with any intruder as he deems fit. The next time he has to stand guard he has to promise strict abstinence. Result, he does not budge a claw when some actual burglars show up. From one extreme (anthropophagi) to the other (no coercive measures at all). In a rather broad sense he pleads a 'non vult' in each case. Good intentions regardless of some possible misunderstandings. The vexed wizard wisely decides to terminate the service contract. Some brave soldiers are just too sly for their masters' peace of mind. Next tour of duty, Zdim is palmed off to a circus where he is billed as wild man out of Borneo. He promptly causes a mass stampede, topped off by a conflagration. Predictable excuse, I just did what the impresario told me. The cited minutes: rattle your cage and scare the rubes. The next feather in his cap, he bests Hvaednir, a barbarian of enormous strength, while acting as liaison officer. He is again found not guilty of any wrongdoing. The inebriated Hvaednir, true to character, did try to bed the landlady. Minor dig: the reader is given to understand that the slain brawler will soon be granted hero rites. As for the ending, some would feel that Zdim should have been offered…
Subjects: Satire, sly servants, Polybius' theory of mixed constitutions, barbarians, mercenaries, corruption
