Final Thoughts on a Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt
We’ve reached the end. Every chapter covered. Every character accounted for. Sandy MacGregor’s journey from Baltimore to Zarathandra and everything that happened in between.
Portal fantasy
The Goddess and Her Reluctant Champion: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 31-32
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
After everything Sandy has been through, you’d think meeting the Goddess face to face would be the reward. The big moment where the deity shows up, says “well done,” and sends him home to Baltimore.
The Name That Shook Worlds: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 29-30
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
This is it. The whole book has been building to this moment. Every chapter, every setback, every small victory, every death. It all comes down to Sandy MacGregor standing in front of a dark god and opening his mouth.
After the Mountain Falls: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 27-28
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
The mountain is gone. Like, completely gone. Sandy wakes up and the entire fortress that they just raided has been wiped off the map. Where Tham Og Zalkri stood, there’s nothing. Rubble, dust, and open sky where a mountain used to be.
Inside the Mountain of Evil: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 25-26
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
They’re going in. After all the traveling, the desert crossings, the bar fights, and the sorcerer’s enchantments, the group is finally entering Tham Og Zalkri. The Black Mountain. Home of a death cult that worships a dark god.
The Sorcerer's Greatest Spells: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 23-24
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
The group is about to raid a mountain full of murderous cultists. And Zhadnoboth, the sorcerer who got them into this whole mess, picks this exact moment to do the best work of his entire career. Then he bails.
The House of the Dark God: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 21-22
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
The Mountain
Just before daybreak, they see Tham Og Zalkri. The house of Zalkri.
Approaching the Black Mountain: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 19-20
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
The Worst Hangover in Fantasy Literature
Sandy wakes with sun blasting his eyes and sand in his mouth. He spits it out, crawls to shade, and passes out again.
The Death Feast: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 17-18
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
One Day Out
Three nights of hard travel. Everyone’s short-tempered. Nobody talks except to argue. Sandy passes the time composing bawdy limericks for Glupp. The grundzar beams at every one, probably because he doesn’t understand any of them. Sandy calls him a bootlicker. Glupp literally licks his boot.
Closing in on the Black Mountain: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 15-16
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Back to the Road
The group crawls out of the ruined tower to find the oasis destroyed. The Shurva wrecked everything. Vegetation is blackened scraps and ash. Only the fortress survived, protected by whatever ancient power lingers in its walls.
The Priestess, the Storm, and Hard Choices: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 13-14
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
After the battle at the Naz Mathoni camp, things should calm down. The enemies are defeated. Water is secured. The Key of Arimithos has been found. Time to rest, right?
Among the Naz Mathoni: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 11-12
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Last chapter ended with a ridiculous plan. Sandy and Zhadnoboth would walk into a camp full of enemies and pretend to be harmless travelers. Uskban and Pognak would hide in the desert, waiting.
Surviving the Desert: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 9-10
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
There’s something about desert stories that just hits different. The constant threat of death by dehydration. The emptiness. The heat. When you strip away everything else, survival comes down to one thing: water.
Witnessing Zalkring Horror: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 7-8
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Up to this point, A Name to Conjure With has been weird, funny, and kind of charming. Sandy got pulled into another world, teamed up with a cranky sorcerer and a desert warrior, and they’ve been stumbling from one mess to the next. It felt like a rough adventure. Messy but manageable.
Escaping the Desert Town: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 5-6
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Chapter 5: Shopping for Trouble
The group is in a desert town. It’s hot, dusty, and full of the kind of people who don’t ask questions because they don’t want questions asked of them. The town exists as a waypoint for traders, smugglers, and anyone else who needs supplies before heading into the deeper desert.
Meeting the Sorcerer: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 3-4
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Chapter 3: Welcome to Zarathandra
Sandy wakes up on the floor of a sorcerer’s laboratory. His head hurts. His body aches. The last thing he remembers is falling through an elevator shaft that turned out to be a portal between worlds.
Sandy's World Falls Apart: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 1-2
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Chapter 1: The Soup Incident
Sandy MacGregor is having a normal Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. He’s eating at a Chinese restaurant. Wonton soup, barbecued ribs, fried rice. Standard comfort food.
A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt: A Fantasy Retelling Series
Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)
Why This Book Deserves a Retelling
Some books get lost in time. Not because they’re bad. Because the publishing world moves fast and forgets things. A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt is one of those books.