Reading Wizard of the Pigeons (Spoilers)

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Alright, so I'm trying to do my own analyzing-as-I-go type of topic. Wizard of the Pigeons is a fairly short novel, just under 300 pages. I'm currently on page 110. It's a typical Lindholm book: readable, but not quite as good as a Hobb novel. It reminds me a little of her short story The Fifth Squashed Cat: it takes place in our world, which does have magic but you have to be prepared to follow some pretty odd rules to use it.

So, on to the spoilage...

Our main character is Wizard, a Vietnam veteran who lives on the streets of Seattle. He goes by Wizard because he either doesn't remember his name or doesn't want to use it, I'm not sure. So far, all wizards we've met in the story are homeless, and they each have to follow their own rules. In Wizard's case, he must never have more than one dollar in his wallet, he must feed the pigeons and he must remain celibate. He also must tell anyone who asks him the truth.

We see Wizard going through a typical day, scavenging for food and influencing other people's lives for the better. We also meet a few of his "collegues", including Cassie, the woman who "recruited" him. She has a different body every time he meets her, and he's implied to have some kind of feelings for her.

At night, Wizard is attacked my a mysterious prsence calling itself "Mir". Mir shows Wizard a scene from his past, involving three boys slaughtering chickens and a rooster. Mir says Wizard was one of the boys, but he experiences the memories of all three and doesn't know which one he is. He manages to escape, but not before Mir wounds the cat that was sleeping nearby.

Bedraggled, Wizard seeks out Cassie and winds up in another world. Cassie occasionaly brings him there, but afterwards Wizard always finds himself questioning the reality of the experience. Cassie states that Mir is a grave threat to anyone. Also, she tells Wizard that he was the rooster in the memory...

So: who or what is Mir? I'm betting that Mir was one of the other boys. One of them was rather cruel and delighted to be killing chickens, so maybe he became much more evil and powerful over time. Or maybe that's too obvious. There's also the interesting question how much of what Wizard experiences is real, and how much is the product of a deluded mind.