The Clocks
The Reluctant King is the overall title of a trilogy of fantasy novels written by L. Sprague de Camp as part of his Novarian series, as well as the 1983 omnibus collection gathering the books together into one volume. The trilogy features de Camp's sword and sorcery hero King Jorian of Xylar, and is composed of "The Goblin Tower" (1968), "The Clocks of Iraz" (1971) and "The Unbeheaded King" (1983). The omnibus was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in 1983 as an offering for its Science Fiction Book Club, and was reissued in paperback by Baen Books in 1996.