This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on March 3, 2025.

Conan the Barbarian #17

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Danica Brine (Artist) – Titan Comics – December 4, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Launching the “Twisting Loyalties” story arc, Conan the Barbarian #17 depicts Conan adventuring alongside the pirate queen Bêlit. Having served at her side for close to a year under the assumed name of Amra the Lion, Conan joins Bêlit and the crew of their vessel The Tigress for some rest and relaxation in the port town of Kyros. Conan and his beautiful captain settle in for a night of passion at a posh inn called the Hidden Haven, but reckless bandits hoping for an easy score literally drop in on the pair.

In the original source material, Conan’s time at sea with Bêlit is related in Robert E. Howard’s 1934 story “Queen of the Black Coast.” While that story begins with the barbarian throwing in his lot with the crew of The Tigress and concludes with Bêlit’s tragic death, the largely unchronicled gaps in the narrative have been fertile ground for subsequent creators. “Conan the Pirate” is a premise that immediately appeals, and Bêlit is one of the strongest female characters in Howard’s literary output. In the classic Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian title, Roy Thomas showed Conan and Bêlit voyaging together for nearly 40 issues (1976-1979), and this era in Conan’s career was also revisited in Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s 25-issue Conan the Barbarian series (Dark Horse Comics, 2012-2014). While Bêlit has appeared in both flashbacks and in spirit (e.g., Conan the Barbarian #8), this marks her first appearance alive and in the flesh with Conan in the current Titan Comics title.

While this issue only offers a brief and—so far—landbound depiction of Conan and Bêlit, it feels good to see the pair back in action again. In both the artwork and the narration, Bêlit is portrayed as being appropriately competent and ruthless, and the issue concludes with a hint of the greed and ambition that led to her eventual demise in “Queen of the Black Coast.” From a storytelling standpoint, so far, so good.

Danica Brine is an interesting choice as an artist. While a handful of women (Rebecca Puebla, Ashley Izienicki, etc.) have done covers for Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian, Brine is the first to handle the interior artwork. She doesn’t have the deepest resume, but she did handle a variant cover for Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone #3, and she previously worked with Conan scribe Jim Zub on some cover artwork for his Image Comics series Wayward (2014-2018). It appears that her most extensive work to date was for 2022’s Chef’s Kiss, a wholesome-looking gay romance comic from Oni Press. Perhaps due to that background, both Conan and Bêlit appear a little, for lack of a better term, “cute” in this issue. Her Conan is still brawny, but it feels like he’s rendered in a way that is more geared to appeal to heterosexual women readers than the more common scarred, veiny, brutish depictions of Conan. Brine’s version of Bêlit is beautiful but not as overtly sexualized as some versions of the character. Conan the Barbarian is quite a change of pace from Chef’s Kiss, but the violence in this issue is presented sufficiently dynamically, if not as gory as combat scenes we’ve seen from artists like Doug Braithwaite and Jonas Scharf.

Conan the Barbarian #17 brings back sword & sorcery’s original power couple, and it’s great to see Conan and Bêlit reunited. The series also features a fresh new look, and I suspect the artwork will be an area of special interest during this story arc.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on February 22, 2025.

Red Sonja: Consumed

By Gail Simone – Orbit – November 19, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone opens with the titular redheaded “She-Devil with a Sword” dealing with the tricky aftermath of a successful heist. After seducing Ysidra, barbarian queen of a nomadic tribe, Red Sonja absconded with a priceless golden armband called the Hunter’s Asp. Not only does she find herself pursued by Ysidra’s tireless Wolf Pack, but an equally implacable assassin is also sent after Sonja when she stiffs the treasure’s prospective buyer and keeps the Asp for herself. And although she views herself as rootless and living only for the present, circumstances conspire to drive her back to her devastated homeland of Hyrkania, where a traumatic reckoning awaits with both her own personal history and that of her people.

As a character, Red Sonja has a long and involved history. While working on Conan the Barbarian for Marvel Comics, writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith came up with the character as a female foil to Conan. They looked to original Conan creator Robert E. Howard for inspiration, taking the swashbuckling heroine “Red” Sonya (note the Y, not J) of Rogatine from Howard’s 1934 historical adventure “The Shadow of the Vulture,” transplanting her in heavily modified form from 16th century Vienna to Conan’s Hyborian Age. Given a revealing costume (albeit not initially the armored bikini with which the character would later become indelibly associated) and dramatic origin story, Red Sonja became an instant hit after her introduction in 1973. In addition to numerous appearances within the pages of Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja went on to star in her own comic titles, first at Marvel and currently at Dynamite Entertainment.

While a handful of Red Sonja prose novels exist, Red Sonja: Consumed is the first to be published since 1983. This novel is also notable for its author: Gail Simone. Not only is Simone an experienced Red Sonja writer, her 2013 19-issue Dynamite Entertainment run with the character is one of the most acclaimed in the character’s multi-decade history. And while various authors have had many different portrayals of the character, in this reviewer’s opinion, Simone’s is the most fun. Sexual assault is often a part of Red Sonja’s backstory, as an inciting incident that (along with some divine intervention in the form of a sympathetic goddess) leads her to become an indomitable swordswoman. Sonja is often depicted as adhering to a vow of chastity, refusing to be bedded by any man unless he bests her in combat. Both in her tenure on the comic and in this novel, Simone dispenses with all of that. No rape-based origin story, no goddess, no vow of chastity. Simone retains Sonja’s fearlessness and deadly allure, but she’s no longer a warrior nun. Simone’s Sonja is earthy. She still wears the trademark bikini, but one gets the sense that she wears it for herself, not to titillate every alehouse yokel. She’s brave and capable, but occasionally surly, spiteful, and flippant. She doesn’t always have the best hygiene or odor about her. Her carousing sometimes gets her in trouble. Far from chaste, she’s both pansexual and voracious (regrettably absent from the novel, “I’m Red Sonja, I’m everybody’s type” is a memorable quote from Simone’s comic run). Simone allows her to be an imperfect mercenary swordswoman with both admirable qualities and flaws, who enjoys the full spectrum of pleasures permitted by her freewheeling lifestyle. Happily, the heroine presented in Red Sonja: Consumed is the same one we know from Simone’s reign on the comic.

Appealing characterization aside, perhaps inevitably, Red Sonja: Consumed reads like a first novel from an established comic book creator. The pace remains speedy throughout, but the plot wanders before tightening up in the last third of the book. While infrequent, there are jarring instances of “head hopping,” where the perspective wanders between multiple characters within a single scene. Betrayed queen Ysidra and the psychotic assassin Sylus are compelling characters, but they disappear for long stretches of the narrative, to the story’s detriment. The setting of the novel—still the same Hyborian Age inhabited by Conan, even though the characters have different ownership today—is somewhat vaguely rendered, but that seems a perennial issue with the Red Sonja comics as well.

On the positive side of the ledger, however, Simone’s background as a comic writer results in intensely vivid visuals. Throughout the novel I found myself effortlessly imagining various events as full-page comic spreads. Combat scenes are frequent, graphic, and vicious. Sonja brutally dismantles her opponents, going the extra mile to make sure they stay down permanently. The supernatural threat that reveals itself late in the book is also presented in a deliciously creepy manner.

While there are some rough edges, Red Sonja: Consumed is a fast-paced and entertaining dark Sword & Sorcery novel. The book is an easy recommendation to existing fans of Simone’s work on the Red Sonja comic book, but no prior experience with the character is necessary. Readers with a strong emotional investment in the more classic depiction of the character, with the assault survivor and vow of chastity elements intact, might balk somewhat at the messier heroine Simone presents us with, however. Feisty fantasy heroines are more common now than in decades past, but Red Sonja remains one of the best. While I enjoy and respect the work of earlier creators like Roy Thomas and Frank Thorne, Gail Simone’s rendition is the most modern and fun.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #RedSonja #RedSonjaConsumed #GailSimone #GrimdarkMagazine #GdM

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on January 9, 2025.

Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone #4

By Jim Zub (Writer) and Jonas Scharf (Artist) – Titan Comics – December 4, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone #4 opens with Conan succumbing to the injuries incurred during his last encounter with the Beast of the Black Stone. Kirowan calls upon his occult knowledge, making a significant personal sacrifice to resurrect Conan and simultaneously allow Brissa to remain in the physical realm. Only half of the Heroes of Man survive, yet the goal remains the same: to track down and destroy the source of the Black Stone’s power.

As promised, this final issue in the miniseries culminates in the titular Battle of the Black Stone. This scene is artist Jonas Scharf’s time to shine, and he makes full use of it. Dismemberments and decapitations abound. And while by now Brissa has been illustrated by multiple artists, in this reviewer’s opinion Scharf’s rendering appeals the most. She appears alluring but tough and physically robust, a believable Pictish scout rather than a pinup model who has picked up a spear. The momentum and violence of the massive Beast of the Black Stone also effectively comes across on the page. Seeing John Kirowan shooting magic mind bolts like Doctor Strange is a little eyebrow-raising, however.

While the artwork is first-rate, taken as a whole, Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone feels far from essential. The miniseries was overstuffed with characters. Even with the prologue shorts in The Savage Sword of Conan #4, readers were not allowed much time with the cast, and as a result their individual appeal too often fails to shine through and their deaths fail to have much narrative weight. Either halving the number of heroes appearing in this miniseries or taking another year to feature these characters singly in The Savage Sword of Conan would have given the crossover event a much firmer foundation.

On the more positive side, after a year of teasing across the first twelve issues of the flagship title, the identity of the cosmic entity ultimately responsible for the Black Stone is a fun revelation certain to be appreciated by fans of the original Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian. Writer Jim Zub could not have made a better choice. For those readers lacking that familiarity, the accompanying Jeffrey Shanks essay provides some entertaining and enlightening context regarding said entity.

While the missed opportunities and underutilized characters in Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone are regrettable, the climactic battle is genuinely exciting. The event still feels like a brazenly commercially motivated effort to (re)launch a Robert E. Howard comic universe, but—with the apparently obligatory Conan-facilitated crossover event out of the way—perhaps the characters incompletely showcased in this four-issue miniseries will live up to their full potential in their own solo titles.

Postscript: Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring was announced in late December, to release in March. Writer/artist Patch Zircher previously handled Kane’s appearances in Titan Comics’ The Savage Sword of Conan issues #1-4.

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This review originally appeared at the New Edge Sword & Sorcery blog on July 8, 2024.

Hurled Headlong Flaming

By Matt Holder – Spiral Tower Press – April 29, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

It is the year 1291 and the coastal Mediterranean city-state of Acre is under siege. After cutting a bloody swath through the Levant, the tide has turned against the European Crusaders. They find themselves surrounded by the Mamluk Sultanate and losing their foothold on the Holy Land. Traumatized by the insanity of the times and desperate to intervene, an unnamed Bishop begs the assistance of Islamic scholar and mapmaker Yaqut al-Hamawi. The cataclysm foretold in the Book of Revelation appears to be rapidly approaching, and the Bishop seeks sacred texts that may help humanity better cope with the tumult to come. To reach the otherworldly library housing the sacred texts, the Bishop must embark on a harrowing–in both the conventional and theological senses of the word–journey into the mythic underworld, risking both his body and soul.

Matt Holder’s HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING is the debut release from Spiral Tower Press’ newly established Keen Blades imprint. The publisher of WHETSTONE: AMATEUR MAGAZINE OF SWORD AND SORCERY, Spiral Tower Press also seeks to use Keen Blades to release new and original works of briskly paced fantasy adventure, specifically focusing on novella-length tales “that test the boundaries of what sword and sorcery can be.” In his introduction, editor Jason Ray Carney cites the “psychocartographic” nature of HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING as one of the novella’s core attractions. Like John Milton’s PARADISE LOST and Dante Alighieri’s DIVINE COMEDY before it, HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING blends a spiritual journey with a tour of various otherworldly locales. Unlike with a more conventional fantasy travelogue, these places are not to be taken merely at face value; they are often laden with additional significance, either imbued with allegory or providing object lessons for the pilgrim.

While the prelude and coda take place in the human realm, the underworld journey at the heart of the novella is divided into three distinct parts. During “Part I – The Matter of War,” the Bishop undergoes a symbolic rebirth, emerging naked and scorched into the underworld. Before long he is pulled into brutal conflict with a variety of opponents of vastly differing physiques, some human in form, others unmistakably demonic in nature. Recalling al-Hamawi’s advice, the Bishop must fight until he is “fluent,” shedding enough blood to attract the attention of powerful demons able to aid him in his quest. This first section of the book is visceral and relentless, showing a man of the cloth demolishing every obstacle in his path. Despite this section’s relatively brief page count, Holder delivers an epic, operatic montage-style depiction of the chaos of war.

Abandoning the limited third-person perspective of Part I, “Part II – The Matter of Truth” abruptly shifts to a Socratic dialogue-style format. Having successfully gained an audience with powerful demons, the Bishop must prove himself worthy of admission into the infernal city that houses the library he seeks. Three demons compel the Bishop to give a persuasive lecture on the nature of authority and truth. While conducted in a more genteel manner than the previous blood-drenched section, Holder gives the sense that this is merely a battle of a different sort.

“Part III – The Matter of Taking” marks another drastic transition in prose style, this time adopting a first-person epistolary presentation in the form of pages from the Bishop’s journal. Plunged into an infernal city of obelisks and blackened glass, a “churning cauldron of flesh” populated by both human souls and demons alike, the Bishop must orient himself and find a path to the library. “This place will not let you leave until you have completed your labors,” the Bishop is admonished, and he is forced to endure more hardship and despair en route to the library.

The extreme shifts in tone and prose style across the three parts of the underworld journey are disorienting, but this feels intentional. Even with the benefit of his initial coaching from al-Hamawi, the Bishop is constantly forced to react to unexpected developments and threats. Swiftly moving from gritty war epic to philosophical debate to claustrophobic horror, each presented with a different perspective, also cleverly serves to keep the reader on the back foot.

For what is ostensibly a spiritual journey, HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING is profoundly concerned with the flesh. The Bishop is not allowed to cleanly and luminously flit from scene to allegorical scene as an incorporeal soul. No, the Bishop is very much confined to his physical form. Over the course of his journey he is scraped, burned, pierced, torn, raked, abraded, bruised, lanced, and gouged. His corpus is constantly soiled with blood, sweat, dust, filth, and other distasteful stains. Although the underground imbues him with supernatural resilience, every footstep of progress he makes is nevertheless paid for in blood and perspiration. While he is still preoccupied with questions of sin and spiritual salvation, both the Bishop and the reader are constantly reminded of the fleshly vehicle he uses to navigate the underworld. This felt like a calculated rejection of philosophical dualism. Holder seems to suggest that the body and the soul cannot be separated, you carry your body and its weight with you. Even in Hell, a twisted ankle is a setback.

HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING succeeds in fulfilling Keen Blades’ stated objective of pushing the boundaries of Sword & Sorcery. The battle mayhem of Part I and the bizarre cityscape of Part III showcase deliver the kind of exciting martial action and phantasmagorical imagery present in much of the best Sword & Sorcery fiction. But the novella also demonstrates a pensiveness uncommon in the subgenre, however. Michael Moorcock’s stories often toy with philosophical themes, but it’s difficult to imagine him dedicating a third of a book to a Socratic dialogue. Otherworldly journeys figure prominently in C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry tales, but without the Middle Ages-flavored religiosity of HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING. Rather than core Sword & Sorcery fans, I would be quicker to recommend this book to readers who enjoyed the grimdark medieval horror of Christopher Buehlman’s BETWEEN TWO FIRES. HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING may sit uneasily in the Sword & Sorcery category, but the grit, fast pace, propulsive action, and hallucinatory imagery are likely to appeal to S&S fans, nonetheless.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #HistoricalFantasy #DarkFantasy #Grimdark #HurledHeadlongFlaming #MattHolder #NewEdgeSwordAndSorcery #NESS

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on November 29, 2011.

Night's Master

By Tanith Lee – DAW – November 1, 1978

Review by Robin Marx

First in the Tales of the Flat Earth series, this book is often compared to the 1001 Arabian Nights. While a collection of exotic stories, each linked to its predecessor, the stories are not nested and don't have a particularly Arabian flavor. I was reminded more of classical mythology and Grimm's fairy tales than the Middle East. This is a minor quibble, however, as the stories are enchanting and lush.

“Lush” has always been the best word to describe Tanith Lee's melancholic and erotically-tinged fantasy. While her style isn't particularly ornate, it still evokes as much gorgeous imagery as more verbose writers such as Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance. In the field of darkly romantic fantasy, newcomer Jacqueline Carey seems to be getting much of the publicity, but those familiar with both are likely to recognize that Carey is merely rearranging furniture in the house that Tanith Lee built. The Flat Earth was the most compelling fantasy world I've encountered in some time, and I look forward to visiting it again in the next book.

★★★★☆

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #SwordAndSorcery #Fantasy #DarkFantasy #TanithLee #NightsMaster #TalesOfTheFlatEarth

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 22, 2012.

Battle in the Dawn: The Complete Hok the Mighty

By Manly Wade Wellman – Paizo Publishing – November 17, 2010

Review by Robin Marx

The premise of the Hok the Mighty stories is simple, yet compelling. Hok is a Cro-Magnon, the strongest and cleverest of his kind. Possessed of a more daring nature than his clan-mates, he ranges further than anyone, coming into contact with a variety of interesting peoples (frequently hostile Neanderthals, but also rival tribes and even Atlanteans) and prehistoric monsters.

Hok is repeatedly referred to as “humanity's first hero”, and the fact that everything he does is a first (building the first bow, inadvertently forging the first sword) adds to the excitement. Another fun twist is that Manly Wade Wellman subscribed to the belief that every fable has a hint of truth to it. He alludes to the fact that Hok's mighty deeds are the origin of the Hercules myth by placing him in a desperate struggle with some primitive beast, and then pointing out through a footnote how, distorted and exaggerated by retelling, that battle came to be known as one of Hercules' Labors. It's a minor storytelling trick, but it adds mythic resonance.

The Hok stories are solid entries in the pulp fantasy canon. While not quite as visceral as Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, his adventures compare favorably with the Tarzan tales.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on April 5, 2012.

The Leopard Mask

By Kurimoto Kaoru – Hayakawa Bunko – September 30, 1979

Review by Robin Marx

(I read this book in the original Japanese, so I can't speak to the quality of the English translation.)

This is the first volume in a 130+ volume series of Japanese heroic fantasy. The series began in 1979, ending prematurely with the author's death of pancreatic cancer in 2009. Although Kurimoto herself was influenced by classic English-language sword & sorcery writers (Robert E. Howard, Henry Kuttner, and Clark Ashton Smith are some of the mentioned in the book's afterword), her own long-running series went on to have a considerable impact on Japan's fantasy fiction. The creator of the Berserk manga, Miura Kentarou, cites Guin Saga as a primary source of inspiration, for example.

I'm a dedicated fan of English sword & sorcery, and I picked up this book because I wanted to see what the Japanese variety was like. Heroic fantasy (as opposed to Tolkien-style epic or high fantasy) gained popularity in Japan in the 70s and early 80s, just as the US was undergoing its own sword & sorcery revival with paperback Conan pastiches, Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series, etc. Although it seems like there were a number of Japanese writers active in the field at the time (mainly established SF writers trying their hand at S&S, apparently), to my knowledge Guin Saga was the only one with any sort of long-term longevity. Unlike its contemporaries, Guin Saga remains in print. Even with the death of its creator, it continues to grow, with new Guin Saga World anthologies released seasonally.

Reading through the first volume, I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag. True to the sword & sorcery genre it features an exciting main character, an intriguing villain, and a fair amount of violent action (there's even an arena fight with a giant gray ape). However, the story is hindered by some pacing problems, weak supporting characters, and prose that tends towards the bland side of things.

The main character is a leopard-headed man named Guin. He wakes up half-dead in a haunted forest with no memories other than his name and the word “Aula,” which could refer to either a person or a place. He's powerfully built, and discovers that he's an expert fighter. He doesn't seem to be from any of the neighboring countries, and nobody has seen a creature like him. He's not a leopard-man—he doesn't have a furry body, claws, etc.—he's just a human with a bestial head. There are suggestions that he didn't always used to be this way, and that it may be the result of some curse. Rock on. Guin captured my interest right away. We don't learn any more about his past through the course of this book, that's likely hinted at in subsequent books, but we know enough.

In the other corner we have the Black Count Varnon. He rules a small keep in the wilderness, leading a group of knights who are both loyal and terrified of their lord. Varnon is afflicted with a rotting disease—a curse resulting from previous misdeeds—and must always wear bandages and a completely sealed suit of black armor. He's ominous, reclusive, and—should his armor be breached—very contagious.

Unfortunately, the book's other characters are less appealing. No sooner has Guin woken up in the forest when he's immediately saddled with Rinda and Remus, twin siblings and the fleeing teenage heirs to a recently conquered country. Sister Rinda is haughty and overbearing, while secretly insecure. Her brother Remus is a weak, simpering waste of skin. Both characters seem to exist to cower behind Guin, shrieking in fear whenever something spooky occurs. They're a burden, both on Guin and the plot. Throughout the book I hoped Guin would resolve their problems and send them on their way, but alas, it seems that the Wonder Twins are to be recurring characters and a major part of subsequent volumes. (Incidentally, useless child companions have become a regrettably big part of the Berserk manga, too.)

The pacing of the book has issues as well. There are large portions of the book where the focus is taken away from both Guin's derring-do and the Black Count's villainy, instead dwelling on Rinda (acting imperious) or Remus (crying and/or being afraid). These are the parts of the story that drag.

Despite a meandering second act, however, the climax recovers every bit of the excitement found in the first part of the story. While I can't recommend it unreservedly, I saw enough potential in the series that I've gone ahead and purchased the second and third volumes. I'm not sure I'll want to stick with it for all 130 volumes (and the additional 22 gaiden side-stories and anthologies), but we'll see how it goes. Lots of great series have shaky first installments, and (judging from its place of honor in Japan's fantasy fiction canon) I suspect the Guin Saga may be one of them.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 25, 2018.

Swords Against Death

By Fritz Leiber – Ace Books – 1970

Review by Robin Marx

Another indispensable installment in one of the most important sword & sorcery series ever.

Interestingly, most of the stories contained in this volume take place far from the city of Lankhmar. Instead we're given a wide-ranging tour of many distant locales scattered across Nehwon. While it was written much later than most of the stories contained here, “The Circle Curse” provides an interesting justification for Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser to quit Lankhmar (to free themselves of ghosts from their past) while promising that they'll inevitably return. It also introduces the pair's wizardly patrons, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. The two wizards are absent from most stories that follow, which I found interesting. My—apparently spotty—recollection had them providing the impetus for a much higher percentage of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser's adventures.

The stories included herein are all entertaining, but some are better than others. Leiber exhibits a frustrating tendency to step back into a vague, impressionistic style at the climax of the story. “The Bleak Shore” is one example of this. Most of the story (involving a curse driving the heroes to the titular Bleak Shore, where death awaits) is presented with a great deal of detail, but when it becomes time for the heroes to dispatch the cause of the curse, the narrative suddenly becomes much more fuzzy and indistinct.

Most of the stories are incredibly fun, however. “The Seven Black Priests” involves religious hermits' incredibly dogged pursuit of the heroes' mostly inadvertent theft of their sacred artifact. “Claws from the Night,” a story about jewel-filching birds, benefits from unlikely schemes, humorous characterization, and some vivid Lankhmarese worldbuilding.

This volume concludes with two of the strongest stories in the entire Lankhmar canon: “The Price of Pain-Ease” and “Bazaar of the Bizarre.” “The Price of Pain-Ease” begins with one of the most audacious and memorable heists in the series—our heroes steal a house—and concludes with their journey into the underworld in an effort to literally rid themselves of ghosts from their past.

“Bazaar of the Bizarre” is, for my money, one of the best sword & sorcery stories of all time. It has a deliciously intriguing and baroque setting in Lankhmar's Plaza of Dark Delights, a unique threat in the form of the extra-dimensional merchant Devourers (with a bit of pointed commentary about consumerism), a memorable battle between Fafhrd and the Iron Statue, snappy prose, and grin-inspiring characterization. If a friend wanted an introduction to the sword & sorcery subgenre, this single story is what I'd hand them, passing over even Conan and Elric.

All fantasy fans owe it to themselves to read these stories.

★★★★★

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 11, 2018.

Swords and Deviltry

By Fritz Leiber – Ace Books – 1970

Review by Robin Marx

The start of one of the best sword & sorcery series ever created.

While I personally feel that sword & sorcery heroes don't really need origin stories (Conan did fine without one), there are three presented here. “The Snow Women” introduces Fafhrd, “The Unholy Grail” focuses on The Gray Mouser, and “Ill Met in Lankhmar” shows how the two heroes joined forces.

“Ill Met in Lankhmar” is an absolute classic in the genre, and is a delight to read and re-read. While it left me cold, so to speak, when I first encountered it as a teenager, I gained a whole new appreciation of “The Snow Women” and the fraught gender politics contained within as a married adult.

I found “The Unholy Grail” to be the weakest of the three stories, and that's particularly disappointing given that The Gray Mouser is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. His origin story is pretty flat and disappointing. He starts off as a magician's apprentice little different from those seen in many other fantasy stories, and there's little hint of the wry sybaritic thief he becomes in the later stories. The ending has a hint of deus ex machina to it, as well. That being said, it's not a bad story, it's just not as good as its companions.

One thing that struck me during this reread was how Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser's ill-fated lady loves are presented in the stories here. It threw me off a bit when I was a teenager, but Fafhrd's Vlana and Mouser's Ivrian are not the idealized women so often portrayed in fantasy fiction. Vlana has been around the block a few times, and she displays a mercenary tendency to attach herself to any strong-seeming man that can advance her agenda. When Fafhrd calls her out on this, she immediately shuts him down, telling him that he hasn't a clue how hard it has been for her in a male-dominated world. Ivrian, on the other hand, is a bit frail and silly, and her presentation put me in mind of chivalric love, making me think that maybe the Mouser didn't love her so much as he did the IDEA of her and having an audience for his gallantry.

These stories are classics in the field, and worthwhile reads for any fantasy fan.

★★★★★

#CapsuleReviewArchive #BookReview #SwordAndSorcery #Fantasy #FritzLeiber #SwordsAndDeviltry #Lankhmar #FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 10, 2022.

Skallagrim – In The Vales Of Pagarna

By Stephen R. Babb – Hidden Crown Press – March 7, 2022

Review by Robin Marx

This adventurous novel begins with a bang. A bang and a slash, to be more precise, as a thief named Skallagrim is clubbed on the back of his skull immediately prior to having his face slashed open. As he regains his senses, Skallagrim quickly realizes that he’s in a back alley fight for his life. A sorcerer screams directions at his henchmen to subdue Skallagrim while bundling a terrified maiden that Skallagrim faintly recognizes as his beloved into the back of a wagon. Other than that, his memory is blank. Just as his situation is at its most desperate, he miraculously acquires an enchanted sword that nearly fights of its own accord.

Severely wounded, Skallagrim survives this battle, only to discover the nameless maiden has been abducted away into the countryside. With the help of a handful of somewhat suspect allies, including a self-professed friend he has no memory of, Skallagrim is stitched back together and pointed in the direction of the evil sorcerer’s fortress. He must journey through hostile wilderness in a race to rescue the girl before she is sacrificed in a nefarious ritual.

The story that follows is a fast-paced adventure. While the premise is pretty basic—save the girl from the wicked wizard—complications and twists are introduced along the way that add more depth to the narrative. Skallagrim learns that he’s a pawn in a greater game, and both his enemies and allies have more going on than it first appears.

Stylistically, the book is a little offbeat. The pace is quick and the action frenetic. However, Babb seems to see no reason to limit himself to Skallagrim’s point of view, instead going with a third-person omniscient perspective. The reader spends most of the time in Skallagrim’s mind, but mid-chapter or even mid-scene the perspective will slide into in the mind of someone Skallagrim is interacting with, giving insight into their thoughts or agenda. While third-party omniscient is a valid—if not currently very fashionable—perspective, here it’s mostly used to info-dump exposition that Skallagrim isn’t otherwise party to. The additional detail is welcome, as Skallagrim isn’t particularly well-traveled and he’s also suffering from the effects of amnesia, but I couldn’t help but feel it could’ve been delivered in a more elegant manner.

The prose is very vivid, to the extent that it came off a little purple at times. Early on it felt like no noun or verb was left unadorned. This impression weakened over time, however. Whether the writing relaxed a bit or I simply became accustomed to it is difficult to tell. When I was reminded that Babb is a musician and songwriter (for a fantasy-themed prog rock outfit named Glass Hammer) the slightly ostentatious prose made a bit more sense.

The initial verbosity and reliance on the hoary trope of amnesia put me off the book a bit early on, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed it. The book occupies an interesting halfway point between sword & sorcery and epic fantasy. Monster selection is straight out of Lovecraft, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ghouls, nightgaunts, and tentacled Old Man o’ the River. The intense action and high concept premise is traditional sword & sorcery, but as Skallagrim slowly becomes aware of the shadowy forces pulling strings behind the scenes, he gains a vague understanding of higher stakes and perhaps his own destiny. This adds a more epic cast to the events of the story, as well as setting the stage for sequels. I’m still not a fan of amnesiac protagonists, but I’m interested to see where Skallagrim’s journeys take him.

Recommended for fans of action-packed sword & sorcery. People who enjoy the gothic fantasy trappings of From Software games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring will also find a lot to like in the last third of the book.

★★★★☆

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