An Interesting And Popular Saga That, Somehow, I've Missed

The Bloody Sun is not only the first Darkover novel I’ve read; it’s also the first novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley I’ve ever read. After reading it, I can see that I’ve missed out on a lot of good stuff.

This is the story of Jeff Kerwin, who is half-Terran and half-Darkovan. He was raised by Terrans, but as an adult, he returns to Darkover, the planet he thinks of as home. Once there, he learns that he is descended from the Darkovan lords and is heir to their psychic abilities. He is soon accused of betraying Darkover to his Terran masters.

This book is extremely exciting. There are fight scenes, several mysteries, and a surprise twist that even I didn’t see coming. It’s definitely interesting enough to make me put the rest of the Darkover novels on my want list. Just about the only bad thing I have to say about this book is that it’s no longer available except in an omnibus edition—I was lucky enough to get my copy second hand. Anyway, I love omnibus editions, so I’d recommend buying it. I give The Bloody Sun 5 yo-yos.

Up next, The Book of Years, Volume 1

The Dead and the Undead

Vamphyri! is the second book in Brian Lumley’s popular Necroscope seriesI had previously read, and immensely enjoyed, volume 1, Necroscope. While I didn’t think this book was quite as good as its predecessor, I still thought it was exceptionally good.

This book tells the story of Harry Keogh, the vampiric Yulian Bodescu, and the British and Russian ESP spy groups. As the novel begins, Harry—the necroscope—is slightly dead, and sharing the body of his infant son. He discovers that the vampires, who he believed had been exterminated in the previous book, were not quite gone yet. Yulian Bodescu had been infected with the vampiric taint while still in the womb, making hm a half vampire. Now the ghost of the master vampire Thibor Ferenczy plans to use Yulian to return to life, but with the combined help of the two ESP branches, Harry tries to destroy the vampires once and for all.

As I said, I didn’t like this book quite as much as the original, mainly because Harry wasn’t in it quite as much. However, this book does have much of interest. We get the life story of Thibor Herenczy and his maker. We get to know other members of the British psychic spies. We get to meet a vampire who’s even more horrible than the one from the last book. The plot is excellent, and the writing is well up to par.

I definitely think this book is well worth reading, though you should definitely read the first volume first. I give this book 4.5 yo-yos.



Up next, I'm reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's Bloody Sun.

Wow!

I just finished The nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino, and I am very impressed. I'd never actually heard of Calvino before, but I stumbled across this book at a book sale, and since it was only $1, I bought it. Now I feel like one of those people who by an old painting in a junk store for a few bucks and later on find out it's worth thousands of dollars.

Before I get any farther I'd like to point out that these stories were originally written in Italian, and this edition is translated. I can't say with absolute certainty how much of my enjoyment comes from Calvino and how much comes from the translator. I'm going to assume that most (if not all) of it comes from Calvino.

This book contains two fantasy novellas. The first is "The nonexistent Knight," the story of an animated suit of armor called Sir Agilulf. He is a paladin in Charlemagne's army, who gained the knighthood by rescuing a noble virgin from rape. Another knight claims that the noblewoman was not a virgin and therefore Sir Agilulf is not a knight. So, Sir Agilulf goes off to search for the woman.

"The Cloven Viscount" is the story of a viscount who is bisected by a cannonball during a war. Only his right half returns home, but that half is evil. He sets about being wicked and eventually falls in love. Soon his other (good) half returns and falls in love with the same girl. Eventually, they fight it out.

Both stories were exciting and humorous. I found all the characters to be interesting and well fleshed out. My favorite character had to be Sir Agilulf's squire Gurduloo, who seemed to be either a lunatic or a nature spirit. I also found it interesting that Calvino made the viscount's left half the good half, when the left is usually viewed as sinister; it makes me wonder if Calvino was left handed.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this book. It gets 5 yo-yos.


Up next, I'll be reading Brian Lumley's Vamphyri!. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should read next (see previous post), please leave a comment. In fact, if anyone is reading this, please leave a comment.