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reissak_ayrial's review
5.0
Undertow: ★★★★★
Two Suns Setting: ★★★★☆
The Dark Muse: ★★★★☆
Raven's Eyrie: ★★★★★
Lynortis Reprise: ★★★★☆
Sing a Last Song of Valdese: ★★★★☆
This is one of the few short stories books where I'd say that it didn't have a single bad story. All of them were great.
Two Suns Setting: ★★★★☆
The Dark Muse: ★★★★☆
Raven's Eyrie: ★★★★★
Lynortis Reprise: ★★★★☆
Sing a Last Song of Valdese: ★★★★☆
This is one of the few short stories books where I'd say that it didn't have a single bad story. All of them were great.
ciongolongo's review
4.0
Good Kane stories overall, some more interesting than others. Again, it was an enjoyable read. 3.5*
noachoc's review
4.0
Kane is an excellent anti-hero and these stories are excellent weird tales, weaving sword and sorcery with horror.
croaker's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
thecrankyreader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is the first of the Kane books I've read. It had several stories and some where better than others. Over all I give it 4 stars. I wish there was more back story on Kane in here. Sadly the last story had more of a back story on him then all the others. I would definitely still recommend it to any fan of Sword and Sorcery.
lanko's review
5.0
Today gritty and edgy novels have a dominant presence in Fantasy. So after reading about characters like Jorg Ancrath, Ramsay Bolton or Glokta and Bayaz, or novels like Beyond Redemption and the Night Angel Trilogy or even the bleak and depressive atmosphere of the Farseer Trilogy, I thought I had an understanding of the current power of these dark stories. Or what evil was or could be.
Enter Solomon Kane. And the word to describe him: Evil.
Based on a certain biblical myth, Kane is cursed with immortality, condemned to walk the world feared, hunted and despised. So after his immemorial terrible deed, Cain, I mean, Kane, roams the world and lives throughout the ages, doing or observing, or both, what humanity has to offer.
Right on the first story (which has a choppy structure, but everything gets so much better afterwards), Kane kills a noble lady-savior barbarian with a sword that grants protection against sorcery.
Kane is the anti-Conan. He is the anti-hero. He is evil. And right there this symbolic "fight" shows what he came for.
My favorite passage is when Kane is giving writing advice to a poet with writer's block:
"What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror."
The poet formed an easy smile:
"If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable."
Holy crap. I wish I could use that as my signature.
Since it's based on the pulp fiction of Howard's Conan, the style does show a bit of aging, despite being written almost 40 years later.
There's a lot of head hopping sometimes (or is this what they call Omniscient POV?), Kane loves to refer to himself by name in third person, and by the nature of the genre, a lot needs to be described through dialogues.
But those things are extremely minor. Kane is so much bigger than life. He may even look pragmatic, and sometimes you might even sympathize with him, then comes the nasty and evil revelation.
There's nothing really graphical on his stories, but it has such a grim, dark and hopeless atmosphere when you read it and when you really search between the lines and the meanings. Since Kane is immortal and lives centuries or millenniums, there are huge gaps in time, all left for you (or another of his books) to fill.
Solomon Kane would walk in Westeros, the Broken Empire, the Six Duchies, the First Law world like if he is in Disneyland. He would rule them all.
There's all that's needs to be said.
Read the two most liked reviews for this book. They will convince you about Kane. They totally sold it to me, and I totally bought it. And I'm glad I did it.
Enter Solomon Kane. And the word to describe him: Evil.
Based on a certain biblical myth, Kane is cursed with immortality, condemned to walk the world feared, hunted and despised. So after his immemorial terrible deed, Cain, I mean, Kane, roams the world and lives throughout the ages, doing or observing, or both, what humanity has to offer.
Right on the first story (which has a choppy structure, but everything gets so much better afterwards), Kane kills a noble lady-savior barbarian with a sword that grants protection against sorcery.
Kane is the anti-Conan. He is the anti-hero. He is evil. And right there this symbolic "fight" shows what he came for.
My favorite passage is when Kane is giving writing advice to a poet with writer's block:
"What if instead of some long-dead artist's never-finished vision of unearthy beauty, you found yourself trapped in an unhallowed nightmare from which some fever-poisoned madman awoke shrieking? The dark muse cares not whether her dreams portray ethereal beauty or mindless horror."
The poet formed an easy smile:
"If I wanted to write poems on sunshine and flowers and love, this might worry me. But you know my thoughts well enough. I'll weave my verses for the night, sing of the dark things that soar through nameless abysses - unfold the poetry of the macabre, while others prattle about little things. [...] True beauty lies in the dark side of life - in death, in the uncanny - in the grandeur of the unknown. The pure awareness of beauty is as overwhelming an emotion as blind fear; to feel inexpressible love is as soul-wrenching a sensation as to know relentless terror. When fired to the ultimate blaze, the finest emotions become one intolerable flame, and ecstasy and agony are inseparable."
Holy crap. I wish I could use that as my signature.
Since it's based on the pulp fiction of Howard's Conan, the style does show a bit of aging, despite being written almost 40 years later.
There's a lot of head hopping sometimes (or is this what they call Omniscient POV?), Kane loves to refer to himself by name in third person, and by the nature of the genre, a lot needs to be described through dialogues.
But those things are extremely minor. Kane is so much bigger than life. He may even look pragmatic, and sometimes you might even sympathize with him, then comes the nasty and evil revelation.
There's nothing really graphical on his stories, but it has such a grim, dark and hopeless atmosphere when you read it and when you really search between the lines and the meanings. Since Kane is immortal and lives centuries or millenniums, there are huge gaps in time, all left for you (or another of his books) to fill.
Solomon Kane would walk in Westeros, the Broken Empire, the Six Duchies, the First Law world like if he is in Disneyland. He would rule them all.
There's all that's needs to be said.
Read the two most liked reviews for this book. They will convince you about Kane. They totally sold it to me, and I totally bought it. And I'm glad I did it.
arthurbdd's review
3.0
Somewhat hit and miss short story collection - better than the other Kane anthology, Death Angel's Shadow, but doesn't shake the impression that the novel-length Kane stories are better than the short stories. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/the-reading-canary-tackles-the-mystic-swordsman/
czorczy's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bjswann's review
5.0
An excellent collection of Kane stories by the incredible Karl Edward Wagner.
Although most of the stories are of very high quality, two of them stand out as sublime works of brilliance. These are ‘The Dark Muse,’ in which Kane helps a decadent but obsessive poet achieve his ambition of total – and terrible – artistic mastery; and ‘Raven’s Eyrie,’ a morally twisted tale of past transgressions, reversals, surprises – and a black demon hound on the prowl. These stories, and all others in the collection, are graced by Wagner’s cinematic and often restrained storytelling style, in which horrible events and dire revelations are often left for the reader to inevitably infer. Structurally the stories are lean and concise. Wagner’s prose style, as usual, is baroque, sumptuous, and decadent, reminiscent of the best of REH with occasional shades of Clark Ashton Smith. These are not just some of the best Kane stories, but some of the best fantasy stories in general.
Although most of the stories are of very high quality, two of them stand out as sublime works of brilliance. These are ‘The Dark Muse,’ in which Kane helps a decadent but obsessive poet achieve his ambition of total – and terrible – artistic mastery; and ‘Raven’s Eyrie,’ a morally twisted tale of past transgressions, reversals, surprises – and a black demon hound on the prowl. These stories, and all others in the collection, are graced by Wagner’s cinematic and often restrained storytelling style, in which horrible events and dire revelations are often left for the reader to inevitably infer. Structurally the stories are lean and concise. Wagner’s prose style, as usual, is baroque, sumptuous, and decadent, reminiscent of the best of REH with occasional shades of Clark Ashton Smith. These are not just some of the best Kane stories, but some of the best fantasy stories in general.