Shadowfire

4/5 stars The sequel to The Birthgrave, set some twenty years later we return to the cruel world that Karrakaz journeyed through, but this time through the eyes of her son Tuvek. Tuvek is raised among Ettook's red-headed barbarian people. He believes that he is the son of Ettook and his first wife Tat......more

First point: I much prefer the original title of this book, Vazkor, Son of Vazkor. (I also prefer the Ken Kelly art that was on my original paperback.) EDIT: So apparently, the title in the UK has always been Shadowfire, and it was changed by DAW for the US publication. But I still prefer the US t......more

Tanith Lee surprised me. I did the prototypical dumb thing and judged the book by it cover (a barbarian type holding a babe in pasties in one hand and a bloodied sword in the other) and assumed this would be another power fantasy/boy's adventure. But while Robert E. Howard's Conan series (which I ha......more

Tuvek is the son of the chief, his exotic mother from one of the dark haired tribes. His father valued his mother as a trophy, and not much more. The women in the tribe despised her and in turn the same for Tuvek. When it came time for him to go through the rites of becoming a man he feared he would......more

This is the second in the Birthgrave trilogy and takes a different approach than the first volume, also lacking the science fantasy elements that figured largely in the conclusion of that volume. As with book 1, the writing has the powerful language and imagery typical of Tanith Lee, and the strange......more