The Book of the Damned (Secret Books of Paradys) [Paperback]

Tanith Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997 | Series: Secret Books of Paradys (Book 1)

Popular fantasy author Tanith Lee is at her Gothic, haunting best, creating an atmosphere charged with horror, eroticism, and decadence. In this first volume of The Secret Books of Paradys, Lee begins the search for a demonic creature seemingly impervious to sword, conjuring, or prayer. Readers won't want to miss number two in the series, THE BOOK OF THE BEAST.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- Three bizarre, spellbinding novellas comprise the first volume of this series. "Stained with Crimson" is an erotic, horror-filled vampire tale. In "Malice in Saffron," a young girl exacts vengeance against men as a result of being brutally raped, but then tells of her eventual redemption and horrible self-sacrifice. "Empires of Azure" is a grim tale of death and sorcery. The unifying element is the setting: the magical French city of Paradys during the medieval era. Lee's superb imagination and her creative use of language to convey mood has generated three fantastic tales, but they are definitely not for the faint-hearted.
- Pat Royal, Crossland High School, Camp Springs, MD
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

United by their setting in the ethereal, lost city of Paradys, three stories of classic horror open windows onto a world of shadowy and elusive creatures of the netherworlds. Lee's seductive prose and sensitivity to nuance restore the "atmosphere" to a genre too easily overwhelmed by gore. First published in Britain, this title belongs in most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879516976
• ISBN-13: 978-0879516970
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,546,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre, compelling, and original!, August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of the Damned (Secret Books of Paradys) (Paperback)

First in the Paradys Tetralogy, "The Book of the Damned" is a three-part exploration into the dark, decadent, and thoroughly bizarre (but completely enjoyable) world of Paradys, something of an alternate-world Paris steeped in sorcery and darkness since its earliest days.

The first story, "Stained With Crimson," is a less-than-conventional vampire tale. Andre St. Jean, a poet living in Paradys shortly after the Revolution, becomes the owner of a ruby ring in the shape of a scarab and is shortly thereafter introduced to the owner of the ring, the beautiful Antonina Scarabin. His obsession with Antonina leads to her death and his...and their dual gender-bending resurrection as Anthony and Anna. Pursued becomes pursuer, predator becomes prey, and it all grows surreal and cyclical. While not my personal favorite of the three, the story is excellent. The language, rich with color, is descriptive and disturbing; the reader views Andre/Anna's story through the poet's dream-darkened eyes. "Stained With Crimson" is expertly told, dark and ironic, and maintains its dreamlike quality up to and past the last line of the story.

The second novella, "Malice in Saffron" is my personal favorite of the three and, to tell the truth, one of my all-time favorite short stories. Taking place in medieval times, it follows a young woman named Jehanine from her country farm, where she is raped by her brutal step-father, to the City Paradys, where her disbelieving brother Pierre--gifted with a topaz cross by the same doting father that so abused Pierre's sister--rejects her violently. She is then led by a mysterious dwarf into a bizarre double life: by day she lives as Jhane in the Nunnery of the Angel, a quiet female penitent; by night she is Jehan, a beautiful and cruel young man who leads a gang of thieves and cutthroats to greater and greater atrocities. When the Black Death comes to Paradys, Jehanine is forced to confront the conjunction of her two lives...add a holy vision, an enigmatic, and a bizarre redemption, and you have some idea of the complexity of Jehanine's story. Stark, painful, and ultimately beautiful, "Malice in Saffron" is a fascinating tale that deserves at least two re-readings: once for the story and once to understand it, or at try and unravel the stunning weave Tanith Lee has set before you.

The last story, "Empires of Azure," is a ghost story set in 1930's Paradis, but hearkening back to a time when the city was known as Par Dis, a community of silver mines at the fringe of the Roman Empire. Told through the eyes of a journalist, a young woman who uses the male pseudonym St. Jean--a tribute to Andre St. Jean of the first story--"Empires of Azure" follows Louis de Jenier, a cross-dresser who moves into a house said to be haunted by the girl who was murdered there years ago. In time, the house with its blue-stained windows yields up two things to Louis: a spider-shaped earring made of sapphires, and visions of Timonie, the murdered young woman. Timonie herself possessed the earring, believing it to be a link to Tiy-Amonet, an Alexandrian sorceress and the mistress to the Roman commander of Par Dis...but neither Tiy-Amonet nor Louis de Jenier are what they appear, as Mademoiselle St. Jean soon discovers. Most of the story seems distanced from the reader, as all but the very beginning and ending are Louis' actions as told by the journalist St. Jean, but the language is no less flawless and the story, despite its odd structure, holds together masterfully.

Elements from all three stories interweave among the others--the name St. Jean, the church known as Our Lady of Ashes--but the three stories are fully distinct from each other. Common elements such as gender reversals and jewelry form another set of links, as well as the triad of primary colors that provide the novellas' names. "The Book of the Damned" is a look at Paradys at three different times in its history, at the people who live in that dark and fascinating city--and a story well worth the reading. If you have a taste for darkness and flawlessly crafted prose, read "The Book of the Damned" and its three sequels. They may disturb, but they will not disappoint.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Malice in Saffron" excellent, April 7, 2002

By 

mickey (Poughkeepsie NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of the Damned (Secret Books of Paradys) (Paperback)

The Book of the Damned is perhaps the best of Tanith Lee's Books of Paradyse series, if only for the presence of the second novella, "Malice in Saffron". The first novella, "Stained with Crimson" begins with an interesting encounter, but becomes so mired in atmosphere and more atmosphere that the plot becomes indecipherable. Still, it evokes such a sense of hopelessness (in me at least!) that it's worth a read just to feel one's emotions tugged so. The third novella, "Empires of Azure", is less compelling. The characters feel caricatured despite Lee's typically stylish prose. It should be for "Malice in Saffron" that you buy this book. Jehanine, a peasant girl who's raped by her (step?)father, undergoes a personality split when she flees to Paradyse. Her nighttime persona of a carousing, murderous young man is a gripping portrayal of repressed rage finally unleashed. Late in the story, Lee introduces a plague to the city, and her subsequent descriptions rank with Camus, in my opinion, for depicting mass reaction to that particular fear of death (obviously, I like Lee very much). Finally, the twist of the "miracle" meal caps the story in a very satisfying manner. I think readers of various genres, fantasy, horror, even history, will get a kick out of this story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Vivid 3-in-1 Novella Collection, June 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of the Damned (Secret Books of Paradys) (Paperback)

This books is comprised of three novellas that are linked only by setting, a city called Paradys that switches era and culture from story to story. The 1st novella "Stained with Crimson" was disjointed and vague with uncompelling characterizations. Just a hazy vampire tale. The 2nd novella "Malice in Saffron" was both depraved and beautiful in a way that only Tanith Lee seems to be able to pull off. It haunted me for days afterward, this brutal tale of revenge & redemption, highlighting the state of affairs for young girls in pre-renaissance times. The characters were unforgettable, making this my favorite of the 20 or so novels I've read by her. The 3rd novella "Empires of Azure" was a fun ghost story, kind of in a classic mid-century scifi style, with the glamour and mystery of decadent 1920s Paris culture. Overall, definitely worth reading. Tanith Lee's writing is like candy.