Customer Reviews

The Book of Kane

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can`t believe I`m the first person to review this epicmasterpiece. To all readers, this book is a MUST for all fantasy-fans. Wagner creates a war-torn world of great evils and greater adventures, similar to Howard`s Hyborian World, but much more realistic and threatening. Impending doom lurks on every page, and believe me, the end is almost never happy! This book is a collections of Wagner`s best novels and short stories about his dark hero, Kane who might be a good counterpart to all those nice, princess rescuing, dragon slaying heroes you find too often in bad fantasy. Not so Kane: he loves to plunder, raid and rape and often he raises armies to invade peaceful kingdoms. But he`s not a simple brute, but owns a piercing intelligence apart from a muscular bulk of a body. The thing is, Kane, wether he acts as general, corsair or necromancer, he`s not evil, but only after his own advantage and if he can be persuaded, he also fights for good purposes. This makes him so realistic and the reader can identify himself with Kane, of course also due to Wagner`s fantastic ability of storytelling, unmatched by all writers of fantasy today, perhaps except for George R. Martin`s Game of Thrones. Believe me, I`ve read them all, Goodkind or Jordan, to name two, and they couldn`t touch Wagner with a very long stick. Thank you.

Kane is the original bad boy, in the biblical sense. Doomed and cursed he wanders the world, immortal. He gets into all sorts of trouble, often deliberately, and believes in his own ability to get him out of things. Definitely much more of an anti-hero type, as opposed to the more virtuous Solomon Kane. A bunch of stories here.


Kane : Reflections for the Winter of My Soul - Karl Edward Wagner
Kane : Misericorde - Karl Edward Wagner
Kane : The Other One - Karl Edward Wagner
Kane : Sing a Last Song of Valdese - Karl Edward Wagner
Kane : Raven's Eyrie - Karl Edward Wagner

Kane, trying to shake off pursuers in frozen weather is helped to shelter by a woman.

However, her father's manor will come under assault by a werewolf.

3.5 out of 5


A woman hires Kane to kill the clan that killed the thieving lover she sent to her death. It is more complicated than it seems, however.

3.5 out of 5


Kane isn't keen on the tradition that says he must burn on the king's funeral pyre, considering he is his high ranking official.

3 out of5


A wizard's ritual plot doesn't quite work out.

3 out of 5


Kane, injured and barely conscious and the last of his decimated outlaw band head for shelter at an inn. No love for them there, bounty hunters close, and the Demonlord in the shadows.

4 out of 5

This book is by far the best book I have ever read. Kane is the greatest character of all time. Kane is a dark hero not some prissy wimp. I have also read some of the Conan books and I think compared to Kane Conan is a choir boy.