Brak the Barbarian [Hardcover]

John JAKES (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Avon (1968)
• ASIN: B0018DRFS8
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's the sound you make, April 17, 2000

By 

Jon Hancock (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brak: The Barbarian (Paperback)

Brak - It's the sound you make when trying to clear something unpleasant from your throat; and in this case it's awfully apt. The renewed interest in swords and sorcery fiction in the 1960's led to many exciting and worthwhile additions to and expansions of the field. Michael Moorcock turned the genre on its head, while the likes of Karl Edward Wagner developed interesting twists on the established ideas. And somewhere along the line John Jakes made it into print with the most staggeringly derivative, thoroughly uninteresting series you'll find on my bookshelf. I bought the lot at a clearing house for a few pennies and still feel that I overpayed. Wander blindfolded into any bookshop and select a volume at random: it will certainly be head and shoulders above Brak. These are stories you might classify as "sub-Conan" and they try desperately hard to capture the spirit and feel of Howard's best, but in the end read like fan fiction. Trust me on this - life is too short to be spent reading Brak.

4.0 out of 5 stars Brak the Barbarian, October 23, 2011

By 

qorraq - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brak the Barbarian (Audio Cassette)

This in some early John Jakes, before he got big with the historical fiction and was doing the sci-fi/fantasy stuff. I've been a fan of the Character for nearly forty years and really enjoyed Zelazny's reading. His brak is just a step away from R.E. Howards classic fantasy characters. A good read and fun to listen to.

3.0 out of 5 stars Pulp fiction? Yeah..., September 23, 2011

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Brak: The Barbarian (Paperback)

1960's white male fantasy. Lovely women, hot grease covered chunks of meat, huge broadsword, a half-naked warrior, battles, blood, EVIL! You get the picture. A book full of short stories - Brak was tossed out of his homeland for making fun of their Gods. Now him and his huge sword roam south, towards paradise called Khurdisan. How do you even SAY that? He gets in trouble with an Evil God that sounds like something out of Lovecraft and spends most of his time saving people and doing good.
A good story if you do not wish to think and want second-rate fantasy by a author who loved Conan, The Mouser and Fafhrd, and Cugel - whoever that is.