Customer Reviews

DEATH ANGEL'S SHADOW

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
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All 3 novellas this book are excellent reading. The first, about a werewolf's attack in a snowbound castle/hunting lodge is the closest I have ever seen any fantasy author get to true mystery tales of Sherlock Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle calibre. Next is an action-filled bounty hunt where "good" confronts evil. A moral study and a ripping sword and sorcery yarn woven into a mesmermizing tapestry. The last is a chilling tale of lust and vampiric possession. The emptiness this tale leaves behind is trademark Karl Edward Wagner ("Never Dessylyn" and "Last Song of Valdese" are other fine examples (Night Winds)). After years of re-reading these tales and discussing them with friends, I still cannot decide upon a favourite. Wagner's skill in describing action realistically, mystery tantalizingly and weird occult phenomena in a way that tingles are showcased in each story of this book, his crowning masterpiece of dark fantasy. If you can get your hands on a copy, pay any price. You'll enjoy reading them many times. Get the other KEW titles first (Darkness Weaves, Dark Crusade, Bloodstone and Night Winds) and save Death Angel's Shadow for the grand finale. You'll be wishing there were more stuff that was even close to this good...

This book and another Kane book "Night Winds" contain some of the best short stories and novellas ever written in the fantasy form in my opinion. I've managed to collect most of the out of print Kane books over the years and wouldn't sell for just about any price. Kane is a far better example of the "anti-hero" than Michael Moorcocks Elric that there really isn't any comparison. This particular book has 3 fantastic stories, and though I agree with the prior reviewers that the 2nd is probably the best, I also rate the 1st and 3rd among my all time favorite fantasy short stories. All-in-all, this is required reading for any fan of the fantasy genre.

A great writer involves your mind to such an extent that you lose track of time and space. You no longer are aware of anything around you. Eventually your body rebels from lack of food or sleep, you look up and realize you have to go to work in three hours. Tolkien did that to me, so does Wagner. All the other heros/anti-heros of fiction seem effete by comparison. The Werewolf story in Death Angels Shadow is the best Werewolf story ever. Why no one has made it into a movie is beyond me. I'd love to see Ridley Scott or James Cameron do it.

In an excellent twist on the Biblical story of Cain and Able, Wagner has created an immortal swordsman doomed to wander the earth sowing destruction wherever he lingers. Kane's adventurers are set in the days of Elder Earth when fantastic monsters from beyond the stars wandered the world. Kane, who has played many roles in his endless wandering (mercenary, king, wizard, poet, etc.) fights beside these creatures as often as he battles against them. "Death Angel's Shadow" tells of Kane's early journey's through the hostile dawn of our race. It makes for intrigueing reading, if you can find it. If you can, you won't be disappointed

Kane is to most fantasy as Jack the Ripper is to Disney characters. My respect and admiration for the Kane books and stories is exceeded only by my sorrow that there will be no more.

This is a compilation of three novellas. The first and last are about Vampires and Werewolves respectively. While the are good it it the second story "Cold Light" that is truely amazing. It is the story of the heroic knight who takes morality to the extreme. The question that "Cold Light" asks is; is extreme goodness worse than evil? Read "Cold Light" and find out

Karl Edward Wagner at his bizarre, nightmarish best.

Flat out.

With the possible exception of some of Robert E. Howard's work, dark fantasy just doesn't get any better than the three stories of Kane compiled and presented here.

Hunt all of Wagner's books down, spend the money (these Warner paperbacks are long out of print, and I believe the two recent compilations from Night Shade Books are now fetching outrageous prices) and spend some long, sleepless nights wrapped in devilish glee...

"Cold Light" is one of the best stories I've ever read. I've been looking for years to get another copy of this book simply to read that story again. While the other two stories in the book are very good, it is "Cold Light" which makes this a book to keep in your collection.

Some of his other stuff is good, but I probably liked these stories the very best. The one about the, um, bard was easily my favorite. He does a great job of painting a very dark world. When I read "dark fantasy" this is what I expect, not pentagrams and leather skirts. Sword and sorcery of the dark kind at its best! Get a copy if you can find it, and hope the estate sells it as an ebook soon!

This is a gem. Three stories, novella-length. Probably my favorite Kane book, I still have the poster of this cover on my wall. This book was a big influence on my early reading. The best one, I think, involves a bard and a lot of wolves....