Darkness Weaves (Roc) [Import] [Paperback]

Karl Edward Wagner (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: RoC; New Ed edition (July 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140175237
• ISBN-13: 978-0140175233
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,348,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars as good as genre fiction gets, period., August 27, 2006

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king wolf (Jotunheim) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Darkness Weaves (Paperback)

Frankly, some of these reviewers don't know what they are talking about. This is the best of the Kane novels, and as such it is probably the best "dark fantasy" novel ever written.

No, it doesn't come close to having the purely literary merits of Gene Wolfe's "New Sun" books, and it doesn't have the inventive cosmology or cult following of Moorcock, but those books all have deep flaws that Wagner does not, and Wagner possesses merits that Wolfe and Moorcock lack.

It is hackneyed to describe a work of art by saying it is "a cross between such and such and such and such", but in this case it is perfectly apt. Kane is exactly halfway between Conan and H.P. Lovecraft, fusing the strengths of each and eliminating their weaknesses. Wagner combines the action, atmosphere and fast paced storytelling of Howard, adds the purple prose and supernatural subtext of Lovecraft, and delivers what for my money is the most entertaining fantasy sequence of the decade of the seventies.

And while there are no bad or even merely average Kane stories, a few of them are a little too predictable and uninventive, such as his vampire tale and his werewolf tale in "Night Winds". Not so this novel. It combines all the best elements Wagner used throughout his career into one novel that is a simply perfect representative of its genre. Kane carries out a bloody sea invasion at the behest of an evil sorceress, with plot twists galore at the end...

No, it isn't high art; no, it isn't enlightening. No, I didn't want it to be. Just pure testosterone and black magic. I loved it. So will you.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Again and again, November 3, 1997

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[e-mail] (Tokyo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkness Weaves (Paperback)

Of all the books I've read in my life, this is the one that I read more than any other. I must have read this thing 10 times over the past 10 years, I never get tired of it. Or any other Kane book for that matter. Look up anti-hero in the dictionary, there's a picture of Kane beside it. There's has never been a more fitting character for this oft-overused expression. No other sci-fi/fantasy character is more intriguing than Kane. None, nada, zilcho. He's a warrior, sorceror, general, scholar, historian, etc. Been there, done that...everything. Kane is one of the first true men who was cursed with immortality after rebelling against the insane god that created his race. Kane eventually killed his own brother Abel (Cain...Abel..get it?), who sided with their creator. Kane wanders ad infitinum, watching civilizations crumble into dust, only occasionally dropping hints about his true age to others. How do you know him? By his eyes, known as the Mark of Kane. No one can win a staredown with Kane, his piercing gaze carries the weight of untold centuries. In Darkness Weaves, Kane deals with some parts of Elder Earth even older than him. His genius as a naval commander bears heavily in the book, as well as his insane/sane mind for what he does with his hideous partner in crime. Wagner again has a smooth-flowing story that conjures a post-Stone Age, pre-Oppenheimer toy era. If you enjoy this title, check out other Kane books by their now-deceased author: Death Angel's Shadow, Night Winds, Bloodstone and Dark Crusade.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only bad thing about it is no one seems to have a copy!, August 23, 1998

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[e-mail] (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkness Weaves (Paperback)

There are four other great Kane books -Bloodstone, Death Angel's Shadow, Dark Crusade, Night Winds- this series about an immortal warrior trumps the 'Conan' series any day.