Night's Master [Hardcover]

Tanith Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

NIGHT'S MASTER is the first book of the stunning arabesque high fantasy series Tales from the Flat Earth, which, in the manner of The One Thousand and One Nights, portrays an ancient world in mythic grandeur via connected tales.

Long time ago when the Earth was Flat, beautiful indifferent Gods lived in the airy Upperearth realm above, curious passionate demons lived in the exotic Underearth realm below, and mortals were relegated to exist in the middle. Azhrarn, Lord of the Demons and the Darkness, was the one who ruled the Night, and many mortal lives were changed because of his cruel whimsy. And yet, Azhrarn held inside his demon heart a profound mystery which would change the very fabric of the Flat Earth forever...

Come within this ancient world of brilliant darkness and beauty, of glittering palaces and wondrous elegant beings, of cruel passions and undying love.

Discover the exotic wonder that is the Flat Earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Lush imagery, sensual language and erotic undertones age well in this reprinted classic-as complex, seductive, and daring now as when it first came out in 1978. The award-winning Lee (Tempting the Gods) weaves a colorful tapestry of words as she laces together eighteen tales of the Flat Earth, where dismissive gods regard humanity as a mistake and capricious demons toy with mortals to while away the centuries. Though the cast changes every few stories, Azhrarn, Prince of Demons and Lord of Darkness, remains a constant presence, affecting mortal lives both directly and indirectly. From adopting a human infant for his own inscrutable reasons, to bringing down an over-ambitious king and challenging the gods for the fate of the world, Azhrarn's mark on the world stretches over the centuries and leaves no one untouched by the end. Themes of love and hate, truth and lies, beauty and ugliness are intertwined against a mythic backdrop that borrows adeptly from fairy tales and folklore while drawing inspiration from Oscar Wilde and the Arabian Nights. Eschewing a conventional plotline in favor of short stories sharing common elements and overlapping characters, this fantasy continues to push boundaries and challenge expectations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: TaLeKa (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160762043X
• ISBN-13: 978-1607620433
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Magical..., September 14, 2001

By 

axel (Roskilde, DK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nights Master (Hardcover)

...and you have the strange feeling that you are reading something that is a dream, and yet it is so magical and fairytalish, but in a dark and twisted way.

In this book we meet the Prince of Demons, Azhrarn, who plots and schemes to his own dark ends. He is an evil, selfish antagonist, and yet Sivesh, his adopted son is the 'good guy', falls prey to his evilness and in the end...

The book is written like a myth, with strange and wonderful things like silver collars woven of tears, and demon horses that ride the night...

Enjoy it!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong prose and a richly imagined world, April 30, 2001

By 

S. Gustafson "Holy Roman Emperor" (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nights Master (Hardcover)

Fantasy, ultimately, depends on description to carry it. The more alien the landscapes and psychologies an author wishes to describe, the more she must rely on her style and vocabulary to carry it off.

-Night's Master- kicks off the Flat Earth series, about a richly imagined, glittering, world of cruel and proud daemons. What ultimately carries off the story of Azhrarn is Tanith Lee's strong prose style. You can tell that she must have been the victim of a classical education.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tanith Lee's BEST, June 26, 1998

By 

Kate Lawrence - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nights Master (Hardcover)

Tanith Lee weaves tales of demons and mortals in ways that are familiar, yet with such singular and unexpected twists that even the most well-read fan of this genre will find her work refreshing. The entire Flat Earth series is at once terrible and wonderful. What is it like to be the Prince of Demons? What would happen if a mortal suddenly was given immortality? What would the Prince of Darkness do if suddenly he had no humans to torment, much as he might despise them? All these are questions that Lee is not afraid to pose through her characters from commoners to kings; from demons to gods so strange we can scarce comprehend them. With powers of description that are as evocative as Joseph Conrad's, and with the ability to paint characters in the style of a Charles Dickens, she spins a tapestry of events that binds these series of self-standing tales into a marvelous whole. Is it any wonder I highly recommend her work? Get all five of the Flat Earth series. If you are like me, you will find yourself reading them time and again.