Customer Reviews

Raum

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A friend lent me this paperback fantasy novel almost ten years ago and I still remember not being able to put it down after reading it. The story is set in The British Isles during King Arthur's court. While attempting to summon an arch-devil to do his bidding, a powerful druid mistakenly summons a minor demon lord named "Raum", who kills the druid and escapes into the countryside. Raum summons a demonic horse and rides off to explore England, and is followed everywhere by scores of crows. Eventually he meets up with errant knights of King Arthur's court who, foolishly, challenge the demon to "have ado to the utterance". Raum accepts and with little effort kills scores of knights. Soon Raum happens by a jousting tournament and once again every knight seeks to destroy him, but Raum unhorses them all and kills each one. Eventually, several Paladins (Holy Knights) show up and challenge the demon to duel, but upon seeing them Raum feels strangely repelled, yet at the same time new feeling of wonder and awe start to fill his mind - human feelings he's never experienced before. For the first time Raum feels remorse over the thought of killing a Paladin, and he does everything he can to avoid fighting them. As the story progresses Raum is contacted by his darklord and ordered to return 'home', but he disobeyes his master and stays on earth intent on becoming a Paladin! Even though he is pure evil, Raum is a knight, and he sees the Paladin as the embodyment of true perfection, and paradoxically, he attempts to attain that goal. The book deals with complex existential ideas and is ultimately a tragedy. Anyone who loves heroic fantasy and especially tales asociated with Arthurian times, should read this book, you won't be let down.

I first read this about 25 years ago. Carl Sherrell was a personal friend, and I actually got to read a typed copy before it was published (yes - typed). He wrote this story on a bet: "Can someone evil be a story's hero?" Carl said yes. He was right. Raum is a very interesting hero. Now Carl would be the first to tell you nothing about this book is historically accurate, but it was a lot of fun for him to write, and for us to read. There are also a few illustrations in the book that are quite wonderful. If you can find this book, it is worth the read.

There is also a second book in the series called Skraelings. Not quite as good IMO, but does finish up a cliff-hanger in the first. There were a few additional versions that he was working on - but he died before completing them. HOWEVER, his best book was ARCANE. Arcane is a wonderful sotry about a world that evolves quickly based upon the Tarot deck. A wonderful read. The covor was illustrated by the famous BORIS, a well know fantasy painter.

I read this book about 20 years ago, it was originally in my brother's collection. I have been searching for this book and Yeah I finally found it. Funny how this character stays in your mind and I still wonder what happened to him? Is there a second novel? Off to buy this and search for any follow up story of this character.

I remember devouring this book in high school (mid 80s) in one night (two nights at the most). So when I found it again on Amazon I had to get a copy for myself. It was just as good as I remembered.

I originally read this book about 32years ago while I was a young soldier stationed in Germany...I often thought about the book, and wondered whatever happened to the author and a possible sequel. I could not remember the author's name, but I do remember the name of the story's anti-hero, the dark, daemonic Lord Raum! If you enjoy sword and sorcery, you need to pick up this book. Trust me. You will not be dissapointed!

Read it about 20-25 years ago and never forgot it. I've been looking for it ever since. Nobody I know has ever heard of it. So happy to see it here. I will probably buy a few copies and spread them around. It's one of those obscure books that shouldn't be.