Customer Reviews

The Sea of the Ravens

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4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sea of the Ravens is a wonderful book by an underappreciated master of the adventure story. The problem is where is the end of the complete tale, "Rusudan?" Is publisher Donald Grant ever going to publish it or have they lost interest just like they did with the deluxe versions of Robert E. Howard's immortal Conan of Cimmeria? A paperback version of the entire story would be very nice. Harold Lamb is ripe for discovery. A lot of his best work, found in the moldering pages of "Adventure" pulp, has never been published in book form, even in the old days! Won't someone reprint the complete Khlit stories or publidh the excellent novellas like "The Grand Cham" or "The Golden Horde?"

This book is a very disappointing experience for me. While this book is very good reading, and exciting and well written, it is not at all what I thought it was when I bought it.

The dustjacket notes expalin that this is the further adventures of Sir Hugh of Taranto, who first appeared in the novel "Durandal," written by Harold Lamb. "Durandal" is a series of three stories first published in seperate editions of Adventure Magazine, and then later published as a novel. (I've posted a review of "Durandal" on Amazon.com. Great book. Read it. You'll love it.)

But the problem with "Sea of the Ravens," is that it does not continue where "Durandal" ended. "Ravens" is part of "Durandal"--the middle part actually--just rebound and sold under a seperate cover. Maybe the publisher thinks this is a pretty funny little joke. But for [the cost], I am not laughing.

Do no buy this book. Buy and enjoy "Durandal," but avoid "The Sea of Ravens."

Harold Lamb wrote some of the best swashbuckling fiction in the last century, and is long overdue for rediscovery. Once one of the most popular writers of Adventure magazine, he is chiefly remembered today for his fine histories and biographies.

Before his days as a respected historian, though, he wrote pulse-pounding historic adventre fiction featuring complex plots and heroes with Odyssean wit. Robert E. Howard listed him as one of his favorite writers.

As another reviewer noted, this is the second portion of a trilogy (I've learned that the third part should come out in 2002) that begins with Grant's reprint of Durandal. All three stories were collected in the 30s under the title "Durandal," but as that volume is long out of print and the Donald M. Grant editions feature amazing artwork, purchasing the individual books one by one is definitely the way to go--so long as the third book is finally printed!

Let me second the wish of that reviewer from Jordan that someone reprint Lamb's Adventure fiction.