Customer Reviews

Star of Doom (Red Sonja, Book 6)

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In this the sixth, and final, novel in the series, Red Sonja not only battles an evil cult that has managed to capture a shooting star, she also falls in love. As with all sword and sorcery novels, you get the standard fantasy elements. I.E. a witch who can steal souls and trap them in monsterous bodies, power mad sorcerers out to destroy the world, etc. However, the most fantastic element of this novel is that the authors expect us to buy Red Sonja falling in love with her dweeb sidekick. It is just totally unbelievable that she would fall for this sensitive swordsman/sorcerer in training. The relationship is so forced, that it weakens the story whenever the two characters are together, which is about 85% of the time. Having Red Sonja fall in love isn't a bad idea, it just should have been with somebody that the readers could accept for her. As it stands, what should have been Sonja's final blaze of glory, winds up being an ember of mediocrity. As with all Red Sonja novels, this item is no longer in print and requirs some searching for. If readers are diligent in their search, they will be well rewarded, if not by the story, then by the beautiful cover painting by Borris.

A tip for young boys.

If a red headed woman with a sword, and wearing not much mail is anywhere near you, leave, quickly.

Sonja falls in with another mendicant sword. However, there is a twist.

Yep, it turns out this one is the son of a demon sorcerer. They both get involved in a siege against a fortress of priests. Yes, the sorcerous kind. The star in question is basically a meteor that fell to earth, which just happened to contain an elder godlet. Head priest of fortress-that-minded-its-own-business-for-centuries goes starkers trying to deal, war with local village ensues for a decade.

Sonja, after actually allowing the other mendicant to slip her the tongue without removing any of his appendages, has him die, after dealing with a swamp witch, and freeing yet another sorcerer, and having a bit more of a go at siegery.

At the end, she is off on her travels again, just as you would expect.