Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Buy all 5 now and save yourself a trip, March 31, 2002
The Darwath Series, comprised now (year 2002) of 5 books, begins with "The Time of the Dark," a rather simply-worded kind of title, but one that has a gripping story.
The very first page of the book grips the reader with steel-gauntleted hands - a woman finds herself running barefoot through a moon-lit gray-tiled courtyard. It's night, but men and women race past her dressed in bed clothes or without clothes, faces filled with terror...
Imagine if one day, all throughout the world, hordes of black floating monsters poured out of well-known, and long-thought-abandoned caverns to feed on humanity and destroy civilization? Imagine they would depart at daybreak only to return the next night, and the next.
This is precisely the situation this alternate world is in that Gil and Rudy are dragged into. As humanity and all of civilization crumbles, the survivors flee. The lucky ones reach the ancient Keeps, fortresses made 3000 years in the past and inpregnable to any force. In these Keeps they must stay for the rest of their lives, and their childrens' lives - able to come out only during the daylight.
I read the trilogy when I was a teenager and then 12 years later returned to these books only to find out that Hambly had written an additional two books. What a joyful discovery. My only misgiving is that there is not enough written. Hambly could write a dozen books on this one universe and just begin to flesh out all the characters, situations, and details.
I'd suggest buying the first book. If you like it, then you might as well break down and get the other 4, because you're gonna love them!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Start of It All, December 31, 2008
The Time of the Dark (1982) is the first fantasy novel of the Darwath trilogy. It is set within an alternate timeline where the Dark live underground and come out every few millennia to destroy the current civilization. Unlike our timeline, magic is readily available to those with the proper talents and wizards are rare, yet highly visible.
In this novel, Gil Patterson is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Medieval History at UCLA. She is separated from her family by the strength of her purpose, but is determined to get her doctorate. Yet she has bad dreams.
Ingold Inglorion is a wizard, specialist on the Void and the Dark. He had warned the King that the Dark was returning and was banished from the kingdom for his message. When Eldor became King, Ingold was welcomed back and preparations were made for the return of the mostly immaterial predators known as the Dark.
Altir Endorion is the last Prince of the House of Dare. He is barely six months old. Hopefully he will have more memories of his ancestors than does his father Eldor. Maybe such memories will include those from the early days of the last Dark uprising. His subjects need such information to defeat the menace.
Rudy Solis is a mechanic and an artist of detailing, adding sunsets to vans and flames to motorcycles. He is also a motorcyclist, but does not belong to any gang. He is returning from a beer run when he meets Ingold and Gil.
In this story, Gil dreams of Darwath during a riot of panicked citizens being hunted by the Dark. Then she is no longer dreaming, but really there in Gae, the capital of the realm. Ingold notices her and tells her to return to her dream. Then she wakes up back in her apartment.
These bad dreams would be less troublesome if they didn't seem so real. Then she has another dream where she is fleeing from living shadows and she wakes with bleeding feet. Finally, she wakes in the wee hours of the morning and finds Ingold sitting at her kitchen table.
Rudy nurses a sick Chevy to a cabin in the desert hills for shelter from the cold. The car finally dies a hundred yards from the cabin. He breaks a window to get in and settles down for the night. He will check out the engine in the morning.
Next day, the Chevy is found to need a new fuel pump. As he is walking in disgust toward the cabin, a haze like hot air forms in front of him, then an old man steps out with a sword in one hand and a baby in the other. Rudy reckons that he is having a delirium from all the muscatel and beer.
Ingold introduces himself and Altir to Rudy. After some conversation -- during which Rudy figures either he or Ingold is crazy -- Gil arrives with supplies, including diapers for Altir. Rudy is not impressed by Gil at first, for she seems to be a rather cold-blooded woman. But he gradually develops respect for her knowledge, ability and will.
That night, they are attacked by a Dark that had followed Ingold across the Void. They use fire and Ingold's sword to defend themselves from the Dark. After the final explosion, they find themselves in the realm of Darwath.
This tale strands Gil and Rudy in Darwath. They find friends and even lovers among the refugees fleeing the Dark. Despite some initial disputes with Ingold, the remaining nobles decide to follow him to the Keep of Dare, an ancient structure used to protect the population from the last incursion of the Dark.
Various of the characters are interesting, especially Minalde, who becomes Rudy's lover. Some, however, are fairly despicable, including Alwir, Alde's arrogant and cold brother. At least the human opponents are worth detesting, but the Dark is only horrifying.
This is the first novel by Barbara Hambly. It was obviously written by a student of Medieval History. But she is also clearly a student of humanity. Enjoy!
Highly recommended for Hambly fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of cold steel, carnivorous shadows, and applied wizardry.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What if your worst nightmare came true?, February 19, 1997
By A Customer
This book, first of four, concerns a young graduate student, Gil, who finds that her nightmares of people fleeing in panic from an almost-unseen, hideous evil, are not fantastic dreams: she is standing in the doorway to another world. Gil and Rudy, a biker-gang hanger-on who's in the wrong place at the wrong time, are reluctantly drawn into this other world where they must fight for their lives. Their new friends, including the warrior known as the Icefalcon, the wizard Ingold Inglorion, the newly-widowed Queen Minalde, and her infant son Altir, depend on the newcomers for the valuable information *they don't even know they possess.* Great characters, plus the author writes convincing dialog well
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