Customer Reviews

Vazkor, Son of Vazkor

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It follows the story of the son of the witch-goddess
of the prequel, given the name Tuvek by his adoptive
parents: chieftain Ettook and city-born Tathra. His
story (at this point, in any case) is not as engrossing
as his mothers, though, as we already know his history.
Most of this book is buildup, waiting for him to
discover what we already know, that he is the son
of warlord/king Vazkor and his bride, the witch-goddess
Uastis. Tuvek discovers
that his father is not so revered in the city over
which he once reigned and brought to ruin. The people
of the city believe him to be his father reincarnated,
and imprison him. The balance of the book concerns
Tuvek/Vazkor escaping his pursuers, discovering his
powers, and vowing vengeance on his mother for killing
his father and abandoning him.
Tuvek comes across as a bit of a prick, raping and
killing his way through the tribal krarls and ruined
cities. Not as good as the
other books in this series, in fact, I recommend
skipping it and going directly to "Quest for the White
Witch" (the story is synopsized in the beginning of
that book).

This book might even be a little better if you don't read The Birthgrave first, but regardless it's a beautiful return to form as Vazkor (Tuven/Mordran - the guy has as many names as his mother) slowly frees himself from the brutal tribe where the heroine of Birthgrave left him and begins to interpret the visions that haunt his dreams. Of course, you already know that he's going to discover his heritage - including his father's bid for power and his mother's witch life - but the fun is how he's getting it all wrong. And when he dreams the same dream that the mother dreams in the first book (the one where he's calling her out and accusing her of ruining him as a warrior in a tribe about to die) it's both expected and unexpected.

Similar to the first book, this is the story of a man learning about who he is and why he's the way he is with powers that he cannot even begin to understand. He can heal fast and he can shoot white power from his eyes but he doesn't know why. In fact, he attributes these powers to his father - whose origins he only learns after the third way mark. As Tanith Lee revisits the places that the mother traveled in the first book - including the brutal tribe, the cities and the gentle people that took in the heroine towards the end of Birthgrave - you are both mesmerized and surprised that she manages to find new insights into these people through their interactions with the strange protagonist that they also consider divine. You see what's happened to them since the first book and you see them in a different perspective.

Of course, this is a middle book between the mother's story and the story of the confrontation between mother and son, but it stands well on its own. Furthermore it is one of the Tanith Lee books that really touched me emotionally. Sometimes her characters leave me cold, but in her tale of a man learning to become compassionate and decent (and still vowing to hunt down his "witch" mother) I was very moved. Definitely buy it. And if you are a publisher, make this woman an offer to get this thing back in print.