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L. Sprague de Camp
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David Drake
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Lest Darkness Fall & To Bring the Light Mass Market Paperback – July 1, 1996

by David Drake (Author), L. Sprague de Camp (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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In Lest Darkness Fall, twentieth-century academic Martin Padway travels through time to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire, while in To Bring the Light, Herosilla must forge the birth of Roman civilization. Original.
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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Baen
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 1996
  5. Dimensions
    4.25 x 1 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0671877364
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0671877361
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Baen; First Edition (July 1, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671877364
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671877361
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 1 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the authors

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  1. L. Sprague de Camp

    L. Sprague de Camp

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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  2. David Drake

    David Drake

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    The Army took David Drake from Duke Law School and sent him on a motorized tour of Viet Nam and Cambodia with the 11th Cav, the Blackhorse. He learned new skills, saw interesting sights, and met exotic people who hadn't run fast enough to get away.

    Dave returned to become Chapel Hill's Assistant Town Attorney and to try to put his life back together through fiction making sense of his Army experiences.

    Dave describes war from where he saw it: the loader's hatch of a tank in Cambodia. His military experience, combined with his formal education in history and Latin, has made him one of the foremost writers of realistic action SF and fantasy. His bestselling Hammer's Slammers series is credited with creating the genre of modern Military SF. He often wishes he had a less interesting background.

    Dave lives with his family in rural North Carolina.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gabe
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book.
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2019
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Very underrated book that was a thrill to read from beginning to end. I am enamored by alt-history, and such impressive storytelling from de Camp really kept me interested. Such a fun book that I smiled reading it, and even went as far as to find the anthology that continued this work, printing that out and reading it as well. What a blast.
One person found this helpful
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JessicaM
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015
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book arrived in good condition as described
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Dave_42
4.0 out of 5 stars Can History Be Changed?
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2005
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This book pairs L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall" with David Drake's "To Bring The Light". Also included is an introduction by Harry Turtledove. "Lest Darkness Fall" is one of the earliest examples of Alternate History, and is by far the best of the two stories in this book. In 1952 it was ranked 11th on the Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll, and in 1956 it was ranked 20th on the same poll. It is a shame that this story has been largely been forgotten since then, since it is clearly well researched and a real pleasure to read.

It is the story of Martin Padway, a student of history who is in Rome working on his thesis. He is sent back in time, to the year 535 A.D., when a lightning bolt strikes him. After realizing his position, he decides to try to prevent the Dark Ages, and finds himself increasingly pulled into the politics of the time. It is a fairly short novel, and well worth reading.

"To Bring The Light" is clearly based on "Lest Darkness Fall". In this story the main character is Flavia Herosilla, a well educated woman living in Rome in the year 751 A.D., during the celebration of the city's 1,000th birthday. As with Martin Padway, she is sent back in time by a lightning strike. She is sent to the time of the founding of Rome. Unlike the first story, where Martin Padway tries to change history, Flavia tries to recreate the founding of Rome based on the legends that she knows.

"Lest Darkness Fall" is a classic that should be read by anyone interested in Alternate Histories. "To Bring The Light", though not as good, is still an interesting story, and makes a good companion to "Lest Darkness Fall".
9 people found this helpful
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Jamie C. Lutton
5.0 out of 5 stars the history is inaccurate but the tale is good
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2022
Keeping in mind the history is not accurate, this SF book from the 1930's - it references Mussolini -
is a great rip off of YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT by Mark Twain.

Read with Google handy to see what De Camp got wrong, but this book is great fun.
From very Very Old Days of SF, pre World War ll
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Carl Malmstrom
5.0 out of 5 stars The Origin of Alternate History...
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2002
"Lest Darkness Fall..." is arguably the novel that began the entire science fiction sub-genre of alternate history. Centering around a Ph.D. candidate studying in Rome in the late 1930s, early 1940s, it tackles the idea question of "What would you do if you had the chance to save the Roman Empire?"
Perched at the very edge of the twilight of the (Western) Roman civilization, it realistically tackles the political, scientific and cultural problems of the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. in southern Europe. De Camp was not only a famous science fiction author (a lesser-known contemporary of Isaac Asimov), but he was a published historian and classicist in his own right. This book showcases all three of those fields in one go - at the height of his writing talent.
The short story paired with this, "To Bring The Light" by David Drake, is less meant as a serious contender in terms of literary quality than an homage to de Camp's work. Dealing with the founding of the Roman civilization in much the way that "Lest Darkness Fall..." deals with it's death throes, it succeeds in showing the David Drake's admiration for de Camp's work.
Ultimately, though, I'd buy the book for "Lest Darkness Fall...": it's a surprisingly ignored but wonderful novel that paved the way for what has become an entire sub-field of science fiction. Whether you like alternate history or not, though, this book should not be missed.
60 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Time Travel Story, Ever.
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2010
Or at least the most fun.

I own this edition, but I doubt I've read the Drake story more than once. The de Camp story, however, is one that I come back to and re-read again and again.

The story is told with wit, humor, and verve. It is probably the best depiction of what a 20th century man could do with the contents of his pockets and his knowledge of history and machinery. He's not given too much knowledge - as a classics professor, he knows the language and a plausible amount about well-documented historical personalities, but it's all entirely plausible to the reader. He actually has difficulty devising machines based on his layman's knowledge of them, which is a reality that a lot of time travel stories avoid.

If Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" hadn't come first, I'd call this the all-time classic of the genre. This is more entertaining, because it's both more accessible and more historically realistic at the same time.

The characters are all strikingly well-drawn, even the minor characters. They aren't Faulkner characters or anything, but as stock types they are all memorable and fun.

Five stars. I'd give six stars if that was possible. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Darrell W. Hajek
4.0 out of 5 stars SF Classic
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2015
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This is a classic (written over 75 years ago.) Obviously pretty very good.
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David D. Lawson
5.0 out of 5 stars I just wish I could write 1/10th as well as this!
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2009
While reading one of Harry Turtledoves book, he mentioned this slim little book as one of his favorites. So I went out and bought a copy. Am I ever happy that I did! This novel is extremely well written, refreshingly politically incorrect, well researched, fast paced and interesting as well. Frankly his story of one man being sent back in time to put off the Dark Ages of Western Europe is well worth the time & coin.
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Top reviews from other countries

S. McHugh
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic of time travel sci-fi
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2016
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I had a copy of this in the Sixties and when reminded, bought and read it again. A classic of time travel sci-fi written by an erudite man who could carry his learning lightly and with good humour.
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Captain Kirk
4.0 out of 5 stars a light entertainment
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2012
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Lightning catapaults archeologist from 1930s America to Rome just before the Dark Ages. With his knowledge (Arabian numerals, distillation, semaphor etc) he is able to make his way and also alter history so that we avoid the Dark ages and civilisation is not held back 1000 years.

Lets not take this all too seriously - the lightning is just a device to set the scene - lets not quibble that lightning will not really send you back in time. We could quibble too about the sort of reception a modern day time traveller might receive in those days - in the main he gets a conveniently easy ride. We can argue too about the ability of one man to influence history - indeed, that is brushed upon in the book.

But this is not an academic treatise with pretensions of historical analysis. Its meant to be a fun tale and it is. That said, the scenarios and history of the time seem fairly accurately described; characters are, although caricatures, amusing; and the writing, although the book was written in the late 1930s, is neither stilted or dated.

This is not great literature - its intended as a bit of fun - read it as such and enjoy.
2 people found this helpful
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Dr. M. Brennan
1.0 out of 5 stars disappointed me
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2009
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For a novel which defined a genre, this was disappointing. The main character is little more than an automaton - transported from the 20th to the 6th century, he expresses little emotion of any kind, and every opportunity for considering the psychological/ physical/ philosophical effects of such an event is missed. Instead, he takes the timeslip as a personal business opportunity, wielding unbelievably detailed political recall of an obscure (and uninteresting) era to set up enterprises - these alone could have been engaging, but the details are scant, the problems of applied technology in ancient Rome rendered trivial and soon brushed aside.He also becomes an accomplished and unconcerned street fighter and master linguist overnight. Detail is an area of missed opportunity in general - names of utterly obscure chieftains are dropped in ad lib, but the day to day detail of food, furnishings,slavery and social habits and all the little gems of the imagined world are neglected, to say nothing of the jarring modern speech idioms.The narrative historical data is ponderous, but central premises - such as the manner of use of the short bladed sword - are lightweight... and wrong. The characters are thinly developed caricatures, the premise is terrific but the plot is boring, and the overall feeling is disappointingly dull for this "classic", which also stops short of the final development, namely the consequence of the time traveller's efforts on recorded history.Lazy and dated novel. Let darkness fall, let's.
2 people found this helpful
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