Product Description

SABELLA
or
The Blood Stone

A Science Fiction Vampire Novel

On the pink planet of Novo Mars, Sabella, the beautiful young recluse, lives out her uneasy daytime life behind drawn blinds. And at night she feeds on the blood of deer. After what has happened before, she no longer wants—or dares—to take the blood of men.

But something, it seems, is intent on throwing Sabella back into her former existence of danger and despair. Forcing her first to consume the handsome young stranger, Sand, and then to confront Sand's invincible and terrifying brother, Jace, the avenging angel.

When predator becomes prey, some kind of death must end it-And only blood will answer for blood.

"Tanith Lee is one of the most powerful and intelligent writers in fantasy." —Publishers Weekly

"With Lee… expect the unexpected." —Starburst

Customer Reviews (7)

I Was a Teenage Bloodsucker...
Sabella is the coming-of-age story of a confused young vampire on Novo Mars. Like many of Lee's books, this one is dream-like and full of supernatural eroticism.

Unfortunately, it is almost painfully slow and the first person narration was not very illuminating. I (finally) reached then end of the book and felt like I did not know the characters at all.

Tanith Lee:Great Writer (She Just Can't Write Vampire Novels)
I have to be honest, this is NOT one of Tanith Lee's stellar works. I didn't find much that was interesting or revealing or even halfway imaginative for the most part, and much of the story seemed almost like a work-in-progress for her other stories concerning outcast lovers.

The book also lacked Lee's usual masterful finesse when it comes to language -- there is a lack of beauty in this story, a true lack of her typical delicacy and wonder.

The theme of vampirism has to be dealt with delicately, as the subject matter has been abused and hashed into a million pieces more than a few times already; Tanith Lee doesn't seem to have the knack for writing about this subject. She does much better with fantasy settings.

Sorry, but I just did not find that much memorable.

The only excerpt that really struck me was on page 107:

"Sarah had no pursuers, and no guilt. Sarah won't let herself tremble with reaction.

Sarah can live with all she is.

Sarah will have to."

I found these lines very existential. If only Lee could stop trying to make her stories straight-up entertainment at times and just concentrate more on the subjective, on the abstract, this story may have actually shined.

A Vampire Classic--Literally Out of This World
I think this is the best Tanith Lee I have read.Her recent ones set in Venice have been great--but for me Sabella is an absolute classic.It is beautifully and skillfully written, conveying the life of Novo Mars set within its other planetary environs through the eyes of Sabella, a mostunique "vampire." Normally the apex predator, Sabella is herself made vulnerable, first to Sand who stalks her and then to Jace, who confronts her.It is really a remarkable and original take on a very old story.

Imaginations.......Start your Engines!!
I ran across this book in an old book store and bought it mainly because the cover art was so interesting. I could not put this book down. I had never read anything so vivid and colorful. This is why I am a Tanith Lee fan. Sabella is an intriguing charactor and the environment that she lives in is just as intriguing. If you are looking for something fresh and different. If you love to let your imagination run WILD........ READ THIS ONE!!! It wont dissapoint you.

You WILL be seduced
I first read this eye-opener when I was fifteen.I agree this is a little difficult to get into, but after eight years and several Science Fiction / Fantasy authors (including Anne Rice)this is still my all-time favourite book to get lost in.Well worth the reading! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (108)

worth reading
I enjoyed reading this book but it's not one of my favorites.It has the whole "obsessive love at first sight" thing that's very overdone these days.I couldn't relate at all to any of the characters.I did enjoy the book, though, because the environment was beautiful and unique.It's a nice short read.

I named my car "Silver."
Just wanted to chime in with all of the other big fans and say that this is one of my favorite books, too. I rarely reread things (no time!) but I've read The Silver Metal Lover multiple times and plan to do so again soon. I first read a library copy years ago(as a teen) and loved it. I was thrilled when, years later, the book was reprinted and I was finally able to buy it. Tanith Lee is one of my favorite authors; she almost always delivers. If you like SF/fantasy and romance, you'll probably like this.

I Want My Silver Metal Lover...pout, pout
I read this book (stumbled upon it)when I was about 14, forty years later I rediscovered itI loved it even more this time; What can I say? it the ultimate romance book with none of the cliches...none... potential readers this book is paper back love itself.

The Silver Metal Lover
The Silver Metal Lover ranks high as an outstandingly imaginative romantic SF love story that stays with you long after you close the cover on the final page. It portrays a future, rather dystopian world that has been greatly changed by an astronomical disaster in the near past. This event mostly exists to show the story's divergence from our own current existence. This is not any sort of post-apocalyptic tale thankfully, since I really don't enjoy those stories at all. Instead TSML tells the tale of an interspecies romance between Jane, a rather timid young woman with exceptionally low self-esteem, and a marvelous male robot named Silver. What starts out as rather inauspicious beginnings at best evolves on for them to find their full potential through each other. While not blatantly explicit, the story is certainly sexual - as well it should be - so don't say that you weren't warned. TMSL leaves you wishing to live in this world yourself since you now know how it operates, where you could meet a robot of the appropriate gender for yourself there. And that's all any great story needs to accomplish. Note: a quasi-sequel titled Metallic Love has been published recently, however, read the reviews before considering it.

Not Just A "Thinking Woman's" Sci-Fi Romance Novel
I hate to have to bring that up, really, but that's probably how the story is pigeonholed, and the story is about much more than just a romantic sci-fi souffle, as one non-Amazon.com reviewer once put it (which I find insulting to Tanith Lee and her readers).

This is the story about a young woman named Jane who falls in love with a sort of futuristic lifelike robotic minstrel/entertainer who is also a sex toy for women/men created by a company called Electronic Metals Ltd.

Jane lives in a futuristic, sophisticated, but emotionally/spiritually bleak society that is eerily like our own. Half of the population is rich and spoiled, and most of that part of society is banal, superficial, and arrogant; the other half lives in the slums, basically trying to survive day by day.

The rich are pre-programmed from birth to look a certain way and subsist on a diet of insta-meals produced by robots for the most part, in tandem with different drugs, both for recreation and other reasons; for instance, Jane takes a certain pill to give her a hair colour that matches the body type that her mother pre-programmed for her since birth. It's all very eerie and Blade-Runner-like. The rich are also raised to react to sex as being very casual and merely for pleasure if nothing else, so intimate relationships aren't really important in their society, not in a real sense.

Jane is one of the rich; however, she is different in character than her mostly superficial and morally depraved friends -- this quality enables her to find beauty in others that is quite unique, and is the main reason why she is able to "see" something in Silver (the robot) while others merely scoff.

This was a really good story although the ending was a bit bereft of conclusion for me, but I understand there was a point to this.

I won't give away what happens in the story, but basically, Lee does question many topics herein -- one of the most important is whether even a robot can have a soul. The story basically concludes that yes, everything has a soul, even non-animate objects, which is sort of an unusual idea to Westerners but is actually quite normal in other religious philosophies. Lee also grapples with the concept of free will and other related ideas; for example, after Jane stops taking her pills, she begins to change physically, which made me question just how much effect her early "programming" had on her to begin with, which interrelates to the theme of the robot's programming as well.

I have noted a pattern with Lee's stories by the way; her stories always seem to include male and female outsiders who don't fit in with society, yet in the end, they seem to pair up and find their niche and we see them for who they truly are -- they are able to find their inner strength and affect the world around them in a positive way. Lee opens up our vision to the beauty of the soul, rather than just plain artifice.

This is what I like about Lee -- she is an author who wants to elevate the human soul as well as spread beauty. Truly a literary genius who has yet to be elevated in her own right. When I see that Stephen King has tons of fans and websites and Tanith Lee has virtually none, it really irks me. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I have read this book three times. It still fascinates me.
Forests of the Night was the first proper book I ever read, when I was twelve years old. This was a rite of passage for me, like the first time you get drunk or stoned and realise that reality is not quite as solid asyou'd previously assumed.As a collection of stories, it isn't too taxingif you're short of time or, like me, you have a ridiculously shortconcentration span... Some stories have a first-person narrative, some areset here, now, some are set far away, long ago- some are set in places thatdon't even exist on this plane. There's a lot of variety here, which isalways a good thing. One story that intrigued me especially was"Rachel". This character has been echoed in so many of TanithLee's books. There has been Rachaela in the Blood Opera trilogy, and anumber of different versions of this same woman under different names. Whois she? Anyway, this is a book I'm dying to own a copy of. It throws newmessages and insights at me with every read. Buy it, if you can find it! ... Read more

Product Description
The enchanting, magical sequel to The Black Unicorn and The Gold Unicorn!

After several years traveling, Tanaquil — a sorceress like her mother with the ability to mend — returns home only to discover that her true love has been betrothed to her sister, Empress Lizra. Broken-hearted and jealous of her sister’s happiness, Tanaquil is lured by a red unicorn into a mirror world where she encounters Tanakil, a diabolical version of herself.

She discovers also several new powers. Powers she will need to foil Tanakil’s sinister plot of revenge.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A horrible rip off
In all honesty this third book felt rushed, like Tanith Lee was told to spit out another book solely for the monetary value and to heck with the quality. The Red Unicorn seemed to rip off parts and basic premise from the Wizard of Oz, Alice In Wonderland and the Labyrinth all in one fell swoop. Tanaqil behaves like an angsty, whiny teenager in response to her difficulties in life, a direct contrast to her behavior in the first two books. I was left at the end of the book with a raised eyebrow and had to confirm that yes this was the same author for the same series I had so dearly loved in the earlier books.

love this book
I really had a great time reading this whole serious-I especially liked the way it ended, it's also a very easy read.I highly recommend this book and this series!!

The Grand Finale
After many adventures and a few heartbreaks, Tanaquil returns home to her mother's fortress in the desert only to find that everything has changed. Tanaquil's mother has fallen in love and, if she spent little time with Tanaquil before, she spends none with her now. Tanaquil is considering moving on when adventure comes for her in the shape of a red unicorn...

The red unicorn leads Tanaquil into a world that mirrors her own. Everyone she knows and loves is in this world...even she is here in the form of a princess named Tanakil. But everything here is opposite. The sky is green, wolves eat nuts, and everyone that is evil in Tanaquil's world is good here... and vice versa.

Can Tanaquil stop her evil twin Tanakil before she does the unthinkable and murders her own sister? And will Tanaquil ever be able to return to her own world? And, more importantly, if she does, will Tanaquil have the courage to tell her half-sister the awful truth...that Tanaquil is in love with her half-sister's future husband? How could such a tangled story have a happy ending...you may be surprised.

This is the last book in the trilogy that also contains Black Unicorn and Red Unicorn. All three books are wonderful, but this one is by far the best. I highly recommend them all.

Great trilogy
though i found this book in the young adult section of the library i think that it works well for all ages.This a great trilogy - especially if you are looking for a fun light read.

Fantasy, or much, much, muchmore?
The 'Red Unicorn' is the best book that I have ever read.If you like fantasy books like I do, you will love it as well, but even if you don't, I think that you will still find this to be one of the best books ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
Killed by the power of the god Zezeth, his true father, Lionwolf has been cast into a bleak and icy hell lit just by a cold blue sun. Here he and others of the living dead must wage endless combat and war, to appease the whim of a deathly King whose face is made of stone. But when Lionwolf encounters the King's wife, she is none other than the beautiful, god-fashioned Chillel, his own former lover - and nemesis. As Lionwolf struggles in the toils of Hell, elsewhere in the hell-cold ice-age of the mortal earth, men and women work out their own destinies. An empire has fallen. Ru Karismi, Capital of the Kings, has been abandoned to the poisons of the White Death. Reivers cross the lands of the Jafn and the Ruk, preying wherever they wish. Against this unsettled backdrop, Jemhara the sorceress determines to save the Magician Thryfe from a dire self-inflicted punishment, and Saphay, now a goddess of the far north, seeks to lead her people to a new world. And from the depths of an ice-locked sea Zezeth's other terrifying son, the mountainous whale-leviathan Brightshade, is once more rising for vengeance. ... Read more

Product Description

Out of the dusk he comes striding, the stranger, the man in black, inevitable as death itself: Parl Dro—Ghost Slayer.

Some have bought his services for gold, and some have blessed him for his work. But not everyone welcomes an exorcist who will remorselessly deprive them of their beloved dead.

Dro began his vocation at an early age. And now he will not be turned aside, no matter how you may threaten, curse or weep. He is seeking too the greatest stronghold of the deadalive: Ghyste Mortua, the ghost town in the mountains, and he means to destroy it.

If he will face that, what use the pleas of the desperate sisters, Cilny and Ciddey, what use the rage of Myal, with his genius for music and his imperfect talent for crime?

Only one thing, it seems, motivates Parl Dro.

His determination to kill the dead.

"Tanith Lee is one of the most powerful and intelligent writers in fantasy." —Publishers Weekly

"With Lee… expect the unexpected." —Starburst

Customer Reviews (1)

Ghostbusters for Grownups
Containing all the dark, sardonic sensuality of Lee at her best, this is the story of a man whose calling it is to put ghosts to rest. He finds that the dead don't always do what one might expect... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Only worth reading if you've read "The Storm Lord" and "Anackire"
I would have to agree with the previous reviewer that this book is not one of Tanith Lee's better efforts.Although the author touches on a number of good ideas, it is certainly not up to par with the vivid, sweeping, imaginative epics that are "The Storm Lord" and "Anackire."However, I am glad that I tracked down a copy, if merely only for the sake of completion.But what's most disappointing to me is that the story of Rehger of Ly Dis, gladiatorial descendant of Amrek the genocidal tyrant of "The Storm Lord," is not without interest (in fact I always liked Amrek myself); it just doesn't really feel fully developed. The whole story feels more like a half-finished outline than a fully actualized novel.Even Rehger's romance with the psychic albino sorceress Aztira is shortchanged, and Rehger himself just seems to float hither and yon- either in his quest to find a job or in his quest to locate his creepy girlfriend- as indifferent as a ghost to much of the mechanisms of the plot.As usual, there's loads of symbolism, which is typical for a Lee book, but the difference is that in "Serpent" the symbolism seems to substitute for characterization.

Anyway, it's worth a read if you're a Tanith Lee completist, but those who are new to her should try "The Birthgrave" or "The Storm Lord" before this one.

Definitely not one of Lee's great works
I had high hopes for this book before I read it, because I knew it was a sequel to Storm Lord and Anackire, two stand-alone fantasy novels that made me a Tanith Lee fan forever. Unfortunately it's nowhere near as good and I got the impression Lee wasn't sure herself where she was going with this one. All the previous characters are long dead. The new main character is a descendant of the Storm Lord's wicked half-brother, who goes through various traumas and disasters including his fatal fixation on a pale enigmatic woman who is apparently the white serpent of the title. The plot events seem disconnected from each other somehow and in the end the hero meets a depressing and puzzling fate. The viewpoint skips disconcertingly from character to character, but not in a way that enhances suspense, and the emotional and mythic intensity of Anackire is lacking. At no point did I really understand why any of the characters were doing what they did. Unlike some of Lee's stranger works, such as Book of the Damned, where the writing is clearly intended to be surreal as a vivid dream, White Serpent just comes off as vague and unfocused. Unless you're such a hardcore Tanith Lee fan that you want to own everything she's written for the sake of completeness, don't bother tracking this one down; it's not worth it. ... Read more

Product Description
In medieval Eastern Europe, Vivia is claimed by a dark lord who weds her, seduces her, and makes her a vampire. Then Vivia's mentor abandons her and she is found by Zulgaris, a handsome prince. He marries her but he cannot cure her hunger for blood. Is she doomed? And what will her pregnancy mean? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Surprisingly Dark
I thought Lee did a nice job of infusing fantasy with a bit more horror.Very nice.

A little darkness with my dark.
So this is my first Tanith Lee book, and I'm thinking I'm probably going to read another.This lady can write.

That being said, this book was good - not great - but good.Lee's very adept at creating a mood; the atmosphere of Vivia is brooding, dark, and sultry.Unfortunately, it never breaks out of those three modes, and I think it stifles the story.I personally don't mind dark books - they're okay - but there has to be some kind of brightness SOMEWHERE to offset all the negative energy.

This book never quite rose to the occasion.It maintained a dark, depressing pace, with a main character who never quite comes to understand her own worth - or depth.That's where the story falls short.You never see if the author KNOWS how to write anything other than the moody dark stuff.I like a palette - a buffet of moods, if you will - because I think it allows an author to fully flush out their characters AND explore the depths of their own writing.

So all in all, would I recommend this?Yes, I would.But there's an asterisk next to that.I'd read it, BUT . . .

Three out of five.

Happy reading.

A Dissapointment
I don't mean to be hard on Tanith Lee, but this book just wasn't all that enjoyable for me.The book "Vivia" did not seem to have that carefully crafted, beautiful text of Lee's previous work.In fact, it seemed to me that she wrote the book without enough thought in the content of the book."Black Unicorn" took my breath away, both in the plot and character developement as well as the climactic ending.But "Vivia" seemed to lack that magic.The characters reluctantly move from chapter to chapter, containing no great dimension or interest.On top of that, this book desperately needs an editor.In short, if you want a good Tanith Lee book in the spirit of "Black Unicorn" and the "Claidi Journals," this is not the one to get.

evocative, dark fantasy
Vivia is among the most unsettling of Tanith Lee's novels, which is saying quite a lot if you've read her.It's a richly textured vampire novel set within a gruesome medieval realm that includes alternate versions of Vlad the Impaler (who gets impaled himself) and the Christian religion.Although Vivia herself is aloof and perhaps not even likeable, she was highly sympathetic because the problems she deals with (fear of death, alienation from others) are universal.I know several people like her, who seem to inexplicably submit at times to what life offers them.In tone, Vivia is highly reminiscent of Bergman's The Seventh Seal.Also, Tanith Lee's prose is in particularly high style, almost elliptical, sometimes, admittedly, even hard to understand, but refreshing from all other fantasy novels.I think Lee was hinting at her own style in the descriptive painting scenes towards the end of the novel.I highly recommend it; I loved reading it.And the ending, for me, was very satisfying- true to Vivia's character.

evocative, dark fantasy
Vivia is among the most unsettling of Tanith Lee's novels, which is saying quite a lot if you've read her.It's a richly textured vampire novel set within a gruesome medieval realm that includes alternate versions of Vlad the Impaler (who gets impaled himself) and the Christian religion.Although Vivia herself is aloof and perhaps not even likeable, she was highly sympathetic because the problems she deals with (fear of death, alienation from others) are universal.I know several people like her, who seem to inexplicably submit at times to what life offers them.In tone, Vivia is highly reminiscent of Bergman's The Seventh Seal.Also, Tanith Lee's prose is in particularly high style, almost elliptical, sometimes, admittedly, even hard to understand, but refreshing from all other fantasy novels.I think Lee was hinting at her own style in the descriptive painting scenes towards the end of the novel.I highly recommend it; I loved reading it.And the ending, for me, was very satisfying- true to Vivia's character. ... Read more

Product Description
The setting is a world of eternal winter, where once thrived hot climates and exotic luxury. Saphay, daughter of a subking in the more civilised west, is sent off to marry a leader of the barbaric Jafn, not realising that her own father has arranged for her to be betrayed and abducted on her icy journey. But, escaping her pursuers on the back of a giant whale, Saphay is discovered alive - entombed in an ice-pyramid - by her intended husband, and the marriage proceeds. But, all too soon, she carries a child, causing dark suspicions regarding the infant's true origins ...And as her son grows up in wintery exile, it is soon evident that in him is emerging a hero with a very special destiny. Populated by outlandish creatures and exotic landscapes, this is a luscious, luxurious, colourful epic adventure full of the twists and turns and spellbinding imagination that only Tanith Lee can magically conjure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Interesting beginning, hoping for a better middle
So this was strange. I really liked it at first. The ice barbarians thing was great. I hadn't seen that done much and only Tanith Lee would take it to the next step and talk about Ice Jungles. I'm still trying to figure out how that would work because she never really described them. Guri was my favorite character but most of the other characters I didn't care about at all.

Still it kept me interested enough to read for 500 pages. So it's definitely not the Flat Earth series (one of my all time favorites) but still pretty good. Some of the stuff got a little surreal and I still don't understand it. But I am curious about the 2nd book (since I already own it). So I'll probably read some reviews on it before I make a final decision to read it or not.

One final comment. Every once in a while she would slip into this kind of 2nd person writing and it was really jarring.
(made up example)
"We walked along the parapet. You could see for miles in every direction."

Now I know that it can't just be a mistake, Tanith has been doing this for way too long. So all I can think is that it was some kind of experiment.

I've lost my shadow
I admit that I've never read any novels by Tanith Lee before, so this book came as a bit of a surprise. I was out of town, without any access to books when someone gave me a copy of "Cast a Bright Shadow" to read. My favourite fantasy writers are Feist, Brooks and Hobb, so I found Lee's style of writing somewhat obscure, yet refreshing at the same time.

Set in a winter world, Lionwolf, the son of mortal Saphay and the god Zezeth, unites a variety of races to destroy his mother's city of Ru Karismi. Along the way Lionwolf is accompanied by his `uncle' Guri-a living ghost who survived his own death when Saphay's abduction by the Olchibe goes awry. The plan, organised by Vuldir, Saphay's father, is intended to cement an alliance with the Jafn, without payment ever being made-such if the disdain they have for the Jafn that they would conspire with another enemy.

Lee's white world is colourful in its design. A myriad of races, cultures and belief systems accentuate an almost limitless amount of fantasy and magic. There are no constraints; Lee writes it as if it's all possible. Intertwining stories lead to a somewhat weakened ending, yet it is a trilogy, and I welcome the break from tradition, and look forward to reading the following volumes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

It's Alright, but Dissapointing
This second book in the Claidi Journals was a bit of a let down for me.Delving right into this after completing Wolf Tower, the first book in the series,I was looking forward to new adventures with Claidi which would teach me about new cultures and ideas in her world.Instead I was forced to go with Claidi to this strange palace with moving rooms where very little happened beyond Claidi whining and making me start to dislike her.The unfortunate thing here is that the palace itself was actually pretty cool; the author just didn't use it well.Claidi could have had so many interesting adventures in that house, getting lost and stumbling onto truly interesting places, instead of dingy kitchens with big flying rats . . . I'm sorry but that just isn't as imaginative as I might like in a fantasy book.I wanted Claidi to use her brain and observational skills to figure out a pattern to the movements of the rooms, or develop some clever strategy to keep herself from getting lost, or really I wanted Claidi to do ANYTHING.Instead she let herself be led from one place to another meekly while she felt sorry for herself.She says at the beginning of the book that she doesn't want to stay at the palace, but she never really makes any escape attempts.One time she accidentally stumbles onto a way out, but she gets scared when there are large predatory animals in the jungle and she gives up. The biggest movement and action in the story, on a quest to navigate the rooms and find answers in the Library, is driven forward by Venn, not Claidi.In fact Claidi has very little interest in this effort at all.

Claidi also angered me because she seems to start questioning her feelings and devotion to Argul.We didn't get to see very much development in that relationship during the first book, which was fine with me.I didn't expect to see too much development because it WAS the first book.But it felt strange to me that they would be getting married right at the beginning of the book, and then horribly disloyal when Claidi gives up on getting back to Argul right at the beginning of the book.She left him once in the first book to try to be a loyal person to Nemian.To have her give up Argul again in the second book completely undermines that relationship.

Anyway, I read this book because I still believe the Claidi Journals are worth reading, but this book was a weak part for me, and I'm hoping Claidi redeems herself in the next one.

The on going story of Claidi
The unbelievable story of a young girl named Claidi who tries to find out who she is and the people that she meets. As the story goes on Claidi is enjoining her wedding day until she was kidnapped and lead to believe that she was being taken back to the Wolf Tower. Until the people that had taken her were instead taking her to a mountaintop palace. There she finds that the host had been lied to and that she had been spied on. The host of the palace named Venn had never been around people much and didn't know how to feel around them. Even with all this she would find that Venn and Argul her fiancé were closer then she thought and that all this had to do with the Wolf Tower. Also at the palace you learn that most of the people and animals are mechanical and that even that Wolf Star that comes up every night is too. Not to mention that the palace it self moves all over the place with in the cliff and that you have to be careful where you go in it. With all this you get everything from the point of view of Claidi who knowledge of everything is small but with what see knows is what helps her the most. Even with a host that goes from disliking her in a way falling in love with her the story goes on. She gives as much details as she cans and continues it through all of the books. In my mind this isn't the best of the series but it is a great one to read. So find out if she leaves the palace and finds Argul her love or if everything has changed forever. Read on and find out.

Not as good
Wolf Star was definitely a disappointment. After reading the first book, Wolf Tower, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel however i was sadly mistaken. Wolf starwas confusing and didn't seem to be going anywhere. And the truth is it didn't! After this abrupt ending I was not intrigued but bored and not eager at all to read the Last of the series, Queen Wolf .

coming from an author...
this book is inspirational. Tanith Lee's style of writing will really captivate your imagination, i think. I am very picky about writing styles, being a author myself, and i will only enjoy the style that is written easiest for the mind to imagine. Every good fantasy book needs basically five things: an intriging writing style, and unruly or loveable character, a romance, and indeniable action. Any book that lacks those five key elements isnt favorable, and almost all of Lee's books are some that i would HIGHLY recommend. And, if you like her style of writing, look up the name Lacie Perry on the little search bar at the top of your screen. Go ahead, do it; You'll be glad you did ;)

Not the best of Claidi...but good!
I enjoyed this book very much. Although it is not, in my opinion, the best of the Claidi Journals, it is a good read and I definitely recommend it for fantasy lovers! An exciting, intruiging beginning, tho it slows down towards the middle when she gets to the tower. However, things speed up a bit when Claidi finds herself trying to find out Venn's past and, at the same time, wondering if she's falling in love with him. Altogether, its an exclellent book with an interesting plot and, of course, a great heroine! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Well Written Pulp Fantasy
I'm of two minds about this book. It is very well written, but dated (I kept seeing the old Conan type movies of the 1970s in my head), however, it was the ending that made me hurl the book across the room into the library donation box.

On the one hand it is the 70s pulp fantasy you expect from the lurid cover; desert wastelands, nomads, sword fights, chariot races, rape, murder, erotic scenes, occasional big lizards. On the other hand, the main character wanders around for a very (very) long time without any plot resolution (today this would be published as 3 separate novels), the rape/sex scenes are downright insulting to modern women, and the plot makes a very abrupt, unsatisfying twist a mere 30 pages from the end.

If you like The Complete Chronicles of Conan, you will probably love this.

Timeless romantic heroine
This is the fantasy book I've waited to read all my life, knew it had to be out there. A romantic, sword & sorcery adventure with barbarian tribes, cruel demigods, ruins of a dead civilization, war and conquest, driven by a nameless heroine, a mysterious woman with shades of Rider H. Haggard's She (Oxford World's Classics) and Joan D. Vinge's Arienrhod in The Snow Queen.

The woman wakes up undearneath a volcano without any memory or knowledge of who she is, except an ominous warning and threat: she is the last of a race of magicians, and carries within herself a curse of evil and ugliness. She covers her face with a mask, and her adventures begin... Occasionally, it seems she had magical powers - to heal others and herself, but she is haunted by the curse and the secret of her heritage.

This is a beautiful fantasy tale, and a must-read for female fans. Here is the classical pulp hero on a quest, yet she is a woman in a way that detracts neither from her hero-ness nor her womanhood. The only detraction was the ending - everything was wrapped up too neatly. Sequels to the book are "Vazkor, Son of Vazkor" and "Quest for the White Witch," although they no longer feature the same protagonist.

The Dissociated Goddess

Even more than a breathtaking adventure through a world of violence and magic, The Birthgrave is apsychological exploration of the inner life of a born outsider, an unattached person.The author's direct style and use of the first person places the reader close to the core of the heroine on a violent and troubled quest to find herself.The negative self-image and wandering, restless disposition, powerlessness against subconscious convictions of a person with attachment disorder are beautifully rendered.The description is hands-on, direct, without undue psychologizing.The book has unusual psychological depth in the genre, maybe to be compared with Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, although the issues described are very different.

My Favourite Tanith Lee Book
When I first read this book (more years ago than I care to recall) it ignited my interest in so-called sword and sorcery epics. Tanith Lee's lost child-woman draws you into her story from the opening chapter and I would definitely rate this as a read-at-one-sitting book because it is absolutely impossible to put down. It is one of the most broad ranging and breath-taking adventures as the heroine-of-many-names struggles to find her lost race, her identity and her destiny. From healer to warrior to enslaved goddess and reluctant birthgiver, she enchants, saddens and delights. She and her world are beautifully detailed, as are its occupants. The only thing that makes up for reading the last page is the knowledge that the two sequels ("Shadowfire:Vazkor, Son of Vazkor" and "Quest for the White Witch") are just as brilliant and provide a most satisfying, if unexpected, conclusion. Get this if you can - then hunt for the sequels. You will not regret it!

One of those that makes me want to jump in it and not return
In this tale of blood, love, violence, beauty, magic, dreams, brutalmurder, swords'n'sorcery, rape, battle and deadly races, we follow a womanon a journey of self-discovery. First a Goddess, then a slave, later a pawnin the game of an emperor who shows her her true nature and leads her tounderstand what she is looking for. And then the end of this story.. atwist of the plot and atmosphere so totally unexpected I couldn't believeit at first. Terrific. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

gets awards just 4 being there
not only is the book a great adventure, full of biblical analagy and dark humour, it's an opportunity to explore the unique relationship between Azhrarn and his daughter, with an ending that even made a twisted ... like me blub. steal, borrow and beg for this book.

The Flat Earth comes of age...
The "Flat Earth" series as a whole is definitely my all-time desert island pick.I've never read anything as incredibly beautiful and magical as these books, and I read a LOT. This book has all of the lusheroticism, shimmering enchantment, and fey loveliness of the previous twobooks, told in the same intricate, lapidary prose, and adds the powerfulthemes of growth and change._Delirium's Mistress_ is the story of Sovaz(at first), the offspring of that union between Azhrarn the Prince ofDemons and the priestess Dunizel which was a major part of _Delusion'sMaster_. Throughout this book, there is a sense of the weight of the agesthat have passed on the Flat Earth.Much of the action is the result oflong-past intrigues of the various Lords of Darkness. Shades of the pastappear to advise characters at key junctures. The book begins with the loveaffair between Chuz, Prince Madness, and Sovaz/Azhriaz/Atmeh, which isquickly interrupted by the revenge Azhrarn takes as a result ov Chuz'sactions in _Delusion's Master_. The remainder of the book concerns theheroine's search for her true self- is she Sovaz, the child of Dunizel, theMoon's Soul and embodiment of good?Is she Azhriaz, the merciless,all-powerful daughter of wicked Azhrarn?Or is she something more? Azhriaz's journey of self-discovery also becomes a force for thetransformation of other characters. By the book's end, Azhrarn has beenforever changed by the love of Dunizel and her daughter. The cruel Zhirekof _Death's Master_ is reborn as a gentle healer and teacher through hisassociation with Azhriaz. And a much-mellowed Chuz is eventually reunitedwith his beloved, who finally knows who she is and what she must do. Thisis a truly wonderful book... it continues all of the exotic magic andmystery of the first two books, and adds some real wisdom and humanity,too.

mind boggling enchantment, the ultimate fairy tale
Tannith Lee takes us back to the flat earth to continue her tale with Azriaz, the prince of demons daughter.her fated love of chuz, the demon of wickedness and her inner light from her mother, dunizel, make this bookincredible in both its narrative and descriptions.Tannith Lee is a masterof words and takes you so deep into her world you may never be able toleave. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Not Free SF Reader
A loner bookworm nerd girl is doing her own thing, working away, when she gets an invitation.

She accepts, and ends up staying with a very strange bunch, and she soon is in further than she thinks, pregnant, with the vampiric Scarabae hovering around, wanting to use her for their own ends.

Tanith Lee; a Literary Genius!!
All I am about to say about this author and this book, is that it is well worth your time to read this tale. I feel that you will leave this book, feeling amazed and smitten by the beloved Rachella. Tanith Lee tops my list of extraordinary storytellers, she has captured the hearts of all her fans and will not ever let go. This book is beautiful. Read it. (and the other 2 in the Blood Opera series.)

I hope you dance
"Dark Dance" is an early foray into horror for fantasy author Tanith Lee. I've never read any of her books, and I bought "Dark Dance" based on the cover description and the fact that the novel was published by the excellent, short-lived Abyss Horror (Dell) label. The Abyss Horror books were released in the early 90s, and introduced me to several quality horror novelists and stories. A shame it didn't catch on.

This eerie tale begins with Rachela, a young twenty-something woman with some issues. She lives her life working jobs that go nowhere, and is haunted by her memories and personal demons, the most demonic of which was her mother. Mother kept Rachela under a clamp, molding her into a hermitesque life, while reinforcing the fact that Rachela was NOT to associate with her unknown father and his family. Rachela, of course, thinks her mother is a nut, and has been (almost) content since she died.

Then the summons arrives.

Her father's clan, the Scarabae family, has sent a messenger to find Rachela and offer her a chance to live in the family mansion deep in the English countryside. Rachela is stubborn and independent, and refuses the offer as long as she can. Fate seems to take over at that point, and she finds herself making the journey out of London and toward her destiny.

There are a couple of reasons why I won't expand very much more on the plot. Number one is a fear of spoilers. Number two: this novel tells a long story, but is slow in developing, meaning that certain plotlines shouldn't be spoken here for fear of giving away the whole novel. I will say that the Scarabae clan is strange, ancient, detached from reality, and never leave their home. Rachela has a love-hate relationship with them and in particular her father Adamus. The Scarabae wish to continue their family line, and it just wouldn't do to poison the bloodline with any "outsiders"...

The story takes place over a long period of time, with excellent usage of sinister prose combined with a sense of building horror. Ms. Lee has a style not unlike Anne Rice, and builds her own reality as the story dictates. This book is not as realistic as some would like, but I appreciate the fact that Lee does not waste time dwelling on the small stuff. The tale is told with the detail required to advance the plot with no padded filler.

I couldn't put this book down. It captivated me all the way though, although it could have had a little bit more detail regarding the Scarabae and the history of this bizarre family. The ending worked for me. The book has little "shock" horror, but makes up for it with general creepiness. The characters all seem to be detached from the events around them, and I thought the characters could have expressed more personal horror during their journey of the damned. Still, "Dark Dance" rates a firm 4 star rating from me.

Fantastic Vampire Novel
Rachaela Day is the protagonist in Dark Dance, an attractive, dark-haired 29-year-old who lives a quiet, uninterrupted life between her small apartment and meaningless job in a bookstore. Her mother died four years ago (a woman Rachaela didn't mourn) and, many years earlier, her father had abandoned them. Otherwise, she has no family, no friends.

Then she is contacted repeatedly by messengers: her father's family want to meet with her, to make amends for his abandoning her all those years ago. Obviously, Rachaela is apprehensive, but when she is mysteriously fired and notified of a future building eviction, she has nowhere else to turn but to these strangers.

The House, simply named, is home to the Scarabae (pronounced Scarraby), a group of a dozen or so eccentric family members, including her father Adamus. As her mother had explained to her as a child, the Scarabae are unusual, "darkly ominous" people, which Rachaels discovers is all too true. She also learns their invitation had a more deviant purpose: to mate father with daughter. However, nobody expected the outcome to be so fatal.

Dark Dance is the first of three books in the Blood Opera Sequence; "Personal Darkness" and "Darkness, I" follow. This series is so far my favorite Tanith Lee series, as well as my favorite all-time vampire series. It's not as bloody as most present-day vampire books (in fact, there's very little gore; it's more gothic than violent), but if you're a big vampire fan (which I am), I would recommend you read all three books.

As fair warning, there are some sex scenes between father and daughter that might offend some readers.

If you've already read the Blood Opera Sequence, you might like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles or Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Both series are somewhat alike to Tanith Lee's tale of the Scarabae, that is, if Anne Rice had merged her vampire world with her witch world.

I also recommend reading "The Kiss" by Kathryn Reines if you like vampires.

Unputdownable
Rachaela is like no other character I've ever read about. She is written so well, you care for her. The story it self is disturbing, but you can't put it down. I had a hard time doing that my self. It is, unfortunatley, hard to find. I'm lucky a local library carries a copy of it. I recomend it anyone who loves horror. ... Read more

Product Description
The third book in Tanith Lee's compelling series based on alchemy and the elements focuses on the element of earth. It is a haunting journey to a parallel version of sixteenth-century Venice, where a fierce territorial rivalry between two noble families-the della Scorpias and the Barbarons-unearths a supernatural force from beneath the placid surface of the canals and rotting understructure of the city.

The struggle between the two families for space on the Isle of the Dead, the overcrowded burial ground for generations of Venetian nobility, becomes more and more heated, and fourteen-year-old Meralda della Scorpia is forced to pay the ultimate price. But as the years pass on, parties complicit in her disappearance-from both houses-begin to suffer the consequences in a series of shocking deaths that could emanate from none other than a supernatural foe. As these bizarre events throw the city into a panic, a humble apprentice gravedigger is left to sort out the mysteries-an effort that will enable him to unearth the secrets of his own shadowy past. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Almost poetic view of fantasy Venice
In a version of renassaince Venice not too far different from that in our own history, doomed love works its magic. Two families have feuded for centuries over a stretch of land in a graveyard. Generations later, the feud continues, working its destructive force on the children of the noble families. Meralda, a dela Scorpio, falls for a handsome painter but is betrayed by her servant and by the heir to the Barbarons. Beatrixa, daughter of the Barbaron, falls for a ghost spirit who claims to be a dela Scorpio. And Bartolome, the gravedigger, finds his true love too late.

Author Tanith Lee creates a fascinating world where magic treads just lightly enough to make history into something colorful and wonderful. Her richly drawn characters, especially Silvio and Beatrixa, with their doomed love, cannot help create reader sympathy and fascination. Lee's descriptions of her mythical Venice (Venus) ring true both for the Venice of our own history and for that of myth.

Readers looking for action and adventure will not find much of that here. Instead, A BED OF EARTH is a strange and doomed romance, a poem of people and souls, and a bit of philosophy.

A Fever-Dream Venice
The art of alchemy is in the transformation.The third book in Lee's alchemically-based series set in a magical Venice follows this theme closer than the other novels in the series.It starts out as dark as imaginable.Feuding families, dark secrets, supernatural vendettas.But the novel changes, from a black-hearted to tragedy to a twilight-hued romance.The novel follows the fates of people involved in a particularly cruel prank-and all manner of comeuppance-not excluding forgiveness-is played out.It's a mélange of gothic horror, morality fable, and historical romance as only Lee can tell it.Her usual strengths are on display-fever dream imagery ("The eels leapt through the lagoon, like silver whips, fracturing the mirror-moon..."), erotica, devilish twists of fate and the odd historical anecdote.It is a bit more phantasmal than usual, but that's hardly a sin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

If Colin MacInnes's "Absolute Beginners" was set in the far future...
... it would be like "Don't Bite The Sun".

The teenage energy pours out of the book. One of my favourites.

I wouldn't bother with the sequel "Drinking Sapphire Wine" though. It adds nothing to the story and is more pedestrian and traditional.

"Don't bite the sun traveler, you may burn your mouth."

A groshing good read.
Don't Bite the Sun is a 1976 offering from the great Tanith Lee. It departs from her more famous formula of fractured fairy tales to offer us a book about purpose and pleasure.

The protagonist of the book is undoubtedly young (Jang, in the future speak of the book), but something about all her is unsatisfied with her life. The pleasures of being completely cared for, ecstasy pills, gender changes and choosing her own body are not enough to keep her from being bored and depressed. She discovers that the challenge of escape is particularly difficult from a system that will not allow anyone to come to any harm.

Don't Bite the Sun would later be published (together with its sequal-- Drinking Sapphire Wine) as Bite the Sun.

Tanith Lee books can sometimes be a little bit over the top gothic in their language. Interestingly enough, the artifical Jang language in Don't Bite the Sun seems to work to keep the worst of that tendency from creeping in. It is very cleanly written, and has moments where it is genuinely moving.

Recommended, certainly for Tanith Lee fans who may not be familiar with her earlier work.

obstreperous phoenix
This early Tanith Lee novel showcases her flair for fantastical settings and characters, but it's not one of her best when it comes to plot or excitement. Granted, Lee was ahead of her time with her main science fiction concept here – technology that allows people to replace their bodies and transfer their personalities. This motif started showing up in a lot of sci-fi and cyberpunk a good ten or fifteen years after this book. Here, the characters are roughly equivalent to countercultural teens, and they frequently change bodies and even genders as a way to fight boredom in their sterilized future high-tech society. At this early point in her career, Lee was already adept at wonderfully visual settings and backgrounds, thanks to her very colorful language. However, the problem with this book is that Lee does not utilize her concepts to their ultimate potential, as the characters occasionally muse on what it really means to be male or female or human, but these intriguing themes are not explored very fully. Also, there is very little plot here for the reader to latch onto, as once again Lee introduces some intriguing developments for the unnamed lead character, such as her desire to become a parent and finding nature outside the domed city, but once again these are not explored very well amidst the fun of Lee's characters and settings. Lee would really hit her stride a few books down the line from this one. [~doomsdayer520~]

Look for it under its new title.
I loved this book and its sequel.I just wanted anyone who might be out there looking for it to know that it's now printed under the title "Biting the Sun" (that book contains both "Don't Bite the Sun" and "Drinking Sapphire Wine" under one cover)."Biting the Sun" is available here on Amazon, and my review of the books is under that one.I love these books.I think they're awesome.

Stays With You
I first read this years ago, but still remember the world of "jang"(hedonistic teenagers) that is the focus of this book. The unnamed protagonist's journey to self-reliance is the ultimate rebellion against a society that encourages and rewards mindless pleasure-seeking, vanity and consumerism. The sequel, DRINKING SAPPHIRE WINE, is amusing, but not as good as DON'T BITE THE SUN. A classic in the sci-fi genre, no bookshelf should be without a copy. ... Read more

Product Description
Art Blastside in her third daring adventure upon the high seas. It's been eighteen months since Art's baby was born: a pretty child called Africa, with Felix's dark hair and Art's grey eyes. Now Art, who dreamed of being like her own loving, wonderful Ma, must face up to the fact that she has absolutely no warm feeling for her child. In fact -- Art can't stand her! What's wrong with her? Beyond the family lies an unsettled world too. The French are still waging war, and England has fallen out of love with pirates. Piratomania has been suppressed by the government and Art and Felix are evicted from their cliff-top mansion. The return of Ebad and the new and improved Unwelcome Stranger prompts Art to regroup her ragtag crew and sail once again across the oceans, through wild weather, bizarre places and riotous sea battles, to return to the Treasured Isle and learn the ultimate true secret behind the treasure and the mystery of why Art can't love her child. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Leave well alone!
Maybe I missed the point here, but I found Piratica III, The Family Sea horribly disappointing. I'm a big fan of the previous two, and this one - textually - is just a cunningly written, but thematically I found it a full betrayal of the core values found in Piratica, and Piratica II. Family Sea is sketchy and uncohesive, with too many threads awkwardly linked, too many characters picked up, then discarded, and the ending makes me wish that the author had never written a third at all, but left it at the two. The love story between Art and Felix is abandoned without a second thought about a chapter into the book, and even the wonderful camraderie between Art and her fellow pirates is completely lacking. I want NOT to have read this book - not only because I found it tedious, but because having read it, it has now coloured and corrupted my enjoyment of the previous two. Steer clear!

Well worth persevering
Like other reviewers, I found this book a little tough to get into. In fact, I probably read the first few chapters 5 or 6 times before I could really get into the book, but it is definitely worth it. The plot twist that comes up a few chapters in is genuinely surprising (it surprised me, anyway!) and makes the book infinitely more intriguing and enjoyable. The plot is extremely rewarding (after those first few chapters at least) and, as ever, Tanith Lee's exposition is beautiful.
It's interesting to read some work of hers that's aimed at a younger audience, and this book treads a fine line between what you might expect from Lee's other work and what you might expect from a pirate story. The sensual elements are more restrained, perhaps, but the characterisation is still very Lee.
I think this book should not be a disappointment for either pirate fans or Lee fans (unless you're just looking for smut, because you won't find it here), and would recommend to it to anyone who likes all things whimsical, fantastical, and piratical.

A real treasure!
This is an intriguing and well-crafted book, neatly divided into three acts, each divided into three parts which are each sub-divided into three chapters. The setting is a world similar to our own but with some subtle differences, not least of which is that the majority of pirate captains and highwaymen appear to be young girls!

The story begins with the 16 year-old heroine, Artemisia or Art for short, suddenly recovering lost memories of her childhood; a childhood spent at sea with her mother, pirate captain Molly Faith. She leaves her prim, suffocating girls' school behind and sets off to find her mother's old crew and embark on an adventure of her own. However, her recently retrieved memories are not quite as reliable as she thinks!

My admiration for this book grew as I read it. For the first three or four chapters (setting scenes, meeting characters) I was only mildly interested, but once Art discovers the truth about her memories, I was hooked. By the end of the second part, I came to regard the characters, (Art, each of the pirates ... even the parrot), with affection, really caring about what happened to them. By the third part, the adventure becomes a real page-turner.

Art isn't simply the standard feisty heroine, but an oddly noble girl, determined to follow her star ... whilst continually bewildered by enigmatic (possibly false) memories of her childhood. Her romantic interest, Felix, is also no stereotype ... and for much of the book it is difficult to understand his true motives for joining the pirates. The book's conclusion is both dramatic and satisfying, holding your attention until the very last page.

There have been several pirate stories published of late ... also the film, 'Pirates of the Caribbean'; however, this is without doubt my favourite. Although more fantastical and less grittily realistic than some books, it cleverly manages to convey a much more convincing flavour of life at sea. ... Read more

Product Description
All her life, Claidi has endured hardship in the House, where she must obey a spoiled princess. Then a golden stranger arrives, living proof of a world beyond the House walls. Claidi risks all to free the charming prisoner and accompanies him across the Waste toward his faraway home. It is a difficult yet marvelous journey, and all the while Claidi is at the side of a man she could come to love. That is, until they reach his home . . . and the Wolf Tower. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

the Claidi Journals.
The Claidi Journals follows the life of Claidi, a servent living a harsh life in a house catering the nobles. She doesn't know what life lies beyond this House, other than a desert that the nobles say is filled with death. But one day, Claidi gets a chance to find out for herself what really is out there. And she takes it. This is where her journal begins.

My absolute favorite thing about these books is the character of Claidi. She is just so different from any heroine that I have encountered before in a book, and I love Tanith Lee for that. While my favorite books include butt-kicking won't-stop-for-anything types of heroines that know exactly what they are doing and execute it amazingly, it's hard for me to connect with those types of girls. People like that don't really exist in the world (at least, no one I know). Claidi could be me; she could be my friends; she could realistically be a part of our world. Most of the time she has no idea what the hack is happening to her. She doesn't come out with amazing karate chops that stun her attackers instantly when people are kidnapping her. She just goes along with it, panicking and trying (and failing) to find out what is happening to her. She attempts to fight back, but fails because she has no experience in fighting. The intricate plots of sinister people, even the people she loves who come up with plans to save her, baffle her. She humorously records all that is happening but is the last one to figure out what is going on. I love that because I am usually very slow on the uptake as well; I can relate.

The Wolf books are filled with many twists and turns, which Claidi writes dutifully in her little journal but never fully understands until much later. Because confusing things happen constantly but the narrator can't explain them very well, you as a reader have a hard time understanding what actually is happening. Many times I didn't understand what has occured even after Claidi figures it out. And she is supposed to be the slow one! I had to go back and reread the passages to puzzle it out. Tanith Lee creates her own world, with its own people, laws, and religions within these books, and some of these are very strange and hard to imagine. Sometimes when someone gives an explaination to Claidi's questions, the explaination is too confusing for her to understand so she just gives up and writes a vague answer. This can leave a lot of Why?s left over in your head when you finish the books. Claidi is bailed out by the strangest thing, and when she gets an answer as to why, it really doesn't make sense. It just seems like the author made up something to save Claidi. The Whys are always followed by a Because, but sometimes the Becauses need to be explained as well and they're aren't.

The Claidi Journals might possibly be my favorite books to reread. There are so many plot twists, that when I read them again I forget about so many little things. Almost everything surprises me again, even though I have already read it. I highly recommend these to fans of fantasy, who don't mind a crazy adventure in a made-up land which may or may not make complete sense all the time. Sometimes you just have to accept that something happened, and leave it at that.

there's so much better fantasy out there, I wish I had spent my time reading them
Claidi is a maid to a mean princess in a prison-like castle surrounded by the Wastes. Her life changes when the lion-haired Nemain crashes his balloon into the castle. Told she is a princess, she rescues the prince and heads for adventures among the peoples of the Waste with Nemain. Smitten with Nemain (who doesn't treat her well), Claidi follows him blindly to his home, rejecting the love of a "thief" she meets in the Waste. Tanith Lee's writing style is convoluted and distracting. The story is boring and predictable, an endless and tedious journey with the ending clearly spelled out; the characters are flat and banal and hardly empathetic. Wish I had spent the time reading Gail Carson Levine, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, or Douglass Adams. Grade: D-

Strong Likeable Heroine
Serving girl Claidi labors at the whim of a selfish and spoiled princess in a palace garden surrounded on all sides by a vast toxic wasteland. When a stranger from the outside is captured, Claidi joins in a conspiracy to escape with him, and they set out on a journey back to his home city.

The entire story is written in diary form, which adds an element of charm and innocence to the writing style. Claidi voices her doubts and her uncertainties, but also shows a clever cynical wit that will serve her well in the adventures to come.

Those adventures lead her to a village of folk who can talk to their sheep. She is nearly thrown off a cliff in a ritual sacrifice at another village, and she falls in with a group of nomadic bandits, eventually befriending their leader, and finding herself forced to choose between two men she has come to care for.

Her choice leads to a cruel betrayal, and a final chance for Claidi to take control of her own destiny. And boy does she ever!

I felt the middle of this story suffered from too much of Claidi as a passive observer, someone that things happen to. The heavily-cliched and predictible sacrifice sequence didn't help matters, although it's a fairly minor scene that is over quickly.

The climactic chapters more than make up for this as Claidi's final act of self-liberation is one that I found myself cheering for.

Lee's setting has a vaguely post-apocalyptic feel to it, with an odd menagerie of mutated animals from giant tame red aligators to talking sheep. There is not magic in the sense of sorcery, but there is quite a bit of forgotten technology that functions as magic for all intents and purposes in this world. Claidi, as diarist, gives us more description of some cultures than others depending on her moods, and she is quick to judge, sometimes paying the price when her initial assessments are proven wrong. The level of detail that we do get is fairly good, and several of the civilizations that are described come off as quite intriguing. A few, like the horse-nomads that Claidi befriends, are fairly stereotypical. The romantic plotline is also pretty straightforward, although the intrigue that surrounds the reason for Claidi being chosen to help the prisoner escape ends up being both complex and well thought out.

Claidi is presented in a likeable voice that has a modern rhythm to it. Although there are places where the illusion of the diary falls away as the more complex narration comes to the fore, Lee always manages to bring the reader back to the diary style with an offhand remark or an abrupt aside from Claidi.

The is an enjoyable bit of young adult fantasy/romance that presents a detailed world and gives us a growing, likeable heroine to be our guide. Not everything here is original, plot-wise, but the strong finish makes the climax of Wolf Tower well worth the journey.

Excellent and Different
This book immediately caught my attention from the first sentences "Yes. I stole this. This book." Not the best grammar, but that's because it's written in journal format in the view of a sixteen-year-old girl. Claidi is not your average fantasy heroine. Not only is she a slave in the dreaded House, but she's also moody, funny and perfectly believable. The world that she lives in is a fantasy realm, but I expected all the details of it to be crammed in there with all the names of the countries and cities and all that, like Tamora Pierce's books. I was pleasantly surprised.
Claidi has never been outside of the House other than when she was a small girl, so when a handsome prince turns up (don't worry, Nemian doesn't "sweep her off her feet out yonder window"), we learn about the world outside the House just as Claidi does. This book, through the travels of Tanith Lee's fascinating world, breaks through the all the stereotypes of a typical fantasy. Claidi's handsome prince turns out to be a dud, evil old women plot, Claidi falls in love with somebody worthy of being a prince and the plot unfolds with beautiful descriptive details.
The ending is perfectly satisfying, but also makes you want to read the rest of the series. Don't worry if you're not a fan of series books--I'm not, either, and this has been by far the best series I've ever read. I haven't regretted buying this book.
Before the bookn eve begins, there is an epigraph that teaches the most important lesson, describes the whole book and does it so subtly--
"break the rules."

Wolf Tower
This book has a fascinating plot, unique set of characters, and an idea behind it that is riveting and attractive to me. However, after I finished the book I was turned off from the rest of the series by the fact that Claidi often uses swear words in her entries that she picked up from her crush, Nemian. I sincerely wish that Ms. Lee had not spoiled this wonderful fantasy with a smatter of profanity. Please use good judgement before you decide to read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
A new tale of horror featuring the mysterious vampiric family of Scarabae follows Anna, a family member, as she and twenty other children are kidnapped and taken to a pyramid under the Southern ice by an immortal named Cain. By the author of Personal Darkness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Third Book in the Blood Opera Sequence
"Tennebrae sum.
I am the darkness. Darkness, I"

"Darkness, I" is the third continuing story of the Scarabae. The child murderess, Ruth, has been killed and now her mother, Rachaela, is pregnant with another daughter, Anna, named for one of the Scarabae women Ruth had killed in Dark Dance. Anna is similar to her dead older sister--she, too, ages quickly and is just as bright and intelligent as Ruth, yet her temperament is not as violent.

And as before, with her first pregnancy, Rachaela is extremely detached from her child, growing jealous every day of Anna's kinship with Althene, Rachaela's longtime lover and "father" of Anna. Rachaela knows the Scarabae are very incestuous, and she believes she'll be overlooked by Althene for her daughter.

This everyday Scarabae family drama ends, however, when Anna is kidnapped, along with several other children, and brought to an ice pyramid as "guests" for Cain, an outcast vampire of the Scarabae family. Althene, as well as Malach (who is seeking the reincarnated Ruth), search for Anna, while, in the meantime, she is gradually transformed into Cain's child bride, Ankhet.

Until I read "Darkness, I", I thought this series was perfect. However, "Darkness, I" makes a drastic change to the storyline, one that's not very consistent or expected after reading the previous two books. Maybe if Cain or the Egyptian vampire myths had been mentioned before, I wouldn't have had such a hard time accepting this plot.

Despite my slight disappointment in "Darkness, I", I would love to see another sequel published, especially considering how this book ended. But I hope it's more like "Dark Dance" (#1) or "Personal Darkness" (#2). "Darkness, I" is a fair effort to the Blood Opera Sequence, but it's not a very good conclusion to this series.

Family secrets...
DARKNESS, I is the third in a series of books revolving around the family of Scarabae: powerful, ancient and occasionally vampirish.In this story, Rachaela's second daughter, Anna, is kidnapped by one of it's earliest progenitors, Cain.It mixes gothic horror with both Egyptian and Biblical mythology.
I found it a letdown from the first two installments (DARK DANCE and PERSONAL DARKNESS), which I loved. This volume is painfully slow, and nothing much happens.I hate to admit it but I found much of it actually boring.I do recommend the previous novels, however...and it seems that another one is possible. ... Read more