Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Guild America Books (1988), 401 pages
Description
Tanith Lee is one of the leading fantasy authors working today. She has written over 50 novels and short story collections, among them the bestselling Flat Earth Series. She has won the World Fantasy Award numerous times as well as the August Derleth Award.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ragwaine
This book is composed of 2 books, the Book of the Damned and the Book of the Beast. The first book is comprised of 3 novellas. The second book looks like it's composed of 9 short stories but I believe the stories are linked.
BOOK OF THE DAMNED
Stained with Crimson - I love Tanith Lee's writing but
Malice in Saffron This was much better than the first story. A gender-bending, medieval tale with no magic but definitely some surreal moments. It's dark and at times shocking but it did at least seem to have a plot and resolution.
Empires of Azure This was a more modern (probably late 18th century but it's never actually mentioned) gender-bending ghost story that also waxes a bit surreal at times but has a discernable beginning and ending. At times it's very hard to tell who's speaking because of the gender ambiguity and the fact that part of it is a journal but not written in first person and it's being read by someone else. I think a straight journal format in first person would have been much more enjoyable.
BOOK OF THE DAMNED
Stained with Crimson - I love Tanith Lee's writing but
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she has this kind of mode that's just boring, dramatic and goes absolutely no where (see her novel Eva Fairdeath). This is her writing in that mode. The setting was kind of cool, the writing was nice once in a while, but really no plot and it was very confusing.Malice in Saffron This was much better than the first story. A gender-bending, medieval tale with no magic but definitely some surreal moments. It's dark and at times shocking but it did at least seem to have a plot and resolution.
Empires of Azure This was a more modern (probably late 18th century but it's never actually mentioned) gender-bending ghost story that also waxes a bit surreal at times but has a discernable beginning and ending. At times it's very hard to tell who's speaking because of the gender ambiguity and the fact that part of it is a journal but not written in first person and it's being read by someone else. I think a straight journal format in first person would have been much more enjoyable.
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LibraryThing member Jammies
It's almost a pity that Ms. Lee is such a wordsmith. Sentences such as "On the streets the rain attacked a hurrying umbrella world of wet black tortoise-backs." kept me reading for the sheer joy of the language. Unfortunately, only a few of the characters are three-dimensional and mildly likeable,
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there is essentially one plot for all the novellas and stories, and this is the most unsexy sex-laden book I've read yet, with loads of romance-novel descriptions and the basic attitude that sex is nasty, wanting sex is weak, and having sex does nothing more than make you evil. For all of her raccoon-shadowed eyes, in these books, she displays a Puritan sense of shame. Show Less
Language
Physical description
401 p.; 8.3 inches
ISBN
0879514175 / 9780879514174