Sunday, May 03, 2020

Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Lords of Destruction by James Silke

(pb; 1989: second book in James Silke’s Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“In the mists of time, before Atlantis rose. . .

“Gath of Baal was imprisoned by the Horned Helmet, the Death Dealer. Only the innocent touch of the maiden Robin Lakehair could free him from its murderous power, even for a time.

“Now Tivvy, Nymph Queen of Pyram, seeks the godlike powers that she can gain only from Robin Lakehair’s death. To save Robin’s life, Gath must don the helmet again and confront the demons Tivvy has summoned from the primordial depths─demons that emerge from mankind’s deepest fears.

“For his own freedom and the life of his beloved, Gath of Baal, the Death Dealer, must face the Lords of Destruction.”


Review

Lords picks up shortly after the events of Prisoner of the Horned Helmet. Like its source novel and the artwork that inspired Prisoner, it is hypermasculine and cinematic-vivid, with genre-puncturing humor baked into the bloody, often-too-sexist storyline and characters (lots of women-wallowing-in-bathetic-naked-distress scenes). Because of these last bits of excess, there are occasional passages that are more filler than thriller, but, because of Silke’s ability to balance engaging characters, effective twists, intriguing action and storylines, clever wordplay and a hurly burly tone, it works for the most part. While not as good as Prisoner, it is a worthwhile continuation and expansion of the characters, themes and storyline from the first book.

Followed by Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Tooth and Claw.

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