Star of Doom

Red Sonja #6

by David C. Smith, Richard L. Tierney

Sonja helps the villagers end their ten-year siege of the stone zigguarat where the evil sorcerers of the Order of the Crimson Sun are entrenched

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction

199 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Artemas · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Review for the entire Red Sonja series.

This series was fun, running along the same Sword & Sorcery vein as Conan and Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, so if you like those then you will probably enjoy these as well. I was honestly sad to see it end.

The writing wasn't the best but the quasi self-contained books flowed at a comfortable pace and were quick, entertaining reads.

[⚔️ Mythica ⚔️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have very much enjoyed these books, I'm a little sad that it's over. I really loved The Battle For The Ziggurat and the last few chapters. I wasn't feeling the love story though (I still ship Sonja and Olin from the first book.. Sue me! ) I would have loved Sonja to be more front and centre like the covers would have you believe but I've enjoyed these stories nonetheless. Decent Sword and Sorcery ⚔️

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

the last in the series. I was sorry to see it end.

[Paul Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney, published in 1983.

This is the sixth and final book in the Red Sonja series by Smith and Tierney. This time Red Sonja must face the Star of Doom, an evil artifact/entity which has crashed from the heavens - literally.

It seems as though some sorcerers, who have claimed a ziggurat built into a mountainside from ages ago, have performed rituals for a very long time to call down such a powerful artifact to aid them in taking over the entire world.

As you know, Red Sonja can not allow that to happen.

I really like this series a lot. It is, to me, the very essence of Swords and Sorcerery. And, it is also well written making the reading process a pleasure - and each book is around 200 pages, easy to digest, unlike a lot of today’s fantasy novels which, for some bizarre reason, must hover around 1000 pages or so.

Being the final episode in a six part series we would expect a wrap-up of Sonja in this world - and we sort of get it, like riding into the sunset. But I’ll say no more so as not to ruin the experience for you if you happen to find and read all six - which I do suggest if you like short great fantasy novels.

In this volume Sonja is battling against much more than just evil sorcerers and doom from the sky. She is battling her heart, which insists she is in love. The internal struggle is quite touching, and you do hope (this being the final volume) that she will experience love and not just battles and blood.

There is much to like in this series of books and I felt this was an appropriate ending to Sonja’s journeys - it was true to the heart of the books before. Well done and I’m glad I have them all and will most likely read them again in the future.

Here are the six titles in case you are hunting for them.

1) The Ring of Ikribu
2) Demon night
3) When Hell laughs
4) Endithor’s Daughter
5) Against the Prince of Hell
6) Star of Doom

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty solid final installment in the Smith line of Red Sonja books.

[Ricketyrocks · Rating 2 out of 5]

One problem with these and others like it (looking at you, Robert Jordan’s Conan) is the episodic nature that works in TV shows or comic books does not work well in novels. TV’s Bruce Banner can walk into a town and sort of tag along someone else’s adventure all day, but the same trick is not so entertaining here. The title character is barely involved in the plot and can actually turn and walk away at any moment, and the story would continue just fine. Red Sonja just isn’t necessary to any of these stories in this series. It makes for a real slog of a read.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way better than I expected, but definitely not high literature.

[Robert Fenske · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was fairly disappointed by the finale to the Red Sonja book series.

What could have been an epic battle of steel versus magic isn't what is presented. Despite Sonja's hate for magic the whole story revolves around her teaming up with powerful magic users to defeat an ancient magic order that hopes to utilize a demon's power.

This book in my opinion almost made Sonja into a side character as she follows her companion, Daron on his quest to find his magic wielding father in hopes of finding aid for the upcoming battle. We only see Sonja draw her blade out for combat two or three times and it is fairly tame compared to some of the action sequences from the previous books.

When if comes the the last battle Sonja barely does anything other than accompany the wizards in a last attempt to defeat their enemy. She stands back and essentially watches the wizards use their magic in a short lived battle that covers a page at most.