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The Dark World
World War II veteran Edward Bond's recuperation from a disastrous fighter plane crash takes a distinct turn for the weird when he encounters a giant wolf, a red witch, and the undeniable power of the need-fire, a portal to a world of magic and swordplay at once terribly new and hauntingly familiar. In the Dark World, Bond opposes the machinations of the dread lord Ganelon and his terrible retinue of werewolves, wizards, and witches, but all is not as it seems in this shadowy mirror of the real world, and Bond discovers that a part of him feels more at home here than he ever has on Earth.
126 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
41 people are currently reading
606 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kuttner
757 books214 followersHenry Kuttner was, alone and in collaboration with his wife, the great science fiction and fantasy writer C.L. Moore, one of the four or five most important writers of the 1940s, the writer whose work went furthest in its sociological and psychological insight to making science fiction a human as well as technological literature. He was an important influence upon every contemporary and every science fiction writer who succeeded him. In the early 1940s and under many pseudonyms, Kuttner and Moore published very widely through the range of the science fiction and fantasy pulp markets.
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
February 16, 2012
After an illness following a plane crash in Sumatra, Edward Bond is whisked away to The Dark World, a twin of Earth where mutants rule. Bond encounters a mysterious hooded woman, a werewolf named Matholch, and a red witch named Medea, all of whom think he is the missing Ganelon. Will Bond free The Dark World of it's tyranny or rule the Dark World himself?
I've been interested in The Dark World since I found out it was one of Roger Zelazny's inspiration for Amber. Edward Bond/Ganelon's plight seems similar to Corwin's at first. Bond has fragments of memories that aren't his own and bluffs his way through situations as long as he can.
Ganelon was an interesting protagonist, an anti-hero motivated by his own ends rather than heroism. The Coven were an intersting lot; a gorgon, a vampire, and a werewolf. Ghast Rhymi was strongly implied to be Merlin trapped in the Dark World. Llyr felt like Cthulhu more than anything else. Since Kuttner was involved with the Cthulhu mythos crowd, it's not hard to imagine that that was intentional.
The Dark World wasn't developed as much as I would have liked. The revelation about Bond and Ganelon, as well as their final fates, were well done. The ending was unexpected.
The Dark World is a quick read and should entertain any fan of pulp fantasy and Roger Zelazny fans.
I've been interested in The Dark World since I found out it was one of Roger Zelazny's inspiration for Amber. Edward Bond/Ganelon's plight seems similar to Corwin's at first. Bond has fragments of memories that aren't his own and bluffs his way through situations as long as he can.
Ganelon was an interesting protagonist, an anti-hero motivated by his own ends rather than heroism. The Coven were an intersting lot; a gorgon, a vampire, and a werewolf. Ghast Rhymi was strongly implied to be Merlin trapped in the Dark World. Llyr felt like Cthulhu more than anything else. Since Kuttner was involved with the Cthulhu mythos crowd, it's not hard to imagine that that was intentional.
The Dark World wasn't developed as much as I would have liked. The revelation about Bond and Ganelon, as well as their final fates, were well done. The ending was unexpected.
The Dark World is a quick read and should entertain any fan of pulp fantasy and Roger Zelazny fans.
November 3, 2024
I became interested in this when I learned it served to inspire the classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, and it's not hard to see its many influences. While entertaining, due to a cartoonishly fiendish protagonist and occasional flashes of elegant and trippy prose, I found the narrative generally overwrought and suffering from an overdose of first person inner dialogue. Still, Kuttner creates a fascinating world here, full of bizarre supernatural creatures, mutants, sorcerers and interdimensional gods. It's a shame he didn't go into any real depth with any of it. The way he roots all of the fantastical elements to science was particularly clever and compelling, making this a science fantasy story in the truest sense.
July 18, 2024
A 1946 story I would have enjoyed immensely if I had read it as a teen. Here, Kuttner, one of the great pulp writers, is imitating A. Merrit. Ordinary Earthman enters a world of magic and sorcery...a very short story which made for a fast exciting read.
August 18, 2011
1946 was a very good year indeed for sci-fi's foremost husband-and-wife writing team, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. Besides placing a full dozen stories (including the acknowledged classic "Vintage Season") into various magazines of the day, the pair also succeeded in having published three short novels in those same pulps. The first, "The Fairy Chessmen," which was released in the January and February issues of "Astounding Science-Fiction," was a remarkable combination of hardheaded modernist sci-fi and almost hallucinatory reality twists. "Valley of the Flame," from the March issue of "Startling Stories," was an exciting meld of jungle adventure, Haggardian lost-world story and unique fantasy. And that summer, in "Startling Stories" again, the team came out with "The Dark World," a work that is pretty much a "hard" fantasy with some slight scientific leavening.
In this one, the American flier Edward Bond is whisked from the Pacific theatre during WW2 and transported to the eponymous Dark World, an alternate Earth that has diverged from its parent in space as well as time. His counterpart on the Dark World, Ganelon, head of a coven of mutated overlords who are busy keeping that realm subjugated, is sent to our Earth with Bond's memories. The book's plot is difficult to synopsize, and gets a bit complicated when Ganelon is brought back to the Dark World sometime later, his body now housing two distinct minds and personalities. Thus, the understandably mixed-up warlock can't quite decide whether or not to help his fellow "Covenanters" wipe out the forest-dwelling rebels, or join those rebels and destroy the Coven, not to mention the dreaded, sacrifice-demanding entity known as Llyr. Though called the Coven, Ganelon's fellows number only four, and include Medea, a beautiful vampire who feeds on life energies; Matholch, a lycanthrope; Edeyrn, a cowled, childlike personage whose power the authors choose not to reveal until the novel's end; and Ghast Rhymi, an ancient magus whose origin really did surprise this reader.
Peopled with colorful characters as it is, and featuring a nicely involved plot and ample scenes of battle, sacrifice, magic and spectacle, this little book (the whole thing runs to a mere 126 pages) really does please. That small scientific admixture that I mentioned earlier takes the form of rational explanations for the vampire, werewolf and Edeyrn phenomena; these explanations, while not exactly deep or technical, do tend to make the fantastic characters on display here slightly more, well, credible. But for the most part, "The Dark World" is a somber fantasy, and a darn good one, at that. Not for nothing was it selected for inclusion (as was "Valley of the Flame") in James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock's excellent overview volume "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books." "I consider the work of Henry Kuttner to be the finest science fantasy ever written," says Marion Zimmer Bradley in a blurb on the front cover of the 1965 Ace paperback (pictured above, and with a cover price of 40 cents) that I just finished, and readers of "The Dark World" will probably not feel inclined to give her argument.
In this one, the American flier Edward Bond is whisked from the Pacific theatre during WW2 and transported to the eponymous Dark World, an alternate Earth that has diverged from its parent in space as well as time. His counterpart on the Dark World, Ganelon, head of a coven of mutated overlords who are busy keeping that realm subjugated, is sent to our Earth with Bond's memories. The book's plot is difficult to synopsize, and gets a bit complicated when Ganelon is brought back to the Dark World sometime later, his body now housing two distinct minds and personalities. Thus, the understandably mixed-up warlock can't quite decide whether or not to help his fellow "Covenanters" wipe out the forest-dwelling rebels, or join those rebels and destroy the Coven, not to mention the dreaded, sacrifice-demanding entity known as Llyr. Though called the Coven, Ganelon's fellows number only four, and include Medea, a beautiful vampire who feeds on life energies; Matholch, a lycanthrope; Edeyrn, a cowled, childlike personage whose power the authors choose not to reveal until the novel's end; and Ghast Rhymi, an ancient magus whose origin really did surprise this reader.
Peopled with colorful characters as it is, and featuring a nicely involved plot and ample scenes of battle, sacrifice, magic and spectacle, this little book (the whole thing runs to a mere 126 pages) really does please. That small scientific admixture that I mentioned earlier takes the form of rational explanations for the vampire, werewolf and Edeyrn phenomena; these explanations, while not exactly deep or technical, do tend to make the fantastic characters on display here slightly more, well, credible. But for the most part, "The Dark World" is a somber fantasy, and a darn good one, at that. Not for nothing was it selected for inclusion (as was "Valley of the Flame") in James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock's excellent overview volume "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books." "I consider the work of Henry Kuttner to be the finest science fantasy ever written," says Marion Zimmer Bradley in a blurb on the front cover of the 1965 Ace paperback (pictured above, and with a cover price of 40 cents) that I just finished, and readers of "The Dark World" will probably not feel inclined to give her argument.
May 4, 2018
Osnovno što me navelo ka ovoj knjizi iz 1946. je Zelaznyjeva napomena kako mu je bila izravno nadahnuće za Amber serijal.
Što je našao u njoj ostala mi je nepoznanica, meni izgleda kao da je ovime nadahnut za Gospodara svjetlosti, a ne za Amber.
U principu fantasy žanr se dobro drži tijekom desetljeća nakon što je napisan, ako je dobro napisan.
Ovo mi jednostavno svojim stilom ne odgovara, previše osjetim Gospodara u njoj i to mi ne odgovara pa zato samo dvojčica.
Inače je prilično kratko pa se može pročitati.
Što je našao u njoj ostala mi je nepoznanica, meni izgleda kao da je ovime nadahnut za Gospodara svjetlosti, a ne za Amber.
U principu fantasy žanr se dobro drži tijekom desetljeća nakon što je napisan, ako je dobro napisan.
Ovo mi jednostavno svojim stilom ne odgovara, previše osjetim Gospodara u njoj i to mi ne odgovara pa zato samo dvojčica.
Inače je prilično kratko pa se može pročitati.
February 5, 2023
This post WWII pulp science fantasy can be read and enjoyed for its non-stop action, strong characters, interesting ideas, or even just to see how many exclamation points can be crammed into a 126-page book (answer: a lot!). But the readers who will enjoy it the most may be those who want to see the original inspiration for Roger Zelazny's Amber series.
February 9, 2026
This is a short and entertaining science fantasy novella by Kuttner and Moore. Something happened in the past which separated our version of Earth and the Dark World into parallel universes. The Dark World is full of mythical creatures and elements that, over time have leaked into our world. Edward Bond is from Earth, and his parallel self Ganelon is from the Dark World. Ganelon got caught up in a conflict and his opposition found a way to have him and Edward switch places. Now Edward/Ganelon must unlock the mysteries of the Dark World and the fate of both worlds. There were a few science fiction elements included in this which made it feel a bit more grounded, but it mostly read like fantasy. Kuttner was known for being derivative, and that might be this one’s biggest flaw. This was a fun read and even though Kuttner’s name is on it, I couldn’t help but notice Moore’s beautiful, fantastical writing. C+
November 15, 2018
On the surface, this is some classic Sword & Sorcery, but it's actually secret Science Fiction, and I love it. Kuttner is an often forgotten figure in genre fiction, but he's an important one (as is his wife, C.L. Moore, with whom he worked frequently, and in fact is suspected by some to have helped him on this one). This story of mind transference, alternate timelines, mutants, and ultra-science is wonderfully strange and creative. Though there are times when it feels very pulp, there are others where you'll find it hart to believe the book was originally published in 1946. A great cast of characters and a fantastic yarn. I'm only sad that Kuttner didn't return to this world, as I definitely felt like there was more to explore. The book is bold and fun, exciting and emotional, and powerfully weird. I can not recommend this one highly enough. If you're a fan of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Sword & Sorcery, or just a good story told well, get yourself a copy.
December 2, 2012
Two worlds. One our own. The other the world we may have known at one time, full of magic and adventure. Mirror twins of one another. Two men. Belonging to each of the worlds. One a good and decent man. A hero. The other a villain. Mirror twins of each other.
Awhile back I went through a period of reading the classics of fantasy. And it was interesting to see where the genre came from. How it has changed. And how it has stayed the same.
One of the biggest changes is length. An average fantasy book today runs probably around 500 pages. And some much more than that. But back in the pulp era of fantasy the average book was the length of what we would probably consider a novella. But that doesn't mean the stories themselves were short or little. Some could pack in more in 100 pages than some authors today can in 500.
Back then when I was reading these for the first time, this was one of my favorites. At the time it seemed new, and it was for me, I hadn't read anything like it. But it was also one of my firsts. And so since then I have read better authors and books that are very similar.
I still recommend this book though, even if it has slipped a bit from my first impression. It's fun. Easy to read. Entertaining. And even though it has been done before, and since, there are twists to the story that might surprise you.
Henry Kuttner is one of my favorites of the “forgotten masters” of fantasy and this remains one of my favorites from him.
Awhile back I went through a period of reading the classics of fantasy. And it was interesting to see where the genre came from. How it has changed. And how it has stayed the same.
One of the biggest changes is length. An average fantasy book today runs probably around 500 pages. And some much more than that. But back in the pulp era of fantasy the average book was the length of what we would probably consider a novella. But that doesn't mean the stories themselves were short or little. Some could pack in more in 100 pages than some authors today can in 500.
Back then when I was reading these for the first time, this was one of my favorites. At the time it seemed new, and it was for me, I hadn't read anything like it. But it was also one of my firsts. And so since then I have read better authors and books that are very similar.
I still recommend this book though, even if it has slipped a bit from my first impression. It's fun. Easy to read. Entertaining. And even though it has been done before, and since, there are twists to the story that might surprise you.
Henry Kuttner is one of my favorites of the “forgotten masters” of fantasy and this remains one of my favorites from him.
July 10, 2022
Mildly interesting; probably a three or even four-star book
if
you enjoy stuff from the formative era of scifi/fantasy.
I stumbled on the title when reading about one of my favorite fantasy series, by Roger Zelazny: The Chronicles of Amber. The first five books are the better half, and called the Corwin cycle, after the protagonist. The opening is a tease: he awakes from a coma with few memories, only to gradually discover he’s a member of the royal family that effectively controls… well, what today we would call the multiverse.
That very slow recollection of who he is — or was, or might be — is central to the character’s development and the plot. He doesn’t know who his allies are, or enemies, due to dynastic politics and intrigue. He isn’t forced to be the same person he was, but others might not understand or trust those changes — after all, it might be dynastic trickery?
In the Wikipedia page for the series, I found this book, The Dark World, mentioned in the section Inspirations and sources. In many important ways, the Edward Bond/Ganelon character is an obvious template, but also different in critical aspects. And, honestly, Zelazny’s use of the idea is much more subtle and sophisticated.
The Dark World does not take long to read, but it isn’t an important classic or even close. For fans of Zelazny’s series, however, it provides some insights into how he took something clever and turned it into something brilliant.
I stumbled on the title when reading about one of my favorite fantasy series, by Roger Zelazny: The Chronicles of Amber. The first five books are the better half, and called the Corwin cycle, after the protagonist. The opening is a tease: he awakes from a coma with few memories, only to gradually discover he’s a member of the royal family that effectively controls… well, what today we would call the multiverse.
That very slow recollection of who he is — or was, or might be — is central to the character’s development and the plot. He doesn’t know who his allies are, or enemies, due to dynastic politics and intrigue. He isn’t forced to be the same person he was, but others might not understand or trust those changes — after all, it might be dynastic trickery?
In the Wikipedia page for the series, I found this book, The Dark World, mentioned in the section Inspirations and sources. In many important ways, the Edward Bond/Ganelon character is an obvious template, but also different in critical aspects. And, honestly, Zelazny’s use of the idea is much more subtle and sophisticated.
The Dark World does not take long to read, but it isn’t an important classic or even close. For fans of Zelazny’s series, however, it provides some insights into how he took something clever and turned it into something brilliant.
March 1, 2013
This was a slender, blazing fast read which unfortunately travels too quickly and too shallowly. At almost every point I kept wanting Kuttner or Kuttner and Moore (did they collaborate?) to expand on the ideas, on why the Coven was shrinking to a mere handful of members, and so forth.
The author(s) felt compelled to justify the fantastic nature of the Coven or of the Dark World in general: this or that is a mutation, or hypnosis, or that some magic-like device has a basis in physics or technology. Or that the Dark World itself is an alternate world / alternate history of Earth. It just struck me as unnecessary details meant to soften the blow on an audience unprepared to deal with a fantasy story. Part of this explanation does bend the setting from a fantasy to something more explicitly alien, and some of it casts the otherworldly Llyr as a weirdly posthuman horror.
The first person narration is troublesome. On one hand, Ganelon / Edward Bond deals with memory loss (with regard to the allegiances and goals of the beings around him), so limiting the story to only his perspective makes sense: the reader rediscovers Ganelon's past and his position in the Coven with him. But two sets of controlling memories contend for control within him, so Bond may become Ganelon in the next paragraph or vice versa, with a slightly different feel to his narration. So, given that this is all in past tense, who is he narrating to and under what context?
The author(s) felt compelled to justify the fantastic nature of the Coven or of the Dark World in general: this or that is a mutation, or hypnosis, or that some magic-like device has a basis in physics or technology. Or that the Dark World itself is an alternate world / alternate history of Earth. It just struck me as unnecessary details meant to soften the blow on an audience unprepared to deal with a fantasy story. Part of this explanation does bend the setting from a fantasy to something more explicitly alien, and some of it casts the otherworldly Llyr as a weirdly posthuman horror.
The first person narration is troublesome. On one hand, Ganelon / Edward Bond deals with memory loss (with regard to the allegiances and goals of the beings around him), so limiting the story to only his perspective makes sense: the reader rediscovers Ganelon's past and his position in the Coven with him. But two sets of controlling memories contend for control within him, so Bond may become Ganelon in the next paragraph or vice versa, with a slightly different feel to his narration. So, given that this is all in past tense, who is he narrating to and under what context?
June 17, 2019
The first thing I ever read from Henry Kuttner was the short story “Dragon Moon” in the “Fantastic Swordsmen” collection. In another collection, I read a comic vampire story by him. Between those, and Sam Moskowitz's entry on him in “Seekers of Tomorrow”, I got really excited for Henry Kuttner novels. On reading “The Dark World” my enthusiasm has waned some.
A WW2 vet named Edward Bond is telling his uncle about disturbing and supernatural recent experiences since his plane crash in the war. Then he gets abducted by witches to The Dark World, a parallel Earth where magic rules and there's castles and swords and such. A hooded lady named Edeyrn, whose face is always obscured, tells Bond that he's really a warlock from the dark world named Ganelon and he's only Edward Bond's dark world double. The forest people, who fight the witches in the castle, managed to switch Ganelon to Earth, bringing Edward Bond to the dark world, but now it's changed back. All of that would be simple enough, but Ganelon was given Edward Bond's memories, so he isn't convinced of any of it.
“The Dark World” reads more like a writing exercise than a novel, with our first person narrator dramatically shifting between the two personalities in his head, the evil Ganelon and the good Edward Bond. This was the focus of the book, and for me, this cried out for a twist that never came. The plot boils down to something desperately simple, concerning the two sides fighting.
The book does contain a crystal sword, an evil giant tentacle god thing, a vampire, some werewolves, big evil castle, human sacrifice, mutants, interdimensional cube, surprise powers, crystal magic mask, magic vision cave complete with magic fire, instant love interests, instant enemies, and twin fighting.
The device Kuttner employed with Bond/Ganelon's memories could have been a time saver in delivering a larger and more interesting adventure, but the other characters remain pretty vague, and the old fight-and-return structure feels very bare here. Actual action is mostly absent and most of the magic is written off as technology in disguise.
Call me picky, but if there's a sword-swinging dude on the cover of a book, I'd kinda like to read a little about him swinging the sword.
A WW2 vet named Edward Bond is telling his uncle about disturbing and supernatural recent experiences since his plane crash in the war. Then he gets abducted by witches to The Dark World, a parallel Earth where magic rules and there's castles and swords and such. A hooded lady named Edeyrn, whose face is always obscured, tells Bond that he's really a warlock from the dark world named Ganelon and he's only Edward Bond's dark world double. The forest people, who fight the witches in the castle, managed to switch Ganelon to Earth, bringing Edward Bond to the dark world, but now it's changed back. All of that would be simple enough, but Ganelon was given Edward Bond's memories, so he isn't convinced of any of it.
“The Dark World” reads more like a writing exercise than a novel, with our first person narrator dramatically shifting between the two personalities in his head, the evil Ganelon and the good Edward Bond. This was the focus of the book, and for me, this cried out for a twist that never came. The plot boils down to something desperately simple, concerning the two sides fighting.
The book does contain a crystal sword, an evil giant tentacle god thing, a vampire, some werewolves, big evil castle, human sacrifice, mutants, interdimensional cube, surprise powers, crystal magic mask, magic vision cave complete with magic fire, instant love interests, instant enemies, and twin fighting.
The device Kuttner employed with Bond/Ganelon's memories could have been a time saver in delivering a larger and more interesting adventure, but the other characters remain pretty vague, and the old fight-and-return structure feels very bare here. Actual action is mostly absent and most of the magic is written off as technology in disguise.
Call me picky, but if there's a sword-swinging dude on the cover of a book, I'd kinda like to read a little about him swinging the sword.
October 13, 2019
Малка книжка, издадена у нас през 93-а, и издадена с качество, сякаш под нивото дори и на онези години... И да - корицата няма абьолютно нищо общо с произведението под нея.
Първо, трябва сериозно да се вземе предвид, че първото издание (на авторов майчин език), е от Юли, 1946-а година - по-малко от година след края на ВСВ.
Накратко - по някое време в миналото се е случило събитие, което е разделило континуума на две - едниният поток е нашето битие, а другият - "тъмен" свят, в който магията е господар, а най-големите магьосници са господари. Двете могат да се срещат, макар и с огромни усилия, и правят възможно разменянето на местата на дадена личност. Около последното се върти и сюжетът.
Пресните спомени от употребата на атомна енергия за военни цели (да се надяваме, че ще е и последна) са силно осезаеми с обясняването на магията и наличието на мутанти/магьосници.
Главният герой е антагонистът в цялата схема, което май е било (и все още е) доста екзотичен похват. Самата история е добра, даже - много добра, дори и да не се вземе предвид колко отдавна е писана. Има си и негативните страни (пр. горските жители са представени като пионки-идиоти).
Качеството на родното издание е умело подсказано от дилетантската корица, и може да се обобщи в "по-добре от нищо". Като се започне от качеството на превода (на средно-деветдесетарско ниво) и липсващо-малоумната коректура. Достахстраници са отпечатани достатъчно бледо, за да затруднят четенето.
В заключение, мога да се съглася, че това е едно доста добро старо фентъзи, което е остаряло добре, и има нужда от съвременно издание с нов и добър превод.
4,5 за произведението и 2 за книжната му родна инкарнация - демек - 4 (не средноаритметично).
Първо, трябва сериозно да се вземе предвид, че първото издание (на авторов майчин език), е от Юли, 1946-а година - по-малко от година след края на ВСВ.
Накратко - по някое време в миналото се е случило събитие, което е разделило континуума на две - едниният поток е нашето битие, а другият - "тъмен" свят, в който магията е господар, а най-големите магьосници са господари. Двете могат да се срещат, макар и с огромни усилия, и правят възможно разменянето на местата на дадена личност. Около последното се върти и сюжетът.
Пресните спомени от употребата на атомна енергия за военни цели (да се надяваме, че ще е и последна) са силно осезаеми с обясняването на магията и наличието на мутанти/магьосници.
Главният герой е антагонистът в цялата схема, което май е било (и все още е) доста екзотичен похват. Самата история е добра, даже - много добра, дори и да не се вземе предвид колко отдавна е писана. Има си и негативните страни (пр. горските жители са представени като пионки-идиоти).
Качеството на родното издание е умело подсказано от дилетантската корица, и може да се обобщи в "по-добре от нищо". Като се започне от качеството на превода (на средно-деветдесетарско ниво) и липсващо-малоумната коректура. Достахстраници са отпечатани достатъчно бледо, за да затруднят четенето.
В заключение, мога да се съглася, че това е едно доста добро старо фентъзи, което е остаряло добре, и има нужда от съвременно издание с нов и добър превод.
4,5 за произведението и 2 за книжната му родна инкарнация - демек - 4 (не средноаритметично).
September 9, 2021
Edward Bond is recuperating from his traumatic experiences during World War II, including a disastrous plane crash that threw him into a parallel dimension haunted by werewolves, vampires and a red witch who calls him from the reaches of the darkness. His mind becomes trapped in the twisted mirror world full of wicked sorcery and magic swords, his soul being shared by a polar opposite entity known as the wicked Ganelon. His soul caught in a tug-of-war battle between his identities of the former soldier Edward Bond and the vengeful wizard of the dark world Lord Ganelon, the two clash in a cosmic battle that defy the natural laws of time and space.
The Dark World has a lot of very cool imagery and concepts, but its ridiculously fast pacing and choppy writing leaves a lot of the concepts feeling shallow and unexplored. It feels like the rough draft of a Robert Zelazny story or an undeveloped entry in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion universe. Oddly enough it also reminded me of a boss fight from Final Fantasy 4 where the protagonist Cecil stands in front of a magic mirror and two versions of himself (a paladin of light and a knight of darkness) battle to become a single soul that share a single body.
While Dark World felt messy and unfinished in a lot of ways, I can definitely see how it served as a massive inspiration to future writers of fantasy and sci-fi. In terms of cool sword & sorcery tales, I think Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis feels more complete and engaging.
***
If you're looking for some dark ambient music for reading horror, dark fantasy and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my YouTube Channel called Nightmarish Compositions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
The Dark World has a lot of very cool imagery and concepts, but its ridiculously fast pacing and choppy writing leaves a lot of the concepts feeling shallow and unexplored. It feels like the rough draft of a Robert Zelazny story or an undeveloped entry in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion universe. Oddly enough it also reminded me of a boss fight from Final Fantasy 4 where the protagonist Cecil stands in front of a magic mirror and two versions of himself (a paladin of light and a knight of darkness) battle to become a single soul that share a single body.
While Dark World felt messy and unfinished in a lot of ways, I can definitely see how it served as a massive inspiration to future writers of fantasy and sci-fi. In terms of cool sword & sorcery tales, I think Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis feels more complete and engaging.
***
If you're looking for some dark ambient music for reading horror, dark fantasy and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my YouTube Channel called Nightmarish Compositions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
April 9, 2010
Kuttner is a forgotten master from the early days of fantasy and science fiction. You may well have read him under one of his many pseudonyms. If not, you've probably read someone who cites him as an influence.
"The Dark World" tells of a man drawn through magic to another world. He learns that he is the evil sorcerer, Ganelon. Rebels erased his memory and swapped him for a twin from our world. His evil cohorts swapped him back.
Kuttner gives us a hero who starts as a good guy, becomes the bad guy, and really only helps the good guys win because he's pissed off at the other bad guys. There's no real moment of redemption for Ganelon (outside one comment at the end that makes him a little more pitiful). It's an interesting trick that kept me reading in spite of some stylistic awkwardness and dated prose.
That said, Roger Zelazny cites Kuttner as an influence, and fans of his Amber books should read this just to enjoy the frisson of recognition as you realize how direct that influence is. I have no doubt the Ganelon character in the Amber books is a direct recognition of the debt Zelazny owes Kuttner.
"The Dark World" tells of a man drawn through magic to another world. He learns that he is the evil sorcerer, Ganelon. Rebels erased his memory and swapped him for a twin from our world. His evil cohorts swapped him back.
Kuttner gives us a hero who starts as a good guy, becomes the bad guy, and really only helps the good guys win because he's pissed off at the other bad guys. There's no real moment of redemption for Ganelon (outside one comment at the end that makes him a little more pitiful). It's an interesting trick that kept me reading in spite of some stylistic awkwardness and dated prose.
That said, Roger Zelazny cites Kuttner as an influence, and fans of his Amber books should read this just to enjoy the frisson of recognition as you realize how direct that influence is. I have no doubt the Ganelon character in the Amber books is a direct recognition of the debt Zelazny owes Kuttner.
January 25, 2015
Hay mucha cantidad de fantasía, y sí, la mejor es la actual digan lo que digan. Los Sanderson, Abercrombie y Martins han perfeccionado la clásica para volverla real y más actual.
Aquí lo que vais a leer es una fantasía barata, puramente pulp. Nada de refinamientos, ni quebraderos de cabezas. Directa, rápida y simple.
Que te guste o no dependerá de lo refinado y quisquilloso que estés en ese momento.
Lo bueno de todos estos relatos tan sumamente clásicos, difíciles de encontrar y facilones es que en un futuro costaran mucho dinero, y serán sumamente buenos. Pues esto de la literatura fantástica se va desviando poco a poco hasta dejar de serlo, y solo habrá realidad medieval con un toque mágico muy sutil que dejara con la duda de si es magia o no.
Aquí lo que vais a leer es una fantasía barata, puramente pulp. Nada de refinamientos, ni quebraderos de cabezas. Directa, rápida y simple.
Que te guste o no dependerá de lo refinado y quisquilloso que estés en ese momento.
Lo bueno de todos estos relatos tan sumamente clásicos, difíciles de encontrar y facilones es que en un futuro costaran mucho dinero, y serán sumamente buenos. Pues esto de la literatura fantástica se va desviando poco a poco hasta dejar de serlo, y solo habrá realidad medieval con un toque mágico muy sutil que dejara con la duda de si es magia o no.
February 21, 2016
Very good fantasy/SiFi story. Kuttner is a lost master today. The scope of his work is incredible, and his influence on fantasy and SiFi writings is largely unknown. If you are looking for a new writer to try, you won't be disappointed with any of his works. Very recommended
March 14, 2015
Είναι κάπως δύσκολο να συνοψίσω σε λίγα λόγια την ιστορία του μικρού αυτού βιβλίου, μιας και συμβαίνουν αρκετά και κάπως μπερδεμένα πράγματα.
Ας πούμε όμως ότι έχουμε να κάνουμε με δυο παράλληλους κόσμους, την Γη και τον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο, με κάποιες πύλες να ενώνουν τους κόσμους αυτούς. Ο Σκοτεινός Κόσμος έχει διαφορετική εξέλιξη σε σχέση με την Γη. Στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο κυριαρχεί η Σύναξη, όπου μέλη της είναι μια κόκκινη μάγισσα, η Μήδεια, ένα παράξενο πλάσμα με μέγεθος μικρού παιδιού ή νάνου, η Εντέυρν, ένας άνθρωπος που μετατρέπεται σε λυκάνθρωπο, ο Μάθολχ, ένας γέρος που στην Γη θα τον συναντούσαμε σαν Μέρλιν αλλά στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο είναι γνωστός ως Γκαστ Ράυμι, και ένα άλλο περίεργο ον, που υποτίθεται ότι είναι και Θεός, ο Λυρ. Και από την άλλη μεριά έχουμε τους ανθρώπους του δάσους που προσπαθούν να διαλύσουν την Σύναξη. Και στην μέση έχουμε τον Έντουαρντ Μποντ, όπως είναι γνωστός στην Γη, αλλά στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο λέγεται Γκάνελον. Και εδώ είναι το μπέρδεμα. Στην Γη έχουμε τον Μποντ και στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο τον Γκάνελον. Τι γίνεται όμως αν ο ένας πάρει την θέση του άλλου και οι αναμνήσεις τους αλλάξουν ανάλογα; Και αν ξαναγίνει το ίδιο;
Γενικά πιστεύω ότι έπρεπε να αναπτυχθεί περισσότερο για να είναι πιο χορταστική η ιστορία και να μας δώσει παραπάνω πληροφορίες. Αλλά συνήθως τα παλπ βιβλία είναι μικρά σε μέγεθος, και αυτό είναι παλπ, από τα καλά. Ωραίο το στιλ γραφής, με περιγραφές που μου δημιούργησαν όμορφες εικόνες και με πολλή φαντασία. Οι χαρακτήρες ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέροντες, αλλά χωρίς πολύ βάθος. Η ατμόσφαιρα πολύ ωραία. Αλλά του βάζω τόσο, γιατί ήθελα περισσότερα πράγματα, περισσότερες εξηγήσεις, μιας και Κέλτικη (και όχι μόνο) μυθολογία, αποκρυφισμός, μαγεία, λίγη επιστημονική φαντασία και μάχες sword and sorcery, θέλουν περισσότερο χώρο. Προτείνεται στους φαν του καλού παλπ fantasy μυθιστορήματος.
Ας πούμε όμως ότι έχουμε να κάνουμε με δυο παράλληλους κόσμους, την Γη και τον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο, με κάποιες πύλες να ενώνουν τους κόσμους αυτούς. Ο Σκοτεινός Κόσμος έχει διαφορετική εξέλιξη σε σχέση με την Γη. Στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο κυριαρχεί η Σύναξη, όπου μέλη της είναι μια κόκκινη μάγισσα, η Μήδεια, ένα παράξενο πλάσμα με μέγεθος μικρού παιδιού ή νάνου, η Εντέυρν, ένας άνθρωπος που μετατρέπεται σε λυκάνθρωπο, ο Μάθολχ, ένας γέρος που στην Γη θα τον συναντούσαμε σαν Μέρλιν αλλά στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο είναι γνωστός ως Γκαστ Ράυμι, και ένα άλλο περίεργο ον, που υποτίθεται ότι είναι και Θεός, ο Λυρ. Και από την άλλη μεριά έχουμε τους ανθρώπους του δάσους που προσπαθούν να διαλύσουν την Σύναξη. Και στην μέση έχουμε τον Έντουαρντ Μποντ, όπως είναι γνωστός στην Γη, αλλά στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο λέγεται Γκάνελον. Και εδώ είναι το μπέρδεμα. Στην Γη έχουμε τον Μποντ και στον Σκοτεινό Κόσμο τον Γκάνελον. Τι γίνεται όμως αν ο ένας πάρει την θέση του άλλου και οι αναμνήσεις τους αλλάξουν ανάλογα; Και αν ξαναγίνει το ίδιο;
Γενικά πιστεύω ότι έπρεπε να αναπτυχθεί περισσότερο για να είναι πιο χορταστική η ιστορία και να μας δώσει παραπάνω πληροφορίες. Αλλά συνήθως τα παλπ βιβλία είναι μικρά σε μέγεθος, και αυτό είναι παλπ, από τα καλά. Ωραίο το στιλ γραφής, με περιγραφές που μου δημιούργησαν όμορφες εικόνες και με πολλή φαντασία. Οι χαρακτήρες ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέροντες, αλλά χωρίς πολύ βάθος. Η ατμόσφαιρα πολύ ωραία. Αλλά του βάζω τόσο, γιατί ήθελα περισσότερα πράγματα, περισσότερες εξηγήσεις, μιας και Κέλτικη (και όχι μόνο) μυθολογία, αποκρυφισμός, μαγεία, λίγη επιστημονική φαντασία και μάχες sword and sorcery, θέλουν περισσότερο χώρο. Προτείνεται στους φαν του καλού παλπ fantasy μυθιστορήματος.
November 17, 2013
The Dark World by Henry Kuttner is in Paizo's Planet Stories line, and is written by one of the masters of the pulp era. Kuttner was a contemporary of Robert Howard and H. P. Lovecraft, and was a strong influence on Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Roger Zelazny. This is a short novel, only 127 pages, not counting an introduction by Piers Anthony. Despite this, it crams in more cool ideas in than most epic 1000 page series. Some of the concepts might seem familiar, or even cliche, such as the premise of a man from modern Earth being transported into a fantasy world, but when you consider that this was first published in 1946, you realize that it certainly wasn't a cliche then, and in fact inspired many of the stories that used these concepts later.
One of the joys of The Dark World is that each time you think you have a grasp on what's going on, Kuttner throws another curve ball that makes you re-evaluate everything that's happened before. First, Edward Bond is summoned to a magical world, and then he finds out that he might not be Edward Bond after all, despite having an entire lifetime of memories. He slowly starts to realize that he might actually be a native of the Dark World, and not a friendly one at that. As events happen at a breakneck pace, the reader is left wondering which personality is dominant, and whether the main character is a hero of villain, or a mix of both. As all of this psychological turmoil unfolds, there's also magic, mutations, vampires, werewolves, rebels, sorceresses, an ancient blood thirsty god, and more.
This book is strongly recommended, and I'm looking forward to the next Kuttner re-print from Paizo, Robots Have no Tails.
One of the joys of The Dark World is that each time you think you have a grasp on what's going on, Kuttner throws another curve ball that makes you re-evaluate everything that's happened before. First, Edward Bond is summoned to a magical world, and then he finds out that he might not be Edward Bond after all, despite having an entire lifetime of memories. He slowly starts to realize that he might actually be a native of the Dark World, and not a friendly one at that. As events happen at a breakneck pace, the reader is left wondering which personality is dominant, and whether the main character is a hero of villain, or a mix of both. As all of this psychological turmoil unfolds, there's also magic, mutations, vampires, werewolves, rebels, sorceresses, an ancient blood thirsty god, and more.
This book is strongly recommended, and I'm looking forward to the next Kuttner re-print from Paizo, Robots Have no Tails.
March 19, 2018
Štošta bi se moglo naučiti iz ovog dobrog starog sf-fantasyja. Kao prvo, kako u malo riječi reći puno. Drugo, kako u tih malo riječi ispričati nešto dobro, zanimljivo i napeto. Ovaj roman je sve navedeno. Privukao me samim time što je poslužio kao izravna inspiracija Zelaznyju za Kronike iz Ambera. Utjecaj se primjeti odmah na prvih nekoliko stranica. Zbunjeni protagonist budi se u Svijetu tame i otkriva da ima svog dvojnika Edwarda na Zemlji, pilota koji se srušio iznad sumatranske prašume. Njihova su sjećanja ispremiješana zbog čini čarobnice Freynis koja je htjela svojem šumskom narodu dati šansu protiv Covena i njihovog vođe Ganelona (koji je Edwardov parnjak u Svijetu tame). Zvuči zbunjujuće, ali zbilja nije. Ne kad se ufurate u priču. Također, roman ima i zanimljivu mitološku komponentu - sva bića koja na Zemlji spadaju u bapske priče koje se pričaju uz vatru, priče o vukodlacima, vampirima, gorgonama, u Svijetu tame su ustvari genetske mutacije koje same sadrže ključ za svoje uništenje. Naravno, čuvaju to kao najveće blago pa se "običnim" ljudima, pripadnicima šumskog naroda čine nepobjedivima. Usprkos tome, oni odlučno pružaju otpor tiraniji Covena. U finalnoj bitki koju protagonist vodi sam sa sobom na jedinom za njega mogućem mjestu (Čistilištu) puno toga izlazi na vidjelo. Koji je od njih izašao kao pobjednik ne odajem ni pod najvećim mukama 😁 Roman je svakako vrijedan čitanja za sve koji vole ispremiješane i paralelne svjetove 💙
May 16, 2018
Despite its age, the overall plot is uncommon even today. The “alternative versions of our reality” theme has been reused way too many times and doesn’t feel special, but seeing the plot from the perspective of the villain is actually not used much.
Also, the plot is using in media res and basically starts at the finale of an otherwise long storyline. Most of the big events have already happened and only the last battle remains, where an unexpected twist happens. Basically, we gradually learn everything through summaries during flashbacks.
Unfortunately, the book is too short to flesh out any of its ideas, so none the characters has something memorable about him/her, and the plot is almost entirely tell / don’t show. It could have easily been ten times longer if the author bothered to spend more time on every event and character. Because of that, it reads fast and interesting but leaves you wanting to read the actual thing than its summary.
Also, the plot is using in media res and basically starts at the finale of an otherwise long storyline. Most of the big events have already happened and only the last battle remains, where an unexpected twist happens. Basically, we gradually learn everything through summaries during flashbacks.
Unfortunately, the book is too short to flesh out any of its ideas, so none the characters has something memorable about him/her, and the plot is almost entirely tell / don’t show. It could have easily been ten times longer if the author bothered to spend more time on every event and character. Because of that, it reads fast and interesting but leaves you wanting to read the actual thing than its summary.
September 9, 2021
A science fantasy novel I suspect was partly inspired by A. Merritt's "People of the Mirage" as the books ahve a lot in common. It's way short for a novel by today's standards, but fast-moving and entertaining.
Edward, a WW II vet, is drawn into the parallel-universe "dark world" that diverged from ours with the birth of the mutant Llyr, who now exists just outside that world, feeding on souls. And Edward is actually Ganelon, one of the Coven that rules the dark world until he was swapped for Edward, his double on our Earth. Now Ganelon's out to climb back to power, but he has to contend with a revolution Edward was leading, with the other Coven members wanting him dead, and with Lllyr him/itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, though the odd mix of names — mostly Celtic, but we also get Medea and Freydis from other mythologies — distracted me.
Edward, a WW II vet, is drawn into the parallel-universe "dark world" that diverged from ours with the birth of the mutant Llyr, who now exists just outside that world, feeding on souls. And Edward is actually Ganelon, one of the Coven that rules the dark world until he was swapped for Edward, his double on our Earth. Now Ganelon's out to climb back to power, but he has to contend with a revolution Edward was leading, with the other Coven members wanting him dead, and with Lllyr him/itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, though the odd mix of names — mostly Celtic, but we also get Medea and Freydis from other mythologies — distracted me.
June 7, 2017
I thought I'd go back and read a book from the Golden Age of SF. I picked Henry Kuttner's The Dark World from 1946. Not one of Kuttner's best as it turns out. Luckily it was short, so I slogged through it, but he wrote much better. More fantasy in style although based on a science fiction premise. Only for completists.
July 20, 2011
In this story, Kuttner tries to combine several fantasy themes into a science-fantasy whole - werewolves and vampires, Greek myths, and Lovecraftian themes. It is a moderately successful story, though at times it feels rushed (probably because of its origin in the science-fantasy pulps).
February 24, 2019
Connection to Amber
I picked this up after reading that Roger Zelazny’s Amber saga owes something to its influence. This is a more sombre take on the themes. Amber is more philosophical and, at 10 volumes, more wide reaching, but I can see the connection.
I picked this up after reading that Roger Zelazny’s Amber saga owes something to its influence. This is a more sombre take on the themes. Amber is more philosophical and, at 10 volumes, more wide reaching, but I can see the connection.
December 9, 2018
Excelent Story 💕💕💕
December 9, 2024
A short novel (barely more than a novella), who's influence can be seen in Andre Norton's WITCH WORLD, Moorcock's Eternal Champion, but most notably in Zelazny's original CHRONICLES OF AMBER, where elements, ideas, even names weave into the first two books, especially the second GUNS of AVALON.
Written at a time when fantasy was entering a nadir, Kuttner gets away with vampires, gorgons and shapeshifters the same way Poul Anderson's early fantasy THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS did--by presenting the magical elements as weird science or undiscovered natural properties, mutations, etc. Nevertheless, this is really a fantasy "gate" novel, not SF with the trappings of Science-Fantasy being science in the same way, say, the Force in Star Wars is: sure, there's an explanation, just don't think too hard about it; it's not the point.
Leaving aside the works it influenced, THE DARK WORLD's virtues are its breakneck pace and a couple of fun identity twists; otherwise there just isn't enough space for any really coherent world-building, the protagonist-villain is almost cartoonish and the resolution only satisfying to people who thought the Neo-Agent Smith final show down in the third Matrix movie was cool. (In fact, some to think of it, there's a shocking similarity here...)
But at 130 pp and as a look at the precursor and inspiration to some major 20th c fantasy/Science-Fantasy works, it's worth a night curled up on the couch with a glass of wine.
Written at a time when fantasy was entering a nadir, Kuttner gets away with vampires, gorgons and shapeshifters the same way Poul Anderson's early fantasy THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS did--by presenting the magical elements as weird science or undiscovered natural properties, mutations, etc. Nevertheless, this is really a fantasy "gate" novel, not SF with the trappings of Science-Fantasy being science in the same way, say, the Force in Star Wars is: sure, there's an explanation, just don't think too hard about it; it's not the point.
Leaving aside the works it influenced, THE DARK WORLD's virtues are its breakneck pace and a couple of fun identity twists; otherwise there just isn't enough space for any really coherent world-building, the protagonist-villain is almost cartoonish and the resolution only satisfying to people who thought the Neo-Agent Smith final show down in the third Matrix movie was cool. (In fact, some to think of it, there's a shocking similarity here...)
But at 130 pp and as a look at the precursor and inspiration to some major 20th c fantasy/Science-Fantasy works, it's worth a night curled up on the couch with a glass of wine.
September 6, 2021
A vampire, a werewolf, and a gorgon walk into a bar... Okay, I joke, but those are the three principal antagonists of this story.
I decided to read this one because it was cited as an influence on Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. A rather distant influence, I would think, since it bears very little resemblance to that one, in tone or content. The Chronicles of Amber, especially the first book, is much better.
The cover of the Ace edition is beautiful, showing a man with a raised sword at the top of a winding staircase, in front of what looks like a portal. I thought this was how the characters passed from Earth to the Dark World, but in fact, this is an illustration of the end of the story, where Ganelon uses the crystal sword to destroy the golden window through which the evil god Llyr accesses the world.
The main idea of the story is that there's an alternate world parallel to Earth called the Dark World, which was once the same as our Earth, but split off at some point. Despite the massive changes between them since then, there are somehow still counterparts to some people living in each world, and they can be exchanged through some powerful magic. The evil ruler Ganelon was swapped with his peaceful Earth counterpart Edward Bond by the rebels of this world, and he began leading the rebels against the now leaderless ruling Coven, now down to four members (the vampire, werewolf, and gorgon mentioned above, plus an often mentioned but never seen until late in the story Ghast Rhymi). The story actually begins with Ganelon on Earth, who was given Edward Bond's memories to replace his own, starting to remember some things just as the coven travels to Earth to retrieve him and swap the real Edward Bond back to Earth.
Ganelon insists that he is in fact Bond despite his remembrances, and dislikes what he remembers of his old self, and I thought he might actually become a real hero as Bond was, but eventually he fully regains his own memories and fully becomes the villain he once was, and only works with the rebels temporarily for his own purposes because the rest of the coven had betrayed him in the meantime, and planned to sacrifice him to Llyr on the advice of Ghast Rhymi, the oldest and most powerful of the coven.
The prose is often breathless, with copious exclamation points, but fails to achieve its goal in that, especially with the frequent exclamations like "It was Llyr! Llyr! I had called on Llyr!" before we had any idea who or what Llyr was.
Ganelon pledges to the leader of the rebels (a giant valkyrie-like woman who was the one that swapped the pair initially) to destroy the coven, and Llyr himself, but for his own purposes, and plans to subjugate the rebels after they help him do this. They provide a distracting attack on the castle while the rest of the coven are away to perform another sacrifice, and he reaches the secret chamber containing the relics for each of the coven members that could destroy them, then speaks to Ghast Rhymi for information. Bond's personality temporarily returns in time to gain sympathy from Rhymi, and he tells Ganelon where the secret weapon is that will destroy Llyr, since each powerful person in this world by necessity has a relic that can destroy them. Rhymi himself is implied to have originally been Merlin of Earth, and he says that Llyr was once human, too.
Meanwhile all magic in this story is constantly being rationalised and justified as "really science", which I suspect was because of the magazine in which it was originally published being more science fiction than fantasy oriented. The rationalisations felt really flimsy and unnecessary. The werewolf, for instance, was supposedly only appearing to change to a wolf form via mass hypnosis.
The werewolf is killed by a rebel that wanted vengeance on him, and Ganelon kills the other two. With the aid of the valkyrie, Ganelon destroys Llyr, and his oath is fulfilled. I thought destroying Llyr might harm Ganelon, since he was somehow ritually linked to Llyr, could feel what Llyr felt when he accepted sacrifices, and could call on Llyr's power, but nothing happens. But when Ganelon then declares his intent to rule as master, the valkyrie summons both him and Bond into a Limbo to fight each other in the only place they could meet. When one falls, the Valkyrie merges their souls in such a way that Bond completely overwrites Ganelon, and so Bond returns to the Dark World to enjoy the new peace with his rebel girlfriend.
Certainly not a bad story, and it had some good ideas, but I was a little let down by the cover's promise of a really fantastical world. One very good idea was that aside from the obvious werewolf, the other coven members were not identified as vampire and gorgon until later, making their powers more interesting and mysterious. Once you know what they are, they become almost commonplace, which is a problem of fantasy fiction in general, where wondrous fantasy creatures with mysterious powers are catalogued and made into little more than a known race or animal. The characters, too, were not as interesting as the ones in Cursed Be The City, the other major fantasy work I've read by Kuttner.
I decided to read this one because it was cited as an influence on Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. A rather distant influence, I would think, since it bears very little resemblance to that one, in tone or content. The Chronicles of Amber, especially the first book, is much better.
The cover of the Ace edition is beautiful, showing a man with a raised sword at the top of a winding staircase, in front of what looks like a portal. I thought this was how the characters passed from Earth to the Dark World, but in fact, this is an illustration of the end of the story, where Ganelon uses the crystal sword to destroy the golden window through which the evil god Llyr accesses the world.
The main idea of the story is that there's an alternate world parallel to Earth called the Dark World, which was once the same as our Earth, but split off at some point. Despite the massive changes between them since then, there are somehow still counterparts to some people living in each world, and they can be exchanged through some powerful magic. The evil ruler Ganelon was swapped with his peaceful Earth counterpart Edward Bond by the rebels of this world, and he began leading the rebels against the now leaderless ruling Coven, now down to four members (the vampire, werewolf, and gorgon mentioned above, plus an often mentioned but never seen until late in the story Ghast Rhymi). The story actually begins with Ganelon on Earth, who was given Edward Bond's memories to replace his own, starting to remember some things just as the coven travels to Earth to retrieve him and swap the real Edward Bond back to Earth.
Ganelon insists that he is in fact Bond despite his remembrances, and dislikes what he remembers of his old self, and I thought he might actually become a real hero as Bond was, but eventually he fully regains his own memories and fully becomes the villain he once was, and only works with the rebels temporarily for his own purposes because the rest of the coven had betrayed him in the meantime, and planned to sacrifice him to Llyr on the advice of Ghast Rhymi, the oldest and most powerful of the coven.
The prose is often breathless, with copious exclamation points, but fails to achieve its goal in that, especially with the frequent exclamations like "It was Llyr! Llyr! I had called on Llyr!" before we had any idea who or what Llyr was.
Ganelon pledges to the leader of the rebels (a giant valkyrie-like woman who was the one that swapped the pair initially) to destroy the coven, and Llyr himself, but for his own purposes, and plans to subjugate the rebels after they help him do this. They provide a distracting attack on the castle while the rest of the coven are away to perform another sacrifice, and he reaches the secret chamber containing the relics for each of the coven members that could destroy them, then speaks to Ghast Rhymi for information. Bond's personality temporarily returns in time to gain sympathy from Rhymi, and he tells Ganelon where the secret weapon is that will destroy Llyr, since each powerful person in this world by necessity has a relic that can destroy them. Rhymi himself is implied to have originally been Merlin of Earth, and he says that Llyr was once human, too.
Meanwhile all magic in this story is constantly being rationalised and justified as "really science", which I suspect was because of the magazine in which it was originally published being more science fiction than fantasy oriented. The rationalisations felt really flimsy and unnecessary. The werewolf, for instance, was supposedly only appearing to change to a wolf form via mass hypnosis.
The werewolf is killed by a rebel that wanted vengeance on him, and Ganelon kills the other two. With the aid of the valkyrie, Ganelon destroys Llyr, and his oath is fulfilled. I thought destroying Llyr might harm Ganelon, since he was somehow ritually linked to Llyr, could feel what Llyr felt when he accepted sacrifices, and could call on Llyr's power, but nothing happens. But when Ganelon then declares his intent to rule as master, the valkyrie summons both him and Bond into a Limbo to fight each other in the only place they could meet. When one falls, the Valkyrie merges their souls in such a way that Bond completely overwrites Ganelon, and so Bond returns to the Dark World to enjoy the new peace with his rebel girlfriend.
Certainly not a bad story, and it had some good ideas, but I was a little let down by the cover's promise of a really fantastical world. One very good idea was that aside from the obvious werewolf, the other coven members were not identified as vampire and gorgon until later, making their powers more interesting and mysterious. Once you know what they are, they become almost commonplace, which is a problem of fantasy fiction in general, where wondrous fantasy creatures with mysterious powers are catalogued and made into little more than a known race or animal. The characters, too, were not as interesting as the ones in Cursed Be The City, the other major fantasy work I've read by Kuttner.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2021
Nell'estate 2020 ho avuto la malsana idea di affrontare una dopo l'altra la deludente eptalogia de Le cronache di Narnia e la ben più interessante tetralogia de I Mabinogion e a un certo momento ho sentito il bisogno di inframmezzare fra le due serie qualcosa di più corto e leggero, quindi mi sono ripulito il palato leggendo rapidamente un romanzo autoconclusivo smilzissimo – appunto,
The Dark World
, che per inciso è firmato dal solo Henry Kuttner ma quasi sicuramente ci ha messo mano pure la moglie di lui, C. L. Moore. A distanza di circa un anno mi è venuta la malsana curiosità di approfondire l'opera dei coniugi Kuttner-Moore (perché la curiosità verso Michael Moorcock non mi bastava...), quindi ho voluto rileggere il romanzo con più calma e attenzione – e la buona impressione della prima lettura si è ampiamente riconfermata e consolidata.
A giudicare dalla sinossi, The Dark World sembrerebbe un'ennesima esecuzione di uno schema di trama non arcinoto, direttamente trito e ritrito:
Insomma, sembra la controparte yankee de Il leone, la strega e l'armadio (pubblicato esattamente un anno dopo) e quindi un antecedente diretto di quella piaga culturale chiamata "fantasy tolkienista a portale" qui in Occidente e isekai in Giappone.
Beh, niente di più sbagliato: in realtà The Dark World prende quello schema di trama e lo corregge fino a renderlo sensato e appassionante e in questo ha chiaramente ispirato il successivo e delizioso Tre cuori e tre leoni. Per cominciare, il nostro eroe Edward Bond non è un Gary Stu progettato in funzione della fantasia di potere, ma è un personaggio antieroico più che dignitoso, la cui psiche è costruita attorno a una crisi di identità decisamente ben tratteggiata (e sì, come antieroe dà la birra a quella piattola sopravvalutata di Elric di Melniboné); in secondo luogo, gli antagonisti e comprimari di Edward non saranno figure shakespeariane, ma ciascuno di essi emana carisma e abbiamo ben quattro personaggi femminili proattivi, non pochi per il 1946; in terzo luogo il mondo parallelo è macabro senza diventare tamarro e sa di orrore cosmico senza diventare un'imitazione di Howard "Razzista-di-m*erda" Lovecraft, e questo anche per merito della leggera patina science fantasy – sicuramente gli spiegoni che "scientificizzano" mostri e magia saranno formaggiosi per alcuni, ma per me sono deliziosi; infine, il romanzo ha un ritmo eccellente e in 100 pagine scarse imbastisce e risolve egregiamente una trama che scrittori meno talentuosi avrebbero allungato all'infinito su almeno tre volumi. Considerando che il romanzo era stato progettato per la pubblicazione su rivista, mi viene da rimpiangere l'epoca dei magazine che stampavano narrativa: chiaramente le limitazioni di spazio tagliavano le gambe ai miei acerrimi nemici, gli scrittori tronfi e prolissi.
Sicuramente non è il romanzo più sottilmente raffinato che io abbia mai letto, ma è un'eccellente sintesi fra intrattenimento rilassante e prosa rifinita che lascia affascinati, secondo me paragonabile al miglior Fritz Leiber; darei 3,5 stelle ma devo ridurre a 3 perché la mia edizione Gollancz è l'unica versione digitale realizzata da una casa editrice seria, e tuttavia contiene una quantità intollerabile di refusi e una bibliografia disastrosa: le date di prima pubblicazione sono quasi tutte sbagliate, diverse opere importanti sono state arbitrariamente omesse e ci sono due veri e propri svarioni (i due titoli alternativi di uno stesso romanzo sono indicati come testi differenti, un'antologia a più autori è accrediatata al solo Kuttner). Sia come sia, se questa era la qualità media del loro lavoro, temo che in futuro leggerò molte altre opere di Kuttner e Moore!
A giudicare dalla sinossi, The Dark World sembrerebbe un'ennesima esecuzione di uno schema di trama non arcinoto, direttamente trito e ritrito:
Un maschio etero qualunque finisce in un magico mondo parallelo, constata che i nativi hanno bisogno di un Messia, distrugge per loro il Signore Oscuro locale, civilizza gli autoctoni e magari ingravida qualche autoctona"
Insomma, sembra la controparte yankee de Il leone, la strega e l'armadio (pubblicato esattamente un anno dopo) e quindi un antecedente diretto di quella piaga culturale chiamata "fantasy tolkienista a portale" qui in Occidente e isekai in Giappone.
Beh, niente di più sbagliato: in realtà The Dark World prende quello schema di trama e lo corregge fino a renderlo sensato e appassionante e in questo ha chiaramente ispirato il successivo e delizioso Tre cuori e tre leoni. Per cominciare, il nostro eroe Edward Bond non è un Gary Stu progettato in funzione della fantasia di potere, ma è un personaggio antieroico più che dignitoso, la cui psiche è costruita attorno a una crisi di identità decisamente ben tratteggiata (e sì, come antieroe dà la birra a quella piattola sopravvalutata di Elric di Melniboné); in secondo luogo, gli antagonisti e comprimari di Edward non saranno figure shakespeariane, ma ciascuno di essi emana carisma e abbiamo ben quattro personaggi femminili proattivi, non pochi per il 1946; in terzo luogo il mondo parallelo è macabro senza diventare tamarro e sa di orrore cosmico senza diventare un'imitazione di Howard "Razzista-di-m*erda" Lovecraft, e questo anche per merito della leggera patina science fantasy – sicuramente gli spiegoni che "scientificizzano" mostri e magia saranno formaggiosi per alcuni, ma per me sono deliziosi; infine, il romanzo ha un ritmo eccellente e in 100 pagine scarse imbastisce e risolve egregiamente una trama che scrittori meno talentuosi avrebbero allungato all'infinito su almeno tre volumi. Considerando che il romanzo era stato progettato per la pubblicazione su rivista, mi viene da rimpiangere l'epoca dei magazine che stampavano narrativa: chiaramente le limitazioni di spazio tagliavano le gambe ai miei acerrimi nemici, gli scrittori tronfi e prolissi.
Sicuramente non è il romanzo più sottilmente raffinato che io abbia mai letto, ma è un'eccellente sintesi fra intrattenimento rilassante e prosa rifinita che lascia affascinati, secondo me paragonabile al miglior Fritz Leiber; darei 3,5 stelle ma devo ridurre a 3 perché la mia edizione Gollancz è l'unica versione digitale realizzata da una casa editrice seria, e tuttavia contiene una quantità intollerabile di refusi e una bibliografia disastrosa: le date di prima pubblicazione sono quasi tutte sbagliate, diverse opere importanti sono state arbitrariamente omesse e ci sono due veri e propri svarioni (i due titoli alternativi di uno stesso romanzo sono indicati come testi differenti, un'antologia a più autori è accrediatata al solo Kuttner). Sia come sia, se questa era la qualità media del loro lavoro, temo che in futuro leggerò molte altre opere di Kuttner e Moore!
June 16, 2020
It was decent. If there was a 3.5/5 I’d give it that.
I first discovered Henry Kuttner because of DMR’s re-release of his “Land of the Earthquake” in a double novel. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone. So naturally I wanted to explore his writing more.
I’m someone who loves 20-70s era pulp SF and fantasy far more than modern works. Everything about this book should have clicked for me but it just didn’t.
I think I know what I don’t like about it. This gets into spoiler territory. I really hate the deconstructionist everything magic is just hokey science. Also I think part of why I like older stuff better is that the characters are archetypical and everything isn’t bogged down in nihilism and shades of grey. So having the protagonists be the villain just didn’t jive with me.
Overall I can definitely see this books influence on Amber by Zelazney, among other people’s work.
Don’t get me wrong it’s decent but as far as classic stuff goes I don’t think its all that enjoyable.
I first discovered Henry Kuttner because of DMR’s re-release of his “Land of the Earthquake” in a double novel. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone. So naturally I wanted to explore his writing more.
I’m someone who loves 20-70s era pulp SF and fantasy far more than modern works. Everything about this book should have clicked for me but it just didn’t.
I think I know what I don’t like about it. This gets into spoiler territory. I really hate the deconstructionist everything magic is just hokey science. Also I think part of why I like older stuff better is that the characters are archetypical and everything isn’t bogged down in nihilism and shades of grey. So having the protagonists be the villain just didn’t jive with me.
Overall I can definitely see this books influence on Amber by Zelazney, among other people’s work.
Don’t get me wrong it’s decent but as far as classic stuff goes I don’t think its all that enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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