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All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage #4
Doc Savage: Death's Dark Domain
In the aftermath of the evil John Sunlight’s pillaging of the secret Fortress of Solitude, a dreadful super-weapon has fallen the hands of a Balkan dictator intent upon seizing control of the vampire-haunted zone of desolation known as Ultra-Stygia. War is imminent. Monsters are loose in the disputed region. A strange darkness falls over the sinister landscape. Only Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, understands the terrible threat to humanity. And only he can prevent the terror from spreading…
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2012
15 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
917 books134 followersKenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 2, 2019
This is a pretty good Doc adventure, similar in spirit to the old originals but with something of a darker tone and a more relaxed pace of plot. Monk (with Habeas), Ham, and Long Tom are the companions of the story; neither Renny nor Johnny appear (so no superamalgamated Holy Cows), and Pat is on stage only long enough to be exposed to anthrax. The story is set in the Balkans in the 1930s and concerns two countries battling over an apparently worthless stretch of ground between. It can be considered as a sequel of sorts to The Fortress of Solitude because the shadow of the legacy of John Sunlight still holds considerable sway. There are giant bats (or are they?), and monsters (maybe?) and vampires (perhaps?) in the skies, reminding me of an early G-8 and His Battle Aces novel, The Bat Staffel... hard to believe they'd be so hard to identify, but what the heck, I wasn't there. I was also taken aback for a moment when Monk issues a warning to his companions in ancient Mayan (only Doc and his aides know the language, so they can have private communications by using it), and the young lady character also in their company, the spy Fianna, seems to understand, but that's a minor confusion. The story is longer than the originals but this one didn't feel padded to me as some of Murray's others have. It's always good to see Doc using his gadgets and wits in his never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the...wait a minute, that's the other guy... but y'all know what I mean!
December 24, 2022
Another fine Doc Savage adventure written by the inestimable Will Murray. This one features Long Tom more than most Doc adventures and it’s nice to see him get a major role for a change. This book is best read after reading "The Fortress of Solitude" from the original series run. The fate of John Sunlight from that novel looms over this one, mostly in regards to his having stolen a number of diabolical weapons and devices from Doc’s arctic workshop. Now it seems possible that one or more of them have found their way into the hands of two opposing countries in the Balkans, each of whom are intent on claiming a strip of land between the two and are not hesitant to use these unusual weapons.
Neither Renny nor Johnny make appearances in this one, both being off on projects of their own. Doc’s cousin, Pat Savage, only barely makes an appearance, just long enough to be exposed to anthrax and be thrust into quarantine and miss all the fun. So, it’s just Doc, Monk, Ham, and Long Tom who find themselves facing a variety of weird menaces including a bunch of invisible hairy cyclopes, vampires, unexplained patches of extreme blindness-rendering darkness, and hordes of aggressive giant leathery-winged bats. A nice assortment of other characters round out the cast and we are kept guessing as to who is really who they say they are and which are trying to get away with something. All the gadgets and seat-of-your-pants escapes that you hope for in a Doc novel are here. Perilous adventure abounds.
One of my least favorite parts of the original Doc Savage books are the endless squabbles between Monk and Ham. It just gets so repetitive and annoying. I think Will Murray feels the same. Of course, he must leave in the banter between the two and indeed, channeling Lester Dent seems to come second nature to him. But he really ratchets up the imagination when it comes to their insults and actually makes them fun to read.
Looking forward to more of these Wild Adventures.
Neither Renny nor Johnny make appearances in this one, both being off on projects of their own. Doc’s cousin, Pat Savage, only barely makes an appearance, just long enough to be exposed to anthrax and be thrust into quarantine and miss all the fun. So, it’s just Doc, Monk, Ham, and Long Tom who find themselves facing a variety of weird menaces including a bunch of invisible hairy cyclopes, vampires, unexplained patches of extreme blindness-rendering darkness, and hordes of aggressive giant leathery-winged bats. A nice assortment of other characters round out the cast and we are kept guessing as to who is really who they say they are and which are trying to get away with something. All the gadgets and seat-of-your-pants escapes that you hope for in a Doc novel are here. Perilous adventure abounds.
One of my least favorite parts of the original Doc Savage books are the endless squabbles between Monk and Ham. It just gets so repetitive and annoying. I think Will Murray feels the same. Of course, he must leave in the banter between the two and indeed, channeling Lester Dent seems to come second nature to him. But he really ratchets up the imagination when it comes to their insults and actually makes them fun to read.
Looking forward to more of these Wild Adventures.
June 6, 2016
I'll be superamalgamated! This is Doc Savage gold! Will Murray, writing as Kenneth Robeson has delivered a throughly enjoyable thriller! It doesn't get much better than this. The action kicks in from the very beginning and never lets up. The perils and thrills, daring escapes and vile villains are seemingly endless as Doc and crew bravely and desperately work to avert a war that two neighboring Balkan nations seem inexplicably hellbent on initiating. Vampires! Invisible Men! Werewolves! Cyclopi! Silent snows of death! Giant blood-sucking bats! Traitors! Spies! A weapon that induces blindness! Eerie music that portends death! There is so much packedi to these pages it seems inconceivable that even Doc Savage could unravel this mystery.
One of strengths of Murray's approach with these new Wild Adventures is the added roles that his aids play in the action. In the original adventures, Doc's crew were carefully portrayed in ways that never overshadowed or drew attention away from The Man of Bronze. This often left Monk, Ham, Renny, Johnny & Long Tom as little more than tools used to provide plot points and narrative fixes, or excuses to slow down the action and have Doc rescue them. Murray's approach often allows these amazing five individuals opportunities to shine all on their own. This one let Long Tom shine and really helps distinguish him as an individual and an accomplished person in his field of electrical engineering. Kudos to Murray on this point, even if this wasn't an enormously entertaining read.
This particular adventure also had some interesting wrinkles that demand secrecy as they reveal some important clues to the mystery. Although it is safe to say that this adventure immediately followes the events of the classic Fortress of Solitude which featured the introduction of the criminal mastermind John Sunlight who seemed to have absconded with several inventions from Doc's sanctuary of research. Exactly what happened immediately after those events have never been revealed. Murray ties up those loose ends and delivers a real blockbuster of a novel. This is classic Doc Savage with the twist of modern hindsight to really ramp up the thrills, action and dynamics.
To sum it up? I'd have to say that I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't disappointed at all.
One of strengths of Murray's approach with these new Wild Adventures is the added roles that his aids play in the action. In the original adventures, Doc's crew were carefully portrayed in ways that never overshadowed or drew attention away from The Man of Bronze. This often left Monk, Ham, Renny, Johnny & Long Tom as little more than tools used to provide plot points and narrative fixes, or excuses to slow down the action and have Doc rescue them. Murray's approach often allows these amazing five individuals opportunities to shine all on their own. This one let Long Tom shine and really helps distinguish him as an individual and an accomplished person in his field of electrical engineering. Kudos to Murray on this point, even if this wasn't an enormously entertaining read.
This particular adventure also had some interesting wrinkles that demand secrecy as they reveal some important clues to the mystery. Although it is safe to say that this adventure immediately followes the events of the classic Fortress of Solitude which featured the introduction of the criminal mastermind John Sunlight who seemed to have absconded with several inventions from Doc's sanctuary of research. Exactly what happened immediately after those events have never been revealed. Murray ties up those loose ends and delivers a real blockbuster of a novel. This is classic Doc Savage with the twist of modern hindsight to really ramp up the thrills, action and dynamics.
To sum it up? I'd have to say that I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't disappointed at all.
November 13, 2012
Review of Doc Savage: Deaths Dark Domain
I have always been a HUGE Doc Savage fan. When I recently discovered that Will Murray was writing new editions to the literally legendary series of books I began buying them. The new entry is called ‘Death’s Dark Domain’.
DDD takes place in Eastern Europe in a disputed borderland between two countries. The story is filled with enough menace and supposed monsters to fill an old Universal movie. There’s lots of mystery here, as well as a few surprising moments. I don’t like giving too much away in reviews, but I will say we get to see Doc’s prodigious strength on display a few times as well as his amazing agility and his incredible intelligence. Will has Doc and his friend’s personalities down pat, and from the get go you feel like you’re reading a real Doc Savage story, and not fan fic or something akin to it.
That is not to say the story does not have its problems. To me, Doc Savage should never be surprised by anything, no matter what it is, yet he was surprised by at least three occurrences in this book. That detracted a little from the story for me. Plus there was an anti-gun message within that just struck me as very wrong. I don’t see Doc Savage as ever believing that someone would get his own gun away from him and use it against him. Sorry that’s too much of a stretch.
Beyond those issues though, this was a HIGHLY entertaining book. I read though it very quickly, basically finishing it in about a day. I sat for long hours reading it and enjoying just about every part of it. It was a good, classic style Doc story, as long as you are okay overlooking a few faults.
There was one other issue I had with it and that was the lack of action. At the end we got to see some action scenes, but much of the book was the Doc Crew flying here, or flying there, watching a giant bat fly here or there. To me, a character like Doc has to have a physical antagonist. He has to have someone who can push him to the physical limit. Whether it is a man or a polar bear. Having Doc apply Chiropractic nerve pinches is interesting once, but not three to four times throughout the book. Doc Savage needs to hit someone, every book. He needs to fight someone bigger then him who is supposedly stronger then him, but turns out not to be to his own surprise, or it has to be an inhuman foe who is more powerful, but Doc defeats anyway through the fruits of his rigorous (Mental and physical) training.
All in all it is a very good read. I give it four out of five stars. Even with the minor faults I saw Will Murray does an excellent job with Doc Savage and I can’t wait to read his next one.
I have always been a HUGE Doc Savage fan. When I recently discovered that Will Murray was writing new editions to the literally legendary series of books I began buying them. The new entry is called ‘Death’s Dark Domain’.
DDD takes place in Eastern Europe in a disputed borderland between two countries. The story is filled with enough menace and supposed monsters to fill an old Universal movie. There’s lots of mystery here, as well as a few surprising moments. I don’t like giving too much away in reviews, but I will say we get to see Doc’s prodigious strength on display a few times as well as his amazing agility and his incredible intelligence. Will has Doc and his friend’s personalities down pat, and from the get go you feel like you’re reading a real Doc Savage story, and not fan fic or something akin to it.
That is not to say the story does not have its problems. To me, Doc Savage should never be surprised by anything, no matter what it is, yet he was surprised by at least three occurrences in this book. That detracted a little from the story for me. Plus there was an anti-gun message within that just struck me as very wrong. I don’t see Doc Savage as ever believing that someone would get his own gun away from him and use it against him. Sorry that’s too much of a stretch.
Beyond those issues though, this was a HIGHLY entertaining book. I read though it very quickly, basically finishing it in about a day. I sat for long hours reading it and enjoying just about every part of it. It was a good, classic style Doc story, as long as you are okay overlooking a few faults.
There was one other issue I had with it and that was the lack of action. At the end we got to see some action scenes, but much of the book was the Doc Crew flying here, or flying there, watching a giant bat fly here or there. To me, a character like Doc has to have a physical antagonist. He has to have someone who can push him to the physical limit. Whether it is a man or a polar bear. Having Doc apply Chiropractic nerve pinches is interesting once, but not three to four times throughout the book. Doc Savage needs to hit someone, every book. He needs to fight someone bigger then him who is supposedly stronger then him, but turns out not to be to his own surprise, or it has to be an inhuman foe who is more powerful, but Doc defeats anyway through the fruits of his rigorous (Mental and physical) training.
All in all it is a very good read. I give it four out of five stars. Even with the minor faults I saw Will Murray does an excellent job with Doc Savage and I can’t wait to read his next one.
September 8, 2021
Actually funished this back in February of 2015 and just forgot to note it here. It is a solid Doc Savage tale, but not a standout, either good or bad. Pure brain-candy for those who love themselves some pulpy Doc Savage goodness.
March 9, 2014
DEATH'S DARK DOMAIN is a sequel of sorts to Lester Dent's FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, the novel where John Sunlight finds Doc's place in the Arctic and manages to steal a number of his weapons stored in a vault.
It's set in the Balkans and involves two countries fighting over a strip of land betwen them. One has bought one of Doc's weapons, the darkness machine which blinds everything in it's range. We have hints of vampires, huge bats, and disappearing people.
Will Murray has constructed another fine pulp novel.
It's set in the Balkans and involves two countries fighting over a strip of land betwen them. One has bought one of Doc's weapons, the darkness machine which blinds everything in it's range. We have hints of vampires, huge bats, and disappearing people.
Will Murray has constructed another fine pulp novel.
December 28, 2013
As a reader of the classic Doc Savage novels, I would say this new series does a good job keeping in the spirit of the times and the characters. It had the feel of a Lester Dent novel and so I enjoyed it. The cover art was also good. I would reccomend it to Doc Savage fans.
March 8, 2013
This was a fun return to the world of pulp fiction with the one of the original characters! The story was a little long but it had all the elements of an old fashioned yarn.
June 7, 2013
One of the better offerings in the new Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series. The plot has enough twists and Doc is a bit more "human". Definitely worth the investment in time and cash.
January 6, 2016
This was probably one of the weirdest and scariest Doc Savage books published. I am definitely enjoying the new Doc Savage books.
December 29, 2024
So this is exactly what I expected, a solid nostalgiac thriller replicating the feel of the 30s-50s pulps.
April 11, 2013
Fun read; kept having to remind myself this was not one of the original Doc Savage adventures.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews