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Leitus #1
Runes
One weapon to rule them all…
Accused falsely of a grotesque act of murder, Leitus, the romantic noble son of the Empire’s greatest enemy finds himself beset from all sides by more foes than friends.
In his desperation, he feels himself alone in this world – nowhere to turn.
But soon he will learn that the world is not what he thought it once was.
Encountering Bita, a beautiful slave girl who is destined to bear the children of the Gods, he sees his life is changing forever.
But Bita’s provincial village of ancient Britain has been unable to prepare her for her almighty purpose.
Soon, both Bita and Leitus must join forces to fight the forces of evil that surround them.
As they struggle in this new, mystic reality, they encounter things they had never dreamt of.
Myths become reality, as the pair navigate an enchanted druid world filled with painted warriors, mist-covered forests and powerful magic.
What was once mere fantasy has now taken the shape of deadly tyranny.
A myth, you might ask, is a myth, but why stretch it so out of shape? God’s Children, Arthurian legends, fantastical abilities and the young taking on forces of tyranny.
Accused falsely of a grotesque act of murder, Leitus, the romantic noble son of the Empire’s greatest enemy finds himself beset from all sides by more foes than friends.
In his desperation, he feels himself alone in this world – nowhere to turn.
But soon he will learn that the world is not what he thought it once was.
Encountering Bita, a beautiful slave girl who is destined to bear the children of the Gods, he sees his life is changing forever.
But Bita’s provincial village of ancient Britain has been unable to prepare her for her almighty purpose.
Soon, both Bita and Leitus must join forces to fight the forces of evil that surround them.
As they struggle in this new, mystic reality, they encounter things they had never dreamt of.
Myths become reality, as the pair navigate an enchanted druid world filled with painted warriors, mist-covered forests and powerful magic.
What was once mere fantasy has now taken the shape of deadly tyranny.
A myth, you might ask, is a myth, but why stretch it so out of shape? God’s Children, Arthurian legends, fantastical abilities and the young taking on forces of tyranny.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published October 15, 1984
9 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Richard Monaco
26 books15 followersBorn in NYC, Monaco studied musical composition at Columbia University, helped create a national student newspaper, The University Review and had many works performed in concert; wrote screenplays for Warner Brothers, other studios and independents; reviewed film and books; hosted a talk radio show for five years on WNYC/FM; taught and lectured at various colleges including Columbia, NYU, and Mercy College; had plays produced in various venues off-Broadway; published poetry in anthologies and periodicals. He has published ten novels and several works of non-fiction including a poetry textbook. Two of his novels, Parsival, or a Knight's Tale and The Final Quest, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. He is planning to soon release Dead Blossoms, a ninja detective adventure set in 16th century Japan and re-release the previous Parsival books.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 29, 2022
The Boris Vallejo cover gets 5 stars.
The book itself gets 2.5 stars.
Written in 1984 this books is dated as hell! Women being raped and then looked back upon as love scenes. Damn the 80s were rough on women. But I am looking passed all that because I knew what I was getting into as far as that stuff goes. I mean look at that beautiful cover!! lol
The premise of the book was interesting. There was a lot to work with, Ceasar, Anthony, the Gauls, The Celts, The mystic people of Avalon! I think perhaps that was the problem - too much material. For such a short book it unsuccessfully attempted 3 different story lines. The writing was not strong nor skilled enough to pull this feat off. Often I was left wondering what the hell was going on or where on the map we were at that moment. Very frustrating when all you want to do is sink into the story of the cover art.
The book just felt like it was trimmed down too much. Perhaps another 100-150 pages more to flesh out the many characters and settings?
Then there was the problem I had with the writing style. Sometimes it felt like it was trying to be too clever for example in the way it would reference characters in odd ways. I would have to reread sections to figure out who was speaking or being spoken to. Very frustrating.
But I kept going! I mean look at that cover!! I loooove Boris Vallejo's art work. He is one of the factors that started me reading Fantasy back in the early 1990s. He did all the Heinlein covers.
Will I reread this? Hell no! But I will keep it on my shelf and revisit that cover art whenever my hand lands on it.
The book itself gets 2.5 stars.
Written in 1984 this books is dated as hell! Women being raped and then looked back upon as love scenes. Damn the 80s were rough on women. But I am looking passed all that because I knew what I was getting into as far as that stuff goes. I mean look at that beautiful cover!! lol
The premise of the book was interesting. There was a lot to work with, Ceasar, Anthony, the Gauls, The Celts, The mystic people of Avalon! I think perhaps that was the problem - too much material. For such a short book it unsuccessfully attempted 3 different story lines. The writing was not strong nor skilled enough to pull this feat off. Often I was left wondering what the hell was going on or where on the map we were at that moment. Very frustrating when all you want to do is sink into the story of the cover art.
The book just felt like it was trimmed down too much. Perhaps another 100-150 pages more to flesh out the many characters and settings?
Then there was the problem I had with the writing style. Sometimes it felt like it was trying to be too clever for example in the way it would reference characters in odd ways. I would have to reread sections to figure out who was speaking or being spoken to. Very frustrating.
But I kept going! I mean look at that cover!! I loooove Boris Vallejo's art work. He is one of the factors that started me reading Fantasy back in the early 1990s. He did all the Heinlein covers.
Will I reread this? Hell no! But I will keep it on my shelf and revisit that cover art whenever my hand lands on it.
April 3, 2014
Similar to the 3rd Parsival book, "Final Quest", in that the characters are drawn from distant locations to a central point (underground temple) for a climatic scene that involves every character mentioned in the book. While I found it clever in "Final Quest" (written ca. 1979), I found it repetitive and recycled in "Runes" (written ca. 1982).
Monaco's books are disturbing. There is a very dark energy in the writing, including torture, sexual deviations, and helpless characters controlled by otherworldly powers. Similar to the Parsival series, "Runes" lacked an untainted, honorable character to balance the malfeasance of all the other characters, making this a more dismal, depressing read.
Finally, it plays fast and loose with the Arthur tradition, without needing to. It's a complete story without linking it to the boggy corpus of modern Arthurian knock-offs. Parsival is inextricably connect to Arthur's world, "Rune" didn't need to be. Romans fighting pagan Brits did not need to connect to Arthur, especially when the other historic characters are Marc Antony and Julius Caesar.
At least we knew who the characters were from the beginning, which we don't in most of the Parsival books.
Monaco's books are disturbing. There is a very dark energy in the writing, including torture, sexual deviations, and helpless characters controlled by otherworldly powers. Similar to the Parsival series, "Runes" lacked an untainted, honorable character to balance the malfeasance of all the other characters, making this a more dismal, depressing read.
Finally, it plays fast and loose with the Arthur tradition, without needing to. It's a complete story without linking it to the boggy corpus of modern Arthurian knock-offs. Parsival is inextricably connect to Arthur's world, "Rune" didn't need to be. Romans fighting pagan Brits did not need to connect to Arthur, especially when the other historic characters are Marc Antony and Julius Caesar.
At least we knew who the characters were from the beginning, which we don't in most of the Parsival books.
January 1, 2023
Men in the 80’s must have thought reading about rape was fun. The author obviously has experience in this field how he lovingly writes about all the wonderful sensations the manly “groin” feels while raping women. If this book excluded rape, or at least wrote it in a different way, it would be a 3 star book.
January 28, 2018
Runes
Long and wandering in places. The story line was fair. Several times wanted to pitch it as much as you can pitch an ebook.
Long and wandering in places. The story line was fair. Several times wanted to pitch it as much as you can pitch an ebook.
February 17, 2016
Fairly solid story. Not for me. Off to listia. =)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews