The Mark of the Demons

Brak the Barbarian #3

by John Jakes, Uldis Klavins (Cover Artist)

1st edition Tower 1981 paperback, fine In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

John William Jakes, the author of more than a dozen novels, is regarded as one of today’s most distinguished writers of historical fiction. His work includes the highly acclaimed Kent Family Chronicles series and the North and South Trilogy. Jakes’s commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title of “the godfather of historical novelists” from the Los Angeles Times and led to a streak of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers. Jakes has received several awards for his work and is a member of the Authors Guild and the PEN American Center. He and his wife, Rachel, live on the west coast of Florida.

Also writes under pseudonyms Jay Scotland, Alan Payne, Rachel Ann Payne, Robert Hart Davis, Darius John Granger, John Lee Gray. Has ghost written as William Ard.

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brak, a barbarian from the far northern climes continues his journey towards the glorious southern realm of Khurdisan but must cross the great desert of Logol to get there. He meets a strange pair of twins whom seem a little…off, but since they claim to be royalty whose throne has been usurped, Brak agrees to act as their champion. Together, all three join a trading caravan as a way for the whole group to cross the desert safely. Of course, all is not as it seems and Brak’s old nemesis, the evil cult of the demon god Yob-Haggoth, once again plays a major role in the story.

I enjoy these Brak books. Many reviewers dismiss them as Conan rip-offs but since the author is very open about his praise for the works of Robert E. Howard and that he wrote these as a sort of homage to him, I take them in the same way and just enjoy them for what they are: good ol’ fashioned sword and sorcery adventure.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came out of the previous Brak books unimpressed by the stripped-down language, a bland hero, and story elements thrown together into a pot. But on the third try I find myself sort of grokking the thing more though it could just be lightheadedness from the nauseating cigarette smell clinging to this copy. Brak is an archetype of sorts--okay, truthfully he's imitative of a better character by a better writer--but he's the trope or image of 'barbarian', of elements people associate with the word. Goofy elements, certainly, as he eschews footwear and clothing other than a must-be-pretty-rank-by-now lion pelt. (And possibly a belt. A belt made out of some other ferocious animal. Barracuda skin, perhaps. Or a whole, living rattlesnake.) He's crude, straightforward, and shakes his head at all these nutty civilized people, and he has the seemingly infinite ability to absorb bodily punishment. He's Conan after a sandblasting to remove all nuance and trace of actual anthropology.

And the setting, which has no sense of place or context. Brak is now someplace far from where he was, with no discussion of why he's taking this ill-advised route. He has emerged from a fog and into the story, and will leave the story by the same fog. Only what is happening right now is relevant. It's a nightmare dreamscape, traveled across by Brak and the caravan he joins with, through weird monster perils. Yellow slime pits containing grasping tentacles. Desert bandits who replace an eye with a large ruby. A caravan of unexplained size traveling from somewhere indistinct to a distant and poorly-described city through the most dangerous lands imaginable.

There's an element of Weird to this, like half-cooked Michael Moorcock.

If that were it, it would be two stars. There's a section at the end which is where I wish the story started and justifies the final star: Brak and Company bring a pair of vampires to the bandit city, and those creatures ingratiate themselves to the nobility. An orgy of blood-feasting ensues, as the spreading vampirism reduces the population to either predator or prey. The vampires aren't interested in a sustainable situation: they want a frenzy and maximum destruction, and then they will move on. Nobody believes Brak. Cue the conflagration and chaos. The story only touches in that direction because we only see it from Brak's point of view, and he's mostly in a prison cell, and the story leaves an even more intriguing situation unexplored: the aftermath, a destroyed city and packs of ill-equipped refugees in the wilderness. I want a story that starts there, honestly. Lin Carter had that starting point in The Black Star but dropped the matter almost immediately.

After one last euthenization, Brak is done killing ponies. He has moved on to dromedaries.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Brak novel, not as good as the first. The Pocket version has an awful cover. The Paperback library has a much better one. But there is charm in the writing.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. As far as B tier S&S novels go I think it’s pretty fantastic and worth reading. It’s almost more a horror novel than sword and sorcery.

I thought the first Brak book(a collection of short stories) was a pretty good Conan clone and had a lot of unique charm as well. The 2nd I found painfully dull.

John Jake’s seems to really rebound here with his second attempt at a full length Brak novel. It’s just got this suffocating atmosphere that builds this grinding tension. Brak feels almost helpless like a Lovecraftian protagonist and less like the Barbarian archetype. It’s just really oppressive.

It’s not the most original horror, and maybe a bit predictable but it doesn’t matter. What’s here is just done so well. I do think the ending portion in the city doesn’t quite have the same great highs as the caravan’s doomed journey. Maybe it doesn’t quite satisfy after the phenomenal front end of the book but it’s still good.

I’m really torn. The first 2/3 of this book I would have given it a hard 5/5. But the last 1/3 felt more average. Not bad at all just decent. So I ended up not feeling quite as high on the book as most of my journey through. But it’s still really darn good. If you like horror and S&S this is a good one. A cut above most S&S from this era.

[Hector · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well--having read some Thongor books which I kind of enjoyed, I thought I'd give Jakes' Brak a try, and like Lin Carter's novels came away...pleasantly unimpressed. It's got a good, fast-moving story, but one-note characters and poor writing (Jakes tries to create tension by repeating lines once in standard type, then in italics--She was almost at the top of the hill. She was almost at the top of the hill!). Brak takes so much pummeling and abuse that it almost becomes tedious. Fun sword & sorcery concepts but I had bigger expectations for a best-selling author.

[Dvdlynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first three quarters or so of the story is a bit drawn out. However, if you stick with it you'll be treated to an ending that is among sword and sorcery's grisly best.

[Roman Audi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fun sword and sorcery barbarian stuff. Plenty of creatures, magic, and bloody battles. Simple and fast read

[KHLOARIS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brak’s third installment is a desert adventure wherein our hero blonde barbarian from the north continues his never-ending journey to Khurdisan. En route he joins up with a royal caravan going his way. The bulk of the book has Brak defending a pair of mysterious monarchs from marauding gangs of locals known as the Quran. This is not a tale filled with veiled metaphors. The writing is plain and characters are given personality insofar as it forwards the plot, which is basically a string of random situations allowing Brak to exhibit his battle lust. The combat sequences are pretty decent actually! Brak is prone to loosing his weapon and will fight with whatever is handy - even brandishing a peg-leg on one occasion. There is scant sex or magic within these pages. And yet in the book’s hasty culmination, the reader is treated to a blood orgy at the witch queen’s castle. Brak alone must contend with an entire city overrun by zombified vampires all bearing the triangular mark of the Demons. No explanations are ever given and at the end, after the city burns down, Brak simply resumes his trek towards Khurdisan.