In the dark age of an ancient world, a woman loved by a demonic sorcerer is betrayed by her own blood-cursed, cast out, condemned to die. But death is not the end. She is reborn, carrying within her the memory of old wounds and older powers, and with her rebirth comes the promise of a reckoning long overdue.
Now she moves through a world of shadow and sorcery, drawing to her side a warrior of terrible skill-a killer untouched by mercy or scruple-as she reaches across centuries for the dark magic that was always meant to be hers. The sorcerer who once loved her still waits on his lonely island. The king who betrayed her still sits his throne. And she has not forgotten.
A classic of the sword & sorcery genre, appearing in a freshly revised text from the author and available for the first time in nearly fifty years, this is a tale of vengeance, desire, and conquest-where the line between victim and predator is drawn in blood and shadow, and a queen of darkness rises to claim what the world once denied her.
After almost 50 years, Wildside Press released Sword and Sorcery Titan, David Smith’s second S &S novel under its intended name. The original known as the Sorcerer’s Shadow, with a cover that had nothing to do with the book, was released in 1978 by Zebra books as the 2nd book in the Oron series. Other than taking place in Attluma, and the original publisher wanting some mentions of Oron, the book is a superb standalone. It was intended to be much darker and weird than Oron. So, I’m giving the updated version 5 stars as opposed to the 4 of the previous version. Part of this is due to reading a classic like this after some not so great modern attempts, but after reading something a second time, you really discover plot points you might have rushed over originally. David stated he finally got to use the title he wanted, cover art he wanted, and cleaned up and toned some language. Highly recommend if you’ve never read it, and highly recommend this for a re-read. A great addition to any bookshelf.