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Warlock
THE BLANK was the time, near-forgotten but for the legends that remained as fancies, when the Earth's crust shifted mightily, and towering mountains rose where no mountains had existed before. New coastal lines were formed, while jungle became desert, and desert and grassy plain became the bottom of the new seas. The old world was gone... but the legends remained. And they told of marvels hard to believe, even among men who had mastered the powers of the mind. The stories told that before the Blank men possessed marvels almost unbelievable; it was even said that the old people had conquered the skies (and, in whispers, space itself). Men like Shaker Sandow knew there was the truth in the fancies...and then a would-be master of the world uncovered a trove of pre-Blank treasures, and once more the world turned toward all-consuming war!
221 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
8 people are currently reading
912 people want to read
About the author
Dean Koontz
878 books39.7k followersAcknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 26, 2021
This is a science fiction book written by Dean Koontz. Yes you read that correctly. Before he became known for writing supernatural thriller novels he wrote some science fiction novels and this is one of them. This one takes place in the future and the Earth has changed. A tribe travels a perilous journey over a mountain range to engage in war against another tribe.
I believe one reads this novel more of a curiosity factor than the actual story. I know I did. I wanted to see how this Koontz book compares to his books after he became an accomplished writer. Koontz is known for a his lavish details in his books and one can see that right away in this book. Throughout the book I had no problem imagining the perilous journey that we were on. About a week ago I finished a book by another famous writer and one of my complaints was that I never felt the atmosphere. Reading this book just enforces my feelings toward that book as the comparison was night and day. As for the story there really isn't much here. We are taken on this journey and encounter advanced technology for the message that we should appreciate what we have at home. It was a nice message but it didn't come off the best way.
Like I said I read this just to see what it would be like. I wasn't really expecting the best story. It wasn't but I did satisfy by curiosity so there is that. This book exists to see what an author was like before he hit it big.
I believe one reads this novel more of a curiosity factor than the actual story. I know I did. I wanted to see how this Koontz book compares to his books after he became an accomplished writer. Koontz is known for a his lavish details in his books and one can see that right away in this book. Throughout the book I had no problem imagining the perilous journey that we were on. About a week ago I finished a book by another famous writer and one of my complaints was that I never felt the atmosphere. Reading this book just enforces my feelings toward that book as the comparison was night and day. As for the story there really isn't much here. We are taken on this journey and encounter advanced technology for the message that we should appreciate what we have at home. It was a nice message but it didn't come off the best way.
Like I said I read this just to see what it would be like. I wasn't really expecting the best story. It wasn't but I did satisfy by curiosity so there is that. This book exists to see what an author was like before he hit it big.
July 6, 2022
Warlock is one of nine novels by the very prolific young Koontz that was published in 1972. It's a post-apocalyptic science fantasy about a quest across a ravaged landscape for artifacts from earlier civilization. The ending is a little too pat and arrives abruptly from left field. It's okay, but not one of his better efforts. The only U.S. edition has a nice cover by Armand Weston, who did several good genre cover paintings before finding more success as a director of porographic films.
June 29, 2022
ocr:
As with my copy of The Crimson Witch, all quotation marks and some full stops have been replaced (or outright missing in a few cases) by weird characters that e-readers cannot render properly.
p22: "...We cannot take the chance of the h'ght being seen out your window--or of someone in the hallway catching glimpse of it under your door."
p58: He was no mon than thirty feet from the boy now, his large face strained and flushed, even though most of his abnormal strength and will power was as yet untapped.
p124: In the morning they were exhausted, and they paused tt rest only shortly after first light.
p129: "...I feel it in my bones 1"
p131: He started off, hunched over to protect bis head from the ceiling, and soon was gone from sight, the faint glow of his torch swallowed by the darkness ahead.
p142: "...Then, we would outnumber the Dragomans."
--They are referred to as Oragonians in the rest of the book. I'm not sure which is it supposed to be, though.
space:
p22: His own lif e with the Shaker had been styled much more loosely, much less regimentally.
p133: "Ho, there!" Tuk called from the top of the train, peer ing over the edge at them.
spelling:
p32: Each man owned an oiled leather artic coat which was folded into a bulky square and strapped over the gear-stuffed rucksack.
p132: "...Let me tell you, Solvon, I actualy rested far easier when I learned, that night in the mountains, that you had given the world a bastard child...."
p152: When he judged the enemy was as close as he should be permitted to get, Sergeant Crowler rolled out of the air-conditioning crawl space, onto the grate, and brough his weapon to bear.
Curiously, a '70s post-apocalyptic story that was well-executed--not great, but still okay. The suspense of having a traitorous companion in the first act was very palpable.
As with my copy of The Crimson Witch, all quotation marks and some full stops have been replaced (or outright missing in a few cases) by weird characters that e-readers cannot render properly.
p22: "...We cannot take the chance of the h'ght being seen out your window--or of someone in the hallway catching glimpse of it under your door."
p58: He was no mon than thirty feet from the boy now, his large face strained and flushed, even though most of his abnormal strength and will power was as yet untapped.
p124: In the morning they were exhausted, and they paused tt rest only shortly after first light.
p129: "...I feel it in my bones 1"
p131: He started off, hunched over to protect bis head from the ceiling, and soon was gone from sight, the faint glow of his torch swallowed by the darkness ahead.
p142: "...Then, we would outnumber the Dragomans."
--They are referred to as Oragonians in the rest of the book. I'm not sure which is it supposed to be, though.
space:
p22: His own lif e with the Shaker had been styled much more loosely, much less regimentally.
p133: "Ho, there!" Tuk called from the top of the train, peer ing over the edge at them.
spelling:
p32: Each man owned an oiled leather artic coat which was folded into a bulky square and strapped over the gear-stuffed rucksack.
p132: "...Let me tell you, Solvon, I actualy rested far easier when I learned, that night in the mountains, that you had given the world a bastard child...."
p152: When he judged the enemy was as close as he should be permitted to get, Sergeant Crowler rolled out of the air-conditioning crawl space, onto the grate, and brough his weapon to bear.
Curiously, a '70s post-apocalyptic story that was well-executed--not great, but still okay. The suspense of having a traitorous companion in the first act was very palpable.
December 10, 2024
This novella is a combination of Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes and X-Men, which is why I’m surprised it was so disappointing. First the characters were all one-dimensional and in some ways Koontz appeared to be trying to imitate Shakespeare by speaking in a tone that would normally be seen in books written during the renaissance. I do see why this book is no longer in publication.
The frustrating part is that the book is incomprehensible until the third and final part, where we finally begin to understand what is actually happening. By then, however at least I was disconnected from the story that it seemed unlikely I could be pulled back in.
The frustrating part is that the book is incomprehensible until the third and final part, where we finally begin to understand what is actually happening. By then, however at least I was disconnected from the story that it seemed unlikely I could be pulled back in.
May 19, 2017
While it is an interesting and entertaining read, this early Koontz novel is not one of his better early sf books. It's worth the read though.
May 5, 2014
One of Koontz's early works, it shows that his penchant for wildly unexpected conclusions started almost immediately. I don't mean that in a good way. Getting to the last 5% of a book, only to have a solution that comes out of nowhere appear, is certainly a disappointment.
May 8, 2021
I really, reaaaally want to like it!! The synopsis sounds like a good idea but I really can't get into it. I shall put it aside for now and return another day and hopefully it will be more interesting lol
January 27, 2021
Can’t quite decide how to categorise this novel, is it fantasy or a kind of science fiction, either way it is a good, easy to read novel with plenty of action and tension. Shaker Sandow (who I presume is the Warlock of the title) joins an expedition across the mountains to find sites of ‘ancient’ technology. It has become apparent the mankind has lost and forgotten most of the technology of the years before, lost in a time called the ‘Blank’. A neighbouring country has evidently found some of this technology and is now using it to wage war across the border.
Before they even set off the danger is suddenly increased ten-fold when a series of grizzly murders and attempted murders makes it apparent that there are a lest two spies and assassins are among the party. When he attempts to ID the murders using his magic Sandow cannot get a clear face instead he finds only a blurred face entwined with wires. Can they reach the tech and survive the presence of assassins? Do the wires indicate that some of the party are not flesh and blood creatures but a kind of machine?
The only negative point for me was when the soldiers reach the old world settlement and had the brief history of what led up to the ‘Blank’ and asked them for help to rid the settlement of the other humans they agree and find themselves able to use the high tech weaponry with ease. This is explained by the use of ‘training tapes’ (which I presume is something like the training in the Matrix) but this feels like a manufactured plot device.
All told however, it was an enjoyable read and another good example of Konntz’s early work.
Before they even set off the danger is suddenly increased ten-fold when a series of grizzly murders and attempted murders makes it apparent that there are a lest two spies and assassins are among the party. When he attempts to ID the murders using his magic Sandow cannot get a clear face instead he finds only a blurred face entwined with wires. Can they reach the tech and survive the presence of assassins? Do the wires indicate that some of the party are not flesh and blood creatures but a kind of machine?
The only negative point for me was when the soldiers reach the old world settlement and had the brief history of what led up to the ‘Blank’ and asked them for help to rid the settlement of the other humans they agree and find themselves able to use the high tech weaponry with ease. This is explained by the use of ‘training tapes’ (which I presume is something like the training in the Matrix) but this feels like a manufactured plot device.
All told however, it was an enjoyable read and another good example of Konntz’s early work.
October 21, 2017
Spedizione verso il niente è un racconto sulle possibili conseguenze dell'ignoranza, della prepotenza e della deriva del progresso verso strade sbagliate...
Le premesse erano ottime, la trama interessante, ma lo svolgimento è stato carente, noioso e banale, i personaggi sono piatti pateticamente etichettabili.
La storia parte con un Vecchio Maestro, con capacità sensoriali e i suoi due giovani apprendisti, uno è un Gigante un po' tontarello, ma di una forza portentosa (prima banalità?), il secondo invece, il preferito del Vecchio Maestro, l'erede prescelto, è un ragazzo con già spiccate capacità sensoriali (seconda banalità?), vivono in una città isolata. Un giorno arriva un gruppo di uomini, mandati dall'imperatore di turno, per proporre una spedizione nelle lande sperdute de "Il Niente", un luogo di misteri e leggende... Siamo sulla Terra molti secoli dopo la devastazione.
Il libro parte come un fantasy, poi si tinge di giallo, poi un po' di fantascienza ed infine un po' di "sana" guerra tra il medievale e la Seconda guerra mondiale, un minestrone che sa di vecchio, di stantio!
Le premesse erano ottime, la trama interessante, ma lo svolgimento è stato carente, noioso e banale, i personaggi sono piatti pateticamente etichettabili.
La storia parte con un Vecchio Maestro, con capacità sensoriali e i suoi due giovani apprendisti, uno è un Gigante un po' tontarello, ma di una forza portentosa (prima banalità?), il secondo invece, il preferito del Vecchio Maestro, l'erede prescelto, è un ragazzo con già spiccate capacità sensoriali (seconda banalità?), vivono in una città isolata. Un giorno arriva un gruppo di uomini, mandati dall'imperatore di turno, per proporre una spedizione nelle lande sperdute de "Il Niente", un luogo di misteri e leggende... Siamo sulla Terra molti secoli dopo la devastazione.
Il libro parte come un fantasy, poi si tinge di giallo, poi un po' di fantascienza ed infine un po' di "sana" guerra tra il medievale e la Seconda guerra mondiale, un minestrone che sa di vecchio, di stantio!
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February 7, 2013Mankind has forgotten their past glories and only legends remain. Some believed in the legends that men posses sed marvels that conquered the skies and space itself. This is their journey back.
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December 20, 2018salright
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews