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Zancharthus #1
Blood + Pearls
Far to the north, ringed by thunderheads and bathed in unnatural heat, lies Khymir, city of inexhaustible wealth and suppurating squalor, of sorcery and unbridled decadence, where the streets teem with hordes of cut-throats, and demon-sendings rule the night. Enter Jagutai Jen-Shian, bastard son of the Great Khan Sartac. Sent to ensure the signing of a vital treaty, he's his father's deadliest henchman, a small, steely warrior whose fearsome Urguz bow is more than a match for any spell. Opposing him is the demented High Priest of Tchernobog, Serrator Dessicatorius, who, believing that moisture is the principle of evil, dreams of a new and much drier Khymir. But Dessicatorius's insanity is too much for his heterodox second-in-command, Mancdaman Zancharthus, an engagingly ruthless pragmatist who enlists Jagutai in a plot to overthrow his master. Things are further complicated by the regal and beautiful Torrisanna, a temple prostitute with lethal designs of her own, and her her slinky handmaiden Lilitu, who'll stop at nothing to seduce Jagutai, or at least make him as miserable as possible... Supercharged with sex and bone-crunching action, Blood and Pearls is like nothing you've ever read, a hilarious, hallucinatory jolt of high-speed sword-and-sorcery.
- GenresFantasy
317 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1998
3 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Mark E. Rogers
20 books15 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Mark E. Rogers
Mark E. Rogers was an American author and illustrator. Rogers, while a student at Pt. Pleasant Beach High School, wrote a short novel, The Runestone, which has since been adapted into Willard Carroll's 1990 film starring Peter Riegert and Joan Severance, although it remains unpublished, except as a numbered, signed limited edition chapbook published by Burning Bush Press in 1979. At the University of Delaware, he continued his interest in writing, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. He was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
He thereafter became a professional writer. His published works include the Samurai Cat
series; a number of novels, The Dead, Zorachus, and the latter's sequel, The Nightmare of God; a series of books known as Blood of the Lamb; and another series called The Nightmare of God. He has also published three art portfolios and a collection of his pin-up paintings, Nothing but a Smile.
Rogers often had heart problems, he died from apparent heart failure while hiking with his family in California's Death Valley.
source: Wikipedia
Please see: Mark E. Rogers
Mark E. Rogers was an American author and illustrator. Rogers, while a student at Pt. Pleasant Beach High School, wrote a short novel, The Runestone, which has since been adapted into Willard Carroll's 1990 film starring Peter Riegert and Joan Severance, although it remains unpublished, except as a numbered, signed limited edition chapbook published by Burning Bush Press in 1979. At the University of Delaware, he continued his interest in writing, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. He was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
He thereafter became a professional writer. His published works include the Samurai Cat
series; a number of novels, The Dead, Zorachus, and the latter's sequel, The Nightmare of God; a series of books known as Blood of the Lamb; and another series called The Nightmare of God. He has also published three art portfolios and a collection of his pin-up paintings, Nothing but a Smile.
Rogers often had heart problems, he died from apparent heart failure while hiking with his family in California's Death Valley.
source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 23, 2014
Pseudo-spoilers ahead.
This was a fun (in the most adult-rated sense) read. I constantly found myself marveling at how inventive and detailed Rogers is in his descriptions of combat in particular. Despite bloody encounter after bloody encounter, he still managed to find nearly 100% previously-unused ways of painting the scene in such a way that it made me feel like I was watching it on film at times (even if a little unrealistically minimal in the amount of damage the "hero" -- used loosely -- and his crew undertake in comparison to the massacres their meager collection somehow manage to unleash on all others encountered).
In fact, aside from the lack of balance in realistic (in the world of this story) damages incurred by said "hero" and his crew, my only other real complaint about the story itself is that only the "bad guys" and women seem to incur any real injuries. I found it deeply annoying how much I had to read about Lilitu's sweat after she was shot through the side, for example. I also couldn't help but roll my eyes at the HORRIBLE arrow wound treatment analogy for sex. It was like he just gave up on trying to do something more creative with that.
My last critique is one I (shockingly) managed to overlook for the most part with the understanding that this is a self-published series and Rogers had no proper proofreader or editor apparently. Most errors seemed like little more than typos and spelling/grammar checker "pass" errors that a human would have (hopefully) caught. Still, this was a fun adult read, even with its flaws.
This was a fun (in the most adult-rated sense) read. I constantly found myself marveling at how inventive and detailed Rogers is in his descriptions of combat in particular. Despite bloody encounter after bloody encounter, he still managed to find nearly 100% previously-unused ways of painting the scene in such a way that it made me feel like I was watching it on film at times (even if a little unrealistically minimal in the amount of damage the "hero" -- used loosely -- and his crew undertake in comparison to the massacres their meager collection somehow manage to unleash on all others encountered).
In fact, aside from the lack of balance in realistic (in the world of this story) damages incurred by said "hero" and his crew, my only other real complaint about the story itself is that only the "bad guys" and women seem to incur any real injuries. I found it deeply annoying how much I had to read about Lilitu's sweat after she was shot through the side, for example. I also couldn't help but roll my eyes at the HORRIBLE arrow wound treatment analogy for sex. It was like he just gave up on trying to do something more creative with that.
My last critique is one I (shockingly) managed to overlook for the most part with the understanding that this is a self-published series and Rogers had no proper proofreader or editor apparently. Most errors seemed like little more than typos and spelling/grammar checker "pass" errors that a human would have (hopefully) caught. Still, this was a fun adult read, even with its flaws.
March 3, 2018
This is the first book of a trilogy about Mancdaman Zancharthus.
Anyone who has read Rogers' previous books about Mancdaman Zorachus knows how this story will eventually end. The Zancharthus trilogy is a prequel to the Zorachus duology and the Blood of the Lamb trilogy.
Zancharthus is a bad man, a violent man, a man who loves to kill. He is very good at killing with both weapon and magic. He despises most of his fellow Khymirians, who really do tend to be despicable. Even the children among them are really terrible. There is a truly gruesome scene early in Blood + Pearls: the Children's Hour. You will likely wince.
Zancharthus has the good and bad fortune to find himself attracted to Torisanna, a priestess and prostitute serving the Double Goddess. She dislikes and despises him but finds him difficult to fend off, because he is powerful, skilled, shameless, and persistent. Zancharthus also makes the acquaintance of a foreigner named Jagutai, who is a good man.
I quite like the books of Zancharthus. I recommend them to anyone who likes their fantasy crimson and fuligin.
Anyone who has read Rogers' previous books about Mancdaman Zorachus knows how this story will eventually end. The Zancharthus trilogy is a prequel to the Zorachus duology and the Blood of the Lamb trilogy.
Zancharthus is a bad man, a violent man, a man who loves to kill. He is very good at killing with both weapon and magic. He despises most of his fellow Khymirians, who really do tend to be despicable. Even the children among them are really terrible. There is a truly gruesome scene early in Blood + Pearls: the Children's Hour. You will likely wince.
Zancharthus has the good and bad fortune to find himself attracted to Torisanna, a priestess and prostitute serving the Double Goddess. She dislikes and despises him but finds him difficult to fend off, because he is powerful, skilled, shameless, and persistent. Zancharthus also makes the acquaintance of a foreigner named Jagutai, who is a good man.
I quite like the books of Zancharthus. I recommend them to anyone who likes their fantasy crimson and fuligin.
May 2, 2019
Prequel to Zorachus and The Nightmare of God. I'm going to hold off on the review for now and write a review of the whole trilogy when I'm finished.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews