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Kothar #2
Kothar of the Magic Sword
Kothar stole the helix from the fat Emperor of Avalonia. It was the only way he could hope to recover his magic sword Frostfire from the belly of the Great Eagle of Nirvalla. But the original theft of the helix was to embroil Kothar in even more uncanny adventures. An 'ice being', an eerie creature even in Kothar's world, used the helix for his own dark purpose.
Trying to forget the beautiful Laella—driven away by the witch Red Lori—Kothar agreed to deliver another lovely girl from the sinister followers of the god Polthoom. Even with the magic sword flashing in his powerful hands, it was the bloodiest, weirdest, most blood-chilling adventure of his life.
Trying to forget the beautiful Laella—driven away by the witch Red Lori—Kothar agreed to deliver another lovely girl from the sinister followers of the god Polthoom. Even with the magic sword flashing in his powerful hands, it was the bloodiest, weirdest, most blood-chilling adventure of his life.
154 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
4 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Gardner Francis Fox
1,192 books90 followersGardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"
Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 1, 2018
Gardner F. Fox’s Kothar of the Magic Sword: unmet promises & meaningless fetch quests quell potentially-good adventure
The title and the author’s foreword to this second Kothar book (the first being Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman of five Kothar Series) promise conflict from two sources: (1) the magic sword “Frostfire” (cursed so that Kothar “can never be otherwise wealthy”, and (2) revenge from the sorceress Red Lori, whom Kothar contributed in arresting within a silver gibbet (in book-1 presumably). However, Frostfire’s powers are rarely demonstrated (arguably never shown), nor is its propensity to loose wealth featured. Worse, Red Lori, who at least does appear in the book, is presented so inconsistently that readers can only wonder: what is going? who cares?
Clonan Expectations: Gardner Fox’s Kothar is a clonan: a “clone” of REH’s 1930’s barbarian “Conan.” Kothar has all the expected traits: a wanderer with a broadsword, hails from northern cold climate (Cumberia), disdains civilization, and bears his open, uber-masculine muscular chest… and let us not forget… demonstrates unnecessary misogyny (I don’t remember REH being this over the top). Other notable clonans emerging ~1970 include John Jakes‘s Brak the Barbarian and Lin Carter’s Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria. Like Carter’s Thongor, Fox’s Kothar reads like poor fan fiction more than it does a unique tribute to the Sword & Sorcery genre. “Brak” is not ground-breaking fiction, but it may be the best of these three.
Like the others, an accomplished cover artist (Jeff Jones) promises emotive adventure. Four interior drawings (E. Robbins) is a nice addition, but the illustrations are not connected with the stories: for example, whereas the words indicate a wild bear is an enemy, the drawing shows a werewolf-like man wielding swords; later the text has Kothar fighting nomadic Mongols but the art has him fighting a dragon.
Monty Python and Fake Wrestling: I did not expect much, but was still disappointed. Plenty seeds-of-adventure are never developed, and plenty more scenes are silly: for example, Kothar dresses up like a sheep as bait for an airborne creature, and later he fights a bunch of naked, weaponless priests with his cat-like instinct, puffed out chest, and wrestling moves right of the World Wrestling Federation TV show (seriously, he does one of those moves in which he jumps & kicks both feet into the chest of a combatant…. obviously a go-to move when you have a magical weapon, are 2x the size of any normal man, and your opponent is a disarmed druid). Kothar of the Magic Sword was published in 1969, but subsequent history seemed destined to amplify the self-parody present. There is a scene that may have inspired the infamous “I’m not dead yet” encounter in the 1975 classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (a bad guy has all four limbs torn removed, manages to live, and is engaged in conversation with “What? Not dead yet?”).
Red Lori: Enemies have no longevity or depth, and conflict is ever shifting. That said, I was particular excited about the Red Lori character, who had lots of potential. She is introduced in the foreword as a remote antagonist; imprisoned with limited powers, she manages to haunt Kothar. Her involvement was quite effective for 66% of this until….
More Fox:
Interested in Gardner F. Fox? Fans of Fox often recommend his Kyrik hero over Kothar.
The title and the author’s foreword to this second Kothar book (the first being Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman of five Kothar Series) promise conflict from two sources: (1) the magic sword “Frostfire” (cursed so that Kothar “can never be otherwise wealthy”, and (2) revenge from the sorceress Red Lori, whom Kothar contributed in arresting within a silver gibbet (in book-1 presumably). However, Frostfire’s powers are rarely demonstrated (arguably never shown), nor is its propensity to loose wealth featured. Worse, Red Lori, who at least does appear in the book, is presented so inconsistently that readers can only wonder: what is going? who cares?
Clonan Expectations: Gardner Fox’s Kothar is a clonan: a “clone” of REH’s 1930’s barbarian “Conan.” Kothar has all the expected traits: a wanderer with a broadsword, hails from northern cold climate (Cumberia), disdains civilization, and bears his open, uber-masculine muscular chest… and let us not forget… demonstrates unnecessary misogyny (I don’t remember REH being this over the top). Other notable clonans emerging ~1970 include John Jakes‘s Brak the Barbarian and Lin Carter’s Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria. Like Carter’s Thongor, Fox’s Kothar reads like poor fan fiction more than it does a unique tribute to the Sword & Sorcery genre. “Brak” is not ground-breaking fiction, but it may be the best of these three.
Like the others, an accomplished cover artist (Jeff Jones) promises emotive adventure. Four interior drawings (E. Robbins) is a nice addition, but the illustrations are not connected with the stories: for example, whereas the words indicate a wild bear is an enemy, the drawing shows a werewolf-like man wielding swords; later the text has Kothar fighting nomadic Mongols but the art has him fighting a dragon.
Monty Python and Fake Wrestling: I did not expect much, but was still disappointed. Plenty seeds-of-adventure are never developed, and plenty more scenes are silly: for example, Kothar dresses up like a sheep as bait for an airborne creature, and later he fights a bunch of naked, weaponless priests with his cat-like instinct, puffed out chest, and wrestling moves right of the World Wrestling Federation TV show (seriously, he does one of those moves in which he jumps & kicks both feet into the chest of a combatant…. obviously a go-to move when you have a magical weapon, are 2x the size of any normal man, and your opponent is a disarmed druid). Kothar of the Magic Sword was published in 1969, but subsequent history seemed destined to amplify the self-parody present. There is a scene that may have inspired the infamous “I’m not dead yet” encounter in the 1975 classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (a bad guy has all four limbs torn removed, manages to live, and is engaged in conversation with “What? Not dead yet?”).
Red Lori: Enemies have no longevity or depth, and conflict is ever shifting. That said, I was particular excited about the Red Lori character, who had lots of potential. She is introduced in the foreword as a remote antagonist; imprisoned with limited powers, she manages to haunt Kothar. Her involvement was quite effective for 66% of this until….
More Fox:
Interested in Gardner F. Fox? Fans of Fox often recommend his Kyrik hero over Kothar.
December 17, 2025
This is the second of five swords & sorcery books that Fox, who is of course best remembered for his prolific comics work at DC, had published 1969 - '70 featuring the titular protagonist. They're unashamed, proud pastiches of Howard's Conan. This second book is a collection of two novellas, a tale called The Helix From Beyond, and another titled A Plague of Demons. (One features Red Lori, a character from the first book, Kothar- Barbarian Swordsman.) Kothar wields his mighty blade Frostfire fighting fierce foes, monsters, witches, and all manner of evil, and always meeting a lusty woman with whom he frolics. They are fun and unpretentious stories, certainly not great literature but better written than many similar titles of the time. The book has an odd foreword by Fox, and the cover, spine, and copyright page have the title as shown, but the title page adds an exclamation point, so I suppose either version is okay.
September 22, 2018
Other reviews I read of this short novel panned Kothar as a weak "Clonan" adventure (a clone of Conan the Barbarian), and while it is a bit derivative, I thought the overall story-telling was pretty entertaining.
Maybe the structure of the book didn't click with people - this particular installment is actually two novellas combined together, continuing (evidently) an ongoing adventure from Book 1 (and probably concluding by Book 5) between Kothar and Red Lori, a sorceress who has lost her powers thanks to Kothar and who seeks revenge against him, yet by shared endangered circumstances becomes his traveling companion.
[BTW, I haven't read Book 1, but heh, I picked this one up for a quarter and read it on vacation; I will likely try to find the others in this series some time though as I want to know what happens to the two unlikely adventurers.]
The two novellas are titled, "The Helix from Beyond" and "A Plague of Demons." Both warranted more details and depth - and there is a lot of overly dramatic action and dialog as well as plenty of naked women in distress - but as I said, it's pretty well written and entertaining.
There are also 4 line art illustrations, which are excellent, but (as pointed out by other reviewers) hold no correlation to anything happening in this book. If you're into sword and sorcery fantasy Conan-type adventures, this short series might be worth tracking down.
Maybe the structure of the book didn't click with people - this particular installment is actually two novellas combined together, continuing (evidently) an ongoing adventure from Book 1 (and probably concluding by Book 5) between Kothar and Red Lori, a sorceress who has lost her powers thanks to Kothar and who seeks revenge against him, yet by shared endangered circumstances becomes his traveling companion.
[BTW, I haven't read Book 1, but heh, I picked this one up for a quarter and read it on vacation; I will likely try to find the others in this series some time though as I want to know what happens to the two unlikely adventurers.]
The two novellas are titled, "The Helix from Beyond" and "A Plague of Demons." Both warranted more details and depth - and there is a lot of overly dramatic action and dialog as well as plenty of naked women in distress - but as I said, it's pretty well written and entertaining.
There are also 4 line art illustrations, which are excellent, but (as pointed out by other reviewers) hold no correlation to anything happening in this book. If you're into sword and sorcery fantasy Conan-type adventures, this short series might be worth tracking down.
April 13, 2015
The foremost impression is that Fox was putting the story together as he went along. Both novellas have a improvisational quality, of incidents strung together and veering far from the initial concept and littered with problems of story logic.
For instance, in "The Helix from Beyond", Kothar is employed to steal the titular "helix", which turns out to be both a portal to a pocket universe and the source or generator of such (not clear, and Fox breezes past such details). Having entered the world of the "helix", Kothar is required to bring the artifact back into the world of its generation, which involves liberating an extradimensional demon from a gemstone prison, the gemstone of which is hidden in the body of a huge, magical eagle. And so forth, until the conclusion, which hinges on some spectacularly poor decision making on the part of the original employer,
The relationship between Kothar and the sorceress Red Lori seems lifted from a more sophisticated book. There are elements of attraction and of enmity, mostly from Red Lori's side. At the same time, Kothar has a pattern of retreating from assertive, powerful women in favor of those more subservient and decorative (usually in the name of "being his own man").
I wish I could identify the interior illustrator of this edition, who signed as "E. Robbins". The line art is excellently done, although the publisher took no effort to match any piece to the actual story.
For instance, in "The Helix from Beyond", Kothar is employed to steal the titular "helix", which turns out to be both a portal to a pocket universe and the source or generator of such (not clear, and Fox breezes past such details). Having entered the world of the "helix", Kothar is required to bring the artifact back into the world of its generation, which involves liberating an extradimensional demon from a gemstone prison, the gemstone of which is hidden in the body of a huge, magical eagle. And so forth, until the conclusion, which hinges on some spectacularly poor decision making on the part of the original employer,
The relationship between Kothar and the sorceress Red Lori seems lifted from a more sophisticated book. There are elements of attraction and of enmity, mostly from Red Lori's side. At the same time, Kothar has a pattern of retreating from assertive, powerful women in favor of those more subservient and decorative (usually in the name of "being his own man").
I wish I could identify the interior illustrator of this edition, who signed as "E. Robbins". The line art is excellently done, although the publisher took no effort to match any piece to the actual story.
March 2, 2017
4.75 stars.
I don't know why I waited so long to read this series. If you're a fan of the Corman barbarian flicks, which of course are unapologetic knockoffs like almost any Corman production, these are the barbarian books you want to read. Everything negative reviewers have to say about this series is everything I love about it.
I will admit that this book was not as good as the first one. And yes, it's downright sloppy at times. It's also fairly rushed at times, with major characters that have minor development. I happen to love that. I like thinking and wondering about characters after I read a book. I don't always want to feel like I know them personally. To me, the mystery is part of the fun. It's even inspirational. "How would I develop this character?"
Not everyone will "get" the Kothar books. But those like me who have watched Deathstalker and Sorceress countless times will definitely "get" Kothar.
I don't know why I waited so long to read this series. If you're a fan of the Corman barbarian flicks, which of course are unapologetic knockoffs like almost any Corman production, these are the barbarian books you want to read. Everything negative reviewers have to say about this series is everything I love about it.
I will admit that this book was not as good as the first one. And yes, it's downright sloppy at times. It's also fairly rushed at times, with major characters that have minor development. I happen to love that. I like thinking and wondering about characters after I read a book. I don't always want to feel like I know them personally. To me, the mystery is part of the fun. It's even inspirational. "How would I develop this character?"
Not everyone will "get" the Kothar books. But those like me who have watched Deathstalker and Sorceress countless times will definitely "get" Kothar.
July 2, 2009
for the record, objectively, this is a terrible terrible book.
But it is awesomely terrible, and emminently mockable like no other book ive read. The epitome of bad barbarian fiction boiled down to its well thewed stygian essence.
But it is awesomely terrible, and emminently mockable like no other book ive read. The epitome of bad barbarian fiction boiled down to its well thewed stygian essence.
September 18, 2008
I heart barbarian fantasy. Especially barbarian fantasy that includes the heart-warming phrase "the flash flood of horse-flesh." As long as I can read books like this, life is good.
July 26, 2010
Entertaining Sword & Sorcery, although not up to the level of Robert E. Howard certainly.
April 29, 2012
It's a barbarian fantasy novel, second in the series. I knew what to expect and Gardner F. Fox delivers a good tale as usual. This is not great literature, but as a quick read for enjoyment it is ideal. Kothar is like a simplified Conan-clone. I liked this book a lot, but the second story has less substance than the first.
November 23, 2014
1987 grade C-
November 29, 2022
Already ordered book #1 !
December 14, 2025
I gave the first Kothar book a 3 stars but I knew I'd be back for more and here I am.
Kothar doesn't get very high up Maslow's hierarchy - food, water, sleep, but he doesn't seem to need much in the way of clothing. And love might be on the third rung but I don't think a body to warm the bed quite counts as love rather than "physiological" needs. But none of this matters. He's always in a breathless rush to complete his next task and somehow he carries you along with him.
The first story is about a magic helix that can take you do what other fiction might call a pocket universe or demiplane. I think Gardner Fox likes his little self-contained universes. The second is the story of his rescue of a friend's daughter from an evil god while tricking his way out of the evil clutches of Red Lori.
Yes, it's obviously a Conan ripoff. Yes, it's trashy. Yes it's all mighty thews and bare thighs and well structured boobs. But it's light and fun and you can blast through it in no time at all.
The official ebook could use some work.
Kothar doesn't get very high up Maslow's hierarchy - food, water, sleep, but he doesn't seem to need much in the way of clothing. And love might be on the third rung but I don't think a body to warm the bed quite counts as love rather than "physiological" needs. But none of this matters. He's always in a breathless rush to complete his next task and somehow he carries you along with him.
The first story is about a magic helix that can take you do what other fiction might call a pocket universe or demiplane. I think Gardner Fox likes his little self-contained universes. The second is the story of his rescue of a friend's daughter from an evil god while tricking his way out of the evil clutches of Red Lori.
Yes, it's obviously a Conan ripoff. Yes, it's trashy. Yes it's all mighty thews and bare thighs and well structured boobs. But it's light and fun and you can blast through it in no time at all.
The official ebook could use some work.
October 21, 2022
Heavy metal swords & sorcery. Fast-paced, fun, and short. It continues from the first book: Red Lori remains his enemy—nowadays you might even call her a frenemy—still caged in silver. Kothar remains a northern barbarian, and Frostfire remains a magic sword.
If anything, even more fun than the first book. There is sorcery aplenty to be used and opposed, and monsters to defeat through strength and cunning, but most of all, through perseverance.
The names of lands and cities reminds us that while there is little if anything in the way of technology remaining, this is set in a far future. Kothar encounters the lands of ancient Romm, and Memphor in Aegypton, and fights a Khan among the Mongrols.
If anything, even more fun than the first book. There is sorcery aplenty to be used and opposed, and monsters to defeat through strength and cunning, but most of all, through perseverance.
The names of lands and cities reminds us that while there is little if anything in the way of technology remaining, this is set in a far future. Kothar encounters the lands of ancient Romm, and Memphor in Aegypton, and fights a Khan among the Mongrols.
March 2, 2021
More Gardner F. Fox doing his thing. Kothar is a slightly less wooden than Kyrik and generally I felt like Fox was maybe trying a bit harder here. Still, it's pretty silly stuff. Kothar is big. The women are all beautiful. They all want him. He kills people real good. Something about magic and stuff. It's vaguely racist. Basically, this book distills what people think Robert E. Howard's Conan stories are like, without capturing any of Howard's actual magic. It's still darned entertaining. Made me want to play some Dungeon Crawl Classics.
March 7, 2023
A solid AA sword & sorcery novel. While book two in the series isn’t as full of martial combat there is quite a bit of supernatural and magical action going on. This doesn’t compare with the works of Robert E. Howard or Fritz Leiber but is a fun diversion.
May 3, 2018
This is a basic sword and sorcery story, but it's so enjoyable to return to this style after reading the PC garbage that's written in sci fi and fantasy today.
August 17, 2018
A rather straightforward tale similar to the takes of Conan. Those who like action and more swords than sorcery will enjoy Kothar of the Magic Sword.
August 15, 2019
The second Kothar book is better than the first. The plots are woven more tightly together this time around. It’s still dated and dumb, but fun.
October 16, 2024
Poorly written Conan rip off.
May 22, 2022
This one just falls short of a 3 from me. It's a Clonan, and has a lot of mediocrity and 60s/70s cringe to it. The writing is all over the place and hard to follow at times.
However, there is some pretty cool stuff in here. The meat of this is two novellas the first of which I really liked the second of which I thought was incoherent and dreadful
The forward is a cool setup even if the prose is all over the place.
The first story, the Helix From Beyond, has some of the overall issues mentioned earlier. But it has a great Sword and Sorcery vibe to it, and also really imaginative dreamlike sequences. Honestly, I really dug this story, despite some of the inconsistency in the writing quality and flaws in the narrative. It really gives me that "days of high adventure" and otherworldly vibe I want in fantasy.
However, the second story, A Plague of Demons, is dreadful. It's totally incoherent, it contradicts itself all over the place. One chapter Kothar rants about how gods are made up, the next he's afraid of them. Tons of stuff like that. It has no idea what it wants to be and each chapter feels like its trying to tell a different story.
Its too bad, the idea of a vagabond warrior, cursed to eternal poverty by his magic sword, haunted by a mad witch he imprisoned, sounds awesome, but man the execution is poor.
I really can only recommend this for diehard fans of the genre. Really because the first story has great energy, but the second one is some of the worst S&S I've ever read.
However, there is some pretty cool stuff in here. The meat of this is two novellas the first of which I really liked the second of which I thought was incoherent and dreadful
The forward is a cool setup even if the prose is all over the place.
The first story, the Helix From Beyond, has some of the overall issues mentioned earlier. But it has a great Sword and Sorcery vibe to it, and also really imaginative dreamlike sequences. Honestly, I really dug this story, despite some of the inconsistency in the writing quality and flaws in the narrative. It really gives me that "days of high adventure" and otherworldly vibe I want in fantasy.
However, the second story, A Plague of Demons, is dreadful. It's totally incoherent, it contradicts itself all over the place. One chapter Kothar rants about how gods are made up, the next he's afraid of them. Tons of stuff like that. It has no idea what it wants to be and each chapter feels like its trying to tell a different story.
Its too bad, the idea of a vagabond warrior, cursed to eternal poverty by his magic sword, haunted by a mad witch he imprisoned, sounds awesome, but man the execution is poor.
I really can only recommend this for diehard fans of the genre. Really because the first story has great energy, but the second one is some of the worst S&S I've ever read.
March 5, 2022
This is the second novel on the series and we follow Kothar on his adventures. Well on this book we expect some kind of conflict from Sorceress Red Lori which was imprisioned by Kothar on book one but being a sorceress she tells Kothar that is going to follow him and curse him.
He and his trusted magic sword forstfire (cursed making him never be wealthy).
There are two stories, the second story has more Red Lori and it's more interesting than the first one.
There isn't that much to talk about this.
I don't think this is a clone of Conan or clonan. It's fairly interesting tales and the guy is fairly different from Conan in many regards.
I did enjoy it, and will be continue to read the next ones.
The first tale is about a mercenary job and save a girl while the second advances the plot for the red lori and kothar. I will be reading the following novels.
He and his trusted magic sword forstfire (cursed making him never be wealthy).
There are two stories, the second story has more Red Lori and it's more interesting than the first one.
There isn't that much to talk about this.
I don't think this is a clone of Conan or clonan. It's fairly interesting tales and the guy is fairly different from Conan in many regards.
I did enjoy it, and will be continue to read the next ones.
The first tale is about a mercenary job and save a girl while the second advances the plot for the red lori and kothar. I will be reading the following novels.
September 7, 2023
Well that was super fun. 3.5 stars. I think what elevated this Kothar story above the other I read (#3) was the interesting dynamic between Kothar and Red Lori. They are so wrapped up with their rivalry that they don't realize they are falling in love. The ending is quite a surprise in that regard; apparently their story wraps up in book #5. I also didn't mind the fact that Kothar is an obvious clone of Conan which had bothered me reading the other one; he did a great job evoking that character. One thing that didn't make sense though is that in the first half of the book, Red Lori could clearly do sorcery even though she was in a cage, and in the second half she couldn't. Made no sense, and I docked it a half star for that.
May 27, 2016
solid book, good old classic sword and sorcery
January 27, 2016
As a barbarian Kothar is not Conan by any means and the writing is not as good as Robert E. Howard's but these are still good stories. Quick and easy reads. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews