The Darkling

by David Kesterton

In a world convulsed by seasons of terror and by nightmarish phantoms, Maradek abandons the security of his small northern tribal home to search for his father, Afurad. Armed only with a bow and guided by a psychic aptitude for scanning life forms, Maradek is joined by a hermit plainsmanand by a strange bestial anomaly who can communicate solely through telepathic subspeech. Directed by primitive divination abilities, Maradek and his colleagues journey southward through death-haunted realms of cosmic alienage until they discover and challenge the unnatural agents who are threatening to consume their world.

259 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1982

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up probably 15-20 years ago -- the publisher was Arkham House, which is generally a good sign, and per the description it sounded like something I'd enjoy. The setting is the distant future, long after the fall of civilization (well, it's never made explicit whether the planet in question is actually Earth or not); pockets of humans eke out a stone-age existence and are preyed upon by strange and terrible creatures. Maradek, a primitive tribesman, leaves his home village (in a cave) in search of his father, beginning an epic journey across the world.

Unfortunately, once I finally got around to reading it, this didn't turn out to be the forgotten classic I was hoping for. Maradek's journey is reasonably entertaining -- he encounters all of the standard ruined cities, lost artifacts and strange creatures one might expect -- but the story itself is somewhat pedestrian; the wonders and terrors are neither wonderful nor terrible enough. I'm glad I finally read it but doubt I'll ever feel a need to revisit it.

(Edit: Changing the review to 3 after looking at how I've been rating other books in my history. I really wish the rating scale included half stars because it felt like about a 2.5 to me, so I was waffling between 2 and 3.)