Lord Leighton smiled at Blade and pressed a switch.
Electricity bubbled in Blade's body. Current flowed in his veins, moving sluggishly at first, like stagnant canal water dammed up--then it burst!
Blade, still conscious, saw his body change into a rocket. His brain flared and exploded and there was a scream of power. He left the pad and was launched and flared high into black space. He felt his mind melting, running into shiny liquid puddles that formed and reformed and melted and remelted.
He soared. He was alone and the universe not yet made. he soared forever because there was no beginning and so could be no end...
The computer had again projected Blade into a strange and violent land. It was Sarma. And Blade was to do battle with a Russian agent, a duplicate of himself. And, somehow, he was going to have to survive the barbaric and insatiable women-warrior of Sarma.
This is the 4th of 37 pulp novels featuring the hero Richard Blade. Written by 4 authors under the pseudonym Jeffrey Lord, as ever its a complete mish-mash of genre and writing.
The beginning is James Bond style spy fiction and you almost forget this is a Richard Blade novel at all. We learn that the Russians have a doppelgänger project called TWIN and have created an evil duplicate of Blade whom he has to capture. They set up a sting operation to capture the Russian spy at the wedding of Blade's ex, Zoe, where he plans to cause a scene - things get even more complicated because there's an actor hired to play blade added into the mix. The real Blade gets captured and spills the beans about the secret computer and the X-Dimension. The upshot is, the Leighton and J send his Russian doppelgänger through mistakenly believing it's blade and the real Blade has to follow into the X-Dimension, kill his evil replica as well as explore and deal with whatever threats occur in this new world.
Onward then with X-Dimension no. 4 Yup another world of barbaric splendour! - First we have a battle with giant crabs where he picks up his loyal sidekick Pelops. Then he meets (reads has sex with here) Zeena the princess of Sarma and under Sarmian law finds himself married. Zeena goes home to break the news to her mother. When he arrives he finds Zeena exiled and becomes sex slave to her mother, Queen Pphira!
Blade kills her only son in battle by tying him to a rock and hurling him at the totally evil gay general who has a crush on him. He then flees and joins some pirates. Finds Zeena who has lost her mind having been raped 40 times a day by the pirates. Never fear, evil nympo princess Canda is on hand to satisfy Blade's needs. She takes him home and reveals she's the lover of his evil TWIN Russian agent. Instead of fighting it out Canda decides to chose the one who satisfies her best in bed and so each have 4 nights of sex in which to prove themselves worthy of being her consort. Gema, the doppelgänger decides he doesn't want to leave things to chance. Attempts to kill Blade mid coitus - but luckily Blade gets transported home mid fight...
This is an odd one. There's more spy fiction than usual, and only 3 women - which for Blade is rather poor going.
The writing is choppy and in varied styles. Towards the end we get a random chapter (16) which jumps into the future - the year 10536 AB (After Blade) and we switch narrator getting a random futuristic scholar who is deciphering the history of Blade from a diary he found in a bottle floating at sea. WTF???? It's incredibly jarring and there is absolutely no reason for it - the rest is all linear narrative. There are also typing mistakes Pphira is sometimes written Pphidra and misuse of words.
Despite all that there's something oddly readable about the Richard Blade saga - It's perfect escapism throwing everything at us - spies, heroic fantasy, science fiction, erotica, horror. Having a hero survive 'largely due to his phallic prowess" is also unintentionally hilarious. I have a real soft spot for this series. So trashy :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
With Richard Blade's galivanting in Dimension X, it can be forgotten that he is also a secret agent/spy for MI6. In this tale, Richard's Russian counterpart has Blade kidnapped and takes his place in Dimension X. Blade's handlers send him in after the Russian with a mission to neutralize him.
If they can send Blade in and retrieve him, why was it necessary to send Blade to kill the Russian. Why not just retrieve the Russian and apprehend him when he comes back through. This bothered me the whole book. Hell, it still bothers me.
Naked and defenseless, Blade finds himself in a matriarchal kingdom. Men are powerless and slaves. Somehow he has to survive. Find his twin and kill him. All before Lord L pulls him back home.
Recommended!
P.S. The conclusion of the sea battle in which Blade wins his freedom is spectacular! Gives new meaning to the saying, 'killing two birds with one stone'.
4.21.19-Lord L cannot send Blade to the same dimension twice because he cannot lock the exact coordinates twice. Although he does that very thing is this installment sending Blade after the Russian operative. This only came to my attention after reading book 11, Dimension of Dreams. In that installment it is remarked that that was the ONLY time Lord L was able to pull off two outings into the same dimension. Hmmm.
About what you would expect going from the cover of this. 1970 and feels it. Plenty of action and pace moves along quickly enough, but characters are generally 1-dimensional, no-ones motives are particularly clear, and even the stronger women characters are all consumed and aquiver at the hero's overpowering manliness and sexual prowess.
Apparently there are 37 or so in this series. I have collected half a dozen or so. Might try another one or two then move on.