War of the God Queen

by David Hambling

Thrown back through time…
Jessica has only her wits.
Will she find a way to survive long enough to get back home?
She was fresh out of architecture school and ready to take the world by storm. She wasn’t prepared for what came next. An alien encounter that sent her falling through a portal into another world
Jessica’s plight looks hopeless -- she doesn't understand the language, the bronze-age culture, or even how to defend herself. She’s not a Connecticut Yankee and this is definitely not King Arthur’s court.
The locals are unimpressed.
What’s her next move?
Her only goal is to get back home, but Jessica has landed in the middle of something sinister: in the ancient near east, circa 1000 B.C., a war rages.
Can she stop an alien invasion through time?
She’ll need help, but who can she count on?
You’ll love this brilliant take on portal fiction, with twists and turns that are different than what you’ve grown to expect.

Genres: Time Travel, Science Fiction, Fantasy

375 pages, Paperback

Published January 17, 2020

Reviews

[M.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an entertaining, imaginative, and gripping read.

Jessica finds herself thrown back in time to what she concludes must be the Bronze Age, in a landscape that—at first—seems harsh and unwelcoming. Taken as a ‘messenger from heaven’ by the leader of the nomad tribe that finds her, revenge-driven leader Amir, Jessica must use her wits to find a way to destroy the slow-moving, yet horrifying, monsters that threaten Amir and his people—the monsters that killed his father.

I really enjoyed this book, which had a range of characters all brought together from different times and lands. Jessica (or Yishka, as Amir’s people call her) is both a likeable and believable protagonist from 1920s London, while Izabel was a great character from far-off in Jessica’s future. The dynamics between Izabel, Jessica and Marie-Therese (from 1850s France) worked very well, but my favourite character was definitely the quiet and deadly scout Illi, who seemed to come from somewhere in the Stone Age.

The book didn’t shy away from the issues of a more ‘advanced’ people forcing their ways upon others, and Izabel kept this conversation going throughout. The compilation of characters from different times and countries provided sneak-peeks into different ages and cultures, while the nomad characters and their ways of life were vivid. The monsters are described brilliantly and I found the process of trying to construct ‘civilization’ very interesting. Five stars!

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

WAR OF THE GOD QUEEN by David Hambling is yet another entry into his Call of Cthulhu universe containing the Harry Stubbs series and The Dulwich Horror. This is a direct sequel to the Dulwich Horror but has more in common with Brian Lumley's later Titus Crow novels than the previous occult mysteries.

The premise is that the protagonist of the Dulwich Horror, Jessica, has been cast back into time. It is a pulpy adventure that takes place in a pre-Bronze Age Stone Age civilization. References are made to A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the Barsoom novels with a joke that the protagonist, Jessica, isn't like any of those supermen with their knowledge of engineering as well as military tactics.

Jessica is a Edwardian woman who finds herself soon the head of a time-lost band of women who are all of varying ethnicities. They avoid becoming the property of the local tribes due to some fast thinking and the belief they're goddesses. They have an enemy in the Spawn of Cthulhu, however, who threaten to wipe out humanity before it can ever become a threat to even the lowliest of his servitors.

Much is made of Jessica trying to survive in a time without any form of metallurgy, hygiene, or amenities. It is also a work with a feminist slant as the women band together to try to assert their dignity. It is also a adventure about slaying prehistoric eldritch monsters. If this sounds like your sort of thing then definitely check it out. I love David Hambling's occult mysteries more but this was a quirky and fun book despite its sometimes dark subject matter as well as offbeat concept.

[Pamela Canepa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely do I read such lengthy, epic books these days, but the premise of this book was quite interesting, and once I started reading it, I was hooked! The historical, social, and battle details are quite descriptive enough to make you almost feel as if you are there. The premise of a modern day woman being taken through a portal to the bronze age was also very interesting, and her position of power among the nomads in fighting the hideous monster(s) was quite appealing. All of the women stolen through the portal seem to be from various time frames, cultures, and mindsets; the interaction between them is very well-developed. It was even better to picture the story through Jessica's point of view. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the story line!

[Andy Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like what I was expecting but better for it.

I was expecting a classic swords and sorcery tale of epic fantasy – one with gods and warriors and monsters, a story that doesn’t let up from the beginning to the end. (After the obligatory fantasy trope of nothing happening for the first 50 pages or so.) What I got was very different: a short-sighted young woman, with no special skills other than her tenacious intelligence, ends up embroiled in a Bronze Age war between a band of nomads and The Spawn, a race of gelatinous, almost un-killable monsters. The story follow ‘Yishka’s’ struggle to find her place and live up to the expectations of the nomads that she, the goddess, will lead them to victory against the evil that threatens them.

And this is where the story veered away from what I was expecting. The War of the God Queen is not just a long list of battles and triumphs and losses (though they are there), nor is it an expose of a magic system she has to learn to conquer The Spawn (though there is magic), neither is it just another take on dirty politics (that's there, too). A large part of the conflict is built around something more mundane – and that, paradoxically, is why I liked it.

In the struggle against the Spawn, Yishka and the nomads sacrifice a large part of their way of life: they build a city and women earn rights beyond that of being allowed to cook for the men and bear their children. It’s a nice touch, a realistic process in a fantastical setting: building a city and everything that comes with that. It’s a refreshing change to adverb-fuelled violence and destruction.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for the latter, but this made a refreshing break from the usual carnage found in many fantasy novels. These changes wrought by Yishka, the handmaidens (not the type in red dresses or white hoods – far from it) and the nomads, are not without loss, however. They bring resentment and conflict. Principles, roles and tradition are challenged. The role of the ‘white saviour’ is also touched upon. I thought it was very well done.

There were other things I enjoyed, too.

I liked the writing. I’ve mentioned in other reviews that I like ‘clean’ writing with minimal descriptions that still convey their meaning.

The characters are likeable/ unlikeable as appropriate. Also, not every character develops. I know this is not usually what teachers of writing say should happen, but it is realistic. Amir, for example. stays pretty much the same from start to end, just like some people in the real world.

The prologue has a great twist at the end, setting up for the main story.

And there was enough tension to keep me reading to find out how/ what happens in the last few pages.

There were a few things that I struggled with, however.

The story follows on from another story by the same author (The Dulwich Horror of 1927). I haven’t read the story and the references to the Yishka’s role in that book threw me. I kept thinking that I had missed a chapter or section in this book.

The cover. Pulpy. Not really my thing. Sorry. 

Because I don’t know much about Cthulhu, whenever the Mythos came up – either directly mentioned or its influence on creature/ buildings etc – I wasn’t sure I fully appreciated it. Some of it was a bit too surreal, too alien. Maybe that was the point – the contrast between that and the Bronze Age world.

Also, as a final gripe, the nomads go from being, well, nomadic, I guess, to having the basis of a functioning city in a very short space of time. I’m not sure how quickly this could happen in reality to a Bronze Age tribe, even with the help of modern minds, but occasionally, the process felt too smooth.

With the exception of my first gripe, these are minor issues and not ones that interfered with the story too much.

I can see that some people won’t take to this book. If you don’t like the weirdness of Cthulhu; prefer your women in fantasy to be shield-maidens, wannabe shield-maidens, scantily-clad women in need of a shield-maiden, or even scheming princess who should probably be given a talking to by a shield-maiden; or want a plot that races along rather than cruises; you may want to look elsewhere. But if you want a well-written story set amongst Bronze age nomads, with sorcerers, (weird) aliens, warriors and a steady-paced plot, I’d recommend it. But you may be better off reading The Dulwich Horror of 1927 first.

[Philip Hemplow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I've read all of David Hambling's books, and enjoyed them. By this point, I think I imagined I knew what to expect from any new ones. Shows what I know! This time out, rather than the Cthulhu Mythos or straightforward horror, he has gone ram-raiding in the Lovecraft-fantasy territory previously explored by Robert E. Howard, Brian Lumley, and others. However, this is not an uncritical homage to those earlier works: rather, it pointedly swerves around some of the misogynistic and culturally supremacist attitudes of those stories, and demonstrates that it's possible to write sword-and-sandals historical fantasy without them.

That's not to say the setting and events aren't slightly romanticised -- for the sake of the story, they have to be -- but this tale isn't told with breathless veneration for mighty-thewed warriors and their feats of psychopathy. In fact, the monsters and battles serve largely as seasoning. The real conflicts here are between nomadic and urban lives, between men and women, between entrenched interests and insurgents, and between ignorance and enlightenment. While the handmaidens undoubtedly enjoy some good luck, the playing field still heavily favours the established order, and it is only by proving their worth beyond dispute they are able to assert themselves.

This isn't a genre I usually gravitate towards, but I like Hambling's writing and I appreciate the attempt to do something different with it. Now that the world-building and groundwork is in place, I'm excited to see what might happen in the sequel!

[Reya Pellaguin · Rating 1 out of 5]

As one might expect this book is about an ongoing battle with moderate fantasy aspects. War of the God Queen takes place somewhere in the distant past, believed to be before religious christianity started. The setting is largely in the plains somewhere around India and focuses on what the author wants to call a nomadic culture.

The story starts off with one of the most intriguing and delightfully gripping prologues I have ever read and then quickly becomes a story full of telling, inaccuracies, and three types of characters. There is no real gripping character building or plot building, and the progression of the timeline is shabbily stated and contradicts itself a few times. By the end five years is supposed to have elapsed but does not sound or feel that way as the plot struggles to progress.

The premise of the book is really intriguing. Cuthulu stealing women, sending them to the past to help grow his spawn to take over the world in slow waves. The spawn cannot be killed without magical aid. With the time period being so ancient and as the author frequently says ‘savage’, there really is not an easy way for the people of this time to fight against the creatures. Several characters are killed early on as an example of what the tentacle blobs can do. Cthulhu itself does not actually appear in the book, nor does anyone seem to wonder where they are or why they are resorting to just spawn creatures to take over the world, starting in the plans.

It’s not clarified if just anyone can use this magical aid, an incantation, to take down the spawn, just that it is hard and draining to use. The faux nomadic culture the book is based off of decides it is woman's work but it seems like a mixture of women from the past and the ones sent to the past can use it, implying anyone probably can learn the incantation with practice. Plenty refuse to since it is difficult to do and gives a feeling of suffocation when one is first learning it. It felt weird that everyone wouldn’t want to learn it, especially the warriors. Even more so when it was obviously getting to the do or die point of the plot. Either the spawn would be taken down or all would perish.

None of the characters are gripping. They are either highly stereotyped or fall into three categories of having a single minded goal, sinfully corrupt, or mindlessly doing what they are told. Personalities are told to the reader, but they are never shown. You just have to trust the author that they exist. Most of the women are badly written and all the characters are largely one dimensional. The longer the book dragged on the less I cared, since no one changed. Nothing developed. Everything was as flat as the plains in the narrative. The wind dries the rain. They could all die and basically did and zero feelings were invoked during any stage of the book.

The author really went off on weirdly useless tangents about setting. Most of what was described was unimportant and told to the reader rather than shown, trying to build up the world in what felt like rough and unnatural ways. A large portion of the book could have been cut and you would have lost zero context. There was no reason for most of the chapters to be in there, the scenes added nothing, and instead often made the story worse.

The ending was expected and very dry. There was no other way for it to end with how the author set it up and could easily be seen coming making it rather lackluster and just exhausting. I wanted the final battle to just be over. It needed to happen and should have happened twenty chapters before hand instead of being drug out and beaten to death. The follow up, the epilogue of sorts, was even just there to be there, a way to bring back the prologue into view. It felt forced and didn’t fit the narrative.

Fixing historical inaccuracies, gutting the book, getting a developmental editor, and a strong team of beta readers could help, but I have zero desire to read this again even if fixed.

[Alex Sarll]

I'll be honest – a big part of the appeal of David Hambling's books, for me, is that he sets the Cthulhu mythos loose in my neighbourhood. Whereas here, aside from brief bookends in Dulwich – weirdly tricky to reach from here, despite not being all that far – the action mainly occurs in the Bronze Age Middle East - which is even more inaccessible via TfL than Dulwich. The narrator is Jessica Merton, from Hambling's earlier story The Dulwich Horror (whose title pun I suspect kicked off the whole project), who turns out not to have died at that tale's conclusion, but to have been thrown back in time, where she once again finds herself beset by tentacled beasties. With the added wrinkle that while she very much sees herself as a modern woman – 'modern' here meaning the 1920s – she is explicitly not Robinson Crusoe, Twain's Connecticut Yankee, or John Carter. She does not have a suspiciously convenient cache of technology, or remember how to make guns, or find her muscles far stronger than those of the folk among whom she ends up (though she is definitely on the tall side for the era). She has a little occult knowledge, but even that doesn't work out quite so well as she might have hoped; she has a certain status as an apparent divine visitor, but is is neither unshakable nor uncontested. So she must gradually learn the language, feel out the options, build connections. In other words, in so far as a story about someone travelling back in time and fighting the shapeshifting spawn of Cthulhu can be described as realistic, this one is*. These nomads are not a Robert E Howard wank fantasy of primitive man untainted by the weakness attendant on civilisation; they are beset by disease and bad teeth and death in childbirth. Jessica is constantly aware of the danger she's in, not just from marauding monsters, but from being surrounded by men who regard their women as possessions slightly less valuable than their horses (although mercifully Hambling has too much taste to let this lapse into Gor territory with any graphic manifestations of that threat). In this situation this would be the grind - hell, even this is probably wildly optimistic - but in an adventure yarn, I would have been happy to have it a little more told than shown, and at times early on the story did sometimes feel like it was getting bogged down by practicalities.

Thankfully, things pick up markedly once other lost women of the future are rescued from the Spawn and their human minions, providing 'handmaidens' for Yishka-from-Heaven (the nomads can't get the hang of 'Jessica' at all), and at times almost tipping the novel into sitcom territory. Not a complaint, I should be clear – though it's curious to read a novel riffing on one of literature's grimmest vision of the cosmos, in which the woman from a few decades ahead of us gives a far more optimistic account of the future than I'd expect from here and now. Similarly, the extent to which struggle against unearthly forces seems possible and even successful is greater than I normally like in my Mythos. But to an extent this just leaves room for human stupidity and venality to creep in, that frustrating sense that history isn't a matter of progress, or even a trade-off between freedom and advancement, but a depressing choice between savagery and corruption. The ending, without giving it away, succeeded in allaying my suspicions without feeling altogether cruel, being surprising yet also satisfactory.

*With the possible exception of the fact that the whole narrative has supposedly been found, in the 1920s, carved into stone in a lost temple. Would anyone really go into this level of conversational detail while writing with a chisel? But then, I suppose this is a letter of a sort, and wasn't it worked out long ago that Clarissa wouldn't have had the time in her day to write letters so lengthy as those which make up Richardson's novel? Allow it as a convention of the form.

(Author freebie, bless him)

[Matthew Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hambling’s War of the God Queen was a relatively new look at the Cthulhu Mythos for me that not only worked, but was great at using the Mythos as a background piece of the plot without taking away from the very character driven story.
The story follows Jessica, who is thrown into the past while fighting the dread beast Cthulhu himself. I loved the portrayal as R’yleh as something more than just a location on Earth, but also as solid thing throughout time.
Jessica lands in tribal times where that same tunnel through time has also been regurgitating Lovecraftian beasts that have been kidnapping woman for breeding purposes.
She’s forced to convince tribal leaders that not only can she help, but that also being a woman isn’t something that’s a hinderance to her aid. She has to learn the language, their way of life, and how to survive in those old times while trying to figure out how to get past the monsters and climb back through the hole through time that she fell through and get back home.
My favorite thing about this story was the anthropological look at the people and Jessica’s integration. While a lot of the people she’s with see her as a goddess from on high come to save them from their demons, the rest tend to see her as a political tool, or push aside religious iconography to accept her as a person with more knowledge than they have.
Additionally, the entire story reads like an epic Hambling adventure akin to Harry Stubbs, with it being evident that Hambling did his research.
I’m a huge fan of this book and can’t see where else David takes this world that he’s been building.

[Christopher Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

All hail the Goddess!

I felt nervous going into this one. What originally attracted me to Hambling’s tales of the Cthulhu Mythos such as ‘The Dulwich Horror of 1927’ and the Harry Stubbs adventures was their setting – namely, 1920s London. And not just London but the general area of south London in which I grew up and still live today.

So, to learn that this latest story – a sequel to the events of The Dulwich Horror – was set in the Bronze Age in a far-flung land was a little off-putting to begin with.

I needn’t have worried. It works – and it works beautifully.

As the author has remarked on his ‘Shadows from Norwood’ Facebook page, the mingling of epic fantasy with Lovecraftian horror ‘follows a tradition established right back in the early days of the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft’s close friend Robert E Howard, whose famed Conan the Barbarian co-existed with Lovecraft’s creations.’

Jessica is no Conan, however. She is a thoroughly modern woman of the 1920s, a Bright Young Thing whose life took a rather unusual turn. To me, ‘War of the God Queen’ read like a wonderful swirl of Lovecraft, Moorcock, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, and ‘The Saga of the Exiles’, with perhaps a dash of ‘The Clan of the Cave Bear’. It was surprising, gripping, and I’m already looking forward to the sequel.

If you are already familiar with Hambling’s Mythos tales, then you will be as keen as I was to discover Jessica’s fate after what happened in Dulwich, in which case ‘The War of the God Queen’ is most definitely for you.

If you have not read his stories before but you enjoy Lovecraft then you have an exciting new vein to explore. That said, unless the fantasy setting is what attracted you to this title, I wouldn't necessarily start with this story. It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but if I were you I would seek out the aforementioned 'The Dulwich Horror of 1927' first, or 'The Elder Ice' (the start of the excellent Harry Stubbs series). Whichever route you choose, though, Hambling will soon have his hooks in you.

[Megan Mackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’ve been feeling like you haven’t gotten enough historical fiction in your Lovecraftian horror this is the book for you. The story is about Jessica, a college student from the 1920s who is sucked back into time while trying to banish Cthulhu and his followers from her part of of England. She ends up in ancient Mesopotamia where she is heralded as a goddess sent by heaven to help vanquish the monsters of Cthulhu who are attempting take over the land and wipe out human history before it’s even been written! This story starts out a little slow but really takes off when she rescues her “handmaidens” other women from various points in human history, who all bring different knowledge and work together to remake their world into something that can fight off the Spawn. Strong female themes and a bevy of strong female characters that really capture a snapshot of the different ways women are strong.

[Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and entertaining read that feels akin to REH Conan and Lumleys Primal Lands in some aspects. Jessica gets thrown back in time following the Dulwich Horror and has to battle Lovecraftian beasts while overcoming being transported to a barbarian land and overcoming how the nomads view women. A must for fans of Lovecraftian worlds and strong female protagonists.

[MR G D King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from Mr Hambling

I have now read all of David Hambling's Lovecraftian stories. He is, in my opinion, probably the greatest of all of Lovecraft's successors, his Harry Stubbs stories are a wonderful thing and The Dulwich Horror and Other Stories is a book I can return to again and again. The War of the God Queen is a great read. But it's not quite perfect. Too many changes to a society too quickly? For whatever reason, it doesn't quite work. For all that I'd still recommend it if you like a good adventure story with a strong central character, and I look forward to reading the next one.