A Rose-Red City

by Dave Duncan

The city of Mera is a fortress hidden from the rest of humanity, a sanctuary for the diverse group of people rescued from death by the Oracle that rules the city. The Oracle has brought together the citizens of Mera from every land and every time period, protecting them from the ravages of time, death and the evil demon forces that howl outside the city at night. All that the Oracle asks in return is a willingness to aid the rest of humanity, calling the citizens to go forth on various missions of rescue to mortals in need of aid. The Oracle sends Jerry out into the wilderness, accompanied by his ancient Greek friend, Killer, a world-famous lecher and juvenile delinquent with deadly combat skills. There they must rescue a woman named Ariadne, on the run with her children and seeking shelter. But children are not allowed in Mera, and Ariadne will not leave them, while Mera's evil demon enemies move closer and closer to Jerry's and Killer's temporary place of respite.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Adventure

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Originally from Scotland, Dave Duncan lived all his adult life in Western Canada, having enjoyed a long career as a petroleum geologist before taking up writing. Since discovering that imaginary worlds were more satisfying than the real one, he published more than 60 novels, mostly in the fantasy genre, but also young adult, science fiction, and historical.

He wrote at times under the pseudonym Sarah B. Franklin (but only for literary purposes) and Ken Hood (which is short for "D'ye Ken Whodunit?")

His most successful works were fantasy series: The Seventh Sword, A Man of His Word and its sequel, A Handful of Men, and seven books about The King’s Blades. His books have been translated into 15 languages, and of late have been appearing in audiobook format as well.

He and Janet were married in 1959. He is survived by her, one son and two daughters, as well as four grandchildren.

He was both a founding and honorary lifetime member of SFCanada, and a member of the CSFFA Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Simply Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange book. It took a weird turn and then another weird turn and then still another at the end. Not sure how I felt about it (hence the mid-range rating.) I will say that I listened to the audio and very much enjoyed the narration. I think the story was well crafted, producing quite a few layers for such short book, but I'm just not sure how I felt about the story or the characters or the world and what it meant, if that makes sense. It was just...odd.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was a teenager, and had re-read most of Duncan's stand-alone novels a couple years ago, but was confused because I swore there was one that had a scene with the Minotaur and a labyrinth. Apparently it was this one, and I had inadvertently skipped it. The story is engaging and fast paced, the character's aren't really likable, it is a bit more vulgar than I remembered it (though everything may have gone over my head before), it was different to read it as a mother, being more familiar with Greek mythology added an extra bit of understanding. I like how Duncan intertwines history and mythology throughout his books, and it has been fun to re-read them now being able to recognize the references.

[Sean Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

"their tension was obvious. They didn't know coyotes and they didn't know which side of the border they were on and they could heal teeth?"

This is a brilliant little debut, for I do believe it to be Duncan's first publication. It's quite interesting that he returned to a similar motif with King of Sords in 2013, though I enjoyed this one more.

The whole night huddled in the cottage was electrifying, those three chapters before the huge demonic intrusion were deliciously tense, and the twelfth, in the maze, was also gripping stuff. Honestly, if you're a Duncan fan there's a lot here for you and, although some of his fantastic tropes develop later on, this is a very respectable entry in his catalogue.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been so long since I've read anything by Duncan that I had forgotten what a joy he brings to the printed word. Even though, his novels dip into the realm of fantasy he never disappoints to bring a sense of realism. The character development and comments they make are not too far from the norm. Another nice feature of a Duncan novel is his knack of slipping in little twists that are skillful slices of parable and pardoy and often more than not quite profound. Rose-red City introduces a cast of characters heading to the mythic city of Mera, which sits between the realms of human, faerie and demon. It's the hero's journey with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in along the way. Fun read!

[Tony King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I re-read this book in July, preparing for a panel on the late Dave Duncan at When Words Collide in Calgary. It was Dave's first book. Many of the later books were so good, that I forgot just how good this one was. Highly recommended, especially for Duncan fans who started with the Seven Swords or the King's Blades or other middle period books and are lamenting that the great man is gone.

Full disclosure: I met Dave shortly after this book was published. I interviewed him for radio and reviewed many of his early books for the Calgary Herald and other publications in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We became friends and instead of doing reviews, I became one of his group of beta readers. I miss him a lot.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I admit it: I'm a major Dave Duncan fan. He's another good DRB author whom no one remembers, but as a kid I devoured his two epic fantasy tetralogies, A Man of his Word and A Handful of Men . When I reread the latter in my thirties, it held up quite well. (They also have a simple yet surprisingly interesting magic system, which I wrote about in "PYRZQXGL: Or, How to Do Things with Magic Words".)

All this made me excited to try A Rose-Red City (1987), Duncan's first novel, a slush-pile discovery by DRB assistant editor Veronica Chapman, and I wasn't disappointed.

Even more than High Deryni, Duncan's novel is non-epic high fantasy. It's not even Tolkienian. For his premise, Duncan posits a fabulous city of eternal youth, Mera, that exists somewhere out of time; the plot revolves around Jerry Howard performing a "rescue" of Ariadne, a woman from the real world trying to flee her ex-husband with her children.

There's several nice moments throughout. The climax involves Ariadne pulling an "Eowyn" move (the cover art shows a woman -- fully clothed! -- in her "action" shot), and her ex-husband, Graham Gillis, while clearly a jackass, is also sincerely devoted to his kidnapped children. He also disparages Mera as a city full of "Lotus Eaters," which brilliantly highlights Graham's own crass American materialism as well as Duncan's ability to insert a surprisingly apt literary allusion.

But the highlight of A Rose-Red City, for me, is Duncan's portrayal of "Killer" (aka, Achilles), an aggressively bisexual Greek warrior in the mold of -- you guessed it -- Achilles. I love ancient Greek history and apparently Duncan does too. His portrait of Killer as both childlike, brutal, yet fiercely loyal, is super fun. Plus, Duncan handles Killer's bisexuality decently well for the 1980s, when barely a handful of such representations existed in SFF. Alongside Duncan's nuanced portrait of Ariadne, a female character with some real depth, A Rose-Red City is a great lost find.

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was too busy being ridiculously excited about the awesome set-up in this book (seriously, where did Duncan get these ideas!?) to realise that I had actually read this before, many years ago. I have no clue how I could possibly have forgotten I read this, but there you go...

Honestly a fantastic premise for a story, and would have made a great series. It manages to nicely blend fantasy, contemporary, horror and history, with a story that seemed far more involved than the page count would suggest.

I know where I want to live now...

[BRT · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting plot that mixes mythology, fantasy, and psychology with a somewhat disturbing twist, but only if you think about it, at the end. An alcoholic divorcee who takes her children from her criminal ex and his young trophy wife winds up in a situation so bizarre that she thinks it might be a dt hallucination.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

As directed by the Oracle, Jerry leaves Mera, the land of eternal youth, to save an innocent soul. Nothing goes as planned, and the entire story is upended -- several times -- in suspenseful and delightful ways. Lots of fun.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great adventure!

[Andy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.

[Geoff Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise.
The combination of elastic time, magic and adventure keeps you guessing, but Dave Duncan navigates it nicely.

[Dee W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about the mythical shangri-la, and all the names the idea of the perfect place has ever had. It is full of men out of their time, never aging but existing to learn and follow the order of the Oracle who sends them on rescue missions. Like Quantum Leap, save an orphan, prevent an accident, offer someone the chance to live out of time.

For a first novel it is great. The writing is, as always, spectacular but the novel itself is short. About 200 pages. It's a quick one off, with some good character development and plot twists. Heavy on history and myth, so right up my alley. I'm glad I finally got my hands on it!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book. I can't really write a review of it without doing any spoilering, but suffice to say that it was a quick read, a nice little afternoon spent in an awesome world. I have to say that this and Cursed are my favorite Dave Duncan books.

[Aditya / · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing but too much sexism, and too much character stupidity to the point of it seeming like plot holes.. The concept was good, delivered perhaps 70 or 80 percent of the way. A little bit of editing and tweaking and it would be better in my opinion opinion

[Steve Markham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book but not the worsed either. I thought that the story was good, but could have been better and that the ending let this book down some what.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

read when i was younger...couldn't have enjoyed it more...

[Nuranar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really figure out everything that was going on until the very end. A good one to read again.

[Ron Judenberg]

to-read