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To Die in Italbar/a Dark Travelling
In TO DIE IN ITALBAR, the galaxy is in chaos, with people falling prey to an unidentifiable disease. Only one man has the ability to help - a man who can heal or kill with a touch. Known only as 'Mr. H', he is being sought after by everyone, but for vastly different reasons. Even Francis Sandow is seeking him, and may be the only one with a clue as to who H really is...
In the bonus novel 'A Dark Travelling', James Wiley is an 'ordinary' 14-year-old who has lost his scientist father to a parallel world in the darkbands. With the help of Becky, his sister with magical powers, Barry the exchange student and Uncle George, the werewolf, James goes in search of his parent. But he must take care: for if there just happens to be a full moon at the wrong moment, James's itchy palms might lead him into trouble...
In the bonus novel 'A Dark Travelling', James Wiley is an 'ordinary' 14-year-old who has lost his scientist father to a parallel world in the darkbands. With the help of Becky, his sister with magical powers, Barry the exchange student and Uncle George, the werewolf, James goes in search of his parent. But he must take care: for if there just happens to be a full moon at the wrong moment, James's itchy palms might lead him into trouble...
310 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1973
4 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Roger Zelazny
743 books3,900 followersRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo Award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966), and the novel Lord of Light (1967).
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 2, 2017
This book is preceded by Isle of the Dead. Humanity has spread to the stars. An alien race, the Pei'an's have a pantheon of gods that allow a corporeal being, with the proper training, to use/co-exist to create wonders, such as new planets. Francis Sandow was the only human to successfully do this. In "Isle of the Dead" we saw what happened when two gods clashed, now another has gotten a human, 'H'. 'H' is a great healer when things are going well, but when angered, the balance is altered & he becomes a plague. Others want to use him for their own purposes. Sandow must step in.
Well, the above is the obvious story, anyway. As usual, Zelazny has more than one story going on. The assumption of the god/goddess is very reminiscent of the attributes & aspects that are assumed in Lord of Light. Again, Zelazny explores power, it's shape, use & effect on man. The healer can also be the destroyer, two sides of the same coin. Another character shows us to what depths justifiable rage & revenge can take a 'good' person.
I've read the story several times & get something more/different out of it each time. It has aged well, pretty timeless, actually. The various bits & pieces will appeal differently to people, especially obvious on a re-read several years later. Supposedly, he didn't like this book much, but I find it still has quite a hold on me, like most of his works.
Well, the above is the obvious story, anyway. As usual, Zelazny has more than one story going on. The assumption of the god/goddess is very reminiscent of the attributes & aspects that are assumed in Lord of Light. Again, Zelazny explores power, it's shape, use & effect on man. The healer can also be the destroyer, two sides of the same coin. Another character shows us to what depths justifiable rage & revenge can take a 'good' person.
I've read the story several times & get something more/different out of it each time. It has aged well, pretty timeless, actually. The various bits & pieces will appeal differently to people, especially obvious on a re-read several years later. Supposedly, he didn't like this book much, but I find it still has quite a hold on me, like most of his works.
May 30, 2012
Not the best Zelazny I've read. But even a mid-range Zelazny is pretty damn good.
December 23, 2009
Zelazny was one of my favorite authors when I was a teenager, and I devoured pretty much everything he wrote, but somehow I missed this one, and I was curious to see if his stuff held up after all these years.
Unfortunately, this particular book doesn't really hold up. It begins with a fascinating premise -- a man known as H is caught in a perpetual cycle of health and illness, giving him miraculous healing powers at times and making him dangerously contagious at other times. As a result, H has to severely manage and limit his contact with other people, and the enforced solitude, willed self-control and submerged loneliness of this character was compelling. If the book had focused on him and delved more into his psychology, I think this could've been a great book.
Instead, for some reason Zelazny felt the need to introduce an army of other characters and a dozen more plot lines, each more extraneous than the last. It really feels like he didn't know what to do and wrote himself into a corner -- he even has to bring in a character from another book (Francis Sandow from Isle of the Dead) to resolve the situation. This results in the most disappointing climax ever, where the final confrontation isn't even shown, merely described from one ancillary character to another.
Oh! I almost forgot. Reading this book, I was also reminded me of Zelazny's weird brand of sexism. Nearly all of his female characters are in secretarial roles, and the few powerful women are either evil or secret submissives who just need to find the Right Man. As a bonus, this book also features a goddess who is basically a walking talking Madonna-whore complex!
Unfortunately, this particular book doesn't really hold up. It begins with a fascinating premise -- a man known as H is caught in a perpetual cycle of health and illness, giving him miraculous healing powers at times and making him dangerously contagious at other times. As a result, H has to severely manage and limit his contact with other people, and the enforced solitude, willed self-control and submerged loneliness of this character was compelling. If the book had focused on him and delved more into his psychology, I think this could've been a great book.
Instead, for some reason Zelazny felt the need to introduce an army of other characters and a dozen more plot lines, each more extraneous than the last. It really feels like he didn't know what to do and wrote himself into a corner -- he even has to bring in a character from another book (Francis Sandow from Isle of the Dead) to resolve the situation. This results in the most disappointing climax ever, where the final confrontation isn't even shown, merely described from one ancillary character to another.
Oh! I almost forgot. Reading this book, I was also reminded me of Zelazny's weird brand of sexism. Nearly all of his female characters are in secretarial roles, and the few powerful women are either evil or secret submissives who just need to find the Right Man. As a bonus, this book also features a goddess who is basically a walking talking Madonna-whore complex!
November 27, 2018
Good read showing multiple perspectives to an interconnected plot. Shares the same world with 'Isle of the Dead'.
April 27, 2023
It was fine.
Zelazny did this thing when he got artsy: he never tells you who's speaking or who a pronoun refers to. He wanted the reader to figure it out from context. In this one, that often doesn't work.
In general, the story wasn't that great to begin with. The characters weren't too exciting. The villianess's heel-turn felt rushed. The world wasn't fleshed out.
The narrative moved well with few dead spots. There was usually an interesting event or interaction coming up. I would have liked to see more between Jackara and Malacar, but there honestly wasn't much there.
Zelazny said, “If I could kill off one book it would be To Die in Italbar. I wrote that in a hurry to make some money after I quit my job.”
That sounds about right.
Zelazny did this thing when he got artsy: he never tells you who's speaking or who a pronoun refers to. He wanted the reader to figure it out from context. In this one, that often doesn't work.
In general, the story wasn't that great to begin with. The characters weren't too exciting. The villianess's heel-turn felt rushed. The world wasn't fleshed out.
The narrative moved well with few dead spots. There was usually an interesting event or interaction coming up. I would have liked to see more between Jackara and Malacar, but there honestly wasn't much there.
Zelazny said, “If I could kill off one book it would be To Die in Italbar. I wrote that in a hurry to make some money after I quit my job.”
That sounds about right.
June 17, 2020
I randomly found this book on the bookshelf in my childhood bedroom and nobody knows who left it there. And the cover does not make it all clear it's two stories so I was pretty shocked when the first one ended half way through the book. The author has a real talent for atmosphere, so I really enjoyed both worlds even if some of the characters were a little flat. Maybe because they were short, there was a lot of backstory and resolution that I would have enjoyed, but better to leave you wanting more than the opposite.
December 1, 2014
This is a novel for hardcore Zelazny fans only.The ambiguous premise of a man who is a healing saint and a dangerous sort of leper,should have made for an exciting concept for a novel,but unfortunately it's vagueness,poor plotting and dearth of fully realized characters and scenario,rendered it a washy,spiritless voyage into literary nothingness.It was hard to follow and understand what it was about.
There's little more to be said for this undistinguished piece of triviality.Don't read it unless you're into his stuff.
There's little more to be said for this undistinguished piece of triviality.Don't read it unless you're into his stuff.
May 21, 2010
I couldn't resist a Zelazny book for $2 at Half Price Books.
Now I know why I had never heard of it before - occasional moments of Zelazny's poetic style, and the flash of an engaging and original idea here and there (the original premise plus Dr. Pels in particular) but the quality is inconsistent and the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Not nearly up to the Amber / Lord of Light / Rose for Ecclesiastes standard.
Now I know why I had never heard of it before - occasional moments of Zelazny's poetic style, and the flash of an engaging and original idea here and there (the original premise plus Dr. Pels in particular) but the quality is inconsistent and the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Not nearly up to the Amber / Lord of Light / Rose for Ecclesiastes standard.
August 5, 2011
Sort of all over the place for Zelazny, not as focused as many of his others. Dialogue is a bit stunted in places too...people don't talk that formal. But still it was an interesting read of his earlier works.
December 4, 2012
fun stories, reminds me of shadowrun some
January 23, 2015
3 stars for To Die in Italbar and 5 for A Dark Travelling.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews