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Sekenre #1
The Mask of the Sorcerer
Sekenre, son of Vashtem the sorcerer, lives in his father's strange house. They're not a very happy family, his father the most feared man in all the City of Reeds, maybe in the whole country and his mother being murdered by him when Sekenre is still quite young. And it doesn't get any better when Vashtem dies and travels upriver to the Land of the Dead. When Vashtem - now dead - also kills Sekenre's sister, and the citizens of the City of Reeds turns against him, he sees no other way than to seek the advice of the ancient Sybil, who lives under the city. She gives him the means to, while still alive, travel upriver to the Land of the Dead, the stomach of Surat-Kemad, the crocodile god. He undertakes the trip, but nothing turns out the way he hoped.
385 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
21 people are currently reading
596 people want to read
About the author
Darrell Schweitzer
469 books105 followersDarrell Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 30, 2022
The Mask of the Sorcerer is probably Schweitzer's best-known novel. It's a very good story of sorcery based on Egyptian mythology, written in the style of Clark Ashton Smith with perhaps a hint of Dunsany. The opening is really great, but it slows down a bit and might have benefitted by an editorial shortening of fifty pages or so in the middle. Still, it's fine read, one of those novels that you want to read when no other business is pressing; it doesn't work in short snatches. Sekenre is my favorite of Schweitzer's characters.
January 16, 2012
This will appeal to weird fiction readers who are looking for Lovecraftian atmosphere in an adventure novel form. This is not Sword & Sorcery, but will appeal to that same crowd (it is very dark…all sorcery).
This will NOT appeal to readers looking for soap-opera fantasy, young-adult fantasy, or a light read.
The first three Chapters were amongst the most bizarre, inspiring fantasy bits I have ever read. The pace slows after, but by then I was emotional connected to Sekenre’s character. Note, it is difficult to string together a series of weird stories into a novel, since the pulp- style of writing is known to be highly dense with description. The genre works well with short stories. H.P. Lovecraft tried with a lengthy novella with “The Dream-Quest to Unknown Kadath,” which I have yet to complete after three valiant tries (despite my urge to see how the reappearance of the artist Robert Pickman fares). Schweitzer does better here, taking the readers to the ambiguous lands of dreams and death, making us feel as disoriented as his cursed protagonist; at the moment we are about to become totally lost in trippy language, he brings us back to firm footing.
The battle scenes are intermittent but very vivid; given the lack of traditional weaponry, readers will be surprised by the brutality.
From the book’s description I thought I would be immersed in traditional Egyptian mythology; not so. Egyptian setting/lore is clearly an inspiration for this, but as Christianity (the Crusades) served as a foundation for Schweitzer’s “We Are All Legends”, the author rapidly takes the reader beyond these influences. His work is anything but traditional or derivative.
The book is ~380pages; I would have given this 5 stars if it could have somehow been reduced to ~300.
Sequel: There is a standalone sequel called SEKENRE The Book of the Sorcerer, which I look forward to reading.
This will NOT appeal to readers looking for soap-opera fantasy, young-adult fantasy, or a light read.
The first three Chapters were amongst the most bizarre, inspiring fantasy bits I have ever read. The pace slows after, but by then I was emotional connected to Sekenre’s character. Note, it is difficult to string together a series of weird stories into a novel, since the pulp- style of writing is known to be highly dense with description. The genre works well with short stories. H.P. Lovecraft tried with a lengthy novella with “The Dream-Quest to Unknown Kadath,” which I have yet to complete after three valiant tries (despite my urge to see how the reappearance of the artist Robert Pickman fares). Schweitzer does better here, taking the readers to the ambiguous lands of dreams and death, making us feel as disoriented as his cursed protagonist; at the moment we are about to become totally lost in trippy language, he brings us back to firm footing.
The battle scenes are intermittent but very vivid; given the lack of traditional weaponry, readers will be surprised by the brutality.
From the book’s description I thought I would be immersed in traditional Egyptian mythology; not so. Egyptian setting/lore is clearly an inspiration for this, but as Christianity (the Crusades) served as a foundation for Schweitzer’s “We Are All Legends”, the author rapidly takes the reader beyond these influences. His work is anything but traditional or derivative.
The book is ~380pages; I would have given this 5 stars if it could have somehow been reduced to ~300.
Sequel: There is a standalone sequel called SEKENRE The Book of the Sorcerer, which I look forward to reading.
March 6, 2016
This is hands down my favorite book. I've read it multiple times. I had the luxury to acquire mine through a mail order book club in the '90's and the cover is much more appealing than the current one. This book clearly defines the difference between Sorcerer and Magician. Both terms get bandied about in fantasy, but Schweitzer nails it on the head. "Sorcery is not magic. Do not confuse the two. Magic comes from the gods, The magician is merely the instrument. Magic passes through him like breath through a reed pipe. Magic can heal. It can satisfy. It is like a candle in the darkness. Sorcery, however, resides in the sorcerer. It is like a blazing sun." See what I mean? Another thing that fired my imagination was when you kill a sorcerer you take into yourself that sorcerer's mind and knowledge. Plus, anyone else that sorcerer might have killed. The story is grim and dark dealing more in death and the afterlife than the living world. Even with the grim settings and subject matter the culmination Sekenre's tribulations were very satisfying. Not happily ever after, but where is the fun in that?
November 29, 2021
Is anyone other than Darrell Schweitzer even working in this vein right now? This book (which has been one of my favorites since I grabbed a used British paperback off the shelf at Uncle Hugo's 30-ish years ago; I recognized Schweitzer's name as one of the editors of the then-ongoing Terminus revival of Weird Tales magazine) is very much 1930s weird fantasy, sort of in the vein of Clark Ashton Smith.
This is the autobiography of Sekenre, sorcerer and son of a sorcerer, who grows up in the City of Reeds in Riverland (a very distinctly Egypt-inflected setting) with his father (the sorcerer), mother and sister; and then, not through any desire of his own, he himself becomes a sorcerer and has to grapple with the implications of having access to that much power (and having that many voices in his head; for when you kill a sorcerer, you absorb their powers and also their memories, which include the memories of all of the sorcerers they themselves have killed, and on ad infinitum) at the tender young age of 14 or 15.
And once it's happened, Sekenre sets out on a journey full of wonders and terrors that will take him to the very Land of Death, then to Riverland's capitol city in the Delta, where he'll be roped into dynastic intrigues, and then to the College of Sorcerers, which is everywhere and nowhere, and remember what I said earlier about sorcerers killing other sorcerers to absorb their powers and memories? Yeah, that's their favorite extracurricular activity.
Weird and strange in a way that all too few books are these days, and Sekenre's journey is well worth accompanying him on.
This is the autobiography of Sekenre, sorcerer and son of a sorcerer, who grows up in the City of Reeds in Riverland (a very distinctly Egypt-inflected setting) with his father (the sorcerer), mother and sister; and then, not through any desire of his own, he himself becomes a sorcerer and has to grapple with the implications of having access to that much power (and having that many voices in his head; for when you kill a sorcerer, you absorb their powers and also their memories, which include the memories of all of the sorcerers they themselves have killed, and on ad infinitum) at the tender young age of 14 or 15.
And once it's happened, Sekenre sets out on a journey full of wonders and terrors that will take him to the very Land of Death, then to Riverland's capitol city in the Delta, where he'll be roped into dynastic intrigues, and then to the College of Sorcerers, which is everywhere and nowhere, and remember what I said earlier about sorcerers killing other sorcerers to absorb their powers and memories? Yeah, that's their favorite extracurricular activity.
Weird and strange in a way that all too few books are these days, and Sekenre's journey is well worth accompanying him on.
September 28, 2016
The story defied my expectations at the very beginning, and continued to do so the entire way through. It manages to be both intricate and fever-dream delirious, and pummels the protagonist and the reader mercilessly. This is not an easy book to enjoy but an easy one to admire. I see myself rereading this in order to pull out more meaning and connections not readily apparent now.
It has a cosmic scale--Senkenre's life transcends mere human experience--but it is still more about his real quest of preserving his humanity and finding connections despite his vast power and the squalid, dehumanizing requirements of sorcery that transforms the self as it forces change upon the world or upon others.
It has a cosmic scale--Senkenre's life transcends mere human experience--but it is still more about his real quest of preserving his humanity and finding connections despite his vast power and the squalid, dehumanizing requirements of sorcery that transforms the self as it forces change upon the world or upon others.
October 21, 2012
At the point when I read this (in my late teens) the book was a standalone; I remember putting it down and thinking it was the best standalone I had ever read in the genre. Since then Mr Schweitzer has released a book with the same protagonist and I have read thousands of books; it still stands up there, deservedly, as a powerhouse. The first chapters give the rounded-off impressions of a whole society, from the fisherman to the divine. I think they are critical in what Schweitzer does at the end of the book; reconciling the high and low in the body and mind of an eternal boy.
The current fad in writing a series can be used to hide the weaknesses in an authors work. This book is flawed, but it stands there, in the shallows amongst the reeds. Burning.
The current fad in writing a series can be used to hide the weaknesses in an authors work. This book is flawed, but it stands there, in the shallows amongst the reeds. Burning.
February 12, 2022
It started off so well and then it just kind of lost momentum.
July 19, 2016
There are a great many fantasy books that tread and re-tread the same territory, some very well and some less well. This is not one of those books. This is a markedly original tale that creates a world of crocodile gods, river cities, labyrinthine palaces, cruelty, torment, terrible sorcery, and the art of illuminating manuscripts. The story and its narrator wander through time as well as space, pausing for tales within tales, returning to earlier strands in the story. The writing is often beautiful, reminiscent in quality to Sofia Samatar's "A Stranger in Olondria." The main story is framed by poems, both of which are excellent.
I cared about the narrator, but he suffered repeatedly and to such an extent that the impact upon me lessened as the book went on. I also wished that his ordeals had allowed for more fellowship along the way. The closing chapters draw together the various strands very effectively, and the ending moved me. I note that the edition I read contains quite a number of typos, which seemed jarring in a book otherwise so well written. But set that quibble aside. This is a striking, beautifully told tale.
I cared about the narrator, but he suffered repeatedly and to such an extent that the impact upon me lessened as the book went on. I also wished that his ordeals had allowed for more fellowship along the way. The closing chapters draw together the various strands very effectively, and the ending moved me. I note that the edition I read contains quite a number of typos, which seemed jarring in a book otherwise so well written. But set that quibble aside. This is a striking, beautifully told tale.
May 4, 2007
The Mask of the Sorcerer is an underappreciated gem that tells the story of one boy's coming of age and his struggle to escape the shadow of his domineering father. Sekenre is not out on a quest to save the world, but merely to preserve some remnant of his morality. He finds himself besieged from within and from without: for to slay a sorcerer is to take his soul within your own.
The novel is based on Schweitzer's earlier World-Fantasty-Award-nominated novella "To Become a Sorcerer", and although the story has the trappings of fantasy (there's plenty of spellcasting, the aforementioned soul-stealing, and even a fair bit of kingdom politics), these elements could readily have been swapped out for a science fiction or a modern realist environment. I suspect Darrell Schweitzer chose this approach in order to avoid the baggage and tangential exposition of other genres.
If you're a fan of introspective fiction and/or of authors Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe or Neil Gaiman, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.
Note: Schweitzer has written a collection of short-story follow-ups (collected as Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer), but I have yet to read them.
The novel is based on Schweitzer's earlier World-Fantasty-Award-nominated novella "To Become a Sorcerer", and although the story has the trappings of fantasy (there's plenty of spellcasting, the aforementioned soul-stealing, and even a fair bit of kingdom politics), these elements could readily have been swapped out for a science fiction or a modern realist environment. I suspect Darrell Schweitzer chose this approach in order to avoid the baggage and tangential exposition of other genres.
If you're a fan of introspective fiction and/or of authors Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe or Neil Gaiman, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.
Note: Schweitzer has written a collection of short-story follow-ups (collected as Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer), but I have yet to read them.
May 4, 2007
The Mask of the Sorcerer is an underappreciated gem that tells the story of one boy's coming of age and his struggle to escape the shadow of his domineering father. Sekenre is not out on a quest to save the world, but merely to preserve some remnant of his morality. He finds himself besieged from within and from without: for to slay a sorcerer is to take his soul within your own.
The novel is based on Schweitzer's earlier World-Fantasty-Award-nominated novella "To Become a Sorcerer", and although the story has the trappings of fantasy (there's plenty of spellcasting, the aforementioned soul-stealing, and even a fair bit of kingdom politics), these elements could readily have been swapped out for a science fiction or a modern realist environment. I suspect Darrell Schweitzer chose this approach in order to avoid the baggage and tangential exposition of other genres.
If you're a fan of introspective fiction and/or of authors Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe or Neil Gaiman, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.
Note: Schweitzer has written a collection of short-story follow-ups (collected as Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer), but I have yet to read them.
The novel is based on Schweitzer's earlier World-Fantasty-Award-nominated novella "To Become a Sorcerer", and although the story has the trappings of fantasy (there's plenty of spellcasting, the aforementioned soul-stealing, and even a fair bit of kingdom politics), these elements could readily have been swapped out for a science fiction or a modern realist environment. I suspect Darrell Schweitzer chose this approach in order to avoid the baggage and tangential exposition of other genres.
If you're a fan of introspective fiction and/or of authors Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe or Neil Gaiman, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.
Note: Schweitzer has written a collection of short-story follow-ups (collected as Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer), but I have yet to read them.
November 3, 2015
Mask of the Sorcerer has been my favourite book ever since I stumbled upon it on a library bookshelf as a teen. If you love fantasy, horror, and mythology, and you're up for a mystifying, dizzying adventure into the heart of darkness, get hold of this book.
The story follows Sekenre, a young boy growing up a land based loosely on Ancient Egypt. His journey is incredible - the magic is dark and terrifying, the language beautiful, and the mythology is epic. It's the most vivid and creative world-building I've ever come across. It's a great pity that this book isn't better known - it deserves to have a cult following.
The story follows Sekenre, a young boy growing up a land based loosely on Ancient Egypt. His journey is incredible - the magic is dark and terrifying, the language beautiful, and the mythology is epic. It's the most vivid and creative world-building I've ever come across. It's a great pity that this book isn't better known - it deserves to have a cult following.
November 12, 2017
I read the novella "To Become A Sorcerer" by Darrell Schweitzer for the first time when I was about 13. I remember liking the story a lot and finding its magic very authentic. This year I finally tracked down the novel which grew out of the novella. And even now 17 years later I was fascinated by the story, it has not lost a single part of its magic for me, probably it has become even more refined because now I was able to notice more profound details of the narrative. I find it strange that this amazing book is so underappreciated. This novel is one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.
August 29, 2013
Probably one of the most original and touching fantasy novels read in years.
The world is magic and it captures the reader.
The plot is complex and highly satisfactory.
The characters are fascinating.
And the writing is absolutely perfect.
An excellent book, a novel that deserves thehighest praise.
The world is magic and it captures the reader.
The plot is complex and highly satisfactory.
The characters are fascinating.
And the writing is absolutely perfect.
An excellent book, a novel that deserves thehighest praise.
September 1, 2011
As far as I am aware, the finest weird fiction / dark fantasy novel written in the past twenty years. Simply unforgettable. If you enjoy Clark Ashton Smith or HPL, read it.
January 28, 2025
This was a beautiful, engrossing, and deeply imaginative book. The writing is simple and easy-to-read, but quite evocative, especially in some of the more esoteric passages. I loved the worldbuilding and the setting of the Riverlands - why don't other fantasy novels take a queue from Ancient Egypt or other ancient cultures like Sumer, Babylon, Minoa? I guess I'm going to have to write it myself because I loved the world Scheitzer created here. The overarching story is that of Sekenre, the protagonist, and his adventures and coming-of-age as a sorcerer. I loved how wild and violent the sorcery was depicted, and how strange, bizarre, and mysterious the world of sorcerers was. THIS is how you do magic in a fantasy book. I'm so tired of magic systems and whole textbooks of magical mechanics a la Brandon Sanderson. Magic here is a strange, intoxicating, brutal secret, and the ways of the sorcerer obscure and inscrutable. The ending left me wanting more, which is what all good books should do; I'll definitely be checking out the sequel book of short stories about Sekenre's adventures.
Speaking of that, WHY are the covers for both of the Sekenre books so trash? They absolutely do not match the tone or elegance of the text. At all. The old cover of Mask of the Sorcerer is fantastic and fit perfectly! What happened, man? The sequel cover also looks terrible. Common Darrell, you gotta get your publishers to change it up. This could easily be a widely read fantasy classic with a different cover.
Speaking of that, WHY are the covers for both of the Sekenre books so trash? They absolutely do not match the tone or elegance of the text. At all. The old cover of Mask of the Sorcerer is fantastic and fit perfectly! What happened, man? The sequel cover also looks terrible. Common Darrell, you gotta get your publishers to change it up. This could easily be a widely read fantasy classic with a different cover.
December 16, 2024
I originally read this when I was a teenager and loved it. I recently reread it with a fair amount of fear that it wouldn't be as good as I remember. It was better than I remember. It is rare to find such a concise and well-written story in the fantasy genre. Schweitzer manages to tell an amazing story in a unique world in just one short book. Despite being shorter than most fantasy novels, it never feels rushed. It never feels like the world isn't flushed out enough. It helps that Schweitzer has a way with world that is often lacking in many popular fantasy writers (some of my favorite authors included).
In his collection of short stories, George RR Martin said something to the effect that genre is just the window dressing, what really matters is the story and the character. This book is a perfect example of that. The specifics of becoming a sorcerer, the details of the world, how magic works; these things are there to support Sekenre's story, not the other way around.
In his collection of short stories, George RR Martin said something to the effect that genre is just the window dressing, what really matters is the story and the character. This book is a perfect example of that. The specifics of becoming a sorcerer, the details of the world, how magic works; these things are there to support Sekenre's story, not the other way around.
February 27, 2022
enjoyed it a lot, very solid self contained book. very fluid story that keeps you engaged, nice character progression. looking back i think it's quite depressing and centered around bad things and suffering but i didn't get that feeling while reading it. i liked that it's a closed story, one single book although i wouldn't mind reading a sequel.
there were a couple things in the plot that didn't really make sense to me, they seemed like plotholes or conveniences to keep the story going but it almost didn't distract me, the story is solid overall and has a nice wrapup tying everything together
there were a couple things in the plot that didn't really make sense to me, they seemed like plotholes or conveniences to keep the story going but it almost didn't distract me, the story is solid overall and has a nice wrapup tying everything together
July 14, 2023
Calling this an ancient Egyptian, interdimensional, R-rated Harry Potter barely scratches the surface and does it no justice. This is absolutely my favourite book of all time. Such a gorgeous and rich esoteric adventure. The magic is beautifully realised. The plot is utter perfection and one of those excellent stories where a simple incongruous detail easily forgotten reveals so much. An under appreciated masterpiece I put off revisiting so I can savour it like the last piece of chocolate I have squirrelled away for a rainy day.
April 30, 2007
This is one of the WORST fantasy books I've ever read. The protagonist wound his way through a world and never did a single thing. He just stood there and watched everything happen around him. Sometimes it seemed like he might have done something, until you realized he'd been possessed by the spirit of a dead sorcerer, and in fact, had still done nothing. Hated it.
August 31, 2017
Well written and even literary, but (I'm guessing) hamstrung by a completely ridiculous title/cover design. Unfortunately not doing it for me right now in light of other stuff I want to read. Perhaps finish later.
September 10, 2020
Schweitzer presents a remarkably imaginative and well realised world, rendered in acts of great violence and compassion. Mask is a truly unique and memorable coming of age story
December 13, 2020
I very much enjoyed The Mask of the Sorceror. There's something eldritch in Darrell Schweitzer's writing that elevates it beyond the words on the page.
March 21, 2025
Strong beginning, strong ending. Weak miidle part, where the protagonist tumbles randomly this way and that without purpose, very passively, as things happen to him.
November 23, 2025
For most of the middle of the book this doesn't feel like much of an adventure. Sorcerers operate beyond time and space to a degree, so most of the action either takes place in dreams or feels like it does.
What really wasn't my cup of tea, and it's related to that, is how Sekenre doesn't do very much by himself. The entire plot is his coming of age story, not just the beginning.
For that matter, sorcery in this story is a great big metaphor for "the sins of the father" and ending the cycle of inherited trauma. It's very good in that way, but doesn't appeal to me as much as other fantasy.
Schweitzer does something with this plot very similar to what Wolfe did in New Sun.
What really wasn't my cup of tea, and it's related to that, is how Sekenre doesn't do very much by himself. The entire plot is his coming of age story, not just the beginning.
For that matter, sorcery in this story is a great big metaphor for "the sins of the father" and ending the cycle of inherited trauma. It's very good in that way, but doesn't appeal to me as much as other fantasy.
Schweitzer does something with this plot very similar to what Wolfe did in New Sun.
September 3, 2019
An almost completely passive protagonist who is swept along aimlessly. A short primary narrative that is completely swamped by long interpolated passages of mystical vision, dream or travel in non-causal realms. The author is conscious of this flaw and lets the protagonist comment on it at the start of ch. 15: "I was weary of strangeness". Yeah, me too, buddy. And in ch. 18: "My narrative doubtless made very little sense." This novel's strength lies in its fine language, but the plotting and pacing are best described as hallucinatory. Please don't tell me about your acid experiences, man.
August 23, 2024
Novel-length weird fiction. A young man is drawn into the dark world of sorcery. I thought of Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, maybe Ray Bradbury a little. Not a Cthulhu Mythos story, but author throws in a few small references.
October 3, 2019
I forced myself through nearly half of this although it took me an eternity and I finally gave up. I just find the whole thing completely uninteresting.
October 25, 2020
I got it because of Gene Wolfe's recommendation.
Basically a child realizes that all magic is an abomination. Very gripping and at times cringe.
Basically a child realizes that all magic is an abomination. Very gripping and at times cringe.
August 15, 2019
I liked it a lot, it's different than what we're used to see (fantasy based on Europe), a wonderful book.
Sometimes it feels that the main character isn't the main character at all, but this feeling soon goes away and he show us what he is made of.
Sometimes it feels that the main character isn't the main character at all, but this feeling soon goes away and he show us what he is made of.
August 19, 2012
The rating says it all - it was okay.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews