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Kill the Dead
Out of the dusk he comes striding, the stranger, the man in black, inevitable as death itself: Parl Dro—Ghost Slayer.
Some have bought his services for gold, and some have blessed him for his work. But not everyone welcomes an exorcist who will remorselessly deprive them of their beloved dead.
Dro began his vocation at an early age. And now he will not be turned aside, no matter how you may threaten, curse or weep. He is seeking too the greatest stronghold of the deadalive: Ghyste Mortua, the ghost town in the mountains, and he means to destroy it.
If he will face that, what use the pleas of the desperate sisters, Cilny and Ciddey, what use the rage of Myal, with his genius for music and his imperfect talent for crime?
Only one thing, it seems, motivates Parl Dro.
His determination to kill the dead.
"Tanith Lee is one of the most powerful and intelligent writers in fantasy." —Publishers Weekly
"With Lee… expect the unexpected." —Starburst
172 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1980
23 people are currently reading
993 people want to read
About the author
Tanith Lee
615 books1,976 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
January 15, 2016
Tanith Lee keeps it classy in this fun and rather old-fashioned fantasy adventure about a ghost-killer, the musician who follows him, and a vengeful young witch's ghost. together they encounter a tragic and threatening ghost city, one that comes complete with a ghost forest and a ghost lake in the form of a five-pointed star.
"Tanith Lee keeps it classy" is my callow way of saying that this does not really read like a Tanith Lee novel. none of her usual writerly flourishes, no strange, so-lush-it's-carboniferous prose stylings. there are no sadistic heroes or masochistic heroines (or vice versa); creepy sexuality in general is kept at a minimum. gender roles are straightforward. the narrative is also straightforward: there are some flashbacks and memories recounted but no dreamy meanderings that blur the line between fantasy and the reality of the story itself. the tone is not reserved and distancing, it's lively and amusing and often outright comic. Lee the comedian! wonders never cease. about the only thing remaining of the Lee I know is her usual twist ending, which in this case really works.
so if a person had told me that Kill the Dead is a classy novel where Tanith Lee discards her usual trademarks, I may not have even bothered to read the book. I read Lee specifically because of all the weird and often twisted things I listed above. the combination of all of that is what makes her awesome and it's the reason why she's been one of my favorite authors since forever. fortunately I first read this novel when I was a kid, loved it, and so just reread it despite recognizing even as kid that it was something very different for Lee.
my guess is that it's her version of a mainstream fantasy novel. it even has - gasp - a genuinely heartwarming ending where faith in humanity is restored etc and holylol were you on happy drugs when you wrote this Tanith? what this means to me is that this brilliant, iconoclastic author could easily put out mainstream fantasy novels if she so desires. she just does not desire that, at least not too often. for that, I'm thankful. but I'm also thankful for this wittily deadpan, perfectly accomplished, charming little island that somehow exists in the middle of her otherwise dark, stormy, and disturbing oeuvre.
"Tanith Lee keeps it classy" is my callow way of saying that this does not really read like a Tanith Lee novel. none of her usual writerly flourishes, no strange, so-lush-it's-carboniferous prose stylings. there are no sadistic heroes or masochistic heroines (or vice versa); creepy sexuality in general is kept at a minimum. gender roles are straightforward. the narrative is also straightforward: there are some flashbacks and memories recounted but no dreamy meanderings that blur the line between fantasy and the reality of the story itself. the tone is not reserved and distancing, it's lively and amusing and often outright comic. Lee the comedian! wonders never cease. about the only thing remaining of the Lee I know is her usual twist ending, which in this case really works.
so if a person had told me that Kill the Dead is a classy novel where Tanith Lee discards her usual trademarks, I may not have even bothered to read the book. I read Lee specifically because of all the weird and often twisted things I listed above. the combination of all of that is what makes her awesome and it's the reason why she's been one of my favorite authors since forever. fortunately I first read this novel when I was a kid, loved it, and so just reread it despite recognizing even as kid that it was something very different for Lee.
my guess is that it's her version of a mainstream fantasy novel. it even has - gasp - a genuinely heartwarming ending where faith in humanity is restored etc and holylol were you on happy drugs when you wrote this Tanith? what this means to me is that this brilliant, iconoclastic author could easily put out mainstream fantasy novels if she so desires. she just does not desire that, at least not too often. for that, I'm thankful. but I'm also thankful for this wittily deadpan, perfectly accomplished, charming little island that somehow exists in the middle of her otherwise dark, stormy, and disturbing oeuvre.
September 23, 2018
This has reminded me exactly why Tanith Lee was my gateway drug to the fantasy genre and made me wonder how more readers have not explored the wonders of her writing.
June 2, 2020
Tanith Lee really was the most amazing writer. She wrote a lot of fantasy (though it was called science fiction at the time it was written) and this is a good solid fantasy from the 1980's when she was right into a gothic style of fantasy horror.
In Kill The Dead our main character is the enigmatic yet fascinating Parl Dro, who's natural psychic powers emerged when he was in his young teens, he has the power to send the 'Dead Alive' on to true death and he has dedicated his life to doing so.
The style has all the rich descriptive power that Tanith's best work does. There is the very lush imagery of places, the light and a wealth of other small details that end up feeling very poetic as you read it. Because of this, there is a strong element of mood reading; I have to be in the mood to drift along and immerse myself in the story. It is not one that gallops through exciting events to the conclusion.
In this book, the three characters we revolve around, Parl Dro is our primary and I defy anyone not to enjoy his character. The secondary is a luckless wandering minstrel, Myal Lemayal who atttaches himself to Parl Dro in the first part of the story. He is fascinated by Parl and his graceful certainty. Myal plays a unique instrument, a combination of strings and wind instrument and he is described as having too much genius to be successful. He is also chronically lacking in good luck and self confidence. The third character is Ciddy Soban, she is a lonely waif of a girl/woman living alone in a old house - or at least she is the only living person.
I won't elaborate too much on the plot because it needs to unfold on its own, in its own time and cadence.
A swift, but thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.
In Kill The Dead our main character is the enigmatic yet fascinating Parl Dro, who's natural psychic powers emerged when he was in his young teens, he has the power to send the 'Dead Alive' on to true death and he has dedicated his life to doing so.
The style has all the rich descriptive power that Tanith's best work does. There is the very lush imagery of places, the light and a wealth of other small details that end up feeling very poetic as you read it. Because of this, there is a strong element of mood reading; I have to be in the mood to drift along and immerse myself in the story. It is not one that gallops through exciting events to the conclusion.
In this book, the three characters we revolve around, Parl Dro is our primary and I defy anyone not to enjoy his character. The secondary is a luckless wandering minstrel, Myal Lemayal who atttaches himself to Parl Dro in the first part of the story. He is fascinated by Parl and his graceful certainty. Myal plays a unique instrument, a combination of strings and wind instrument and he is described as having too much genius to be successful. He is also chronically lacking in good luck and self confidence. The third character is Ciddy Soban, she is a lonely waif of a girl/woman living alone in a old house - or at least she is the only living person.
I won't elaborate too much on the plot because it needs to unfold on its own, in its own time and cadence.
A swift, but thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.
September 28, 2020
This novel is rather different to a lot of this author's work - and I enjoyed it more than most of those I have re-read in the past year. It is a straightforward linear story (with only a few short flash backs into one character's past) and reads without Lee's usual lush baroque prose style, sadistic and machismo heroes, or masochistic female characters. The sex is lowkey and consensual without the creepiness that mars other books: there are no characters, especially women, who enjoy being abused and that is a nice change. The tone is lighter-hearted also, despite the hero's vocation of ghost-killer, and there is even a little humour here and there.
This could be due to the two main characters being based on Kerr Avon and Vila Restal of the BBC TV series, Blake's 7, for which Lee wrote a couple of episodes. There are some changes - the Vila character, Myal, is quite a bit younger than Parl Dro (whose name is based on Paul Darrow, the actor who played Avon) and Avon's bitterly ironic one liners are not quite captured. But there are enough similarities, with Myal as a thief, who is prone to stupid impulses, which Lee does develop a backstory to explain. He is also a genius musician, as he became in one of the episodes she wrote. The physical appearance of both men is similar to the TV actors, and it was fun to picture them as such while reading. The story was interesting, held my interest, was well constructed and had a great twist at the end. So despite Dro slightly lacking the flashes of devastating wit that Avon delivered in the series, I am awarding this novel 5 stars.
This could be due to the two main characters being based on Kerr Avon and Vila Restal of the BBC TV series, Blake's 7, for which Lee wrote a couple of episodes. There are some changes - the Vila character, Myal, is quite a bit younger than Parl Dro (whose name is based on Paul Darrow, the actor who played Avon) and Avon's bitterly ironic one liners are not quite captured. But there are enough similarities, with Myal as a thief, who is prone to stupid impulses, which Lee does develop a backstory to explain. He is also a genius musician, as he became in one of the episodes she wrote. The physical appearance of both men is similar to the TV actors, and it was fun to picture them as such while reading. The story was interesting, held my interest, was well constructed and had a great twist at the end. So despite Dro slightly lacking the flashes of devastating wit that Avon delivered in the series, I am awarding this novel 5 stars.
May 14, 2025
Kill the dead
“He could see the mountain with absolute clarity, It was ahead of him in the memory, poking up in the dusk to the northeast, like a chimney, smoking a single cloud and a scatter of spark-bright early stars. Over the mountain lay the lands that drew away into the legend, the mirage that pulled at him, Tulotef, Ghyste Mortua. He knew the season for it was coming, as every few years it did, the time of manifestation.”
I’m not sure when the Witcher books were written (I’ve only seen the show) but if you mixed this and Michael Moorcock’s Elric it’s pretty much the Witcher.
Parl dro, is a wandering ghost killer whose destiny becomes intertwined with a morally grey, dandy minstrel.
The pair go on a quest to gyste mortua, the ghost city that manifests in our world only during certain seasons and astrological events.
Kill the dead is a novella by today’s standards at only 172 pages but Tanith Lee packs in a lot of story. Lee invents her own ghost lore and a rule system that the “dead alive” exist and may be dispatched by. Her prose is great and the dynamic between the main characters is well done.
I had this kicking around for quite a while but I wasn’t sure if it was part of a series not since some of these old DAW books don’t make it clear, but this is a standalone novel and a great one.
There’s going to be more Tanith Lee in my future reading.
“He could see the mountain with absolute clarity, It was ahead of him in the memory, poking up in the dusk to the northeast, like a chimney, smoking a single cloud and a scatter of spark-bright early stars. Over the mountain lay the lands that drew away into the legend, the mirage that pulled at him, Tulotef, Ghyste Mortua. He knew the season for it was coming, as every few years it did, the time of manifestation.”
I’m not sure when the Witcher books were written (I’ve only seen the show) but if you mixed this and Michael Moorcock’s Elric it’s pretty much the Witcher.
Parl dro, is a wandering ghost killer whose destiny becomes intertwined with a morally grey, dandy minstrel.
The pair go on a quest to gyste mortua, the ghost city that manifests in our world only during certain seasons and astrological events.
Kill the dead is a novella by today’s standards at only 172 pages but Tanith Lee packs in a lot of story. Lee invents her own ghost lore and a rule system that the “dead alive” exist and may be dispatched by. Her prose is great and the dynamic between the main characters is well done.
I had this kicking around for quite a while but I wasn’t sure if it was part of a series not since some of these old DAW books don’t make it clear, but this is a standalone novel and a great one.
There’s going to be more Tanith Lee in my future reading.
August 1, 2022
I bought this because it was AU Blake's 7 fic. (Perhaps even AU RPF depending on whether or not Tanith Lee was trying to avoid BBC copyright) But the Paul Darrow/Avon was wonderful. And he worked so well in this lovely spooky fantasy setting. Here we had a world with ghosts who had to be sent back to death because they fed on the living. But there was a lovely plot, and great characterization. Definitely my new favorite Tanith Lee book.
March 4, 2011
It wasn't as pleasurably un-traditional, and elaborately inventive as others of my favorite Tanith books, but it was very classy, and classic. The lovable characters and commitment to the strong driving goals of the plot line really give you a reason to care about the events in the novel. One small complaint, although it was supposedly a horror novel and was compared to the Exorcist, it was not at all frightening. It was more of a supernatural, phantasmal fantasy romp than a horror novel. That being said, not looking at it as trying to be chilling, I got a really nice full rounded journey out of the book. I have to say I was actually very surprised for the first time in a long time by the ending, and I thought it was rather clever. It was a comforting and very enjoyable little read.
March 17, 2015
This book surprised me. I wasn't sure if I would like it. I've read very little supernatural fantasy, and a lot of bad television shows had made me wary of the whole genre. And that cover art! It has aged very badly. The ghosts are wonderful, but I didn't feel like I could feel anything for Fabio's dark-haired step-brother with the terrible fashion sense (that haircut! those sleeves! that neckline!). So I studiously ignored the guy on the cover, and instead replaced him with a cross between Jon Snow and Dr Gregory House, because our protagonist does seem to have a few things in common with the snarky doctor besides the leg. He's smart, and self-assured to the point of arrogance, and while seldom as witty he did seem to hold himself with the same sort of sneering stoicism that covers a dead sea of depression in some characters. I didn't 'like' like him, but he was fun to read about, and only partly due to his intriguing career.
I like that the ghosts had their own personalities and weren't just something for the hero to defeat. And there wasn't a simple 'ghost bad, people good' narrative, as much as it started out that was (partly due to the viewpoint of the main character). It got stickier as it progressed - more complicated. And while some bits might have been ruined by a certain movie I won't name in order to avoid spoilers, the ending was still satisfying (and left wide open for a sequel or simply personal speculation without being a cliffhanger - I am so sick of cliffhangers so this is a welcome relief).
The scenes are well enough described that I had little trouble imagining mountain streams, and leaning towers, cracked dry ground or even ghostly battles. It's good if your reader isn't confused or lost even when half the characters in the scene are intangible (or even most of the scenery).
A good entry point for the genre - at least I hope it is being pretty much new to this style of book. I hope there are more like this one.
I like that the ghosts had their own personalities and weren't just something for the hero to defeat. And there wasn't a simple 'ghost bad, people good' narrative, as much as it started out that was (partly due to the viewpoint of the main character). It got stickier as it progressed - more complicated. And while some bits might have been ruined by a certain movie I won't name in order to avoid spoilers, the ending was still satisfying (and left wide open for a sequel or simply personal speculation without being a cliffhanger - I am so sick of cliffhangers so this is a welcome relief).
The scenes are well enough described that I had little trouble imagining mountain streams, and leaning towers, cracked dry ground or even ghostly battles. It's good if your reader isn't confused or lost even when half the characters in the scene are intangible (or even most of the scenery).
A good entry point for the genre - at least I hope it is being pretty much new to this style of book. I hope there are more like this one.
November 18, 2017
3.5 stars
This is a solid little paranormal fantasy adventure. My favorite part was the dialogue between Dro and Myler (pretty sure that's not his name but I'm too lazy to look it up and I wasn't pronouncing it right in my head anyway). It was simple and sharp and made me chuckle. Also I didn't see the twist at the end coming, though I probably could have if I'd given it thought...But I usually don't lol.
This is a solid little paranormal fantasy adventure. My favorite part was the dialogue between Dro and Myler (pretty sure that's not his name but I'm too lazy to look it up and I wasn't pronouncing it right in my head anyway). It was simple and sharp and made me chuckle. Also I didn't see the twist at the end coming, though I probably could have if I'd given it thought...But I usually don't lol.
November 4, 2014
I really ought to read more by Tanith Lee! I always say that every time I read something by her, but then a year or more slips by before I get around to reading her again.
This reminds me a little of a lot of different books.
It reminds me a bit of Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer series. It reminds me a bit of The Riddle Master of Hed, for some reason, though I can't quite figure out why... It reminds me (in retrospect) of for obvious reasons and a little of Ladyhawke.
The dialog reminds me of the current snarky urban fantasy wit, but this is obviously written decades before those became in vogue.
So with it seeming a little like a lot of things but not a lot like any one thing, it ends up feeling really fresh and original, and not dated at all - despite it being published over 30 years ago.
This reminds me a little of a lot of different books.
It reminds me a bit of Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer series. It reminds me a bit of The Riddle Master of Hed, for some reason, though I can't quite figure out why... It reminds me (in retrospect) of for obvious reasons and a little of Ladyhawke.
The dialog reminds me of the current snarky urban fantasy wit, but this is obviously written decades before those became in vogue.
So with it seeming a little like a lot of things but not a lot like any one thing, it ends up feeling really fresh and original, and not dated at all - despite it being published over 30 years ago.
June 15, 2017
A long-time favorite. The main characters are based on two characters from the British sci fi show "Blake's 7." Tanith Lee wrote two episodes for the show and had a special fondness for these characters. As a fan of "Blake's 7" myself, I compulsively read this and loved it years ago. Planning to read it again.
May 13, 2025
Kill the Dead by Tanith Lee is a standalone fantasy book. It is what I anticipated a book is written in concise, well structured story which could be. It is not stunning good as Night’s Master. The story has anything a good story you possibly can think of: plot twist, characterization, good world building, beautiful writing etc. for me it is almost as if singing in pitch perfect tune but somehow still lack of some key elements to tell. I don’t think it is about the length of novel, as it is the story should have the length. Still like it but not quite loving it as Night’s Master.
The story is a legend ghost killer Parl Dro came to the town withhis business about destroying ghost. He met a musician Marl. Later, Marl follow him as he believes his mission of telling Dro’s legend is his reverent duty to do; their fate accidentally intertwined with each other than they expected it would be.
The story has the twist near the end of the story, and is the most interesting reveal part of the story. Kill the Dead is not a fast pace story, it doesn’t have action scenes like ghost hunters in movies. But it does have it enchantment in reading it.
7.5 out of 10.
The story is a legend ghost killer Parl Dro came to the town withhis business about destroying ghost. He met a musician Marl. Later, Marl follow him as he believes his mission of telling Dro’s legend is his reverent duty to do; their fate accidentally intertwined with each other than they expected it would be.
The story has the twist near the end of the story, and is the most interesting reveal part of the story. Kill the Dead is not a fast pace story, it doesn’t have action scenes like ghost hunters in movies. But it does have it enchantment in reading it.
7.5 out of 10.
April 22, 2022
I love this story. the plot is a mystery. anytime you thing you know whats happening, another layer develops or a twist happens.
November 14, 2015
While browsing my local used bookstore I came across this beauty. I saw the title and immediately fell in love with it. Once I pulled it off the shelf and saw the cover I knew this would be a good book. It just screams classy retro, the double necked guitar at the feet of a man who could be a hero or late seventies rock star. The ghosts on the cover were amazing, a skeleton without a head, a naked lady ghost and the goblin ghost that appears to have a real brain floating in his ghost skull. The triple threat was the awesome back cover description.
Kill the Dead is so much more than I expected. I was thinking it would be a Conan-esq character but fighting ghosts with maybe some cheesy horror or fantasy cliches. Instead, it was the perfect blend of fantasy and horror. When I think of Gothic, this is what comes to mind. It was very much a mood read. Each sentence seemed to be written to evoke foreboding doom. I loved every minute of it.
Parl Dro is the dark mysterious hero hunting and destroying ghosts. He's a man on a mission to find and destroy Ghyste Mortua, an entire town of ghosts. Along the way, he discovers a small village with a decrepit home with two sisters in it. However, one sister is a ghost. Parl does what a ghost killer does, which causes the other sister to vow revenge on Parl. At the same time, a minstrel down on his luck crosses paths with both the vengeful sister and Parl. The three of them find themselves at odds throughout most of the book.
Tanith Lee does an amazing job of introducing each of the characters and slowly but steadily unveiling their backstory as well as their true motivations. The care and timing of the character reveals is something I feel we are missing in today's stories. Things seem to move much faster now, which isn't a good or bad thing, but I do enjoy a slow build up when done right and Lee does it right. Each of the characters add to the mood of unease, as none of them are truly good or evil. They each have multiple layers to them, which ache with reality. It adds to the tone of the overall story, this sense of something being slightly off.
Lee's world blends well with the characters and mood of the tale. It's worn out and in ruin. I don't think there’s anything new or shiny in this world. It has a dull tone and color palette. Even the ivory white bones inlaid in Myal's double necked guitar are stained yellow with time. With all of this ugliness Lee is still able to bring a lot of beauty to the book with her lyrical prose.
Kill the Dead is a haunting fantasy that, once finished, demands to be reread. The ending will leave you surprised and rewarded. I want to reread it just to see if I can find any clues Lee might have left out in the open for me. The pacing is slower than most modern stories, but I would ask you to embrace it and allow it to take you on this journey. There is minor violence, language and implied sexual situations. I would recommend it to teens and adults. I'd recommend you add this book to your personal library.
My Favorite Line:
“'Lend me your knife,' Myal said slowly. 'I can kill you with it. It won't take a minute. I'll clean it after.'” page 55
Kill the Dead is so much more than I expected. I was thinking it would be a Conan-esq character but fighting ghosts with maybe some cheesy horror or fantasy cliches. Instead, it was the perfect blend of fantasy and horror. When I think of Gothic, this is what comes to mind. It was very much a mood read. Each sentence seemed to be written to evoke foreboding doom. I loved every minute of it.
Parl Dro is the dark mysterious hero hunting and destroying ghosts. He's a man on a mission to find and destroy Ghyste Mortua, an entire town of ghosts. Along the way, he discovers a small village with a decrepit home with two sisters in it. However, one sister is a ghost. Parl does what a ghost killer does, which causes the other sister to vow revenge on Parl. At the same time, a minstrel down on his luck crosses paths with both the vengeful sister and Parl. The three of them find themselves at odds throughout most of the book.
Tanith Lee does an amazing job of introducing each of the characters and slowly but steadily unveiling their backstory as well as their true motivations. The care and timing of the character reveals is something I feel we are missing in today's stories. Things seem to move much faster now, which isn't a good or bad thing, but I do enjoy a slow build up when done right and Lee does it right. Each of the characters add to the mood of unease, as none of them are truly good or evil. They each have multiple layers to them, which ache with reality. It adds to the tone of the overall story, this sense of something being slightly off.
Lee's world blends well with the characters and mood of the tale. It's worn out and in ruin. I don't think there’s anything new or shiny in this world. It has a dull tone and color palette. Even the ivory white bones inlaid in Myal's double necked guitar are stained yellow with time. With all of this ugliness Lee is still able to bring a lot of beauty to the book with her lyrical prose.
Kill the Dead is a haunting fantasy that, once finished, demands to be reread. The ending will leave you surprised and rewarded. I want to reread it just to see if I can find any clues Lee might have left out in the open for me. The pacing is slower than most modern stories, but I would ask you to embrace it and allow it to take you on this journey. There is minor violence, language and implied sexual situations. I would recommend it to teens and adults. I'd recommend you add this book to your personal library.
My Favorite Line:
“'Lend me your knife,' Myal said slowly. 'I can kill you with it. It won't take a minute. I'll clean it after.'” page 55
October 15, 2013
Like much of Tanith Lee's work, Kill the Dead has an interesting, somewhat mythological premise that is than grounded in the actions of i's characters. It feels, on some levels, like a fairy-tale or ghost-story expanded and told in proper prose form.
It is the tale of an Excorcist, a Killer of the Dead, who persues his task with fanatical devotion, and ultimately what that task means and how it affects the people around him. It brings interesting questions to the for; He views Ghosts as unnatural remnants of people who feed off the living, but what about the living who can't let go of their beloved ones? The mythology she weaves, of the 'Dead Alive' with their rules and such feels as real as many other monsters or ghost-tales. For example, they have tells, like that their clothes never get wet.
The story is as much about the man as it is what he does, and about how life may be shaped and like the flat-earth books, about how destiny may make coincidences actually not coincidences at all. A great book for lovers of Tanith Lee, Good Stories, Fantasy and Ghost tales.
It is the tale of an Excorcist, a Killer of the Dead, who persues his task with fanatical devotion, and ultimately what that task means and how it affects the people around him. It brings interesting questions to the for; He views Ghosts as unnatural remnants of people who feed off the living, but what about the living who can't let go of their beloved ones? The mythology she weaves, of the 'Dead Alive' with their rules and such feels as real as many other monsters or ghost-tales. For example, they have tells, like that their clothes never get wet.
The story is as much about the man as it is what he does, and about how life may be shaped and like the flat-earth books, about how destiny may make coincidences actually not coincidences at all. A great book for lovers of Tanith Lee, Good Stories, Fantasy and Ghost tales.
August 17, 2024
There used to be hundreds of books like this: perfectly capable and entertaining stories that were told in a couple of hundred pages and stood alone. Then publishers and authors decided that they wanted to expand their universes and deepen their characters and we got endless series' and fat tales about things that could probably be summarised in a few pages.
Some of which I love deeply, of course.
Anyway, this is a book I had been searching for for ages because I'd read an interview with Ms Lee where she mentioned a novel she'd written featuring thinly-veiled versions of Avon and Vila from Blake's 7 (which, in the light of my first couple of sentences, is quite ironic as well). It's a good, fun read set in a generic Fantasyland that does just what it sets out to do. And despite a somewhat rushed denouement, it works.
February 18, 2021
Tanith Lee, who passed away far too early in 2015, was a writer of demanding but rewarding prose that is nothing short of voluptuous. Not remotely bothered about world-building but infinitely concerned with character she remains one of fantasy fiction’s most persistently overlooked treasures.
This is my favourite of hers, and one I love to revisit. The two protagonists, Parl Dro and Myal Lemayal, are apparent analogues of Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, or rather their Blake’s 7 characters Avon and Vila. You’ll always get an extra star from me for invoking that show, so... six stars out of five then.
This is my favourite of hers, and one I love to revisit. The two protagonists, Parl Dro and Myal Lemayal, are apparent analogues of Paul Darrow and Michael Keating, or rather their Blake’s 7 characters Avon and Vila. You’ll always get an extra star from me for invoking that show, so... six stars out of five then.
March 3, 2016
Horror/Fantasy – Parl Dro is an exorcist on his way to Ghyste Mourna a mysterious haunted village. On his way he meets a strange minstral Myal Lemyal and Ciddey Soban a half-mad witch who lives with the ghost of her dead sister. Just how are these characters lives entwined? Very good plot twist that I didn't see coming.
Themes:
• Life/Death
• Nature of “self”
• Tarot
• Love/Hate relationship
• Minstral
• Family relationships
Themes:
• Life/Death
• Nature of “self”
• Tarot
• Love/Hate relationship
• Minstral
• Family relationships
November 8, 2016
I was distracted while reading this, but it doesn't strike me as a story that requires much attention. While enjoyable, the characterizations are limited, the story simple, despite its twists, and the ending explained in long paragraphs instead of drawn in the colorful prose usually expected from Lee. This novel feels like an idea she typed out heatedly over a week, one that would benefit from a much more fleshed out exploration.
April 19, 2012
A great read, lent out my original copy back in the day. So was so pleased to see a re-issue from fantastic books. Ordered on online and devoured it in two days. It had still got the good story and characters that I remembered. And as the two main characters are based on Avon & Villa from Blake's 7 it was easy to put voice's to the men.
Read
March 22, 2014Если честно, то это небольшой трюк, потому что эту книгу я прочитала очень давно, но только сегодня вспомнила о ней-=)
Развязка, как и в Кровавом камне, весьма неожиданна. И это единственное, что я вообще оттуда запомнила) По накалу сюжета и неожиданности прямо могу сравнить с игрой Bioshok infinity. Наверное, перечитала бы еще раз, если бы не помнила сюжет)
Развязка, как и в Кровавом камне, весьма неожиданна. И это единственное, что я вообще оттуда запомнила) По накалу сюжета и неожиданности прямо могу сравнить с игрой Bioshok infinity. Наверное, перечитала бы еще раз, если бы не помнила сюжет)
March 31, 2021
One of the most perfectly written books of all time...I just love everything about it. Still love this book as much as the first time I read it thirty years ago, at least! Perfect book to read again after finishing the majesty that is "Lord of the Rings."
November 1, 2020
Lee's funniest fantasy novel. Recommended.
December 10, 2008
This has to be one of the most enjoyable single novels Tanith Lee has written. It's dark, cutting, & laced with Lee's very dry wit, & is quite an adventure into the realm of the dead.
August 21, 2025
I had such high hopes for Kill The Dead. I mean, come on, just look at that cover? Why would you not want to read a book featuring a super goth surrounded by ghosts and a double neck guitar? How could that be bad?
In truth my feelings about this book are complicated. There are things about it I loved, and Lee is clearly a very talented writer – not to mention a real legend having won the British Fantasy Award and the World Fantasy Award twice! However, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve come away cold from a book or writer that many feel is important.
So, what’s it about? Kill The Dead is a book that’s basically about three people; Parl Dro, handsome ghost killer and all around monosyllabic badass, Myal Lemyal, motormouthed wandering bard with a habit of getting into trouble, and Ciddy Soban, a sad sack girl living in her parents old semi-castle by the side of the road with the ghost of her dead sister Cilny. Now on the face of it those are some powerful ingredients for a good time, but one of the overarching problems with this book is that everything is very, very serious – except perhaps some of Myal’s hijinks, which seem like they are meant to provide some levity but often fell flat.
Parl Dro’s job is to wander around and put ghosts down. Sometimes people call on him specifically for this talent, and other times his wanderings bring him into contact with local apparitions that people pay him to get rid of. How does one kill a ghost? Well, this is where the book really shines. Lee is excellent at world building and flawlessly lays out how ghosts work, why they are a problem, and how you get rid of them. Let me explain.
In Kill The Dead ghosts are the psychic residue of someone whose life was cut short by tragedy. A violent death? A true love lost? Siblings parted too soon? Any of these circumstances could bind psychic residue to our mortal plane. Where this gets interesting is that this residue is one hundred percent not them, just an energy that is generated when a life ends under a particular set of circumstances.
Now, the ghosts don’t know this. They think they are the dead person they appear to be and, depending upon how powerful they are, they can do all sorts of things. They can be heard, seen, interact with solid objects, and even harm people. Some of them are scary and want to cause as much pain as possible to the living, others think they are here to help those they’ve left behind. However, no matter their motivation, and sometimes even unbeknownst to them, they always harm the living.
There are two ways this happens. First, ghosts need a power source and that is always a person. That person often doesn’t know the ghost is using them as a battery, and in so doing slowly killing them. It might happen fast, it might happen slowly, but eventually the mortal linked to a ghost will run out of juice and die. When that happens, no more ghost, no more mortal.
The second way ghosts can kill is through persuasion. In this book they are fundamentally jealous of the living and want to see them dead. Consciously or unconsciously, they will try to convince people to do things that will get them killed. Hey, why not cross that rickety old bridge? It’s totally safe. No, for real. In fact, there’s a treasure on the other side. I know, I’ve seen it. Come on, what do you have to lose?
So how does one kill a charming, energy sucking ghost? The key is their link to our plane of existence. Usually this is a physical object that played a key role in their life. Maybe the link for grandma’s ghost is the class ring she used to wear from the boy that broke her heart or, perhaps, Farmer John’s ghost is tethered to this world through the ax his wife used to kill him when he wasn’t looking. Either way, without that link a ghost, no matter how powerful, can’t exist, and it’s Parl Dro’s job to find those links and break them. Once he does, goodbye ghost.
Again, the world building in this book is top notch. I will be thinking about a lot of Lee’s cool ideas for a long, long time. It’s the plot of the book though where things got weak. It all starts with Dro just wandering around. Seriously, he’s just walking about looking for his next ghost gig when he just so happens to go past Ciddy’s semi-castle of teenage ennui.
Dro is psychic, on top of being handsome as hell and tough as nails, and his ghost sense starts tingling at the sight of the run-down tower and poorly mortared gate of the Soban estate. Curious, he lets himself into the place to get a drink of water where he is confronted by a terribly angry Ciddy, upset he has intruded on her daily sulk. It doesn’t take him long to figure out Ciddy’s sister Cilny is still around, and while Cilny is not a particularly powerful ghost – she can only come out at night and manifests as this cool pile of shadow-like shards that rustles like leaves – she is feeding off her sister Ciddy who is quite pale, skinny, and sickly at this point. Now Ciddy loves her sister, even as a ghost, and when Dro raises the idea of getting rid of Cilny, Ciddy throws him right back out on to the road he came in from.
So Dro wanders down that road to a nearby town to find a place to stay for the night, and this is where another interesting feature of the book becomes apparent. There are no place names in it – with one exception I’ll get to in a minute. By this I mean, Dro does a fair amount of wandering in this story but he’s only ever going from one nameless town to another. He’s also only ever traveling through lands that are equally nameless. There are no countries or kingdoms mentioned anywhere in this story, and it adds a strange dreamlike quality to the whole thing.
Now it’s in this nameless town that Myal shows up. He’s a down on his luck bard with a talent for picking pockets who is milling about the inn trying to steal enough to move on to the next town. He has only one amazing talent and that’s playing the duar. What the hell is a duar? Great question. Imagine if you will the double-neck guitar Jimmy Page plays in Led Zepplin, only instead of being made up of guitars it’s made up of two lutes and, for some weird reason, a bagpipe. Yup, Myal is a wandering double-lute-bag-pipe player. No wonder people hate him, and he’s broke all the time. Good thing those nimble fingers are good at filching coin purses.
On top of being a bard who plays an instrument that makes you want to run him over with a cart, Myal is also an annoying cry-baby who feels his skills are vastly underappreciated – why can’t everyone see I’m a genius! These characteristics quickly made him a character that I was just rooting for bad things to happen to. Pretty much every time this guy got slapped around early in the book, he had it coming. It didn’t help that he often wouldn’t shut up and had a grating need to be the center of attention. Ugh, musicians, right?
Now I love a good buddy story, I mean just love them. So, the idea of a grumpy, mono-syllabic, I-don’t-give-a-shit-I’m-killing-that-ghost guy teaming up with a motormouth, dumbass that most people find completely annoying should be a total thrill for me. And most of the time in this book it is. Again, just like her world building, Lee does an excellent job of letting these two opposites really grind against each other in very compelling ways. I mean, by mid-book I’d already lost track of how many times Dro just flat-out ditches Myal because of how annoying he is, only for Myal to find him again. It’s really kind of great.
So, what on earth holds these two opposites together? Well, turns out both Dro and Myal are questing after the same thing, the legendary city of Ghyste Mortua, interestingly the only place in the entire book with a name. Now this is a cool idea. Ghyste Mortua used to be a city called Cairceth, but that was before a huge landslide caused the entire place to plunge into a nearby lake, killing everyone instantly. That tragedy transformed it into a legendary city of ghosts, linked to this mortal plane by the very lake that drowned everyone.
Dro wants to go to this city of the dead to banish it from existence. How he’s going to annihilate an entire lake to break the link is anyone’s guess, even his, but its damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead for Dro anyway. Myal, on the other hand, wants to write a hit song about it – no kidding – and figures that since nobody has ever written a song about Ghyste Mortua he’s got a shot. The problem is that for him to do that he has to see the place. I guess he can’t just imagine it or something. Maybe he’s the kind of songwriter that has to live a thing to write about it, he’s got to really soak in a vibe to capture its truth. Who knows.
Lee makes it clear that Myal has the musical goods to write this song, somehow he frequently charms audiences with his singing and duar playing, so it’s possible to imagine he could pull this off. The only problem is he can’t find Ghyste Mortua, but enter Dro, and his psychic ghost sense, and now Myal suddenly has a lead.
And what exactly is Ciddy’s role in all this? Well, before Dro can move on from town to find Ghyste Mortua he’s got some unfinished business. As a ghost killer it just doesn’t sit right with him to leave Ciddy out in her semi-castle with a ghost. He’s got to kill it, that’s what he does. So before rolling along he doubles back to the bad-vibes estate, sneaks in, and dispatches Cilny lickety-split. On the way out he says “your welcome” to Ciddy and moves on, leaving the mopey sister alone and even more miserable than before.
So now Ciddy is SO mad. How dare Dro dispatch the rustling pile of shadows that was her sister? She’s going to show him, show him real good. Her plan, she decides, is to kill herself, become a ghost, and haunt Dro’s ass for all time. And that’s what she does. Almost.
After drowning herself in the same river her sister died in, she’s all set to haunt the hell out of Dro, only, through a variety of circumstances it would take far too long for me to explain here, Myal shows up at exactly the wrong moment and ends up as Ciddy’s energy source. Yup, poor Myal, no one will recognize his genius AND he’s a human battery for a ghoul intent on destroying his only link to Ghyste Mortua. Can it get any worse?
Suffice to say it does, and what follows is a weird spin on a classic fantasy quest story. There was a lot to like about it, especially the strange way Lee writes it almost more like a myth than a typical fantasy story, and while the climax at Ghyste Mortua is pretty great, I had a big problem with the end of this book. Two problems really.
First, the whole ending feels rushed. About eighty percent of the way through the book there is a huge info dump clearly written to move things to a conclusion. It’s really jarring, and it goes on for several pages. You can almost hear the editor from DAW saying “Come on Lee, this ain’t art. Wrap this shit up already. It’s just a spinner rack book for Christ’s sake!”
The second problem are the twists. There are two big ones that directly follow the info dump and, true to form, they change everything. Now I love a good twist as much as the next person, but these are real doozies. In fact, going into them here would be huge spoilers, but suffice to say you will either love them or hate them. I hated them. They were the kind of twists where many of the rules I loved in this book are broken, and they leave you scratching your head thinking “But wait, if that’s true then why didn’t Dro just say something in the first scene and avoid this entire book?” They really are that big.
So, should you read Kill The Dead? I kind of think it’s worth it – twists be damned. Lee is such an interesting writer, and there are so many cool ideas in this book that I’d recommend it based on that alone. If you want to read something fun and easy, this is not that. There were paragraphs in this book I had to read twice in order to fully digest them, but despite that I think it’s worth your time.
This is one of those books that would be great for a book club. Not a long read but likely to divide the room in such a way that people will, after a couple of glasses of wine, get angry with each other over it. In fact, I kind of wish I’d had someone to argue with about this book after I’d finished it, if, for no other reason, than to try and make more sense of its ending.
If you like the unusual, give this book a try. I know I will definitely be checking out more of Lee’s work in the future, and hopefully the next book I read by her won’t wrap up so quickly or have twists that make me want to throw it across the room when I’m done.
In truth my feelings about this book are complicated. There are things about it I loved, and Lee is clearly a very talented writer – not to mention a real legend having won the British Fantasy Award and the World Fantasy Award twice! However, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve come away cold from a book or writer that many feel is important.
So, what’s it about? Kill The Dead is a book that’s basically about three people; Parl Dro, handsome ghost killer and all around monosyllabic badass, Myal Lemyal, motormouthed wandering bard with a habit of getting into trouble, and Ciddy Soban, a sad sack girl living in her parents old semi-castle by the side of the road with the ghost of her dead sister Cilny. Now on the face of it those are some powerful ingredients for a good time, but one of the overarching problems with this book is that everything is very, very serious – except perhaps some of Myal’s hijinks, which seem like they are meant to provide some levity but often fell flat.
Parl Dro’s job is to wander around and put ghosts down. Sometimes people call on him specifically for this talent, and other times his wanderings bring him into contact with local apparitions that people pay him to get rid of. How does one kill a ghost? Well, this is where the book really shines. Lee is excellent at world building and flawlessly lays out how ghosts work, why they are a problem, and how you get rid of them. Let me explain.
In Kill The Dead ghosts are the psychic residue of someone whose life was cut short by tragedy. A violent death? A true love lost? Siblings parted too soon? Any of these circumstances could bind psychic residue to our mortal plane. Where this gets interesting is that this residue is one hundred percent not them, just an energy that is generated when a life ends under a particular set of circumstances.
Now, the ghosts don’t know this. They think they are the dead person they appear to be and, depending upon how powerful they are, they can do all sorts of things. They can be heard, seen, interact with solid objects, and even harm people. Some of them are scary and want to cause as much pain as possible to the living, others think they are here to help those they’ve left behind. However, no matter their motivation, and sometimes even unbeknownst to them, they always harm the living.
There are two ways this happens. First, ghosts need a power source and that is always a person. That person often doesn’t know the ghost is using them as a battery, and in so doing slowly killing them. It might happen fast, it might happen slowly, but eventually the mortal linked to a ghost will run out of juice and die. When that happens, no more ghost, no more mortal.
The second way ghosts can kill is through persuasion. In this book they are fundamentally jealous of the living and want to see them dead. Consciously or unconsciously, they will try to convince people to do things that will get them killed. Hey, why not cross that rickety old bridge? It’s totally safe. No, for real. In fact, there’s a treasure on the other side. I know, I’ve seen it. Come on, what do you have to lose?
So how does one kill a charming, energy sucking ghost? The key is their link to our plane of existence. Usually this is a physical object that played a key role in their life. Maybe the link for grandma’s ghost is the class ring she used to wear from the boy that broke her heart or, perhaps, Farmer John’s ghost is tethered to this world through the ax his wife used to kill him when he wasn’t looking. Either way, without that link a ghost, no matter how powerful, can’t exist, and it’s Parl Dro’s job to find those links and break them. Once he does, goodbye ghost.
Again, the world building in this book is top notch. I will be thinking about a lot of Lee’s cool ideas for a long, long time. It’s the plot of the book though where things got weak. It all starts with Dro just wandering around. Seriously, he’s just walking about looking for his next ghost gig when he just so happens to go past Ciddy’s semi-castle of teenage ennui.
Dro is psychic, on top of being handsome as hell and tough as nails, and his ghost sense starts tingling at the sight of the run-down tower and poorly mortared gate of the Soban estate. Curious, he lets himself into the place to get a drink of water where he is confronted by a terribly angry Ciddy, upset he has intruded on her daily sulk. It doesn’t take him long to figure out Ciddy’s sister Cilny is still around, and while Cilny is not a particularly powerful ghost – she can only come out at night and manifests as this cool pile of shadow-like shards that rustles like leaves – she is feeding off her sister Ciddy who is quite pale, skinny, and sickly at this point. Now Ciddy loves her sister, even as a ghost, and when Dro raises the idea of getting rid of Cilny, Ciddy throws him right back out on to the road he came in from.
So Dro wanders down that road to a nearby town to find a place to stay for the night, and this is where another interesting feature of the book becomes apparent. There are no place names in it – with one exception I’ll get to in a minute. By this I mean, Dro does a fair amount of wandering in this story but he’s only ever going from one nameless town to another. He’s also only ever traveling through lands that are equally nameless. There are no countries or kingdoms mentioned anywhere in this story, and it adds a strange dreamlike quality to the whole thing.
Now it’s in this nameless town that Myal shows up. He’s a down on his luck bard with a talent for picking pockets who is milling about the inn trying to steal enough to move on to the next town. He has only one amazing talent and that’s playing the duar. What the hell is a duar? Great question. Imagine if you will the double-neck guitar Jimmy Page plays in Led Zepplin, only instead of being made up of guitars it’s made up of two lutes and, for some weird reason, a bagpipe. Yup, Myal is a wandering double-lute-bag-pipe player. No wonder people hate him, and he’s broke all the time. Good thing those nimble fingers are good at filching coin purses.
On top of being a bard who plays an instrument that makes you want to run him over with a cart, Myal is also an annoying cry-baby who feels his skills are vastly underappreciated – why can’t everyone see I’m a genius! These characteristics quickly made him a character that I was just rooting for bad things to happen to. Pretty much every time this guy got slapped around early in the book, he had it coming. It didn’t help that he often wouldn’t shut up and had a grating need to be the center of attention. Ugh, musicians, right?
Now I love a good buddy story, I mean just love them. So, the idea of a grumpy, mono-syllabic, I-don’t-give-a-shit-I’m-killing-that-ghost guy teaming up with a motormouth, dumbass that most people find completely annoying should be a total thrill for me. And most of the time in this book it is. Again, just like her world building, Lee does an excellent job of letting these two opposites really grind against each other in very compelling ways. I mean, by mid-book I’d already lost track of how many times Dro just flat-out ditches Myal because of how annoying he is, only for Myal to find him again. It’s really kind of great.
So, what on earth holds these two opposites together? Well, turns out both Dro and Myal are questing after the same thing, the legendary city of Ghyste Mortua, interestingly the only place in the entire book with a name. Now this is a cool idea. Ghyste Mortua used to be a city called Cairceth, but that was before a huge landslide caused the entire place to plunge into a nearby lake, killing everyone instantly. That tragedy transformed it into a legendary city of ghosts, linked to this mortal plane by the very lake that drowned everyone.
Dro wants to go to this city of the dead to banish it from existence. How he’s going to annihilate an entire lake to break the link is anyone’s guess, even his, but its damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead for Dro anyway. Myal, on the other hand, wants to write a hit song about it – no kidding – and figures that since nobody has ever written a song about Ghyste Mortua he’s got a shot. The problem is that for him to do that he has to see the place. I guess he can’t just imagine it or something. Maybe he’s the kind of songwriter that has to live a thing to write about it, he’s got to really soak in a vibe to capture its truth. Who knows.
Lee makes it clear that Myal has the musical goods to write this song, somehow he frequently charms audiences with his singing and duar playing, so it’s possible to imagine he could pull this off. The only problem is he can’t find Ghyste Mortua, but enter Dro, and his psychic ghost sense, and now Myal suddenly has a lead.
And what exactly is Ciddy’s role in all this? Well, before Dro can move on from town to find Ghyste Mortua he’s got some unfinished business. As a ghost killer it just doesn’t sit right with him to leave Ciddy out in her semi-castle with a ghost. He’s got to kill it, that’s what he does. So before rolling along he doubles back to the bad-vibes estate, sneaks in, and dispatches Cilny lickety-split. On the way out he says “your welcome” to Ciddy and moves on, leaving the mopey sister alone and even more miserable than before.
So now Ciddy is SO mad. How dare Dro dispatch the rustling pile of shadows that was her sister? She’s going to show him, show him real good. Her plan, she decides, is to kill herself, become a ghost, and haunt Dro’s ass for all time. And that’s what she does. Almost.
After drowning herself in the same river her sister died in, she’s all set to haunt the hell out of Dro, only, through a variety of circumstances it would take far too long for me to explain here, Myal shows up at exactly the wrong moment and ends up as Ciddy’s energy source. Yup, poor Myal, no one will recognize his genius AND he’s a human battery for a ghoul intent on destroying his only link to Ghyste Mortua. Can it get any worse?
Suffice to say it does, and what follows is a weird spin on a classic fantasy quest story. There was a lot to like about it, especially the strange way Lee writes it almost more like a myth than a typical fantasy story, and while the climax at Ghyste Mortua is pretty great, I had a big problem with the end of this book. Two problems really.
First, the whole ending feels rushed. About eighty percent of the way through the book there is a huge info dump clearly written to move things to a conclusion. It’s really jarring, and it goes on for several pages. You can almost hear the editor from DAW saying “Come on Lee, this ain’t art. Wrap this shit up already. It’s just a spinner rack book for Christ’s sake!”
The second problem are the twists. There are two big ones that directly follow the info dump and, true to form, they change everything. Now I love a good twist as much as the next person, but these are real doozies. In fact, going into them here would be huge spoilers, but suffice to say you will either love them or hate them. I hated them. They were the kind of twists where many of the rules I loved in this book are broken, and they leave you scratching your head thinking “But wait, if that’s true then why didn’t Dro just say something in the first scene and avoid this entire book?” They really are that big.
So, should you read Kill The Dead? I kind of think it’s worth it – twists be damned. Lee is such an interesting writer, and there are so many cool ideas in this book that I’d recommend it based on that alone. If you want to read something fun and easy, this is not that. There were paragraphs in this book I had to read twice in order to fully digest them, but despite that I think it’s worth your time.
This is one of those books that would be great for a book club. Not a long read but likely to divide the room in such a way that people will, after a couple of glasses of wine, get angry with each other over it. In fact, I kind of wish I’d had someone to argue with about this book after I’d finished it, if, for no other reason, than to try and make more sense of its ending.
If you like the unusual, give this book a try. I know I will definitely be checking out more of Lee’s work in the future, and hopefully the next book I read by her won’t wrap up so quickly or have twists that make me want to throw it across the room when I’m done.
February 9, 2024
Parl Dro, the 'ghost killer' Kill the Dead, is a bit like Geralt of Rivia of the Witcher Series. A seemingly emotionless badass with obscure knowledge of paranormal-hunting, who just cannot go anywhere without people hounding him either on account of business or his reputation. ...Unlike Geralt however (and I'm not even a big fan of Geralt), Parl Dro is, on top of it, just an asshole. Usually with these stoic 'badasses' there's the hinted notion that underneath their cynicism and gruffness there's a heart of gold; the world has made them bitter, but they WILL save the little orphan child (or whatever) because it's the right thing to do. Parl Dro, on the other hand, is not only blandly over-competent, but also possesses the wit of a 15 year old boy, whom if you called him a son of a bitch would say to you, thinking himself intensely clever, "Unless my mother was a female wolf, then what you've said is just inaccurate". Then, if you were to reply to him "What?" I wouldn't be surprised if he followed up with "Chicken Butt".
The rest of the characters in Kill the Dead were equally lovely. A whole pack of bitter, unpleasant persons who I couldn't wait to not be around anymore. It was a shame, because there's a seedling of an idea I found intriguing. I like the idea of a 'ghost hunter', and the notion that, in this world, ghosts are not only common, but not entirely REPULSED by everyone was interesting; that people might cling to their dead friends and family, even as those spirits suck away their life-force, and that those people would view the exorcist come to save them as the villain.
But none of it worked, because the world was so dreary and miserable, and the characters were so unpleasant.
Or, maybe it's all brilliant, because putting the book down made me feel like I'd just exorcised an evil spirit from my soul. How incredibly immersive!
The rest of the characters in Kill the Dead were equally lovely. A whole pack of bitter, unpleasant persons who I couldn't wait to not be around anymore. It was a shame, because there's a seedling of an idea I found intriguing. I like the idea of a 'ghost hunter', and the notion that, in this world, ghosts are not only common, but not entirely REPULSED by everyone was interesting; that people might cling to their dead friends and family, even as those spirits suck away their life-force, and that those people would view the exorcist come to save them as the villain.
But none of it worked, because the world was so dreary and miserable, and the characters were so unpleasant.
Or, maybe it's all brilliant, because putting the book down made me feel like I'd just exorcised an evil spirit from my soul. How incredibly immersive!
April 22, 2021
This review previously appeared on the DMR Books Blog.
Parl Dro is an infamous ghost-killer – not for revenge, honor, or pay (usually), but because it’s his calling. It’s just what he does. Myal Lemyal is an unconfident minstrel who has mastered a bizarre double-necked string/wind instrument. He is in search of a subject for a song that will live forever, and believes that Ghyste Mortua, the mythical city of the deadalive, will give him the inspiration he desires. He attaches himself to Dro in the hopes that he will lead him there. As a loner, Dro is not enthusiastic about his new follower. Myal puts up with Dro’s sarcastic verbal abuse because it’s nothing compared to the physical abuse his father dealt out to him. Along the way the pair is tormented by the ghost (?) of Ciddey Soban, a girl whose sister was exorcised by Dro.
The narrative is frequently interrupted by flashbacks that provided more background information on the characters. This seemed somewhat unnecessary to me at first, however, it all became relevant at the book’s shocking conclusion. My only other complaint is that the dialogue is too modern and sarcastic (“You’re not a particularly splendid hero, are you?” “Compared with you?” “Oh well, if you’re going to be offensive.”)
Due to Tanith Lee’s untimely death, interest in her work is bound to rise. Kill the Dead is a good place to start – or revisit.
Parl Dro is an infamous ghost-killer – not for revenge, honor, or pay (usually), but because it’s his calling. It’s just what he does. Myal Lemyal is an unconfident minstrel who has mastered a bizarre double-necked string/wind instrument. He is in search of a subject for a song that will live forever, and believes that Ghyste Mortua, the mythical city of the deadalive, will give him the inspiration he desires. He attaches himself to Dro in the hopes that he will lead him there. As a loner, Dro is not enthusiastic about his new follower. Myal puts up with Dro’s sarcastic verbal abuse because it’s nothing compared to the physical abuse his father dealt out to him. Along the way the pair is tormented by the ghost (?) of Ciddey Soban, a girl whose sister was exorcised by Dro.
The narrative is frequently interrupted by flashbacks that provided more background information on the characters. This seemed somewhat unnecessary to me at first, however, it all became relevant at the book’s shocking conclusion. My only other complaint is that the dialogue is too modern and sarcastic (“You’re not a particularly splendid hero, are you?” “Compared with you?” “Oh well, if you’re going to be offensive.”)
Due to Tanith Lee’s untimely death, interest in her work is bound to rise. Kill the Dead is a good place to start – or revisit.
April 10, 2023
When I realised that two of the stranger and artier episodes of Blake’s 7 (‘Sarcophagus’ and ‘Sand’) were both written by Tanith Lee and I was intrigued to see what her novels were like. I saw KILL THE DEAD recommended on a B7 fan group post and decided to take a chance on it.
Firstly it’s easy to see why B7 fans are so keen on it as the main character Parl Dro is clearly based on B7 actor Paul Darrow. The descriptions of the character, the dialogue he speaks and even the chopped up name all paint a vivid picture of Paul Darrow staring as the character in a BBC show or a Hammer Horror movie (it would have made a great vehicle for him post B7 had it been adapted).
All the ingredients that made Lee’s Blake’s 7 episodes so unique are present here (slightly surreal and mythic plot turns, a nod to gothic horror, humour and a slightly giggly and giddy yet also clandestine approach to sexual relations) though the setting here is an unidentified olde world place and time rather than outer space in the future.
All in all, it was an entertaining read and although some of the plotting felt a little bumpy and ‘start-stop-start-stop’ at times incredibly Lee manages to stick a handful of landings I didn’t see coming and create a fully satisfying ending when I sort of expected more of general conclusion.
A great little lost gem from 1980, it won’t be for everyone but for those with a fondness for a certain period of fantasy-horror there’s lots to enjoy.
Firstly it’s easy to see why B7 fans are so keen on it as the main character Parl Dro is clearly based on B7 actor Paul Darrow. The descriptions of the character, the dialogue he speaks and even the chopped up name all paint a vivid picture of Paul Darrow staring as the character in a BBC show or a Hammer Horror movie (it would have made a great vehicle for him post B7 had it been adapted).
All the ingredients that made Lee’s Blake’s 7 episodes so unique are present here (slightly surreal and mythic plot turns, a nod to gothic horror, humour and a slightly giggly and giddy yet also clandestine approach to sexual relations) though the setting here is an unidentified olde world place and time rather than outer space in the future.
All in all, it was an entertaining read and although some of the plotting felt a little bumpy and ‘start-stop-start-stop’ at times incredibly Lee manages to stick a handful of landings I didn’t see coming and create a fully satisfying ending when I sort of expected more of general conclusion.
A great little lost gem from 1980, it won’t be for everyone but for those with a fondness for a certain period of fantasy-horror there’s lots to enjoy.
June 23, 2025
An excellently written supernatural story that largely follows sword-and-sorcery structures but embellishes them with tragic, baroque, and existential themes. I first wanted to read this because of a reference in AD&D 2nd edition Complete Necromancer's Handbook. I have also read it that for Tanith Lee this is a 'normie' book and her writing is often much more weird. Having only read one of her short stories before, I'm very much looking forward to the weirder entries.
February 23, 2019
What if a Roger Zelazny protagonist and a Tim Powers protagonist went on a road trip and had gloomy Tanith Lee-style adventures with strong ghost incest subtext?
Like, usually I'm not one for father/son ships but Tanith Lee is really selling it here.
Like, usually I'm not one for father/son ships but Tanith Lee is really selling it here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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