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Inquestor / Chronicles of the High Inquest #3
The Darkling Wind
the towering epic of an empires fall
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
389 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
5 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
S.P. Somtow
189 books157 followersCalled by the Bangkok Post "the Thai person known by name to most people in the world," S.P. Somtow is an author, composer, filmmaker, and international media personality whose dazzling talents and acerbic wit have entertained and enlightened fans the world over.
He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.
He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.
Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.
He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.
He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.
Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 4, 2020
In The Darkling Wind, author S.P Somtow returns with the fourth novel in the Inquestor series, arguably topping the other novels to become the best instalment yet.
As with the other books in the series, The Darkling Wind contains a brilliant and truly unique fantasy world which is sure to captivate any reader. This instalment brings some shocking revelations as well as increasing depth to the characters which have previously been explored.
One of the things that really stood out for me in this book was the dialogue. There is something so natural about it that makes it smooth and enjoyable to read, but at the same time it is so much more engaging in it than everyday speech. It is something that really grabs you and pulls you into the story from the get go. Even If you are not a fan of conventional Sci-fi (much like myself before giving these books a try), you are bound to find a message within that resonates with you. Personally, there was something about the line: “Don’t talk to me of freedom, Jherwo; It’s is a word, air, empty.” Which really spoke to me.
This is a series I am so glad to see continue and one which I would highly recommend to any avid reader, whether they are a fan of Sci-fi or not.
As with the other books in the series, The Darkling Wind contains a brilliant and truly unique fantasy world which is sure to captivate any reader. This instalment brings some shocking revelations as well as increasing depth to the characters which have previously been explored.
One of the things that really stood out for me in this book was the dialogue. There is something so natural about it that makes it smooth and enjoyable to read, but at the same time it is so much more engaging in it than everyday speech. It is something that really grabs you and pulls you into the story from the get go. Even If you are not a fan of conventional Sci-fi (much like myself before giving these books a try), you are bound to find a message within that resonates with you. Personally, there was something about the line: “Don’t talk to me of freedom, Jherwo; It’s is a word, air, empty.” Which really spoke to me.
This is a series I am so glad to see continue and one which I would highly recommend to any avid reader, whether they are a fan of Sci-fi or not.
September 20, 2007
When black isn't dark enough.
June 28, 2023
utterly fantastical tale with often beautiful lyrical writing unusual in sci-fi
February 7, 2011
Overall series rating: 2.5 stars
I remember reading The Light on the Sound and The Throne of Madness as a teen; I know I hadn’t read Utopia Hunters before now; and I think I read The Darkling Wind back in the day. I know I owned a copy.
What drew me to the novels then were the premise and that Sucharitkul had created not just one but two languages (extensively quoted) and a script for them. The premise is suitably operatic – The Inquestors have ruled the Dispersal of Man for 20 millennia from Uran s’Varek, the dyson sphere surrounding the black hole at the center of the galaxy and source of the Inquestors’ overwhelming power. They subscribe to a religion that believes Man is fundamentally sinful and any attempt to better humanity’s condition (the heresy of utopianism) must be crushed. The Inquestor Davaryush comes to the world of Shtoma to find a real utopia sustained by the system’s sentient sun, Udara. He becomes The Heretic but realizes he is too corrupted by the Inquest to bring it down so he searches for an innocent whom he can raise to Inquestorhood and who will bring its tyranny to an end. He finds one in the boy Kelver.
As in The Shattered Horse, Sucharitkul plays with myths and the end of the Age of Heroes, and, as a consequence, the protagonists of the first two books are distant and difficult to relate to – they are the embodiments of mythical archetypes. In The Utopia Hunters and The Darkling Wind we have human-size protagonists and (finally) the pace begins to pick up. Both factors that prompted me to give these two 3 stars instead of 2.
I found the author’s prose a bit hard to wade through and he has no gift for dialog but I had a qualified enjoyment reading the books. I still love the premise and scope of the Dispersal of Man and I still love the languages he created but I can’t recommend this to my GR friends unless they’re already Sucharitkul (aka S.P. Somtow) fans.
I remember reading The Light on the Sound and The Throne of Madness as a teen; I know I hadn’t read Utopia Hunters before now; and I think I read The Darkling Wind back in the day. I know I owned a copy.
What drew me to the novels then were the premise and that Sucharitkul had created not just one but two languages (extensively quoted) and a script for them. The premise is suitably operatic – The Inquestors have ruled the Dispersal of Man for 20 millennia from Uran s’Varek, the dyson sphere surrounding the black hole at the center of the galaxy and source of the Inquestors’ overwhelming power. They subscribe to a religion that believes Man is fundamentally sinful and any attempt to better humanity’s condition (the heresy of utopianism) must be crushed. The Inquestor Davaryush comes to the world of Shtoma to find a real utopia sustained by the system’s sentient sun, Udara. He becomes The Heretic but realizes he is too corrupted by the Inquest to bring it down so he searches for an innocent whom he can raise to Inquestorhood and who will bring its tyranny to an end. He finds one in the boy Kelver.
As in The Shattered Horse, Sucharitkul plays with myths and the end of the Age of Heroes, and, as a consequence, the protagonists of the first two books are distant and difficult to relate to – they are the embodiments of mythical archetypes. In The Utopia Hunters and The Darkling Wind we have human-size protagonists and (finally) the pace begins to pick up. Both factors that prompted me to give these two 3 stars instead of 2.
I found the author’s prose a bit hard to wade through and he has no gift for dialog but I had a qualified enjoyment reading the books. I still love the premise and scope of the Dispersal of Man and I still love the languages he created but I can’t recommend this to my GR friends unless they’re already Sucharitkul (aka S.P. Somtow) fans.
October 3, 2025
I love this series hard to describe why. I suspect it's the author's sensibilities - a mix of beauty, artistic prose elements and edginess. I guess arty and evocative without being dumb or shallow. Someone said it reminded her when "goth culture was cool and exciting", before it became cringe, puerile and "self affected". Another book by Somtow that feels the same is the novella "I Wake from a Dream of a Dying Star City" (published first in 1992).
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews