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Books : Science Fiction & Fantasy : Authors, A-Z : D : Drake, David
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Queen of Demons is the middle volume of a mammoth heroic fantasy trilogy beginning with Lord of the Isles (1997). After dealing with a variety of menaces in book one, shepherd-boy hero Garric is on course to unite his archipelago world against the remaining forces of chaos, evil and unpleasantness, thus earning the title Lord of the Isles.Again Garric's allies--including some interesting new helpers--are widely scattered in a tangle of linked storylines and headlong action, featuring many exhilarating fights against monsters, chimeras, phantoms, revenants, Hairy Men, Scaly Men, a cyclops, wicked wizards, and the book's two biggies: the unspeakable Beast which demands a diet of young girls, and the title's evilly beautiful, demon-spawned Queen. At regular intervals characters fall through another magic portal to find themselves in a new plane or dimension or hell world, there to discover mislaid friends, deadly peril, or more likely both.
Drake keeps his narrative bowling along with plenty of colour, occasional doses of practical politics, and no time at all for boredom. Arbitrary transitions and wild coincidences make it seem slightly tongue in cheek, a soap-operatic entertainment with an endless series of vicious villains to be zapped, outwitted or skewered with a trusty blade. At the very end, with Good seemingly triumphant, up pops another one:
The wizard stood on the back of the monster he had called to him. He raised his head, and the heavens echoed with his laughter.
More in book three ... --David Langford
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David Drake made his name in genre fiction with the "Hammer's Slammers" series of military SF about tough future mercenaries, launched in 1979. A versatile writer, he's also published well-received fantasies: Lord of the Isles opens a massive new saga of clashing swords and spells in an archipelago world. 1,000 years beforehand, potent sorcery won a war only for its backlash to sink the winning island. Now, with magic reaching another millennial peak of power, the world is endangered. Among the players are a king's ghost and two magicians who were present at the ancient disaster (one of them caused it), plus modern wizards, warriors and unknowing descendants of royalty. Drake skilfully juggles multiple storylines as his engaging characters meet a wild variety of danger: rising and vanishing lands, the reanimated dead (not only human dead), out-of-control sorcery, demons, riots, traps and other planes of reality including hell itself. The magic comes in several fascinating and often unpleasant flavours. Even likeable characters may die. This story reads well and halts at a satisfying moment of victory rather than a nail-biting cliffhanger. It doesn't quite achieve epic scale--clearly Drake is keeping major trump cards in reserve for the coming sequels. A promising start. --David Langford
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