4.5 starMagnificently strange and otherworldly. Feels like a weird dream from which I don't want to wake.

What in the actual fuck did I just read?Queer characters who are grooming pedophiles, women who get raped and become villains themselves only to be further punished by the narrative. I just... whatno

Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || PinterestMost of the highly anticipated YA fantasy novels coming out this year have been a bust for me, and I keep getting the occasional rude comment that says something like, "You're too picky/mean/etc." Well, to that, I say, "Maybe I actually know what good fantasy novels look like because I've actually read some marvels with achingly good prose that has so much pathos it just about makes you cry?" Because if that's what you're looking for, Ta

I apologize to anyone who might actually read my reviews. A dawning fascination with Tanith Lee's writing will soon overtake the pile of in-progress books on my shelves. I don't know how many volumes of her work it will take before I can tear myself away and finish the overdue library stack or the slough of my over-encumbered nightstand. This novel opens with a demon's-eye view of a flat earth. Read the first page and I believe you will not be able to stop reading. That's how it was with me. The...

4.5 starsORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.Long ago, the earth was flat. Humans lived on its surface while the benevolent gods who created them lived in the heavens. Regretting that they had made man, the gods ignored their creation and held themselves aloof while the sorcerous demons that lived in the glowing gem-encrusted city under the earth were permitted to use humans as they wished. Being at the whim of cruel and impulsive demons made these times terrifying for humans. Eventually hat...

4.0 stars. A beautifully written, original fantasy story that reads like mythology. The main character, Azhrarn, is the Prince of Demons. Azhrarn is extremely powerful and spends his time amusing himself, mostly by tormenting humans and creating mischief. As the story progresses through a series of interlinked tales, we see Azhrarn transform from malevolent trickster to Christ-like savior and then back again. A very good book and certainly an excellent choice if you are looking for sonething a l...

One night, Azhrarn Prince of Demons, one of the Lords of Darkness, took on him, for amusement, the shape of a great black eagle. East and west he flew, beating with his vast wings, north and south, to the four edges of the world, for in those days the earth was flat and floated on the ocean of chaos. Another one of those I'm not even going to pretend to be objective about. This has been one of my favorite books (and favorite series) ever since I first read them in the distant days of 1990 (when

Gorgeous stuff! These wonderful tales read like a rich tapestry. The language is exquisite. Others have likened Lee's Flat Earth stories to the Arabian Nights tales and I can't disagree. Definitely moving on to the next volume in the series!

Fantasy author Tanith Lee takes inspiration from The Arabian Nights and Tales of the Dying Earth to tell a series of interconnected tales of the demon Azhrarn and the mortals with whose lives he meddles. Lee uses a similar storytelling style to that of Ursula K. Le Guin in A Wizard of Earthsea to give the narrative a mythical flavor. Unfortunately none of the story content is more than mildly interesting and much of it, including some truly bizarre sexual content, may be revolting to modern read...

This is the first in a series and having struggled through this one I'm not sure I want to continue although I have the others.The book is not really a novel but more a series of interconnected short stories with the same setting: Flat Earth at a time when the gods exist but are remote self obsessed beings with no interest in humanity or the Earth, and demons also exist, who live in the Underearth and take an all too unpleasant interest. The chief "character", if you can call him such, is Azharn...

Night's Master's story is told in the form of three sets of interleaved short stories, each of those three mostly unconnected with each other aside from the setting and the titular character, Azhrarn. The writing style is dreamlike, and the stories read like fairy tales. But don't expect virginal heroines marrying their heroes after defeating the wicked queen, a la Disney. The fairy tales called back to are more like the old oral stories or our own urban legends, full of sex (often coercive or n...

Maybe closer to 3.5 stars, but what the heck. Did you ever read Vance's Dying Earth stories and think "you know what this needs? More penetration!"Seriously, though, this book was kind of hard for me to rate. First of all, it is basically a bunch of short stories, and I am rarely impressed with short story collections. To each his own and all, but I am more of a novel kind of guy. I will say, however, that if you like fairy tales (especially darker ones) then you will probably find yourself righ...

This was the first Tanith Lee I ever read. I used to have the SFBC omnibus editions (which I got by accident--forgot to send the reply card back in time--and decided to keep) and read the first three books of the set. I liked them a bit, but had a hard time getting into the mythical style of narration. The Flat Earth books are collections of interconnected myths, legends, or fairy tales if you will, where magic is wondrous and not subject to laws, even fantastical ones. If a demon wants to grow

Tanith Lee is a veritable master of the macabre. Her stories are stunningly lush, fever dreams of someone who loves the dark, but remembers that maybe others will not. This is a book of mythology whose focus is not that of the gods or mortal heroes, but of demons. Finally, when the protagonists do the terrible things our gods so often are said to have done, you understand why.CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)[ incest, rape (both statutory and graphic), death, torture, war (hide spoiler)]Things to...

At first this book seemed very strange to me. At the end I was hooked ! What a great book, the author has a beautiful imagination and is great at telling stories, this isn't a lengthy very descriptive novel but it is fantastic the way the author writes is like a poem. Loved it will keep reading these strange books and will be reading the authors other works :)

"What demons love they slay in the end, and the gifts of demons are snares."This collection of connected fable like tales all involve, to a greater or lesser extent, Azhrarn, Prince of Demons, and his trifling with, troublemaking for, and general bedeviling of humanity. Themes of love, revenge, vanity and greed run through the stories, generally reinforcing the message that Demons can't be trusted, no matter how beautiful they may make themselves appear. Also, crossing a demon generally does not...

A fascinating book; but annoying. I admire the challenge Lee takes on: creating a main character who is the personification of evil; and then persuading the reader to emphasize with him. Sure, it is no trick to make a cool and roguish villain. We all know how easily the bad boys steal scenes. They always get the sunglasses, the spot-light and the best lines. But how many writers since Milton have made a sympathetic Satan?Lee succeeds; but at the cost that I resent my own sympathy. I'd still like...

I have always been a huge fan of fantasy, and this author has been on my to-be-read list for ages. I've seen her name enough to realize her books should be a staple for fantasy lovers, and now I understand why. I was swept away while reading, into a land of mythical proportions. Each tale is its own separate entity, but they are woven together with fine threads interconnecting them in slight but important ways. The language used was masterful, descriptions written in almost over-the-top, fancifu...

I've re-read this book several times and I feel so few people know about it - so why not recommend it. Warning: this will be a very subjective review, because it's one of my favorite books - if not THE favorite book.I happened to come across it only a year or two ago, as I heard of Tanith Lee and wanted to try her writing. I was not disappointed.The book is made of stories, which are interconnected. The prose is the first thing you will fall in love with - it's rich, fluent, so very vibrant that...

I really didn't like this much (1.5 stars rounded down), so I'm going to forgo my usual format and just say give a few sentences so I can move on.In general I don't much care for short stories, and this book is essentially a collection of loosely related short stories. That might have been OK, but there is a lot of awful (or sometimes just weird) sex stuff. I don't have a problem with sex in books, but it's not something I actively seek out either. Nothing in this book is very graphically depict...