My original review from March 15th 2022 of Childe Rolande by Samantha Lee published by Futura Books

Some time before I was given the opportunity to reprint this novel under my own Parallel Universe Publications imprint this was a review I wrote and had published on amazon for its first publication in 1989 by Futura Books. 

CHILDEROLANDE by Samantha Lee

FuturaPublications 1989

Althoughthis dark fantasy novel of a post-apocalyptic Scotland was published thirtyyears ago, it reads as fresh today, with issues that are just as pertinent nowas they were in the 1980s.

Mostof the story is told in the first person by Rolande her-or-himself. I say her-or-himselfbecause, in the woman-dominating culture that rules Scotland in this futuretime, Rolande is that rarest of beings, a hermaphrodite, having both thegenitals of a man and a woman. As only a handful of drugged, caged and pamperedmales are allowed to live intact as “breed beasts” in the Scotland of thisstory,  the dwarf Morangy, a eunuch aswell as chief “healer” in the royal household, steals Rolande away and puts herin the care of a renegade male known as the prophet. Morangy realises thatRolande could be the fulfilment of a prophecy that a hermaphrodite will one dayrise to become “the Redeemer”, who will end the vicious tyranny of the femalerulers of Alba and restore equality between the sexes.

Rolande’sstory becomes ever more complex as she grows older, especially after, as partof a travelling band of entertainers, she catches the romantic attention of theMaxwell, Chief Warlord of the Clans of Alba (Scotland), which results in herbeing brought into the royal household where she meets her twin sister, though neitherknow of their relationship yet or even that the other existed, as the events ofRolande’s birth were a secret known only to a few.

Thisis a complex novel, with some strongly delineated characters, and some of the fiercestviolence and graphically described tortures and executions I have ever read,perhaps expected from a veteran writer of the Pan Books of Horror. Overand above this, though, it is an epic saga of a struggle to end a repressivetyranny, with perhaps one of the blackest, most evil villains I have comeacross in the form of the mad sorceress and high priestess, Fergael, whobecomes uglier and psychotically more dangerous as time goes on. There is magictoo of the darkest sort and the occasional monster, though both occur sparinglyand are all the more credibly dramatic for it.

Anexcellent novel and one I would recommend unreservedly for anyone who loves thedarkest of fantasies in a post-apocalyptic future - and a damn good story too.

Reviewedby David A. Riley