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Krantin #2
The Death God's Citadel
Ballantine Del Rey, paperback original novel. One of two printings (1980, 1984). This fantasy novel is a stand-alone sequel to “The Web of Wizardry” (1978). Together these books are the “Krantin” novels.
386 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 12, 1980
About the author
Juanita Coulson
38 books18 followersJuanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her Children of the Stars books, published from 1981 to 1989. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juanita...)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 3, 2016
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Publisher: Venture
Publishing Date: 1980
ISBN: 9780345317896
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5
Publishers Description: Alighting in a new land, Tyrus and Erezjan are no strangers to a life of wandering. They have travelled far and wide across the realm of Krantin, descrying regions from afar. Now they find themselves integrated into life in a distant and eccentric new province, Couredh. Before long, it becomes obvious that they will not be able to conceal the true nature of their arrival from the locals for long…
Review: This started off pretty good. Two travelers on the hunt for an evil wizard, plying the streets of a city looking for clues. And then it goes to crap with the introduction of super speshully Queen Jathelle and super hot/shy/dumb Princess Ilissa. See Queen Jathelle is not only hot, she also fought in the barbarian wars alongside her father when she was just slightly hot, dotes over her dumb sister and crys like a baby when a horse is injured. She can take charge of a tense situation yet can fall into the arms of her bwig stwong wizard when taxed to the brink. Fug. See they have this special bond having just met a few days ago. Riiiiight. Well it gets dumber. See what would a story be without a blackguard ruffian thief Lord/King that would just as soon stab you in the back than help you out of a jam. But he does (stab them in the back) but helps them realize their goals and is amply rewarded (HA!HA!). He even has a long mustache that he twirls. Fuuuuug. There is the standard douche character that seeks to charm the throne from Jathelle while plying dumb Illissa with his manly wiles.
In short, the storyline is still pretty solid as is the world building. The characterization and dialogue is just way too patterned and obvious. Read the first half then drop it in a box and ship it to Seattle.
Publisher: Venture
Publishing Date: 1980
ISBN: 9780345317896
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5
Publishers Description: Alighting in a new land, Tyrus and Erezjan are no strangers to a life of wandering. They have travelled far and wide across the realm of Krantin, descrying regions from afar. Now they find themselves integrated into life in a distant and eccentric new province, Couredh. Before long, it becomes obvious that they will not be able to conceal the true nature of their arrival from the locals for long…
Review: This started off pretty good. Two travelers on the hunt for an evil wizard, plying the streets of a city looking for clues. And then it goes to crap with the introduction of super speshully Queen Jathelle and super hot/shy/dumb Princess Ilissa. See Queen Jathelle is not only hot, she also fought in the barbarian wars alongside her father when she was just slightly hot, dotes over her dumb sister and crys like a baby when a horse is injured. She can take charge of a tense situation yet can fall into the arms of her bwig stwong wizard when taxed to the brink. Fug. See they have this special bond having just met a few days ago. Riiiiight. Well it gets dumber. See what would a story be without a blackguard ruffian thief Lord/King that would just as soon stab you in the back than help you out of a jam. But he does (stab them in the back) but helps them realize their goals and is amply rewarded (HA!HA!). He even has a long mustache that he twirls. Fuuuuug. There is the standard douche character that seeks to charm the throne from Jathelle while plying dumb Illissa with his manly wiles.
In short, the storyline is still pretty solid as is the world building. The characterization and dialogue is just way too patterned and obvious. Read the first half then drop it in a box and ship it to Seattle.
March 1, 2025
An interesting but ultimately middling fantasy story. When I picked this one up a fantasy section of an amazing bookshop in Haye-On-Wye, I had no idea it was book two in a twopart series, having never ever heard of the author.
I genuinely thought this was going to be a bit of cheesy fantasy to wile away some airport hours. It ended up being much better written than its dramatic title suggested.
What’s interesting is despite having not read the first book, I never felt alienated from the story or didn’t understand what was going on. I credit Coulson for this as it’s not the easiest thing to write something so dense yet so accessible.
The story, which centres on a sorcerer called.Tyrus and his shape-shifting friend, Erezujan, heading into a cold realm called Couredh, hot on the heels of Tyrus‘s evil father, Vraduir, a powerful sorcerer responsible for the death of their entire realm
The set up and first half of the book is extremely entertaining. There were some really interesting uses of magic as our two heroes pretend to be street entertainers, before the true extent of their powers and the shapeshifter secret of Erezujan become apparent. They meet a couple of beautiful princesses, there’s skulllduggery and bargains with a local bandit lord and his gang, and lots of sneaking around with a bit of a body count thrown into the mix. All very fun stuff but written with adult intent.
Sadly, after a monster attack captures the younger of the two princesses, the book falls into standard fantasy troops of a quest. We then spend over a quarter of the book tracking through mountains and forests, hills and plains, encountering beasties and weird magics, but unfortunately it starts to become a bit of a slog.
By the time they reach the citadel of the title, I unfortunately had lost interest somewhat. There’s some rather abrupt heel turn decisions and more trekking through the magic citadel before they finally encounter their prey. I’ll give it this though: the story does wrap up an interesting way, resorting to bargaining and debate over violence, making deals with the titular Death God, it all just feels a little messy and episodic getting there. Furthermore upon resolving themain plot, there is then another 40 or 50 pages of them slogging back over the same mountains, forest hills and plains that I could have dove without.
I did care enough about the characters to want to see their stories resolved, it just could’ve wrapped up a little bit quicker.
One thing I will say about this book though is the magic is interesting. Being written in the early 1980s, I suspect that there was an element of the author being a Doctor Strange or Lovecraft fan, with lots of walking in magic realms on impossible pathways whilst terrifying things lurk in the depths. Magic is very central to this book and the rules are not always clear but one thing is for sure: sorcerers are not to be messed with in this world. Some of the powers on display are really interesting, things like morphing common objects into weapons and swords, turning donkeys into horses, that sort of thing. Also using magic to shield and glamour from monsters not to combat but to just be able to walk past them, using magic as camouflage. Creating fires in impossible situations, or to heal and spy, it’s a broad and fun use of one of the more difficult aspects of fantasy. It’s a neat display of magical power, both sometimes mundane yet really impressive at the same time.
Sadly the main reason this ended up falling to a middling review is due to one story decision that happens near the end of the book. I was particularly surprised given this was a female author, but a central plot point comes from the abasement and rape of a primary character. This reveal serves no character purpose other than to make the bad guy worse, and to drive the quest party onto their ultimate victory. Whilst it is recognised as a horrific act, the story would’ve worked perfectly fine without it and to be honest if made me feeling uncomfortable that such an act could be deployed almost casually as a story beat. To make things worse there is then a use of magic that conveniently removes the impact of that act from the major majority of surviving characters (though not the actual victim or our primary characters) - I found this particularly unpleasant, as it’s almost admitting this was a step too far and not something people in this world should really have to deal with, a dirty little secret to brush under the carpet having served its purpose. The character question even gets a perfectly normal happy ending. This just feels exploitative.
That summarises this up well though: an interesting set of ideas, not always successful, not afraid to take chances or go to dark places, but not too grimdark in the modern sense, characters you like for the most part, yet actually sometimes a straight into eye rolling earnestness. I would happily consider re-reading this if I can get hold of the proceeding book. It would be interesting to see if my take on the story would be enhanced or lessened by spending more time with these characters.
Overall an enjoyable surprise for the most part, just a shame its unevenness means it doesn’t quite hang together as a successful whole.
I genuinely thought this was going to be a bit of cheesy fantasy to wile away some airport hours. It ended up being much better written than its dramatic title suggested.
What’s interesting is despite having not read the first book, I never felt alienated from the story or didn’t understand what was going on. I credit Coulson for this as it’s not the easiest thing to write something so dense yet so accessible.
The story, which centres on a sorcerer called.Tyrus and his shape-shifting friend, Erezujan, heading into a cold realm called Couredh, hot on the heels of Tyrus‘s evil father, Vraduir, a powerful sorcerer responsible for the death of their entire realm
The set up and first half of the book is extremely entertaining. There were some really interesting uses of magic as our two heroes pretend to be street entertainers, before the true extent of their powers and the shapeshifter secret of Erezujan become apparent. They meet a couple of beautiful princesses, there’s skulllduggery and bargains with a local bandit lord and his gang, and lots of sneaking around with a bit of a body count thrown into the mix. All very fun stuff but written with adult intent.
Sadly, after a monster attack captures the younger of the two princesses, the book falls into standard fantasy troops of a quest. We then spend over a quarter of the book tracking through mountains and forests, hills and plains, encountering beasties and weird magics, but unfortunately it starts to become a bit of a slog.
By the time they reach the citadel of the title, I unfortunately had lost interest somewhat. There’s some rather abrupt heel turn decisions and more trekking through the magic citadel before they finally encounter their prey. I’ll give it this though: the story does wrap up an interesting way, resorting to bargaining and debate over violence, making deals with the titular Death God, it all just feels a little messy and episodic getting there. Furthermore upon resolving themain plot, there is then another 40 or 50 pages of them slogging back over the same mountains, forest hills and plains that I could have dove without.
I did care enough about the characters to want to see their stories resolved, it just could’ve wrapped up a little bit quicker.
One thing I will say about this book though is the magic is interesting. Being written in the early 1980s, I suspect that there was an element of the author being a Doctor Strange or Lovecraft fan, with lots of walking in magic realms on impossible pathways whilst terrifying things lurk in the depths. Magic is very central to this book and the rules are not always clear but one thing is for sure: sorcerers are not to be messed with in this world. Some of the powers on display are really interesting, things like morphing common objects into weapons and swords, turning donkeys into horses, that sort of thing. Also using magic to shield and glamour from monsters not to combat but to just be able to walk past them, using magic as camouflage. Creating fires in impossible situations, or to heal and spy, it’s a broad and fun use of one of the more difficult aspects of fantasy. It’s a neat display of magical power, both sometimes mundane yet really impressive at the same time.
Sadly the main reason this ended up falling to a middling review is due to one story decision that happens near the end of the book. I was particularly surprised given this was a female author, but a central plot point comes from the abasement and rape of a primary character. This reveal serves no character purpose other than to make the bad guy worse, and to drive the quest party onto their ultimate victory. Whilst it is recognised as a horrific act, the story would’ve worked perfectly fine without it and to be honest if made me feeling uncomfortable that such an act could be deployed almost casually as a story beat. To make things worse there is then a use of magic that conveniently removes the impact of that act from the major majority of surviving characters (though not the actual victim or our primary characters) - I found this particularly unpleasant, as it’s almost admitting this was a step too far and not something people in this world should really have to deal with, a dirty little secret to brush under the carpet having served its purpose. The character question even gets a perfectly normal happy ending. This just feels exploitative.
That summarises this up well though: an interesting set of ideas, not always successful, not afraid to take chances or go to dark places, but not too grimdark in the modern sense, characters you like for the most part, yet actually sometimes a straight into eye rolling earnestness. I would happily consider re-reading this if I can get hold of the proceeding book. It would be interesting to see if my take on the story would be enhanced or lessened by spending more time with these characters.
Overall an enjoyable surprise for the most part, just a shame its unevenness means it doesn’t quite hang together as a successful whole.
July 28, 2010
I didn't think it was quite as good as Web of Wizardry but it was still a really good book.
January 2, 2024
Tyrus and Erejzan have been traveling incognito for around a year, seeking out the evil wizard Vraduir who laid waste to their island home in his mad lust for power. Their search is slowed and hindered by the fact that no one must know that Tyrus and Erejzan come from royal bloodlines, and Tyrus cannot let anyone know that he, too, can wield magic. The more they stay hidden, the closer they can get to their quarry without Vraduir knowing about it. Now, at long last, at the edges of the Ice Forest which marks the boundary of the God of Death, they have found what they seek. However, they arrive too late to stop the kidnapping of Ilizza, younger sister to the Warrior Queen Jathella. Now Tyrus and Erejzan must take up the chase with the warrior queen, a small band of soldiers, and a group of bandits whose loyalty knows the bounds of monetary gain. Together, the group must pass into the Forbidden Lands where the minions of both wizard and god prowl seeking all who may be devoured.
This is actually the second book of the series, but I didn't know that until halfway through. I'm guessing some things might make more sense if you read the first book first, but I didn't really have any trouble beyond typical 80's hardcore toss-you-in-the-deep-end fantasy difficult to understand. That said... Oh boy is this book at my absolute limit for what I can take as far as violence! It's well written, but... yikes. Also, near the end of the book, there is a sexual assault that happens off-page and doesn't get described, but it does get discussed, not just alluded to. Thankfully, there is a point to it, it's not just gratuitous horror, but it was still... let's go with "uncomfortable."
Things I liked about this book: The magic was inventive and interesting while still being rather vague and mystical. The plot never slows, never drags, and never loses you, and it kept me captivated no matter how uncomfortable I got. I really liked the friendship between Tyrus and Erezjan, they were fantastic. Bonus like: Possibly the best part was when we finally meet the Death God and the conversation between him, Tyrus, and Vraduir.
Things I did not like about this book: In a few uncomfortable places, the way the women were described and the love interest described between them and our two male characters was the kind of stuff male authors get severely ridiculed for. I had to double-check that "Juanita" was a female author. Outside of our two male characters, Jathelle, and the leader of the bandits, no one in the really large cast of side characters actually felt like a real person. This book just kept going, and going, and going. It kept me reading, but it felt like it was never going to end! I do think it could have been seriously shortened.
I'm not sure I actually enjoyed it, but it did have its good moments, and I always wanted to know what happened next. (My curiosity is sometimes a curse.) If you want to pick up this book, just be warned that it is at least a hard PG13 and possibly R for violence and sexual themes. Surprisingly little swearing, though.
This is actually the second book of the series, but I didn't know that until halfway through. I'm guessing some things might make more sense if you read the first book first, but I didn't really have any trouble beyond typical 80's hardcore toss-you-in-the-deep-end fantasy difficult to understand. That said... Oh boy is this book at my absolute limit for what I can take as far as violence! It's well written, but... yikes. Also, near the end of the book, there is a sexual assault that happens off-page and doesn't get described, but it does get discussed, not just alluded to. Thankfully, there is a point to it, it's not just gratuitous horror, but it was still... let's go with "uncomfortable."
Things I liked about this book: The magic was inventive and interesting while still being rather vague and mystical. The plot never slows, never drags, and never loses you, and it kept me captivated no matter how uncomfortable I got. I really liked the friendship between Tyrus and Erezjan, they were fantastic. Bonus like: Possibly the best part was when we finally meet the Death God and the conversation between him, Tyrus, and Vraduir.
Things I did not like about this book: In a few uncomfortable places, the way the women were described and the love interest described between them and our two male characters was the kind of stuff male authors get severely ridiculed for. I had to double-check that "Juanita" was a female author. Outside of our two male characters, Jathelle, and the leader of the bandits, no one in the really large cast of side characters actually felt like a real person. This book just kept going, and going, and going. It kept me reading, but it felt like it was never going to end! I do think it could have been seriously shortened.
I'm not sure I actually enjoyed it, but it did have its good moments, and I always wanted to know what happened next. (My curiosity is sometimes a curse.) If you want to pick up this book, just be warned that it is at least a hard PG13 and possibly R for violence and sexual themes. Surprisingly little swearing, though.
August 8, 2021
Tyrus and Erejzan are on a quest for justice and revenge. Both are survivors of Quamat, an island kingdom destroyed by the god Bogotana as sacrifice for the king's actions. The king, Vraduir, is a wizard, he's also the father of Tyrus. The two survivors have been tracking Vraduir as he's gone across Clarique stealing priceless treasures. They surmise that Vraduir, in is quest for more power, is again gathering things to sacrifice them to a god, this time the death god, Nidil.
The story takes up near the end of the quest. Tyrus and Erejzan have been on the trail for a year or more, and here the author tends to jump back and forth from Quamat seemingly having been destroyed two years ago, and the pursuit having been going on for a year. They arrive at the seizure of the latest prize, the princess Ilissa. Tyrus and Erejzan are joined in their pursuit of Vraduir by Queen Jathelle (Ilissa's sister). They venture north into the the death gods land to confront the greatest wizard of the realms.
The story takes up near the end of the quest. Tyrus and Erejzan have been on the trail for a year or more, and here the author tends to jump back and forth from Quamat seemingly having been destroyed two years ago, and the pursuit having been going on for a year. They arrive at the seizure of the latest prize, the princess Ilissa. Tyrus and Erejzan are joined in their pursuit of Vraduir by Queen Jathelle (Ilissa's sister). They venture north into the the death gods land to confront the greatest wizard of the realms.
May 12, 2010
From my little blog pulpaweek.blogspot.com
Is that Yoda summoning a bird demon on the cover? A bird demon that inexplicably also has fangs in its beak? Great cover, which is the main reason I picked this up. 1980. $2.25 cover price.
At 400 pages of almost completely dialogue, the Death God's Citadel (henceforth DGC) took a long time for me to finish. There are flashes of brilliance in DGC, but I felt like it could have been stripped down and become a much better story. Coulson sticks to a formula throughout the book of 'one chapter action then one chapter chatting and travel' which is prevalent in fantasy novels and generally drives me crazy, DGC included. For the first half of this novel I was of the mind that DGC is a generic but otherwise enjoyable fantasy novel, but the second half really disappointed me with its excessive blathering and lack of a satisfying conclusion.
Death God's Citadel involves Tyrus, the ever so humble wizard (or sorka, as Juanita often renames standard fantasy themes in order to make them her own) and Erezjan, his little red haired (referenced a hundred times, that ginger hair) werebeast buddy are searching for the big bad Vraduir, Tyrus' father and once king of their homeland Qamat. Right away I felt this book was part of a series, given the fact that Vraduir has already laid waste to Qamat in his quest for power, but I could find no reference to a prior book in the front or back pages (edit: Juanita's wiki page confirms it is book 2 of 2). Right away these two righteous dudes set up shop as entertainers, Tyrus an illusionist and Erezjan an acrobat. Two hot ladies come out and enjoy the show, and what do you know, they are princesses in disguise! Of course they would like to invite the two travelers to court for an encore performance!
The main problem I had with this novel is how convenient everything was from that point on for the Sorka and his altered beast friend. Need a sword? Tyrus had a spell to create one. Cold? No problem, a few words and gestures and a magical campfire appeared. Jedi mind tricks took care of any guards, invisibility saved them maybe a dozen times and exhaustion was taken care of by conjuring up a magical root out of thin air, which eliminated a lot of the danger in the story outright. Yes, I know, many fantasy stories are like this, but DGC still seemed extreme in this regard.
Around page 105 one of the princesses is kidnapped! Of course, it was Vraduir and an army of skeletons, of all things. Even as a child I could not take skeletons seriously, which only got worse after I saw Army of Darkness. Is there a lamer monster? Tyrus, Erezjan, Jathelle (the other princess AKA the one with the big breasts) with her retinue and a group of hired brigands storm off to the deadly north to talk and talk and talk about saving her. There is some intermittent action that is pretty decent, especially when it involves Jathelle, for which I will quote a sentence- 'She was covered with ichor and splattered brains of the demons she had slain'. Cool! Erezjan at one point snacks on some assassins while in wereform and then proceeds to vomit them up after transforming back into his acrobat self. The swordplay in this novel is great, there just isn't enough of it for my palate.
I wont burden you with a heavy duty synopsis, as the rest of the book bored me to tears. The final confrontation with Vraduir and the Nidil the Death God was almost entirely dialogue and word play, which left us with a deus ex machina anticlimax. At one point it is discovered that Vraduir had raped the abducted princess, which is pretty heavy stuff, but thats OK Tyrus just cast a spell that made everybody forget that it happened. Nothing like a spell induced repressed memory to smooth over the bumpy parts of a plot, is there?
All of this is a shame, because Death God's Citadel is a well written book that actually has some great parts mired in excessive blathering and lame fantasy tropes. Huge fans of the genre might enjoy picking through this one, but anyone else would be better off selecting one of the classics.
Is that Yoda summoning a bird demon on the cover? A bird demon that inexplicably also has fangs in its beak? Great cover, which is the main reason I picked this up. 1980. $2.25 cover price.
At 400 pages of almost completely dialogue, the Death God's Citadel (henceforth DGC) took a long time for me to finish. There are flashes of brilliance in DGC, but I felt like it could have been stripped down and become a much better story. Coulson sticks to a formula throughout the book of 'one chapter action then one chapter chatting and travel' which is prevalent in fantasy novels and generally drives me crazy, DGC included. For the first half of this novel I was of the mind that DGC is a generic but otherwise enjoyable fantasy novel, but the second half really disappointed me with its excessive blathering and lack of a satisfying conclusion.
Death God's Citadel involves Tyrus, the ever so humble wizard (or sorka, as Juanita often renames standard fantasy themes in order to make them her own) and Erezjan, his little red haired (referenced a hundred times, that ginger hair) werebeast buddy are searching for the big bad Vraduir, Tyrus' father and once king of their homeland Qamat. Right away I felt this book was part of a series, given the fact that Vraduir has already laid waste to Qamat in his quest for power, but I could find no reference to a prior book in the front or back pages (edit: Juanita's wiki page confirms it is book 2 of 2). Right away these two righteous dudes set up shop as entertainers, Tyrus an illusionist and Erezjan an acrobat. Two hot ladies come out and enjoy the show, and what do you know, they are princesses in disguise! Of course they would like to invite the two travelers to court for an encore performance!
The main problem I had with this novel is how convenient everything was from that point on for the Sorka and his altered beast friend. Need a sword? Tyrus had a spell to create one. Cold? No problem, a few words and gestures and a magical campfire appeared. Jedi mind tricks took care of any guards, invisibility saved them maybe a dozen times and exhaustion was taken care of by conjuring up a magical root out of thin air, which eliminated a lot of the danger in the story outright. Yes, I know, many fantasy stories are like this, but DGC still seemed extreme in this regard.
Around page 105 one of the princesses is kidnapped! Of course, it was Vraduir and an army of skeletons, of all things. Even as a child I could not take skeletons seriously, which only got worse after I saw Army of Darkness. Is there a lamer monster? Tyrus, Erezjan, Jathelle (the other princess AKA the one with the big breasts) with her retinue and a group of hired brigands storm off to the deadly north to talk and talk and talk about saving her. There is some intermittent action that is pretty decent, especially when it involves Jathelle, for which I will quote a sentence- 'She was covered with ichor and splattered brains of the demons she had slain'. Cool! Erezjan at one point snacks on some assassins while in wereform and then proceeds to vomit them up after transforming back into his acrobat self. The swordplay in this novel is great, there just isn't enough of it for my palate.
I wont burden you with a heavy duty synopsis, as the rest of the book bored me to tears. The final confrontation with Vraduir and the Nidil the Death God was almost entirely dialogue and word play, which left us with a deus ex machina anticlimax. At one point it is discovered that Vraduir had raped the abducted princess, which is pretty heavy stuff, but thats OK Tyrus just cast a spell that made everybody forget that it happened. Nothing like a spell induced repressed memory to smooth over the bumpy parts of a plot, is there?
All of this is a shame, because Death God's Citadel is a well written book that actually has some great parts mired in excessive blathering and lame fantasy tropes. Huge fans of the genre might enjoy picking through this one, but anyone else would be better off selecting one of the classics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2009
Rather formulaic and boring. It might be useful if you're having trouble falling asleep. I was not able to finish it.
Read
September 11, 2012You know I don't think I ever finished this - over 28 years ago - astonishing.
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