Wereblood

Gerin the Fox #1

by Eric Iverson, Harry Turtledove

In the northern reaches of the Empire of Elabon, Gerin, called the Fox, battled to save his domain from destruction by the warlike Trokmoi and their wizard-leader, Balamung.

Assisted by the giant Van of the Strong Arm, Gerin prepared to make the hazardous journey to the city of Elabon, there to enlist the aid of a sorcerer more powerful than the Tokmoi masge.

Pursued by demons, beset by bloodthirsty nobles, and encumbered by the presence of the beautiful Elise whom Gerin had sworn to protect, the comrades encountered greater dangers than either had ever known.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

144 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1979

About the author

Pseudonym of Harry Turtledove.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was actually a bit better than many of the Heroic fantasy books written around the same time. I'll definitely read the rest in the series at some point.

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short read with lots of action and some rather interesting ideas. Now to see if I can find the next book in the series.....good rainy afternoon reading.

[Shane Duquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read one of Harry Turtledove's short stories—Shtetl Days—and really rather liked it, so I went for a dig through the books he'd written, seeing if any of them sounded interesting. I liked the idea of a few of them, so I started reading the sample chapters. This one had an unimpressive rating, so my expectations were low, but I wound up totally hooked on the 40-some pages in the sample so I bought it and kept on going.

This is a story of a baron, Gerin the Fox, whose land gets attacked by a group of warriors led by a wizard. The story starts off right with the battle, and the battle was a total blast to read, in the same way that Conan battles are a blast to read: gritty but not overly serious, and heroic without being cringe-y. What sold me on it, though, is that it's abundantly clear that Harry Turtledove is a master of the historical period he's writing about. He's got a Ph.D. in Byzantine history, and the book absolutely reeks of that fluency. But it doesn't read like dry historical fiction whatsoever. It's clearly written for the sheer joy of it, a pure sword-and-sorcery romp, and all the while just casually using all the correct terminology, underpinnings, and nuance.

Anyway, after the battle, Gerin the Fox rides off to hire another wizard so that he can properly defend himself against the evil wizard. Some hijinks ensue along the way, but that's really the all of it. There's no final battle or anything. This is a sort of Fellowship of the Ring sort of story, about a journey to assemble a fellowship in preparation for a battle that takes places later on in the series.

So, the big criticism is that this book starts with a bang, fizzles out, and ends abruptly. And, yes, it does. But, eh, it's still a blast to read. Plus, it comes packaged with the second (and often third) book anyway, so it's not like there's any grifting going on. There's still a full 600-page adventure in a single tome, just split up into 2–3 different sections.

I haven't read the other books in the series yet, but so far I'm really enjoying it, even compared against the fantasy books that are considered the best of the best. Now, is this my new favourite fantasy novel? No. It feels more like a guilty pleasure. But still I'm totally stoked to keep reading this series.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uninspired sword and sorcery set on another world with more than two moons that appear in the night sky. It reads something like a Robert E. Howard pastiche with every bit as complicated a backworld story, but competely lacking Howard's pageantry or gravitas. A nearby kingdom with the aid of their new wizard is making war on Gerin the Fox's kingdom. Gerin beats off the first attack, but knows he will face another attack from the same attackers. He thus decides to leave his kingdom in charge of trusted advisors, takes his foreign friend with him, and seeks out a wizard in friendly lands near him in order to counter the new wizard he faces.

The premise, such as it is, never gets achieved. The plot then becomes a succession of diversions in this foreign land. The story is told with a bit too much description and seems sort of aimless. I'm rounding up to three stars because at least the world-building is solid, and the leading characters are mildly interesting. The book is only 144 paperback pages long. Maybe the many outstanding issues get resolved in the second and final volume of this not so exciting sword and sorcery series.

Oh. One last thing. The book was written by Harry Turtledove, his first, and published under his Eric Iverson pseudonym. No doubt, Turtledove was judged not a manly enough name for a would-be sword and sorcery writer. My copy is the Belmont Tower Books 1979 version. The cover spells the first name Eric. The title page spells it Erik. Otherwise, there is no indication this book is written under a pen name. The last page alludes to the fact that the sequel, Werenight, is coming in April. 1980 I presume. I have it since I bought it at the same time I purchased Wereblood. Oh boy!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off well with a rollicking battle and the introduction of a cool antagonist. Then it kind of droops and the hero goes off looking for help and has a series of uninspiring encounters along the way and then it just stops dead. No ending no resolution and no sign of the cool villain ever again. Obviously this book is the result of a longer complete book being hacked in half by the publisher in order to squeeze out some extra profit. Well ok but that's short changing the reader. It is well written and readable enough ( what there is of it) and the cover is awesome, hence the three stars.

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pulp fantasy drawing from ancient viking culture with battles and wizards. Gerin, called the Fox, battled to save his domain from destruction by the warlike Trokmoi and their wizard-leader, Balamung. Assisted by the giant Van of the Strong Arm, Gerin prepared to make the hazardous journey to the city of Elabon, there to enlist the aid of a sorcerer more powerful than the Tokmoi masge. Pursued by demons, beset by bloodthirsty nobles, and encumbered by the presence of the beautiful Elise whom Gerin had sworn to protect, the comrades encounter dangers.

[Luka Novak · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a fantasy book from earlier, simpler times, when men were heroes, women were wenches and barbarians had some nobility to them but died easily under swords of our heroes. Similarly none of the characters is particularly burdened with things like depth or more dimensions and neither is political landscape complex, it's simple frontier feudalism.

It's not Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire but it is a fun read.

[Blind Mapmaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Bit hard to judge, because it ends pretty much in medias res. For a first novel I honestly expected something worse. It's not the most original fantasy story I've read, but it had quite some interesting titbits (placating the ghosts every night, chariot warfare and some historical analogues). The lone female character fits the competent tomboy trope, which is a relief when reading a 1979 novel. Definitely going to read the second half of the book soon.

[Dantegideon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not loads of fun, but has its moments.