What do you think?
Rate this book
The Shattered Goddess
An evil witch secretly substitutes her own son for that of a royal heir, and unwittingly creates her own greatest nemesis. Condemned to the bottom of society, when the real heir discovers his true identity, he learns that to reclaim his throne, he must unleash a magic that will destroy his world.
242 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
3 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Darrell Schweitzer
471 books107 followersDarrell Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 28, 2022
This is a moody and atmospheric fantasy novel set in the far future but written in the now-antiquated style of Morris or Dunsany, or perhaps Clark Ashton Smith with a smattering of William Hope Hodgson. It's an interesting coming-of-age tale with plenty of magical adventure and romance on a very-well portrayed landscape, though it does tend to drag a bit in spots.
June 21, 2022
It's a stretch to call it 'dying earth': the world is cyclic, and this is the tail end of the current cycle. The battle will be for the nature of what follows.
Schweitzer infuses the bones of mythopoeia with highly specific and effective imagery to create something that is unfamiliar--the Guardian/priest safeguards the bones of the Shattered Goddess in some vast tomb--while recognizable for the parts that it uses. The mysterious orphan child has great kindness and hints of powers and connections, and opposes a similar child who is turned to darkness, and both are participants in destiny. And in the very end, their conflict creates a new mythology or cosmology in the next cycle of the world.
Schweitzer infuses the bones of mythopoeia with highly specific and effective imagery to create something that is unfamiliar--the Guardian/priest safeguards the bones of the Shattered Goddess in some vast tomb--while recognizable for the parts that it uses. The mysterious orphan child has great kindness and hints of powers and connections, and opposes a similar child who is turned to darkness, and both are participants in destiny. And in the very end, their conflict creates a new mythology or cosmology in the next cycle of the world.
September 15, 2013
And now here we are, at the end of all things.
The Goddess is dead. A witch makes a pact with dark powers to exact vengeance on the world. The shell of the child she creates to transmit her curse grows up to oppose its workings as the darkness rises to inexorably claim the world.
This is rich and dark and strange. Dark fantasy or weird fantasy not in the "grimdark" sense, but more in the 1930s Weird Tales sense -- drawing more on, say, the works of Clark Ashton Smith and of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands stories than Robert E. Howard.
The Goddess is dead. A witch makes a pact with dark powers to exact vengeance on the world. The shell of the child she creates to transmit her curse grows up to oppose its workings as the darkness rises to inexorably claim the world.
This is rich and dark and strange. Dark fantasy or weird fantasy not in the "grimdark" sense, but more in the 1930s Weird Tales sense -- drawing more on, say, the works of Clark Ashton Smith and of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands stories than Robert E. Howard.
November 29, 2007
There was a time when I really would have enjoyed a book such as this. But that time has passed for me, I think. I looked forward to this when I started it, but soon looked forward to being done with it.
I never felt truly connected to any of the characters, and when that happens one begins to wonder, "So what?" It didn't help any that I never felt comfortable with any of the character names and even to the end of the book I had some confusion as to which names belonged to male characters and which to female. The lead character was named "Ginna," and perhaps because I have a friend, two sister-in-laws, and a niece all named "Gina" I couldn't help but constantly read the name as female.
For a fantasy story with magic, it lacked too much of both and had too much posturing and vocal threats from gods and demi-gods.
I bought this direct from the author on eBay. In part becaue I felt a little sorry for the guy (I couldn't shake the feeling that he was selling this stuff as part of his way of making a living), and in part because I remember reading his shorter works in the pulps back in the 70's and enjoying them.
Unfortunately I can't recommend it.
I never felt truly connected to any of the characters, and when that happens one begins to wonder, "So what?" It didn't help any that I never felt comfortable with any of the character names and even to the end of the book I had some confusion as to which names belonged to male characters and which to female. The lead character was named "Ginna," and perhaps because I have a friend, two sister-in-laws, and a niece all named "Gina" I couldn't help but constantly read the name as female.
For a fantasy story with magic, it lacked too much of both and had too much posturing and vocal threats from gods and demi-gods.
I bought this direct from the author on eBay. In part becaue I felt a little sorry for the guy (I couldn't shake the feeling that he was selling this stuff as part of his way of making a living), and in part because I remember reading his shorter works in the pulps back in the 70's and enjoying them.
Unfortunately I can't recommend it.
October 2, 2015
This work nowadays is considered a classic, yet it has everything to be considered as a modern work of fantasy.
Evil and good are represented as extremes, which is perhaps overused nowadays, however there is something fascinating in the way they can influence everything they touch in this work: people, creatures, the world, even thoughts. This takes place on multiple levels, giving the book an ethereal quality.
Characterisation is something that was not emphasised much in earlier fantasy. There were no scenes where the characters talked about themselves or their feelings near a campfire, yet their actions clearly showed their motives. Combined with the language used, this evokes an era lost to many modern fantasy readers.
If you would like to experience an ethereal, spiritual-like journey with a book from the past fantasy era, this work is for you.
Evil and good are represented as extremes, which is perhaps overused nowadays, however there is something fascinating in the way they can influence everything they touch in this work: people, creatures, the world, even thoughts. This takes place on multiple levels, giving the book an ethereal quality.
Characterisation is something that was not emphasised much in earlier fantasy. There were no scenes where the characters talked about themselves or their feelings near a campfire, yet their actions clearly showed their motives. Combined with the language used, this evokes an era lost to many modern fantasy readers.
If you would like to experience an ethereal, spiritual-like journey with a book from the past fantasy era, this work is for you.
May 15, 2019
The number of typos in the ebook is very distracting. I've always enjoyed Darrell Schweitzer's Lovecraftian work, so I tried this fantasy. It really dragged for me, though.
October 21, 2019
Seriously, all Ginna (the protagonist) did in this book was fall unconscious or fall asleep.
June 24, 2020
Interestimg story surrounding a young boy trying to survive in a world that is stacked against him. Coming of age story with a magical backdrop.
September 10, 2015
To me, there are few things more exciting than discovering an excellent weird fantasy novel from an obscure or semi-obscure author! I like it even better if the book is from the 80s or earlier, or if the author is a bit on the older side (I just can't get into the vibe of most newer stuff). Imagine my delight when I ran into this awesome piece of apocalyptic, far-future fantasy!
Get this: the Goddess is dead! One day (far in the past when this story takes place), her gargantuan corpse came hurdling out of the sky to smash down into the roots of Ai Hanlo mountain, thereafter to become a holy mountain city dedicated to the protection of the mystical, crystalline skeleton of the deity! Several hundred years later, a new god is soon to be born, and fate's about to hit the reset button on reality.
Here, Schweitzer is kind of like a more spiritual, Dying Earth-mode Vance carried to Dunsanian extremes, but with the hard-hitting stylistic simplicity of Philip Jose Farmer. Hey, and it's only 180 pages! When you're getting into something you've never heard of, helps if it's short, right?
Get this: the Goddess is dead! One day (far in the past when this story takes place), her gargantuan corpse came hurdling out of the sky to smash down into the roots of Ai Hanlo mountain, thereafter to become a holy mountain city dedicated to the protection of the mystical, crystalline skeleton of the deity! Several hundred years later, a new god is soon to be born, and fate's about to hit the reset button on reality.
Here, Schweitzer is kind of like a more spiritual, Dying Earth-mode Vance carried to Dunsanian extremes, but with the hard-hitting stylistic simplicity of Philip Jose Farmer. Hey, and it's only 180 pages! When you're getting into something you've never heard of, helps if it's short, right?
March 1, 2013
The Shattered Goddess is High Fantasy written in the tradition of William Morris and Lord Dunsany. One of the appealing things about this book was the contrast of the naïveté and innocence of Ginna set against the brutality and schemimig of the Goddess and Kaemen. Actually, Kaemen's choices for torture are some of the most brutal and unexpected that I can remember from my recent readings.
One irritating thing is that there are many typos and misspelled words in the edition that I have. These kinds of mistakes may be small but they'll take you out of the story for a little bit while you try to figure out what was meant to be said.
This is a unique story overall and I quite enjoyed it.
One irritating thing is that there are many typos and misspelled words in the edition that I have. These kinds of mistakes may be small but they'll take you out of the story for a little bit while you try to figure out what was meant to be said.
This is a unique story overall and I quite enjoyed it.
April 25, 2025
The Story I got this book ist worth told. I met the author at the WorldCon Intersection 1995 in Glasgow. He was accompanied by a fan. This Woman introduce him and said that she likes his books very much. He said nothing, stood aside and let her doing the selling work. Thus he carried copies of his novels with him, I buyed at last one and let it sign. Schweizer wrote "Actually unsigned copies are scarcer, Darrell Schweitzer, Aug. 28: 95".
Many Years after I read this book. It was a mix of fantasy and horror. Very dark for my taste. Sure not the usual fantasy, cause rather pessimistic: A World getting darker and darker by magic. It was interesting, but at this time reading Englisch Books was hard work.
Many Years after I read this book. It was a mix of fantasy and horror. Very dark for my taste. Sure not the usual fantasy, cause rather pessimistic: A World getting darker and darker by magic. It was interesting, but at this time reading Englisch Books was hard work.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews