Kyrik and the Lost Queen

Kyrik #4

by Gardner Francis Fox

SORCERER'S SPELLKyrik, the mighty warrior, met a lovely woman who appeared to be his gypsy lover Myrnis. But then she disappeared, and Kyrik met another woman who looked just like her. Was this the real Myrnis, or the Lost Queen? The two embarked on a search for the answers, which led them to a strange land where the lovely Myrnis was ruling, under a wizard's spell. Which was the real Myrnis? Sword and sorcery at its thrilling best.

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"

Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last of four swords & sorcery books that Fox, who is of course best remembered for his prolific comics work at DC, had published in 1975 - '76 featuring the titular protagonist. (I never got around to the third book but never felt that I might've missed a lot.) They're unashamed, proud pastiches of Howard's Conan. They're quite similar to his earlier five book Kothar series from 1969-'70, too. This final book is a farce involving mistaken identities and impersonations in which Kyrik has to rescue his girlfriend from being the queen of a rich and distant land. (He doesn't stop to think that maybe she was better off there than having to ride around naked on top of a battle-rhinoceros.) He meets a new girlfriend, too, and has another run in with a love goddess who possessed Myrnis originally, right after Kyrik spent a thousand years imprisoned in a small statue. Kyrik always seemed more concerned with sorcery and history than Kothar, though in many ways he lacked some of Kothar's subtlety. (Yes, !) This one has another aggressively sword & sorcery cover by Ken Barr, which shows him waving his sword overhead and riding a battle-rhinoceros with one of his unclad lady friends seated behind him. It's the finest battle-rhinoceros cover I can recall seeing. It's a silly yet fun and unpretentious story, certainly not great literature and rife with '70s sexism but better written than many similar titles of the time. Would've probably been a good comic... I'll bet Gray Morrow or Barry Windsor-Smith would've knocked battling rhinoceroses (rhinoceri?) outta the bullpen.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

The entire story hinges on a queen being kidnapped and replaced by a lookalike whom Kyrik is coincidentally involved with. This lookalike, Myrnis, has apparently been brainwashed to believe that she is the queen Adorla, and is now under the control of the Evil High Priest and Evil High Vizier.

So these two apparently traveled to an entirely different city, encountered Myrnis, and cooked up a plan to replace the powerless, ineffective queen with an identical, equally powerless duplicate. In doing so they kidnap Adorla from the heart of her palace, take her Myrnis's home city, and somehow allowed this physically non-imposing woman to escape. Then she happens to stumble into the one person interested in Myrnis's well-being and able to do something about the situation.

There seems to be at least one extra step to the Evil High Idiots' intricate scheme.

Rarely does one encounter a perfect storm of lazy and inattentive plotting, unpleasant characters, and such blatant and unsuccessful pandering. The book finally wheezes to a halt after finally defeating the Evil God Thing twice in exactly the same way (throw god-manufactured artifact into its stupid evil face), stumbling over the fact that one of Kyrik's three love interests must be dispensed with and that none of them are the least bit reliable, and that assorted loose threads must be tied up before a sunset gets ridden off into.

This is dreadful stuff, all the worse because we spend so much time inside Adorla's mind. There is nothing in there that isn't somehow a reflection of Kyrik: she enters the story in the deep belief that only the right strong man can solve her desperate problems--yes, she means _that_, too--and then spends the entire book supporting this notion by being either whiny, desperate, useless, or decoration, a male fantasy of the worst sort. Much of the book is spent in an entirely tiresome will-they-or-won't-they vacillation about Kyrik and Adorla hooking up (well, she is identical to his girlfriend, after all...) and then when they inevitably do it is so repeated and over-the-top and devoid of human connection.

And Kyrik shows that he has no loyalty to Adorla, to Myrnis, or to his magic girlfriend the goddess Illis. He is very willing to move from one to the other without the slightest hesitation. And even to a lady-of-the-evening that he dragoons without her informed consent into an entirely stupid and pointless plan to capture some stalking cultists that terrorize the city.

The entire book is an effort to show Kyrik as some superhuman, some twelve year old's ideal of masculinity: supremely competent, incredible fighter, and love machine whom women throw themselves upon.

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adored this wildly corny work of old school sword and sorcery male power fantasy in which the mighty-hewed Kyrik, your D&D character from when you were thirteen, hacks and fondles his way through another adventure in being adored by every woman he comes across, including a goddess. Spectacular.

[James T · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s passable. There’s some fun moments and adventure to it. It’s contrived, derivative and bland but has enough to keep you reading. Overall, I found the Kyrik series less imaginative and more derivative than GFF Kothar books. Enjoyed it more than the first two in the series but less than the third. If you stumble upon it at a used bookshop and like S&S and can look past some 70s sleaze I think you’ll have a decent time. It’s a 2.5 if that was an option.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four books and Kyrik the Warrior Warlock didn't cast one single spell. By Lost Queen, if I wasn't totally focused, I would forget I wasn't reading a Conan story. That's probably a compliment for a pastiche.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just a fun, sword & sorcery read. If I just want entertainment with no thought at all, this is one of the books I choose.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first one is the best in this series. This one is OK but not much more than that. Still, I like sword & sorcery enough to appreciate it.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun times with these Kyrik books. Basically Conan rip offs with some tasteful sexyness. Smut and sandal, would be a good subgenre.

[Jeff Wyonch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite a convincing wrap to the series. It felt like there was more to come. Still a great straight-ahead swords-and-sorcery tale.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good fantasy story in the style of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales. Fast and easy read. Recommended

[Brett]

Fantasy