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The Gods Are Thirsty: A Novel of the French Revolution
Stated first edition bound in brown boards and black cloth. A novel of the French Revolution. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
628 people want to read
About the author
Tanith Lee
615 books1,964 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 6, 2013
This novel about Camille Desmoulins, journalist, rabble-rouser, and one of the tragic figures of the French Revolution, is a repeat-read pleasure of mine.
In some ways, telling a story of an 18th-century revolutionary is an unusual ground for Lee, who is best known for her fantasy and scifi works (if you haven't read Silver Metal Lover, what are you waiting for, go read it!) In others, this seems tailor-made for the type of narrative loved by her - tragic, epic, a story of extremes with some seriously dark and doomed underpinnings.
Objectively speaking, Hilary Mantel's Place of Greater Safety is probably a better, denser novel on the same topic. But what really makes me love TGAT almost as much as Mantel's masterpiece, is Lee's evocative, looping language and the emotion it evokes in me. Her writing style is always idiosyncratic and is very much a love-it-or-hate-it sort of thing. I happen to love it and to almost want to roll in the words. Your take may vary.
As for the characters, Camille is a complex, fascinating, larger-than-life in some ways (and fragile in others) figure - Lee will make you love him (or at least that was the result with me) and thus, if you know his ultimate fate, make you dread the inevitable at the end of the book.
In addition to everything else, this book has a gorgeous love story woven with the other narrative threads - Camille and Lucille are, of course, doomed by history but perhaps all the more appealing because of that.
Oh, and a point of comparison about Lee's sometimes-criticized 'purple prose:'
'I will dream of you one day, O Lucile! O Annette, as sensible as I was of it, death – which will deliver me from such crimes – is it so great an evil? Adieu Loulou, goodbye life, my soul, my share of divinity on earth. I leave you in the hands of good friends, and all that is virtuous and sensible! Adieu, Lucile! My dear Lucile! Adieu, Horace, Annette. Goodbye father. My life flees before my very eyes. I see once again my Lucile! I see her! My arms hold you tight! My hands bring you into my embrace! And my head, separated from my body, remains with you! I go to my death!'
That's not Tanith Lee, that's a translation of the last letter of Camille Desmoulins himself, who was clearly no stranger to purple prose - so I think Lee's baroque style is oddly fitting here.
In some ways, telling a story of an 18th-century revolutionary is an unusual ground for Lee, who is best known for her fantasy and scifi works (if you haven't read Silver Metal Lover, what are you waiting for, go read it!) In others, this seems tailor-made for the type of narrative loved by her - tragic, epic, a story of extremes with some seriously dark and doomed underpinnings.
Objectively speaking, Hilary Mantel's Place of Greater Safety is probably a better, denser novel on the same topic. But what really makes me love TGAT almost as much as Mantel's masterpiece, is Lee's evocative, looping language and the emotion it evokes in me. Her writing style is always idiosyncratic and is very much a love-it-or-hate-it sort of thing. I happen to love it and to almost want to roll in the words. Your take may vary.
As for the characters, Camille is a complex, fascinating, larger-than-life in some ways (and fragile in others) figure - Lee will make you love him (or at least that was the result with me) and thus, if you know his ultimate fate, make you dread the inevitable at the end of the book.
In addition to everything else, this book has a gorgeous love story woven with the other narrative threads - Camille and Lucille are, of course, doomed by history but perhaps all the more appealing because of that.
Oh, and a point of comparison about Lee's sometimes-criticized 'purple prose:'
'I will dream of you one day, O Lucile! O Annette, as sensible as I was of it, death – which will deliver me from such crimes – is it so great an evil? Adieu Loulou, goodbye life, my soul, my share of divinity on earth. I leave you in the hands of good friends, and all that is virtuous and sensible! Adieu, Lucile! My dear Lucile! Adieu, Horace, Annette. Goodbye father. My life flees before my very eyes. I see once again my Lucile! I see her! My arms hold you tight! My hands bring you into my embrace! And my head, separated from my body, remains with you! I go to my death!'
That's not Tanith Lee, that's a translation of the last letter of Camille Desmoulins himself, who was clearly no stranger to purple prose - so I think Lee's baroque style is oddly fitting here.
July 27, 2023
love to be one of the two people alive to have read a book. i guess i am not TOTALLY shocked it didn't find footing, as it is one of the most undisciplined reeling deranged manuscripts i've ever put myself through. is it in third or first person? yes. how many clauses per sentence? also yes. that said, tanith lee is a perfect match of style and subject, french-period-piece generally and camille-desmoulins-specifically. as i recall she interviewed defensively about writing it and was like "MANY PEOPLE have called my prose purple. WELL IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PURPLE may i refer you to CAMILLE DESMOULINS'S LETTERS TO HIS WIFE"
to be totally honest this is a three star but i am elevating it for relic status and panache. the problems are varied, not even taking the stylistic mess into account because i am honestly taking that as Character, like when a house's wallpaper peels in a charmingly haunted way. a third are normal, expected problems of period piece (she certainly does notate his stutter by syllable). another third are alarming pulled homoerotic punches (from TANITH LEE? how is TANITH LEE, IN THE NINETIES, FOUR YEARS AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, having crises of fujoshism about a man we know was bi in real life) (that said, thank you anyway for the sex scene where camille and danton sleep with two women in the same bed as guys being dudes and mid act danton decides to start Helping. thanks for that,)
the last third sort of Problem is the most debilitating: this lucile desmoulins depiction sucks absolute shit. a bad depiction and an objectively bad Female Character TM. insipid. she is a sort of horrendous house angel that i thought it had been made illegal to write once the calendar struck 1900. she is White and Gold and White and Gold and Soft. she simpers. she does not have a personality or a stance on anything in particular. he spends a lot of page space banging on about how she is too good for him, and the book is like "yes, see! her goodness!" and it's like. if you wanted sexless goodness. you could have written a novel in, idk, dickens's england. insulting to the reader. insulting to the memory of lucile desmoulins, whose letters and diaries reveal someone sharp and principled and fiery and literate and also like, just as prone to mood swings and hyperbole as her husband. insulting to camille to imply this is what he's into! (she has a difficult pregnancy after which camille declares theatrically that he must consign himself to a life of abstinence from his White and Gold and White and Gold and White and Gold and Soft wife, which is insane—yes, people remind him that condoms exist, IN the book—and frankly insulting to ANY french historical legacy.)
that said. panache. and it is very hard to have a bad time in this company.
to be totally honest this is a three star but i am elevating it for relic status and panache. the problems are varied, not even taking the stylistic mess into account because i am honestly taking that as Character, like when a house's wallpaper peels in a charmingly haunted way. a third are normal, expected problems of period piece (she certainly does notate his stutter by syllable). another third are alarming pulled homoerotic punches (from TANITH LEE? how is TANITH LEE, IN THE NINETIES, FOUR YEARS AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, having crises of fujoshism about a man we know was bi in real life) (that said, thank you anyway for the sex scene where camille and danton sleep with two women in the same bed as guys being dudes and mid act danton decides to start Helping. thanks for that,)
the last third sort of Problem is the most debilitating: this lucile desmoulins depiction sucks absolute shit. a bad depiction and an objectively bad Female Character TM. insipid. she is a sort of horrendous house angel that i thought it had been made illegal to write once the calendar struck 1900. she is White and Gold and White and Gold and Soft. she simpers. she does not have a personality or a stance on anything in particular. he spends a lot of page space banging on about how she is too good for him, and the book is like "yes, see! her goodness!" and it's like. if you wanted sexless goodness. you could have written a novel in, idk, dickens's england. insulting to the reader. insulting to the memory of lucile desmoulins, whose letters and diaries reveal someone sharp and principled and fiery and literate and also like, just as prone to mood swings and hyperbole as her husband. insulting to camille to imply this is what he's into! (she has a difficult pregnancy after which camille declares theatrically that he must consign himself to a life of abstinence from his White and Gold and White and Gold and White and Gold and Soft wife, which is insane—yes, people remind him that condoms exist, IN the book—and frankly insulting to ANY french historical legacy.)
that said. panache. and it is very hard to have a bad time in this company.
August 1, 2021
I don't have the words to express how much I love this book. It sucks you in and spits you out on the streets of Paris during the French Revolution so vividly brought to life it takes your breath away. I love the way Tanith Lee uses and plays with the language in this novel, it's one of the many things that make this book stand out from the many historical novels I've read. A book I have read multiple times and will surely read again and again. Without a doubt one of my all-time favourites!
May 23, 2017
I love this one. It is still my favorite historical fiction novel. This book follows Camille Desmoulins, one of the real life men who supported the need for change and assisted Robespierre ... until he was guillotined.
This does have a slow pace but that gives Tanith Lee the chance to show what actually leads to all these radical changes; the ideas, the songs, the thoughts, and the feelings going on at all levels of this internal conflict that put these events in motion.
I love her prose and willingness to tackle the dark and complex aspects of this time.
This does have a slow pace but that gives Tanith Lee the chance to show what actually leads to all these radical changes; the ideas, the songs, the thoughts, and the feelings going on at all levels of this internal conflict that put these events in motion.
I love her prose and willingness to tackle the dark and complex aspects of this time.
February 15, 2021
One of the best books I've ever read. A beautiful, decadent, lush, bloody, mesmerizing poem.
February 25, 2012
I am a big fan of Tanith Lee, and I used to live in Paris, so I've got some soft spots about this book on both those counts, just to put that up front.
The story follows the last few years of French writer Camille Desmoulins' life, from his role in helping to spark the French Revolution to his tragic end as one of the guillotine's own victims, at the hands of one of his best friends--Maximilien Robespierre. This book is quite a dense read, and while that didn't put me off, it did make it slow reading at some points. It jumps around between voices, sometimes it's written in the first person from the point of view of Desmouslins, sometimes it's written in third person about Desmoulins or another person or party, and sometimes there are songs, poems, or little parables inserted into the text instead of prose. This kind of jumpiness is the type of thing that I suspect a reader either loves or hates. Personally, I loved it, but your mileage may vary.
By the end of the book I really truly cared about the characters, and the fact that they were real historical figures only added to my emotional attachment. This book inspired me to do more research on my own about the figures it portrayed, to learn more about the history it covered, and I consider that a fantastic achievement. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history, the power of the written word itself, and the way ideology can drive a knife between people who are meant to love each other forever. And those who don't mind some highly-stylized prose, too.
The story follows the last few years of French writer Camille Desmoulins' life, from his role in helping to spark the French Revolution to his tragic end as one of the guillotine's own victims, at the hands of one of his best friends--Maximilien Robespierre. This book is quite a dense read, and while that didn't put me off, it did make it slow reading at some points. It jumps around between voices, sometimes it's written in the first person from the point of view of Desmouslins, sometimes it's written in third person about Desmoulins or another person or party, and sometimes there are songs, poems, or little parables inserted into the text instead of prose. This kind of jumpiness is the type of thing that I suspect a reader either loves or hates. Personally, I loved it, but your mileage may vary.
By the end of the book I really truly cared about the characters, and the fact that they were real historical figures only added to my emotional attachment. This book inspired me to do more research on my own about the figures it portrayed, to learn more about the history it covered, and I consider that a fantastic achievement. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history, the power of the written word itself, and the way ideology can drive a knife between people who are meant to love each other forever. And those who don't mind some highly-stylized prose, too.
July 13, 2020
Sort-of 1st person POV of the French Revolution. Since it's from the viewpoint of one of the participants, it doesn't explain who the people are, what the political parties stand for, and it mentions many of the historical events only in passing. It would help a lot to know a little French and have a pretty good understanding of the French Revolution. If not, then keep Google Translate and Wikipedia handy; a little background info from YouTube (or a lot from the Revolutions podcast, chapter 3) would be a big help.
That said, I got a lot out of reading it. I didn't know who most of the participants were at the beginning, and now I have a good understanding of the players and why they did what they did. If you're willing to put a lot into it, then this book might be for you.
That said, I got a lot out of reading it. I didn't know who most of the participants were at the beginning, and now I have a good understanding of the players and why they did what they did. If you're willing to put a lot into it, then this book might be for you.
November 21, 2018
I just finished "A Place of Greater Safety" which I absolutely loved, and then went straight into this book which I absolutely loved! Another interesting novel about the French Revolution, this one from the point of view of Camille Desmoulins! I highly recommend it!
January 3, 2025
Long and sometimes full of difficult to follow tangents, but fascinating. I've never had a pov character end the story like that.
October 31, 2021
A well-researched, well-written, vivid novel of the French Revolution, centering on the tempestuous young journalist Camille Desmoulins, boyhood friend of Robespierre & Danton, whose only son was Robespierre's godchild, yet who was put to death along with his young wife for advocating mercy for the victims of the guillotine during the Terror.
Want to read
May 8, 2025"Where did the trouble start? At least five centuries before, when men of noble birth became gods and men of no birth became their slaves. More immediately, it started with rotten harvests, an appalling winter, and a rise in the price of bread, so that eating became what the rich did."
March 12, 2025
Well fuck.
October 9, 2015
I love this book! I've been on a French Revolution novel binge - I tried A Place of Greater Safety and didn't get into it; tried Anatole France's "The Gods are Athirst" and while it was interesting it wasn't really "historical" enough... then by the coincidence of titles I found THIS book, and I loved it so much. It helps if you have some prior knowledge of the Revolution (people, main events, terms), but she describes people and events so vividly that they stick in my mind like never before.
I think her specialty in horror-fantasy really serves the subject - she conveys the thrill/terror of mob violence, the horror of the guillotine, the deepening sense of paranoia among the revolutionary leaders after the King's death, and she just dives right into the grim conditions of starvation, poverty, and filth that motivated the mob.
I love her play with language - why NOT imagine that Camille "des moulins" might have been mockingly nicknamed "Windmill" by his frenemies? The "Field of Mars" is a more evocative place for a massacre than the "Champs des Mars," and aristocrats going home to the "Heavenly Fields" is more evocative than the "Champs Elysée." I like the punning on roses and stones in Robespierre's name; the creepy nicknames for Madame la Guillotine (compared to a black cat with her sharp tooth); King Louis "L'Oui" "King Yes-yes". Camille's own writing was so flamboyant, all the punning and wordplay and metaphors seemed consistent with his character and the pamphlet rhetoric of the time.
I think her specialty in horror-fantasy really serves the subject - she conveys the thrill/terror of mob violence, the horror of the guillotine, the deepening sense of paranoia among the revolutionary leaders after the King's death, and she just dives right into the grim conditions of starvation, poverty, and filth that motivated the mob.
I love her play with language - why NOT imagine that Camille "des moulins" might have been mockingly nicknamed "Windmill" by his frenemies? The "Field of Mars" is a more evocative place for a massacre than the "Champs des Mars," and aristocrats going home to the "Heavenly Fields" is more evocative than the "Champs Elysée." I like the punning on roses and stones in Robespierre's name; the creepy nicknames for Madame la Guillotine (compared to a black cat with her sharp tooth); King Louis "L'Oui" "King Yes-yes". Camille's own writing was so flamboyant, all the punning and wordplay and metaphors seemed consistent with his character and the pamphlet rhetoric of the time.
January 7, 2013
It probably was not fair to read this book right after reading Hilary Mantel's amazing A Place of Greater Safety. It might have gotten 3 stars then--although her calling Desmoulins "Windmill" throughout the book would probably have knocked it back down to two.
Like Mantel's book, The Gods Are Thirsty also depicts the life of Camille Desmoulins, one of my favourite figures. Unfortunately Lee's story is told in such an overblown and overwrought manner. At times I felt as if the author was being paid by the word; take, for example, this sentence: "The young man and the young girl had walked across the river, using of course a bridge, and now stood in the enormous nave of Our Lady of Paris, the alchemical cathedral." Really? And all the purple prose -- oh, it just threw me out of the story. I feel like everything was supposed to be read breathlessly, which in a 500+ page book left me gasping for air. It's a good story -- it's the ultimate tale of betrayal and heartache, after all -- but that means it doesn't need all the embellishments. This felt like it was entirely artifice, and to me that diminished the true impact of what happened.
Like Mantel's book, The Gods Are Thirsty also depicts the life of Camille Desmoulins, one of my favourite figures. Unfortunately Lee's story is told in such an overblown and overwrought manner. At times I felt as if the author was being paid by the word; take, for example, this sentence: "The young man and the young girl had walked across the river, using of course a bridge, and now stood in the enormous nave of Our Lady of Paris, the alchemical cathedral." Really? And all the purple prose -- oh, it just threw me out of the story. I feel like everything was supposed to be read breathlessly, which in a 500+ page book left me gasping for air. It's a good story -- it's the ultimate tale of betrayal and heartache, after all -- but that means it doesn't need all the embellishments. This felt like it was entirely artifice, and to me that diminished the true impact of what happened.
August 12, 2008
Just started this book, Tanith Lee is a dark author, which I like, so this should be good.
11-28-07 - so far so good. Lots of interesting information about the French revolution and the personalities and events that shaped it.
08-11-08 - This was a slow read for me, because it's a very long book, with many characters, that covers alot of material. Even though it's a little slow in some places, I really like the over-all composition and writing. Tanith Lee does a very good job of making her characters stand up and come to life.
The events of the French revolution really highlight the importance of freedom of the press and personal rights. In comparison with the American revolution, it's amazing how disastrous the French revolution was. It certainly wasn't a failure, but there was a much higher cost to the country than was probably necessary.
11-28-07 - so far so good. Lots of interesting information about the French revolution and the personalities and events that shaped it.
08-11-08 - This was a slow read for me, because it's a very long book, with many characters, that covers alot of material. Even though it's a little slow in some places, I really like the over-all composition and writing. Tanith Lee does a very good job of making her characters stand up and come to life.
The events of the French revolution really highlight the importance of freedom of the press and personal rights. In comparison with the American revolution, it's amazing how disastrous the French revolution was. It certainly wasn't a failure, but there was a much higher cost to the country than was probably necessary.
July 15, 2015
I loved this book. Excellent, researched novel of the French Revolution. The characters really came alive. It's been a few years since I read it. Eventually I will read it again. I appreciated that the author didn't embellish the facts too much. With such a colourful true story one doesn't need to make stuff up!
July 21, 2016
Highly recommended. This beautifully characterized novel helped me make sense of the complicated history of the French Revolution. As Wordsworth said (and he was there) "t'was bliss in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven". This book captured that early excitement, and then the building dread as things went wrong, and it shows why it happened.
November 30, 2022
Abysmal effort. The French Revolution was an extremely complicated affair, driven as much by personality as by ideology. The participants were many and varied. If you want to understand this book at all, I suggest reading Simon Schama's Citizens to learn about the characters involved. Actually, I would suggest reading Citizens and leaving this on the shelf.
December 2, 2009
I tried to give this a re-read, but it was just too ... something. Dense perhaps. Also, this time I know how it ends. :/ (And given that this is historical fiction, apparently this is one of the cases where that matters.)
December 31, 2020
The Gods Are Thirsty was the book that finally convinced me you should only read Lee's earlier works.
December 10, 2008
I think I'm spoiled by all of the fantasy/horror/scifi I've come to expect from Tanith Lee. While her writing is still wonderful, I kept remembering how much I suffered with A Tale of Two Cities.
August 24, 2016
Just could not stand the author's writing style!
Want to read
February 18, 2008French revolution historical fiction, but a little too long for library check-out :)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews