Kothar and the Demon Queen book #3: Revised

Kothar #3

by Gardner Fox, Kurt Brugel (Editor)

In exchange for sharing the throne, Kothar the Magnificent Barbarian is challenged by the Demon Queen to return the mysterious god Xixthur--source of eternal youth--from the clutches of the thieving Tor Domnus in the city of Urgal. Little does either know that the theft of Xixthur was engineered by the mighty Mindos Omthol, who has his own plans for the god and for the Demon Queen.

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

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]

This is the third of five swords & sorcery books that Fox, who is of course best remembered for his prolific comics work at DC, had published 1969 - '70 featuring the titular protagonist. They had kind of generic heroic fantasy covers, this one from Jeff Jones, of a blonde barbarian wielding a battle axe. The hair color is different on some of the other titles, and he usually has a sword. They're unashamed, proud pastiches of Howard's Conan. This third book is the first full-length novel in the series, the first two books being collections of shorter tales. It's a fun and unpretentious story, certainly not great literature but better written than many similar titles of the time. He's challenged by another lusty wench but prevails due to his superior nature and the strength of his mighty blade. The book held my interest, but I wasn't sufficiently moved to read further in the series. (Maybe someday...)

[Charles]

Fairly standard heroic fantasy but if you're a fan of the genre you'll porbably like it.

[Larry]

“The mage licked his thin blue lips. His heart, which had sunk with despair, now beat madly with renewed hope. His shaking hand he raised, to point at the horror crouching in the corner of his solar. ‘Tell me, how may I raise this god Xixthur?’
‘By stealing him.’
Mindos Omthol goggled. ‘Steal a god?’”

How’s that for an opening? Interested yet?

“Kothar and the Demon Queen” is the third book in Gardner Francis Fox’s classic Kothar Sword & Sorcery volumes. While this piece had its good moments and bad moments, at times I felt it struggled a bit - gone in this volume was the interplay between Red Lori and our hero….at times to I felt our barbarian acted a little out of sorts - for sword & sorcery I think it might be a delicate art to string the difference between a savage, self serving sword & sorcery hero and something a bit closer to a villain, and I think at times Kothar failed that test in this volume (I.e. his rape of the demon queen, his need for vengeance when she later double crosses him, his wanton duplicity in the other city, his trying to off the demon queen)…while some of it can be handwaved away as circumstantial, I also think Kothar’s valiant and sometimes stoic personality in the earlier stories took a hit here. Why would he care for vengeance? He seemed much more on just carrying on in prior stories …anyway, these issues were a problem for me. One could argue despite his efforts many of the main events simply happened to Kothar rather than his making something happen (I.e. the demon stuff at the end of the story where he was basically saved by some lucky timing and confusion in events)— I don’t think s&s heroes should often be passive! Add also the continuing editing errors (really like to show some of these to my own grammar critics, as wow there are some doozies here, and this is a real published book)…but despite the rollicking, meandering plot, Kothar’s personality shift, the sometimes distancing of the view point in the narrative making things sometimes seem to abstract, and other things …there were still plenty of moments that were strong and engaging. At times I was tempted to give it a 2, but on consideration it’s definitely strong enough for a rating of 3 out of 5 demons.

[Wyandotte Mike]

Book 3 in the Kothar series finds our Conan clone fighting to retrieve a piece of ancient technology considered a god by a beautiful demon/human princess. Kothar must steal the god from another wasteland warlord who has enslaved a mighty demon to protect the item and his city-state.

This book features quite a lot of magic, probably the one redeeming thing that can keep me reading what is still an obvious Conan ripoff. I wondered if the author might find himself expanding or changing the character as the books went along in an attempt to distinguish Kothar from Conan. The answer is no. Mr. Fox seems to have found what he believed to be a successful formula and character development be damned he's sticking with it.

All that aside the book is an enjoyable romp filled with action, magic and incredible monsters.

[Dan Piponi]

I read book 1 and thought it was pretty awful, but left curious enough to read book 2. I found myself enjoying bits of book 2 and by the end I was left with an itch that could only be scratched by reading more. And I have to admit that I enjoyed book 3. It's straightforward - what you see is what you get - but still fun. And in my busy moments my thoughts were often along the lines of "I can't wait to get back to Kothar so I can see how he defeats the unkillable demon".

Of course it could be that the books didn't improve from 1-3 but that instead something happened to me.

(I read the ebook available from the Gardner Fox web site which, like the earlier books, is full of typos, weirdly placed commas, and confusing dialogue.)

[James T]

This is substantially better than the first two entries in the series. It’s still a bit flimsy and has occasional moments of cringe, but for the most part it’s just a good time. The world is highly imaginative, the adventure is fun. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure. You don’t need to have read the first two entries in the series to enjoy this entry. You can probably skip them, tbh.
If you come across this and are in the mood for a Clonan you’ll enjoy it. Just remember to bring your imagination and not your disbelief. Again, guilty pleasure probably a 7.5/10 on a more in-depth rating system.

[Read by Fred]

This one was actually pretty good. It was "almost" gripping. Yes, there were one dimensional characters and corny scenes, but the demon queen Candara was written well, the old wizard's motives and ambitions were well described, and the quest drew you in.

Book 1 and 2 were "meh", but this third book was a pleasant surprise from Gardner Fox.

[John Jacobs]

Why can't they write fantasy today as well as they did back then? For its time, this was probably an average novel, but compared to the fantasy of today, this book stands head and shoulders above. A thickly-thewed story.

[Greg]

Certainly an improvement over the first two tales while sticking to the formula, Kothar #3 has a little more meat on its bones for plot this time around. It is still a silly story with a 60s comic book feel, but the writing itself is more digestible than a lot of the dreck on the market today.

[Jordan]

The third Kothar book is pretty much on the level of the rest - fun, but retrograde and no great work of fantasy literature. Can't say it didn't move quickly and have plenty of pep, though.

[Derek]

The book hews so closely to the prevailing cliches of the genre that there is very little to distinguish it from its peers. It is quite literally forgettable, from the perspective that its impression upon the reader has a half life measured in days if not hours.

One wonders about the author's relationship with women. Again, here the antagonist of interest--the Demon-Queen Candara--is a powerful, deceitful woman who plays both sides, who uses her body as a tool to get what she wants, and who at the last is destroyed by Kothar. Kothar then returns to the submissive and unthreatening woman, a rescued princess.

[Paulo "paper books only"]

Another tale on the sword and sorcery saga set in the far future... nothing really trully interesting, that's why I didn't make a review at that time and cannot remember now about what was this...

Don't read out of order, because they are all connected and it won't be interesting to read out of order... it's not like Conan that may be stuff that connects but overall they are individual.

[Ken]

This series doesn't even pretend to be anything other than a Conan imitation - he's Kothar of Cumbria instead of Conan of Cimmeria for cryin' out loud. This story was very Red Nails inspired too. Enjoyable and fast moving, and quick enough that it's worth reading.

[Little Timmy]

As a barbarian Kothar is not Conan by any means and the writing is not as good as Robert E. Howard's but these are still good stories. Quick and easy reads. Recommended