Fall into Darkness

by Nicholas Yermakov, Simon Hawke

Before legally changing his name, Simon Hawke wrote as Nicholas Yermakov. This new edition of FALL INTO DARKNESS is back in print for the first time in over 30 years. Novi’kavkaz was an Earth colony that had lost its way. One day, the ships ceased to arrive from Earth. No one knew why or what had happened. The few ships sent out did not return. And finally, there were no more ships to send. The years passed, and the society on Novi’kavkaz began to stagnate and decay. All technological progress ended after several hundred years, and then came the regression.Two thousand years after the first humans came to Novi’kavkaz, even the planet’s history was lost. The remnants of the marvelous technology were like grim reminders of another, spectral civilization. Some of the artifacts still worked, but for the most part, they were barely operative objects of mystery and speculation.The culture of Novi’kavkaz had begun to decay long before the machines wore out or the ships stopped coming. After two thousand years, the social structure had been distilled into an upper and a lower class. Those who ruled, and those who were ruled.But always, there were exceptions. The Z’kazan were a warrior class who served the pampered, decadent nobility, kept the working class in line, and lived by a rigid code of honor that defined them and their families. And one day, a glaring violation of that code set into motion events that completely changed the course of three young A’drei, the tortured and confused young prince who did not want the throne he had no choice but to ascend; R’uslahn, the Z’kazan’s son with a burning thirst for vengeance that no amount of violence could quench; and M’ikhail, his younger brother, who wanted nothing more than the peace that kept eluding him. And it all began with the casting of a gauntlet….

Genres: Science Fiction

296 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Simon Hawke was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke.

Reviews

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

More interesting than readable, unfortunately. This is one of those science-fiction-turned-fantasy settings, where the world is an abandoned colony, so while the names are Earth-based and the tech level is a mishmash of futuristic and ancient, the setting is totally fantasy-like. One of the biggest problems for me, straight off the bat, was the proliferation of apostrophes; I think this guy wrote Star Trek books and, like, it may work for Vulcans but come on. A'leigh'na? Please, can you just do "Alena"? It's a stylistic tic that drives me nuts.

My larger issue with the book was the lack of viewpoint. The author's note at the end was what it took for this to make sense: on the one hand, he's writing mostly from the point of view of members of an extremely violent military caste who are being threatened by a populist psychopath; on the other hand, he really doesn't shy away from how stupid and insane said military caste is. Like, the populist psychopath kind of has a point. The ending is extremely rushed and ends with basically the extinguishing of said violent military caste and the corrupt nobility who propped it up, but also with the deaths of the populist psychopath because otherwise it would be sad. But you never really get a sense of where the author is coming from on this. Individual characters are good or bad or in-between, but the writing style is more remote and epic and involves a lot of philosophical debates, so the fact that there's no real side chosen there just makes the whole thing seem weird.

The author's note, mentioned earlier, makes all this make a lot more sense - the author is a Russian, presumably descended from White Russian emigres, who grew up in the US, and this book is an outgrowth of his conversations with Soviet Russians. Got it. Because on the one hand imperial Russia was a cesspool of autocracy and violence, and on the other hand the Russian Revolution was nuts and the Soviet Union was also a cesspool of prejudice and violence. It's really hard to come to a point of view when you look at the revolutionary period (which is essentially when this book is set, a revolutionary period) because, like, the tsarist forces were always happy to take some time off to pogrom the local Jews, but the communists were busy throwing "class enemies" down mineshafts to starve to death. It was all just awful. And that's kind of where this book lands, the stuff that happens is all just awful. Unfortunately, I think this actually makes it sound more interesting than it is, because the characterizations are very flat, the dialogue isn't particularly strong, and those names make it hard to get through. So, like, an interesting book, but I don't get the sense the author was really sure where he was going. And he should have taken out the apostrophes.

[Jase Tell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really, really great book that delves into society, honor, and courage. It's description of the villain seems so apropos in today's environment of misinformation, self-service, and clouding of the facts.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually before i read this book: Nicholas Yermakov is the real name of the man who wrote the "Time Wars" series under the name of Simon Hawke.