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The Baalbak Quest
ERON KILLSTAR. Fighter, lover, thief... ERON KILLSTAR. Created from the body of a murdered prince... ERON KILLSTAR. Hero of the sword-and-sorcery school of survival... ERON KILLSTAR.
His destiny is to locate the coveted Book of Baalbak, a volume of knowledge and magic as old as time, then use its power to destroy Sargon Arcturion, the murderous Sorcerer-Emperor of the many Earths.
But Sargon, too, quests for the book; he pursues Killstar with awesome evil spells and the military might of the deadly Dred Elite. The Killstar-Sargon conflict explodes in an exiting mixture of fantasy, magic, and heavy-metal blood violence-with the fate of mankind to the whim of the victor!
His destiny is to locate the coveted Book of Baalbak, a volume of knowledge and magic as old as time, then use its power to destroy Sargon Arcturion, the murderous Sorcerer-Emperor of the many Earths.
But Sargon, too, quests for the book; he pursues Killstar with awesome evil spells and the military might of the deadly Dred Elite. The Killstar-Sargon conflict explodes in an exiting mixture of fantasy, magic, and heavy-metal blood violence-with the fate of mankind to the whim of the victor!
- GenresFantasy
159 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2016
I kind of like where Kelly was going, but it soon became clear that he was in over his head: able to produce an overview piece that probably became the introduction, but not able to take what felt like a detailed plot outline and follow through with the rest.
There's an early chapter where Eron Killstar--we can all admit that Kelly's names are uniquely awful--travels to a benighted village to aid a small child, discovering that she has been systematically and bizarrely brutalized. It's a marvelously dark moment that could have set the tone for the story and established a character note for the otherwise-roguish Killstar (especially since he just sold someone a false treasure map and needs to escape, another interesting idea), but the moment is lost and the story reverts to light adventure and non-amusing banter between the two leads. It just sort of goes on, introducing some promising idea, then immediately spoiling the moment with bizarre stupidity or incompetence.
In its strangest use of Chekhov's gun, the evil (?) wizard Amrus Cardidd warns Killstar that sexual activity in his stronghold would disrupt the magical forces at play and be perilous to the structure itself. Anyone care to guess what eventually happens?
There's an early chapter where Eron Killstar--we can all admit that Kelly's names are uniquely awful--travels to a benighted village to aid a small child, discovering that she has been systematically and bizarrely brutalized. It's a marvelously dark moment that could have set the tone for the story and established a character note for the otherwise-roguish Killstar (especially since he just sold someone a false treasure map and needs to escape, another interesting idea), but the moment is lost and the story reverts to light adventure and non-amusing banter between the two leads. It just sort of goes on, introducing some promising idea, then immediately spoiling the moment with bizarre stupidity or incompetence.
In its strangest use of Chekhov's gun, the evil (?) wizard Amrus Cardidd warns Killstar that sexual activity in his stronghold would disrupt the magical forces at play and be perilous to the structure itself. Anyone care to guess what eventually happens?
July 6, 2009
Yowie. Ok so the back cover promises "heavy metal blood violence" (!) Im not sure what that is, but im pretty sure the back cover is a stinking filthy liar. Instead we got possibly the worst names in the history of bad fantasy, I mean our hero is named Killstar for crying out loud, and David J Kelly is not ashamed of naming the protaganist Killstar; he doesnt seem to believe in pronouns, and the average page (i spot checked) contains 5 - 12 "Killstar"s, especially in dialogue. It is hysterical. Oh, and Typos galore.
The plot, oh man, i wish there was a description up above, but no, so here it goes. Killstar is a homonculus created after a dead princes hand who died a thousand years ago in a rebellion. After the king died/was assinated by the eldest brother Sauron with alien help, The prince tried to enact vengence and died horrible, so they took his hand and made killstar. Except killstar didnt end up caring much for revenge so they gave up and the oaf turned to a millenia of theiving and wenching. Did i mention there is 85 worlds in this kingdom that they access through mirrors, or that the aliens turned large sections of the population into mutants in the 'mutange' right. So then after that its a standard dingus quest, the dingus is a book, the sidekick is called merecastle. There is some millenium old intrigue and then in the end nothing gets accomplished. At all. Brazenly the author spends 8 of the last 10 pages with a lover spat between Killstar and a sorceress and her flying talking cat giving romantic advice. Argggggghhhhhhhhh. Oh and Killstar destroys the minibosses monastary by having sex in it. Yep. Killstar.
The plot, oh man, i wish there was a description up above, but no, so here it goes. Killstar is a homonculus created after a dead princes hand who died a thousand years ago in a rebellion. After the king died/was assinated by the eldest brother Sauron with alien help, The prince tried to enact vengence and died horrible, so they took his hand and made killstar. Except killstar didnt end up caring much for revenge so they gave up and the oaf turned to a millenia of theiving and wenching. Did i mention there is 85 worlds in this kingdom that they access through mirrors, or that the aliens turned large sections of the population into mutants in the 'mutange' right. So then after that its a standard dingus quest, the dingus is a book, the sidekick is called merecastle. There is some millenium old intrigue and then in the end nothing gets accomplished. At all. Brazenly the author spends 8 of the last 10 pages with a lover spat between Killstar and a sorceress and her flying talking cat giving romantic advice. Argggggghhhhhhhhh. Oh and Killstar destroys the minibosses monastary by having sex in it. Yep. Killstar.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2025
when I read the blurb I thought this was going to be the most edgy 90s-style macho fest. and it is a little bit, but it's actually really charming. it's not close to perfect and I think it really needed a better editor if it had one at all, but it had some sweet moments and fun fast paced action and the characters were surprisingly likeable. it's also a very quick read which is really what I'm after at the moment so it was very satisfying. in reality it's more like 3 stars but idgaf :-)
August 15, 2015
Previously Published at TheQwillery.com
I was first attracted to this book because of its amazing cover by an A. Bennett. It presumably shows Eron Killstar atop a boulder carved into a skull. Eron is wrapped up a lot like Mumm-Ra, and on the back of the book it mentions “heavy-metal blood violence” so how could I not get it. Damn those clever marketers.
The Baalbak Quest is a true blend of Science-Fiction and Fantasy. We have a multitude of worlds sharing a galaxy with aliens and humans alike, all of them ruled by a king on Elder Earth. The worlds are connected by gateways of both science and magic. The king we discover is killed by his eldest son, Sargon, and some aliens. The other children of the slain king rise up against their evil brother, but are killed. One of the brothers, Grendel Eron, tells a wizard that if he should die the wizard is to cut his hand off and take it to a different earth and use it to make a clone. It would be that clone's duty to kill Sargon. Eron Killstar is that clone, however something goes wrong, which makes him unable to fulfill his mission. We speed forward a thousand years to find Eron Killstar and his companion Merecastle living as thieves and scoundrels. They are sent on a mission to find a book by the name of Baalbak, which promises to unlock Eron Killstar's destiny and save a village enslaved to a blind wizard.
Kelly shows some amazing talent in world building and creating some interesting characters, excluding their names. There are some genuinely cool ideas in this book and I really love the way he mixes the two speculative genres together. The only problem is he doesn't seem to know what to do with all of these great ideas. The setups have a lot of promise, but everything falls apart quickly. Eron is unlikeable as a character and his sidekick Merecastle is left undeveloped beyond his desire to steal things and lay with women. The world is ignored and the things that showed the most promise at the beginning are soon lost as the story takes on a very generic quest.
The book ends with the capture of the book, but then it is quickly lost again and we are left with Eron Killstar on his own. We can only imagine that the next book takes up the quest, but now that I know there is only one other book I don't have enough faith that the story will find any overwhelming completion or satisfaction to continue on.
The Baalbak Quest is a perfect example of a cool idea that Kelly needed to spend more time developing or editing to truly develop. I wish I could say that my first true forgotten author deserved to be rediscovered, but now it makes more sense why I can't find anything about him, which is a stark reminder to all of us who wish to write to do it right the first time. We only have one chance to make a first impression, or at least to leave a lost treasure worth discovering in the future. There is minor violence, language and only implied sexual situations. It's a safe read for teens or adults, but I would recommend you pass on this book if you find it at your local used book store.
I was first attracted to this book because of its amazing cover by an A. Bennett. It presumably shows Eron Killstar atop a boulder carved into a skull. Eron is wrapped up a lot like Mumm-Ra, and on the back of the book it mentions “heavy-metal blood violence” so how could I not get it. Damn those clever marketers.
The Baalbak Quest is a true blend of Science-Fiction and Fantasy. We have a multitude of worlds sharing a galaxy with aliens and humans alike, all of them ruled by a king on Elder Earth. The worlds are connected by gateways of both science and magic. The king we discover is killed by his eldest son, Sargon, and some aliens. The other children of the slain king rise up against their evil brother, but are killed. One of the brothers, Grendel Eron, tells a wizard that if he should die the wizard is to cut his hand off and take it to a different earth and use it to make a clone. It would be that clone's duty to kill Sargon. Eron Killstar is that clone, however something goes wrong, which makes him unable to fulfill his mission. We speed forward a thousand years to find Eron Killstar and his companion Merecastle living as thieves and scoundrels. They are sent on a mission to find a book by the name of Baalbak, which promises to unlock Eron Killstar's destiny and save a village enslaved to a blind wizard.
Kelly shows some amazing talent in world building and creating some interesting characters, excluding their names. There are some genuinely cool ideas in this book and I really love the way he mixes the two speculative genres together. The only problem is he doesn't seem to know what to do with all of these great ideas. The setups have a lot of promise, but everything falls apart quickly. Eron is unlikeable as a character and his sidekick Merecastle is left undeveloped beyond his desire to steal things and lay with women. The world is ignored and the things that showed the most promise at the beginning are soon lost as the story takes on a very generic quest.
The book ends with the capture of the book, but then it is quickly lost again and we are left with Eron Killstar on his own. We can only imagine that the next book takes up the quest, but now that I know there is only one other book I don't have enough faith that the story will find any overwhelming completion or satisfaction to continue on.
The Baalbak Quest is a perfect example of a cool idea that Kelly needed to spend more time developing or editing to truly develop. I wish I could say that my first true forgotten author deserved to be rediscovered, but now it makes more sense why I can't find anything about him, which is a stark reminder to all of us who wish to write to do it right the first time. We only have one chance to make a first impression, or at least to leave a lost treasure worth discovering in the future. There is minor violence, language and only implied sexual situations. It's a safe read for teens or adults, but I would recommend you pass on this book if you find it at your local used book store.
May 8, 2012
underrated and lost.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews