Brak vs. the Mark of the Demons (Brak the Barbarian, #3) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

May 19, 2015 Derek rated it liked it

Shelves: sword-and-sorcery

I came out of the previous Brak books unimpressed by the stripped-down language, a bland hero, and story elements thrown together into a pot. But on the third try I find myself sort of grokking the thing more (view spoiler). Brak is an archetype of sorts--okay, truthfully he's imitative of a better character by a better writer--but he's the trope or image of 'barbarian', of elements I came out of the previous Brak books unimpressed by the stripped-down language, a bland hero, and story elements thrown together into a pot. But on the third try I find myself sort of grokking the thing more (view spoiler). Brak is an archetype of sorts--okay, truthfully he's imitative of a better character by a better writer--but he's the trope or image of 'barbarian', of elements people associate with the word. Goofy elements, certainly, as he eschews footwear and clothing other than a must-be-pretty-rank-by-now lion pelt. (view spoiler) He's crude, straightforward, and shakes his head at all these nutty civilized people, and he has the seemingly infinite ability to absorb bodily punishment. He's Conan after a sandblasting to remove all nuance and trace of actual anthropology.

And the setting, which has no sense of place or context. Brak is now someplace far from where he was, with no discussion of why he's taking this ill-advised route. He has emerged from a fog and into the story, and will leave the story by the same fog. Only what is happening right now is relevant. It's a nightmare dreamscape, traveled across by Brak and the caravan he joins with, through weird monster perils. Yellow slime pits containing grasping tentacles. Desert bandits who replace an eye with a large ruby. A caravan of unexplained size traveling from somewhere indistinct to a distant and poorly-described city through the most dangerous lands imaginable.

There's an element of Weird to this, like half-cooked Michael Moorcock.

If that were it, it would be two stars. There's a section at the end which is where I wish the story started and justifies the final star: (view spoiler) The story only touches in that direction because we only see it from Brak's point of view, and he's mostly in a prison cell, and the story leaves an even more intriguing situation unexplored: the aftermath, a destroyed city and packs of ill-equipped refugees in the wilderness. I want a story that starts there, honestly. Lin Carter had that starting point in The Black Star but dropped the matter almost immediately.

After one last euthenization, Brak is done killing ponies. He has moved on to dromedaries. ...more

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Jul 24, 2008 Charles rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Another Brak novel, not as good as the first. The Pocket version has an awful cover. The Paperback library has a much better one. But there is charm in the writing.

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