3.0
The Adventures of Brak the Barbarian Volume Two
ByPublisher Description
Brak the Barbarian has no time for gods. A simple warrior, he cares only for plunder and women, and sees religion as nothing but foolish superstition. But the disciples of the Dark One, Yob-Haggoth, take their god seriously—and they believe Yob-Haggoth wants Brak dead.
In
, Brak tries to pass through rocky country, but ominous things begin to happen. A shower of boulders falls without a sound. He meets an old man who seems to know his every secret. And his pony is torn to pieces by an unseen monster. A great magician is hounding Brak—a malevolent force that no broadsword can match.
In
, Brak arrives at the edge of the roaring sea, seeking a ship to carry him to Khurdisan. But before he can find passage, his caravan is set upon by slavers who chain the great warrior to an oar. With each stroke he plots his revenge. Brak's tormentors will be destroyed, but he will find that the sea holds greater horrors than a slavedriver's whip.
This ebook bundle contains additional stories featuring Brak the Barbarian, as well as an illustrated biography of John Jakes including rare images from the author's personal collection.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Adventures of Brak the Barbarian Volume Two Reviews
3.0
Metaphorosis Reviews
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“2.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
First, opprobrium to Open Road Media for publishing an omnibus so illogical that I broke it into pieces for my library. This is the Brak #2, Brak #4, and two random Brak short stories. Why didn’t they publish 1 and 2 together, 3 and 4 together, and 5 with the shorter stories?
<strong>Summary </strong>
Brak the Barbarian, trying to reach the rich lands of the far south, becomes mired in a local dispute between the lord and a sorceress. But maybe she has a link to his past after all?
<strong>Review </strong>
Most people are familiar with John Jakes through his historical novels, which I haven’t read. I came to him through his 1969 short novel, <em>Secrets of Stardeep</em>, which I read as a child, and loved. I’m afraid the rest of his SFF work just isn’t as good.
This second Brak novel was published in 1969, the same year as <em>Stardeep</em>, but you’d be hard pressed to believe it’s the same author. While <em>Stardeep</em> was sensitive and reasonably subtle, this is a straight, and not very successful homage to Robert Howard’s Conan stories. While I think that Jakes tries here to make Brak more believable, the result is that he’s constantly stumbling into trouble, being captured, and escaping more through luck than prowess or wit. Other tropes of the genre – mysterious, poorly clad women, sorcerors, creatures, etc – are standard and unsurprising.
Much as I’ve tried to believe in Jakes, I’m starting to think <em>Stardeep</em> was the fluke. This novel is readable, but repetitive and simply not very innovative or interesting.
<strong>Summary</strong>
Brak the barbarian, captured and enslaved, finds himself in the midst of a war of muscle and sorcery.
<strong>Review </strong>
Though written a decade later, after Jakes was already well known for his other work, this fourth Brak volume unfortunately doesn’t have much more to recommend it than the second ( https://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/brak-the-barbarian-versus-the-sorceress-john-jakes/ ) did. It’s a similar familiar pastiche of Conan-lite tropes, except the Brak is far more likely to stumble in and out of trouble than Conan. I never found myself really warming to him. There’s nothing terrible here, for the genre, but also nothing really eye opening. If you’re a Jakes completist, pick it up. Otherwise, you’re not missing much. It may tell you something that, just days after reading this, I had trouble remembering what it was about.
<strong>Summary </strong>
Two short stories about Brak the Barbarian.
<strong>Review </strong>
Brak works slightly better at a shorter length, in that it’s easier to just focus on the story and ignore how familiar everything here is. There isn’t the novelty of Conan, the sardonic humor of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, etc. Just familiar barbarian hero tropes stuck together in a story you’ve pretty much read before.”
About John Jakes
John Jakes (b. 1932), the author of more than a dozen novels, is regarded as one of today’s most distinguished writers of historical fiction. His work includes the highly acclaimed Kent Family Chronicles series and the North and South Trilogy. Jakes’s commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title of “the godfather of historical novelists” from the
and led to a streak of sixteen consecutive
bestsellers. Jakes has received several awards for his work and is a member of the Authors Guild and the PEN American Center. He and his wife, Rachel, live on the west coast of Florida.
Other books by John Jakes
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