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1. Kilroy says

   back in 1958 it seems that an excellent book like this could actually be a finalist for the pulitzer prize (which this was). nowadays, gender and racial political correctness would put a squash to any such justice. oh, well. anyway, i have not consumed a lot of westerns in my reading days. 9 of them, if i have counted correctly. “warlock,” by oakley hall, is my 2nd favorite of the lot (1st place going to “true grit,” by charles portis). mr hall’s book is a vastly superior reading experience than cormac mccarthy’s “blood meridian,” which has been touted by many as the best western out there. “warlock” embraces both the cliches of the western and the prototypes of its characters, while at the same time being anti-cliche and turning prototypes on their heads. how can this be? i don’t know. it just is. i’m not smart enough to figure out or put into words the whys and the hows. here’s my advice: read the thing.

   November 18, 2009, 3:36 am
2. Urrutia says

   Occasionally talky, but overall a real page-burner! Rustlers, gunfighters, gamblers and whores, and plenty of rottin’ tootin’ action! This book was a favorite of the late Richard Farina’s (”Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me”), as well as a favorite of Thomas Pynchon’s. Highly recommend!

   November 18, 2009, 3:47 pm
3. Nevin says

   Just this week marked the one year anniversary of Oakley Hall’s death, a giant of American letters, albeit one whose reputation always burned far brighter among writers than it did among the general reading public. While the rerelease of “Warlock” Hall’s masterpiece may not herald him getting the readership he deserves, perhaps it will be a step in the right direction.

   With “Warlock” Hall succeeded where only a fine writer really can, taking a well trod genre and then stretching and bending it into something fresh and innovative. At a cursory glance, the characters and setting will feel familiar to most American readers, since the Western is so deeply imbedded in our culture. Yet “Warlock” goes beyond such conventions. The characters are rich and complex, John Gannon among the most memorable of any I’ve encountered in any novel, and with his mastery of prose, Hall’s sentences and descriptions pour forth as if sung. Nor does “Warlock” operate only on the level of surface story telling, though it can be read as such, but that would be to miss so much. With a deceptively minimalist style, Hall plumbs the depths with a meditation on American archetypes, not simply in terms of characters, but likewise in terms of setting, and offers much food for thought regarding our cultures complicated relationship with violence.

   None of which is to say Hall’s “Warlock” is an easy read. It most certainly is not. Yet if a reader is willing to put in the time and attention, the reward returned is rich indeed. From the first epic description of the setting as Hall sweeps down onto the town of Warlock, to last perfectly rafted page, you will be glad for the effort.

   November 19, 2009, 3:36 am
4. Saad says

   I was forcing myself to keep reading this book for the longest time. It’s not that it was boring (It’s not…so many things happen), but I just couldn’t care much about any of the characters. That is until the third part of the book. All of a sudden it became riveting for me. I won’t spoil anything, but it seemed like instead of characters brooding over shootings and lynch mobs and miner strikes, the stakes were raised and people were brought to extreme ends. In fact, there is an amazing bluff and call that almost had me in tears (if you’ve read the book you will ask, which one?). So, the ending definitely justified my reading experience, but overall I’d still say the book was mostly a slog.

   November 19, 2009, 4:25 pm
5. Iglesias says

   Warlock is the first in a trilogy by author Oakley Hall, the second novel in the trilogy being Badlands, followed by Apaches. I was simply awed by the writing of Mr Hall, and the universal human truths he reminds the reader of. I can see that more than a few writers must have read Oakley Hall’s novels, most especially Cormac Mccarthy. Warlock was published in 1958, and Badlands was at least 10 yrs later, followed by Apaches, which was at least another decade later. Mr Hall also does the fine Ambrose Bierce series of novels, and with a career spanning 5 decades, he is still underated and underapreciated by the general public. do yourself a favor and discover this most excellent writer.

   November 20, 2009, 4:08 am
6. Thorson says

   i love all the wilbur smith novels.I would love to reread them on my kindle. What about you? Please fellow readers request the same. Donna S. Feildbrook CA.

   November 20, 2009, 3:34 pm
7. Rong says

   Back cover and last two-three pages were ripped/damaged in packaging/shipping. I taped pages together and am reading as is.

   gjp

   November 21, 2009, 4:19 am
8. Jessup says

   This book is the third book in Wilbur Smith’s ancient Egyptian series although, chronologically, it is a direct follow-up to the first book, “River God” which ranks among my all time favorite historical novels. The second book of the series, “The Seventh Scroll” actually takes place in the present day and concerns some archeologists/anthroplogists that become embroiled in a mysterious adventure dealing with the events of the first novel. So now, here in the third novel, the author returns to the era of Taita, his protagonist of “River God”, attempting to recreate the magic (and the hugely popular reviews) of that book. So the question is…did he achieve that? Was he able to garner the forces of whatever muse inspired him that other time?

   Pretty close. This isn’t the super shining star that was “River God” but it is a shining star none the less. I think there are two main differences between the two novels that led this novel to be inferior to the first. One is just that: it isn’t the first. Had this one been the first of a series or a stand-alone novel it might well have been held to the same kind of reverence. But since we have “River God” to which to compare it, it loses a little bit in the originality department.

   But not much I have to say. The prose is equally well done and the pace of the novel is spot on. It reads easily like a quick novel despite it’s length and you have that same desire that all good novels inspire…wanting to sneak off and find time to read more of it. There were only a couple of spots where I wished events would speed up. The plot itself is not unique, basically a story of bad guys usurping power from the rightful good guys and how the good guys make things right and come back into power. But since the good guy’s army is always outnumbered, he and his allies must use intelligence to find ways to win battles. It sort of reminded me of “Braveheart” in the numbers of ways outnumbered armies can find cool ways to win.

   The other main difference that makes this novel slightly inferior to “River God” is that it is told in third person point of view. This is probably necessary because this time Taita is not always where the action is occurring. We have multiple major characters all over Egypt making it impossible for 1st person POV. But the author loses the intimacy that comes with 1st person POV. In “River God” we really know the character of Taita and come to understand his foibles as well as his matter-of-fact superiority to those around him. We know his thoughts when he acts as puppet master whereas in this book, he seems more aloof and somehow, less interesting. There are times, especially during the climactic scenes near the end where he is hardly involved.

   All in all I enjoyed this book as a darn good read despite the inevitable comparisons I had to make to an actual masterpiece. 4 and 1/2 stars.

   November 21, 2009, 4:03 pm
9. Flanagan says

   First of all, let me say that I have never read any of Wilbur Smiths other books so their may not be some conspiracy which allowed this guy to get famous. But this was the worst book ever. I have this thing about not finishing a book once I start, but this was a HUGE struggle. I’ll try and sum up the reasons why:
   1. This book was vulgar. And I’m a guy so take from that what you will. I mean nasty.
   2. The characters are in no way interesting. I’m sure most people were drawn to the character Taita, but he sucks and rarely contributes to the story. In fact, this seems like one of those stories where Taita could easily kill the main villain but chooses not to.
   3. This drags on like you wouldn’t believe.
   4. I often got the feeling like the writer was trying to use educated words where they weren’t needed or didn’t contribute to your understanding of the plot.
   5. The story is not unique and you will not feel convinced that the author knows anything about Egypt.

   The good?:
   1. Literally nothing. I can only warn you, you must make your own choice now. I hope you make the right one. Good luck.

   p.s. I actually just read Wilbur Smiths bio and it looks like he grew up in Africa. Not Egypt, of course. So I’m hoping he doesn’t cast any voodoo spells on me for this. No hard feelings Mr. Smith.

   November 22, 2009, 4:06 am
10. Vethamani says

    I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to all historical fiction enthusiasts. Product was delivered as described or better. A great transaction.

    November 22, 2009, 3:40 pm
11. Puckett says

    The book that was the start of this idea. Riding on the back of the fantasy role playing game craze came these interesting books, and plenty more popped up along with them on other topics, from other publishers.

    They were designed so that all you would need was a pencil and a simple randomiser and be able to carry the whole thing around with you, and introduce the game and chance into it.

    November 23, 2009, 3:45 am
12. Joyce says

    This is the first book of a great series known as Fighting fantasy. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone made a fortune out of this original Idea, and so it is not surprising. It is first class, well produced literature. Continuously entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable for all ages. It Is a shame to see the series cut its production line, but after writing 59 different books In the series, It’s no wonder the craze had to end somewhere. Young males of this era have missed out on good literature.

    November 23, 2009, 3:54 pm
13. Freeman says

    The first time I picked this book up, I was only 11. I couldn’t believe it. The fact that you could pick a book up and play it like a game just blew my mind. The illustrations were first class and once I’d put it down, I just wanted to pick it up again (and of-course you could because the second time you played it, it would be slightly different depending on where you went within the pages…) I loved it. I still have the original and still read it just for posterity… What a brilliant book!

    November 24, 2009, 3:41 am
14. Valentine says

    I’m new to the gamebooks of my childhood. Started with the Lone Wolf Series and moved onto this book. I was expecting the same kind of thing, make decisions, turn to the page, fighting, etc. However, after 4 tries all I ever did in this book was dungeon crawl. I’ve not completed it due to the fact, I keep ending up in the same loop. I’ve drawn out the map as the book suggests and followed it many many times. I can not get out of the maze. At this point I’m beyond frustrated and am beginning to think something is missing as all the choices in this particular area just keep leading back to the same page/area. It feels like there is no way out. On the positive, I enjoyed the story better than Lone Wolf, the fighting/story is more intense and slightly more difficult. This book didn’t feel as young as the Lone Wolf series. Due to the dungeon crawling and forever being lost feeling (since I was unable to complete it), I will not purchase more of the Fighting Fantasy series books. I wanted this to be more than it was.

    November 24, 2009, 4:17 pm
15. Quesenbery says

    Warlock Volume 2 is Jim Starlin’s take on Adam Warlock (you can skip volume 1 since it’s not that good). Although highly derivative of Michael Moorcock’s Elric/Eternal Champion series, Starlin still created a compelling must-read story in Warlock’s battle against his future-self, the Magus. Starlin’s writing and artwork would never be this good again.

    I would rank this as one of Marvel’s finest moments- up there with Claremont/Bryne’s X-men and Miller’s Daredevil. It’s too bad, Marvel today has nothing to compare with it’s past glories…

    November 25, 2009, 3:32 am
16. Edelberg says

    This is the famous Warlock run by writer/artist Jim Starlin. It is justly hailed as one of the triumphs of ’70s Marvel. This is not exactly a high bar as the ’70s were not a particularly good decade for Marvel or anyone else.

    Starlin had a grand, cosmic vision which was going to deal with life, death, purpose, identity, and various other concepts. He was definitely going to be going in a vastly different direction than superhero comics of the time did. He wasn’t going to be allowed to do this with an A-list or even a B-list character. What he was given was a C-list character named Warlock.

    A few years prior Warlock had been the subject of another experiment, one that explored religious themes. Those stories are collected in Marvel Masterworks Warlock Volume 1. This experiment, while it had its moments, was for the most part unsuccessful.

    Starlin’s experiment was incomparably better executed. So well so that it has been reprinted three different times, this being the first time in hardcover. It’s especially impressive when you consider that Warlock is not exactly a well developed character. He’s hard to identify with and spends a lot of his time bewailing his lot sort of like a lesser Silver Surfer.

    Ultimately, it’s the characters that Starlin surrounded Warlock with that carry the tale. The villains are superb – the Matriarch, Magus, and Thanos. Only the Star Thief disappoints but I have a problem with characters with mind over mind and matter powers. The supporting cast is equally good. Pip the Troll gives the reader someone to identify with. Gamora is not quite as good but adequate.

    Starlin delivers the goods. The story is fast moving and entertaining. It has a lot of twists and turns. It has the feel of being planned out ahead instead of being made up as Starlin went along. Only the Star Thief two part story feels like filler. There are a lot of imaginative concepts tossed in along he way.

    In short, if you like heroic superhero fantasy this should be right up your alley.

    November 25, 2009, 3:42 pm