Long before the words "magical realism" ever cropped up in literary criticism, Avram Davidson was quietly creating a spectacular body of erudite, eloquent, evocative history-as-myth. The Dr. Eszterhazy stories, along with the Vergil novels and "Adventures in Unhistory", are the pinnacle of his accomplishment.

No one has ever had a better ear for dialect, a better sense of the self-importance of minor officials, a better notion of how Balkan politics play out in the back-alleys of minor capitals. And certainly no one has ever had such a perfect (and reverent) sense of the ridiculous, when it comes to the probable behavior of the Vicar-at-Large of the Unreconciled Zwinglians, or the demands of the Frores for an independent Bureau of Weights and Measures, or the universal value of a glass of shnopps, wudky, or St. Martin's.

If you do not love these stories, you're probably just not ready for them yet.

Each of the "short stories" is long enough for a meaningful theme. The elderly Catholic titular queen of Carinthia's summary of the history of the Reformation alone is worth the price of the book, as Dr. Calvin flees from France to Germany, changes his name to Luther, is thrown out by the local ruler, goes to Switzerland, changes his name to Zwingli, and that's why the Switzers have to come to France to be confirmed.

Avram Davidson imagines a world where science is slightly skewed: alchemy works, phrenology (studying the bumps on a skull to determine personality) is a real science, etc. The author takes each "scientific" dead end of the late 19th century (and earlier centuries) and builds witty, cohesive stories around each one. His characters are great and all his plots neatly resolve. The more you know about European history, the more fun you'll get out of his books (Mr. Davidson is, I believe, a professor of an arcane branch of European history).

The 1985 movie was great, but Brewster's methods are far more diverse and humorous in the book. Notable highlights:

-Brewster befriends a pair of muggers by insisting they steal everything, even the $300 they overlooked in his right pocket.

-He hosts a luxury cruise for 50 to Europe, and the guests stage a mutiny to curb Brewster's inexplicable generosity.

-An Arab sheik tries to steal Brewster's fiance in Egypt, but is shot in the head while absconding.

A possible detractor: the book has far more dramatic content than the movie. This is not simply a comedic vehicle. It is thoroughly absorbing, nevertheless.

This is an amazing piece of historical fiction. A beatuiful piece, combining accurate historic detail with high energy story-telling.

It begins on a Crusade in the Holy Land, and Sir Hugh and his companions are betrayed to the Saracans, by their Greek "allies," and slaughtered to the last man. Only one man survives, Sir Hugh--and with the aid of a mysterious helper he gains the long lost, legendary sword of Roland--Durandal. And he swears to avenge the death of his comrads.

This book was originally written as 3 short stories in Adventure Magazine in the 1920's and 30's, and originally combined into a novel in the 1930's. Now re-released here, it has stood the test of time very well. Worth mentioning--this book is a beatuiful new release, wonderfully illustrated. The author is Harold Lamb, who was not only a respected historian, but was also familiar with the places he used as the settings for his story. He spoke the native languages and had visited the sites he portrayed in this book.

One of the finest features of the book is the sense of fate, and determination that fills not just Sir Huge, but all the characters in this novel. As he is fleeing from his Greek enemies--with the aid of Moslem Arabs--he encounters the outriders of the invading Mongol horde--the soldiers of Genghis Khan, lead by the amazing Subadai. And because of his own quarrels, Sir Hugh joins the Horde--A Crusader in the Horde--and rises in rank because of his own abilities.

A tour de force. When good hack writers do their best you should expect something very readable and this book certainly is. Fantasy usually comes in 2 flavors: 1) The boy who learns better and gets the girl, the kingdom or whatever. 2) The Hobbit or King Arthur rides again. Here you get something entirely different. You get the story of 1) The king, the god or whoever who is told that something or somebody will be his/it's downfall, tries to destroy the problem (ie. the hero) and in doing this causes the very disaster he/she/it is trying to avert. The story is 2-3000 years old, but it is still a good one if properly handled. 2) The coming of the iron and the going of the old gods and the old magic. 3) One of DeCamps usual reluctant/practical heroes (or intelligent cowards) doing the best he can with what he has. The hero gets the girl and one suspects that eventually he will also get the kingdom, but at the end of the book the hero leaves the kingdom and his not very nice brother to one another in order to live with the girl (who has a very nice kingdom of her own). If you like grown up fantasy this is a Must Read.

Not bad.Not one of the best Family d'Alembert novels but not bad.

This is a wonderful book! Its not exactly a sequel to Riddle of the Wren, but set in the same universe, with the same hoary feel to it. Not one of his more well-known books, but I loved it as a kid and still do. Both are a definite must-read if you love old high fantasy.

If you plan on reading any of the Family D'Alembert series, then I strongly reccomend that you read this first. It sets the plot and introduces the main characters. Frankly, without reading this book, you will probably get lost in the others!

The basis of this book was a short story in the "Dangerous Visions" series, "Amongst the Bentfin Boomer Boys on Lil' Old New Alabama." (If I recall correctly). From what I remember from the author's introduction, this book was an experiment in "avant garde writing," which is to say, writing in different styles and voices in the vein of Mark Twain's ability to capture dialects.

The storyline involves the distant future, where the South has risen again across several star systems; a war ensues against the opposing star systems who are analogous to the North. Two of the voices are shown here: the "notherners" and those of the New South, where the narratives are ordinary and in a heavy Southern drawl, respectively.

The New South are short on manpower, so they combine intelligent lizzards (third voice) with bodies stitched together with remains from battles and employ a zombie ritual (don't remember why) to bring them to life.

The imagery was so vivid for me, reading this when I was thirteen, that 23 years later I still remember this much. I still have a musty paperback copy back home in Cleveland somewhere (I hope). I never found any other books like this. Grab one if you ever come across it.

I found this book very interesting.It shows the sciences behind mine (and many other kids) favorite sports. I recomend u buy it.

This book is a very disappointing experience for me. While this book is very good reading, and exciting and well written, it is not at all what I thought it was when I bought it.

The dustjacket notes expalin that this is the further adventures of Sir Hugh of Taranto, who first appeared in the novel "Durandal," written by Harold Lamb. "Durandal" is a series of three stories first published in seperate editions of Adventure Magazine, and then later published as a novel. (I've posted a review of "Durandal" on Amazon.com. Great book. Read it. You'll love it.)

But the problem with "Sea of the Ravens," is that it does not continue where "Durandal" ended. "Ravens" is part of "Durandal"--the middle part actually--just rebound and sold under a seperate cover. Maybe the publisher thinks this is a pretty funny little joke. But for [the cost], I am not laughing.

Do no buy this book. Buy and enjoy "Durandal," but avoid "The Sea of Ravens."

Harold Lamb wrote some of the best swashbuckling fiction in the last century, and is long overdue for rediscovery. Once one of the most popular writers of Adventure magazine, he is chiefly remembered today for his fine histories and biographies.

Before his days as a respected historian, though, he wrote pulse-pounding historic adventre fiction featuring complex plots and heroes with Odyssean wit. Robert E. Howard listed him as one of his favorite writers.

As another reviewer noted, this is the second portion of a trilogy (I've learned that the third part should come out in 2002) that begins with Grant's reprint of Durandal. All three stories were collected in the 30s under the title "Durandal," but as that volume is long out of print and the Donald M. Grant editions feature amazing artwork, purchasing the individual books one by one is definitely the way to go--so long as the third book is finally printed!

Let me second the wish of that reviewer from Jordan that someone reprint Lamb's Adventure fiction.

Sea of the Ravens is a wonderful book by an underappreciated master of the adventure story. The problem is where is the end of the complete tale, "Rusudan?" Is publisher Donald Grant ever going to publish it or have they lost interest just like they did with the deluxe versions of Robert E. Howard's immortal Conan of Cimmeria? A paperback version of the entire story would be very nice. Harold Lamb is ripe for discovery. A lot of his best work, found in the moldering pages of "Adventure" pulp, has never been published in book form, even in the old days! Won't someone reprint the complete Khlit stories or publidh the excellent novellas like "The Grand Cham" or "The Golden Horde?"