The Dark World

The Dark World by Henry Kuttner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After an illness following a plane crash in Sumatra, Edward Bond is whisked away to The Dark World, a twin of Earth where mutants rule. Bond encounters a mysterious hooded woman, a werewolf named Matholch, and a red witch named Medea, all of whom think he is the missing Ganelon. Will Bond free The Dark World of it's tyranny or rule the Dark World himself?



I've been interested in The Dark World since I found out it was one of Roger Zelazny's inspiration for Amber. Edward Bond/Ganelon's plight seems similar to Corwin's at first. Bond has fragments of memories that aren't his own and bluffs his way through situations as long as he can.



Ganelon was an interesting protagonist, an anti-hero motivated by his own ends rather than heroism. The Coven were an intersting lot; a gorgon, a vampire, and a werewolf. Ghast Rhymi was strongly implied to be Merlin trapped in the Dark World. Llyr felt like Cthulhu more than anything else. Since Kuttner was involved with the Cthulhu mythos crowd, it's not hard to imagine that that was intentional.



The Dark World wasn't developed as much as I would have liked. The revelation about Bond and Ganelon, as well as their final fates, were well done. The ending was unexpected.



The Dark World is a quick read and should entertain any fan of pulp fantasy and Roger Zelazny fans.







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