Dilvish, the Damned

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Dilivish, a half elf-half man hybrid, failed in his attempt to rescue a young maiden being ritually sacrificed by the dark sorcerer Jelerak. In his anger at the attempt Jelerak kills the maiden and turns Dilvish's body to stone and banished his soul to Hell.

It takes Dilvish two hundred years to escape Hell and reclaim his body. Dilvish does not leave hell unprepared. He returns with a number of very powerful spells and a faithful metal steed, Black who is far more than he seems. Together Black and Dilvish plan to hunt down Jelerak and make him pay. Heroic fantasy at its finest from a master storyteller.

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Dilvish the Damned Rides Again!

Dilvish the Damned is a collection of the original Dilvish short stories published across several fantasy magazines. The stories, in a rough arc, follow our hero who, escaping imprisonment from the hell to which he was banished by a sorcerous enemy, seeks to revenge himself on his jailer. He is accompanied by a devilish familiar who takes the form of a steel horse. This collection is followed by a regular novel, The Changing Land. The narration by Eric Michael Summerer is excellent.

The writing is reminiscent of Jack Vance, but captures Zelazny's sense of whimsy. What sets these stories apart is the narrative technique. While the stories are told simply, Zelazny is able to sketch multiple characters who are each the center of their own adventure, and who pass through Dilvish's adventures like ships in the night.

As a huge Zelazny fan, I'm happy to see his work slowly coming out on Audible!

Interesting premise

This is book which starts with an interesting premise and the main character starts out on an arc of adventure, somewhere along the way , the cool premise got lost in one thing after another

Great prose!!

I rarely get to enjoy use of the language like Mr. Zelazny’s anymore. It makes me sad to go back to the mundane authors. If you see any of his work jump on it, you won’t be disappointed!

Solid Zelazny in the tradition of Leiber and Vance

Short stories are a blast. You can read one at one sitting, and make it to the finale in no time. Thus, gratification comes quickly and this propels a collection.

Zelazny's ideas, characters, world-building and a kind of prose that deftly moves between "reality" and a dreamlike sort of poetic style that, while being (maybe) a bit distracting for some listeners/readers, is rather luxurious. I mentioned Leiber and Vance. That's where this collection nestles though they, and particularly Jack Vance in this comparison, remain masters unthreatened.

But yeah--with great dialog too that gets better from story to story, particularly between half-elven Dilvish and his metallic demon-horse, Black. You'll enjoy that. Also, as is the Zelazny tradition, and that of Swords & Sorcery in general I guess, there are skirmishes and swordplay. Something that Zelazny writes very well. Some fantasy authors botch this, often embarrassingly. Bot not Rog, who I suspect had some experience himself.

I've read this book and its sequel before so I can easily say that if you like this one, you'll love the second (The Changing Land), which is even better. (This revenge story really kicks in.) Oh! And the narrator is just fine, which is a blessing.

Collection of short stories

While this is a collection of stories they are loosely linked together and they all have Dilvish as the main character. Not Zelazny's best, but still enjoyable.