In The Book of the Damned, we view the lives, loves, fortunes and fates of three citizens of Paradys, a thriving city which has survived through centuries of bizarre events. Each of these three citizens have their own sub-novel within the book.

Part 1 - Andre St. Jean is a wild poet, living in Paradys' equivalent of the eighteenth century. Living an extravagant life of merriment and creativity, one day he encounters a strangely desperate vagabond on the road, who gives him a jewelled ring. This gift changes his life quite dramatically, and in ways one would not expect.

Part 2 - Jehanine, a young country girl, leaves home and heads off to find her brother. Finding herself in a Mediaeval Paradys, her life also changes in dramatic ways - but who would have dreamed she would end up the way she does, especially considering the route she takes to get there?

Part 3 - with a pseudonym of St. Jean, taken from the wild poet of olden times, our heroine in the final part of the book lives in a more modern Paradys, perhaps reminiscent of many cities in the height of the 30's or 40's. A well-known columnist in the Paradys press, she is approached by a striking gentleman who tells her he is to die in a week. She initially dismisses this as the fantasies of a dreamer, but her curiosity soon gets the better of her, and she becomes entwined in a plot that started in the earliest days of Paradys, when it was no more than a bundle of huts...

My Thoughts

The Book of the Damned took quite some time to get into - I had become lazily accustomed to what you might call 'Easy Reading', where the writing is merely a tool to present a story. However, Tanith Lee was cast of a different mould - the prose is flowery and extravagant, which takes some getting used to after reading Stephen King and Anne Rice, but, I think, attractively so. The style of writing lends a certain air to the plot, and fits in nicely with the imaginative world of Paradys.

It actually came as a surprise, as well, that there were three stories in one, with only the location being a common thread - not even the era is the same in each story. Occasional mention is made of events in another story if it is historically relevant, but other than that, the tales totally separate.

I found this book (and its sequel, The Book of the Beast) in a second-hand bookshop, and decided to take them purely because the covers looked interesting, but I have been completely charmed by Tanith's style, and am hoping that I can find more of her books without too much difficulty.

Well worth reading if you enjoy tales of darkened fantasy/history, with a touch (and sometimes more than merely that) of mysticism and the supernatural.