by J. Steven York

Ace Books, 2005

Reviewed by Ryan Harvey

The Story

Anok Wati continues his quest to destroy the Stygian Cult of Set from within so he can avenge his father’s murder at their hands. But he fears that the dark sorcerous power of the Mark of Set on his body will overwhelm him before he can see through his plan—a fear that his friends Teferi the Kushite and Fallon the Cimmerian also share. Anok’s master in the Cult, Ramsa Aál, has started a grand scheme to empower himself that will require Anok’s aid. As Anok tries to resist the seductive power of Set and stop Ramsa Aál’s dangerous plans, he and his friends come face to face with secrets from their personal histories, and encounter shocking betrayals and strange allies.

Comments

After two fine volumes of dark sorcery and intrigue, the “Anok, Heretic of Stygia” trilogy comes to its disappointing conclusion. The mounting tension and mysteries contained in Scion of the Serpent and Heretic of Set fail to build to an exciting climax here, leaving the impression that author J. Steven York had to rush this last book. The rapid “everything but the kitchen sink” approach that closes Venom of Luxur feels like a first draft; the author hurls around bits and pieces of plot that were scattered through the trilogy and tries to work them together in the last forty pages as quickly as possible. It results in a rough, unrefined, and poorly structured ending. Considering that York showed such expert handling of the material in the first volumes, the pressures of his deadline (and this trilogy did face a tight schedule) must be at fault for the slapdash finale of Venom of Luxur.

The disappointing ending is a shame, since the book starts out on the right note and initially promises the same kind of enjoyments found in the first two installments. York opens with a solid piece of dark fantasy/action when Anok and the other members of the Cult face the bizarre guardians of the first temple built to Set. The sequence gets the story off to a starter-pistol opening without unnecessary mulling over back-story to constipate the plot.

Once past this, the book starts to slowly slip downhill. The action feels scarce and there are few highlights to mention. York is not the best at writing straightforward battle scenes, and when he inserts a gratuitous training duel between Anok and Teferi into the story just to whip up some action, you know the book is heading for trouble. The dark horror so ideal for the setting is largely absent, and the repetition of “metaphysical” dream battles (seen previously in Heretic of Set) fail to generate much excitement.

Anok’s internal struggles keep the book moving forward in the first half despite the lack of compelling action sequences. Anok’s temptation by the Mark of Set pushes the story into Revenge of the Sith territory. Readers will find it difficult not to visualizing the murderous exploits of Anakin Skywalker in the recent Star Wars films when Anok Wati begins to surrender to the corruption of the Cult of Set. A solo-massacre he conducts is one of book’s few shocking passages. Unfortunately, York plays inconsistently with Anok’s walk on the border with darkness; the youth seems to jump in and out of it with too much ease, and eventually the conflict starts to fade. At this point the book loses its remaining momentum.

Fallon, the Cimmerian warrior-woman, doesn’t provide much help in the supporting cast. She felt gratuitous in Heretic of Set, but she played only a minor part there. She now takes the lead female role as Anok’s love interest, but she does not work. The supposed bond between the two leads reads as terribly forced and unbelievable. York gives Fallon back the erotically charged scenes that were missing from the middle volume, but it isn’t enough to make up for her other deficiencies. The new female character of Paniwi could have developed into a more interesting supporting part, but considering her importance to the story she has scant time on the page.

Teferi, Anok’s warrior companion from Kush, makes an early bid to steal the story away from its lead character. Teferi gets burdened with a strange destiny that arises almost out of nowhere, but it does increase his involvement in the action. While Anok plunges down into darkness, Teferi rises up to take on the mantle of the main hero. However, as with many other elements in Venom of Luxur, this starts to ebb away in the rushed second half.

York explores aspects of the Cult of Set that fans of Robert E. Howard will find intriguing. The previous two books hinted at the treacherous hierarchical system of the snake god’s cult, but York makes it explicit here. The priests of Set essentially work as con men in their service to their god. They deceive worshippers into giving great gifts to Set with lies about the god’s power, and then keep all the loot for themselves. York also mentions the interesting concept that Set’s followers worship knowledge more than they do their god. The overall picture of the religion is one of instability and deep cynicism: “Even the cult’s high priest, Toth-Amon, secretly conspired against his own god. What little loyalty existed within the cult could turn to treachery in a moment, and every priest knew it.” York eventually uses this underlying theme of religious cynicism for a philosophical coda of which Robert E. Howard would probably approve.

Despite its serious flaws, Venom of Luxur still works far better than the three books in the wandering and unfocused “Legends of Kern” trilogy that started Ace’s “Hyborian Adventures” publishing plan. The Anok series at least better fits the trilogy format. The failure here isn’t one of trying to spread too little story over too much space, but rushing too much good material into too quick a wrap-up.