Bloodstone

by Karl Edward Wagner

Book Overview

In the dark swamp, where toadmen croak and cower, slumbers a secret relic of the days when creatures from the stars ruled the earth. In the booty captured in a savage raid, Kane discovers a ring, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671720821
• ISBN13: 9780671720827
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

A positively gripping read

When a strange bloodstone ring is accidentally unearthed from where it has lain for countless centuries, it marks the reawakening of an evil of elder Earth. And when that ring falls into the hands of the mystic warrior Kane, it marks a dark day for all of mankind. Kane, with his vast experience, is playing a game, a game that only he sees the end of, and even he might just have miscalculated. Karl Edward Wagner (1945-94) was an American author of some of the finest horror and fantasy literature to have been written, and one of his most interesting creations was the man Kane, an undying warrior and scholar. Overall, I found this book to be a positively gripping read. I found the setting to be quite interesting, and the characters to be absolutely fascinating. If you like such fantasy literature as Robert E. Howard's Conan, then you will love this book. I know I did. I highly recommend this book.

Love him and hate him, Kane is a great hero

Karl Edward Wagner's character Kane is a great blending of Moorcock's tragic hero Elric, with his sorcerous powers, and Robert E. Howard's Conan, with his enormous physical strenght and skilled swordsmanship... Kane is a great hero, with some of the best sci-fi stories I've ever read- and I've read just about all of 'em... Give Kane a try- especially Bloodstone, Night Winds and Death Angel's Shadow...

Wagner redeems the generally sorry swords and sorcery genre

I don't like swords & sorcery, but I read the Kane stories over and over again. Why? Imagine what Conan would be like if he had brains, class, and a believable reason for being so tough. These are rip-roaring adventure stories that still manage to make you think. And Kane is one of the most colorful and fascinating characters you'll ever read about. Piecing together his history from a hint in one story and a clue in another novel is an adventure in itself. And Wagner is a writer of such gifts that he can make you like and empathize with a character who is as much villain as hero. It's a shame these books are not easy to find, but trust me, they're worth the effort.

The best sci-fi book ever written.

This was a fantastic book. It is an outrageous adventure filled with underlying plots and schemes. A must-read for any science fiction reader!

A true example of "No good deed goes unpunished."

Bloodstones fills every need that a sword and sorcery reader has. The character,Kane, is truely the hero or un-hero, your choice, that we all seek to follow. Sporting the triple "B's", Big, Brutal, and Brilliant he shows the reader survival and success techniques that apply even in today's market arena. I am constantly amazed at the intricate flow of intrigue Wagner created. I have read the book three times and then lost my copy. I am now on my own quest for the "bloodstone" and the power of it's story.