The Time of the Dark

Last updated

The Time of the Dark is a novel by Barbara Hambly published in 1982. It is the first volume of The Darwath Trilogy.

Contents

Plot summary

The Time of the Dark is the first of a three part series of novels set in Darwath, a mystical realm located near to ours across the Void. In this novel, the wizard Ingold Inglorion recruits two people from our world - Rudy Solis and Gil Patterson - to help him in his battles against the Dark, a powerful race bent on destroying or enslaving all of mankind.

Chapter Outline

Chapter one: Gil meets Ingold, who has crossed the Void to find a place to stay while crossing worlds with the Prince.

Chapter two: Rudy's car breaks down and he finds the shack, then Ingold, then Gil.

Chapter three: Gil starts to drive Rudy back, but realizes that they've been sent away to keep them safe. The Dark attacks the shack.

Chapter four: They flee to Darwath, and find a nation in tatters in Karst.

Chapter five: Gil travels with Ingold to Gae to recover food from the ruined city. Ingold is stopped from descending the stairs of the Dark too far. Ingold is arrested.

Chapter six: Rudy wanders through Karst and finds Tir - and the Queen. The Dark come to Karst.

Chapter seven: Chaos in Karst as the Dark attacks. Rudy and Alde race to save Tir. Ingold is broken out of jail in time to save all.

Chapter eight: Rudy discovers that Alde is the Queen. Gil and Rudy cannot go home. Ingold describes the Nest of the Dark. Gil is offered a job.

Chapter nine: Rudy visits the Queen.

Chapter ten: The people of Gae start the long journey to the Keep

Chapter eleven: Minalde visits Rudy on the road. The Dark takes Medda. In desperation, Rudy calls forth fire. Ingold begins the long path of teaching Rudy Wizardry. Minalde and Rudy become lovers.

Chapter twelve: Minalde visits Rudy as he stands guard. Gil and Ingold feel a wrongness in the air and seek out its source. The long destroyed city of the Dark reveals itself.

Chapter thirteen: Gil and Ingold reach the Keep of Dare ahead of the convoy. The convoy is trapped by a collapsed bridge.

Chapter fourteen: Minalde breaks the deadlock. The convoy makes a last push to the keep through a snowstorm.

Chapter fifteen: The people of Gae make it to the Keep of Dare. Ingold reveals that the Dark want him above all else. Gil and Rudy discover that they have found their home.

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed The Time of the Dark for White Dwarf #67, and stated that "Cleverly anti-romantic touches make this a lot more appealing than you might expect from the cover or the chill news that it's volume 1 of a trilogy. Above average, I suppose." [1]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<i>Friday</i> (novel) 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein

Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person", the eponymous Friday, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans. Artificial humans are widely resented, and much of the story deals with Friday's struggle both against prejudice and to conceal her enhanced attributes from other humans. The story is set in a Balkanized 21st century, in which the nations of the North American continent have been split up into a number of smaller states.

<i>Foundations Edge</i> 1982 novel by Isaac Asimov

Foundation's Edge (1982) is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fourth book in the Foundation Series. It was written more than thirty years after the stories of the original Foundation trilogy, due to years of pressure by fans and editors on Asimov to write another, and, according to Asimov himself, the amount of the payment offered by the publisher. It was his first novel to ever land on The New York Times best-seller list, after 262 books and 44 years of writing.

<i>The Memory of Whiteness</i>

The Memory of Whiteness is a science fiction novel written by Kim Stanley Robinson and published in September 1985. It shares with the Mars trilogy a focus on human colonization of the Solar System and depicts a grand tour that travels from the outer planets inward toward the Sun, visiting many human colonies along the way. The different human societies on the various planets and planetoids visited are depicted in detail. The purpose of the tour is to stage concerts by the "Holywelkin Orchestra", a futuristic musical instrument played by a selected master. Readers follow the Orchestra and its entourage together with a journalist, who after some time detects a conspiracy that seems to be connected with a group of gray-clad, sun-worshipping monks. The tour ends near the planet Mercury in a solar station belonging to these "Grays", which controls the white line energy source for the whole Solar System.

<i>Blood of Amber</i>

Blood of Amber is a fantasy novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, published in 1986. It is the second book in the second Chronicles of Amber series, and the seventh book overall in the Amber series.

<i>Count Zero</i> 1986 book by William Gibson

Count Zero is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, originally published in 1986. It is the second volume of the Sprawl trilogy, which begins with Neuromancer and concludes with Mona Lisa Overdrive, and is an example of the cyberpunk subgenre.

The Planiverse (ISBN 0-387-98916-1) is a novel by A. K. Dewdney, written in 1984.

<i>Deadeye Dick</i>

Deadeye Dick is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut originally published in 1982.

<i>The Borrible Trilogy</i> 1976–1986 novels by Michael de Larrabeiti

The Borrible Trilogy is a series of young adult books written by English writer Michael de Larrabeiti. The three volumes in the trilogy are The Borribles, The Borribles Go For Broke, and The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis.

<i>Mindkiller</i> 1982 novel by Spider Robinson

Mindkiller is a 1982 science fiction novel by American writer Spider Robinson. The novel, set in the late 1980s, explores the social implications of technologies to manipulate the brain, beginning with wireheading, the use of electric current to stimulate the pleasure center of the brain in order to achieve a narcotic high.

<i>The Borribles Go For Broke</i> 1981 novel by Michael de Larrabeiti

The Borribles Go For Broke is the second volume of the Borrible Trilogy, written by Michael de Larrabeiti and first published in 1981 by The Bodley Head in the United Kingdom.

<i>The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis</i>

The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis is the third volume of the Borrible Trilogy, written by Michael de Larrabeiti and first published in 1986 by Piccolo Books in the United Kingdom.

<i>The Hounds of the Morrigan</i> 1985 book by Pat OShea

The Hounds of the Morrigan is a children's novel by the Irish writer Pat O'Shea. It was published in 1985, after taking thirteen years to complete. The novel recounts the adventures of 10-year-old Pidge and his younger sister, Brigit, battling with characters from Celtic mythology.

<i>We Can Build You</i> 1972 novel by Philip K. Dick

We Can Build You is a 1972 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Written in 1962 as The First in Our Family, it remained unpublished until appearing in serial form as A. Lincoln, Simulacrum in the November 1969 and January 1970 issues of Amazing Stories magazine, re-titled by editor Ted White. The novel was issued as a mass market paperback original by DAW Books in 1972, its final title provided by publisher Donald A. Wollheim. Its first hardcover edition was published in Italy in 1976, and Vintage issued a trade paperback in 1994.

<i>Heechee Rendezvous</i> 1984 science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl

Heechee Rendezvous is a science fiction novel by the American writer Frederik Pohl, published in 1984 by the Del Rey imprint of Ballantine Books. It is a sequel to Gateway (1977) and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1981) and is set about three decades after Gateway. It has been cataloged as the third book in a six-book series called Heechee or The Heechee Saga but Kirkus reviewed it as completing a trilogy and a German-language edition of the three books was published as the Gateway trilogy after all six were out.

<i>The Swords Trilogy</i> Fantasy novel series by Michael Moorcoc

The Swords Trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock about Corum Jhaelen Irsei, an aspect of the Eternal Champion. It consists of three books published in 1971: The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and The King of the Swords. In the UK the trilogy has been published under the titles The Swords of Corum, Corum, and most recently Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe. The Swords Trilogy is the original title in the US where it has more recently been published as Corum: The Coming of Chaos. It is followed by a second trilogy about Corum, The Prince with the Silver Hand.

<i>With a Tangled Skein</i>

With a Tangled Skein is a fantasy novel by Piers Anthony. It is the third of eight books in the Incarnations of Immortality series. In it, Niobe agrees to become one of the three aspects of the incarnation of Fate, in an attempt to thwart the plans of Satan.

<i>Software</i> (novel) 1982 novel by Rudy Rucker

Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.

East of Ealing is a novel by Robert Rankin published in 1984. It is the third novel in Rankin's Brentford Trilogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killashandra (novel)</span>

Killashandra is a novel by Anne McCaffrey published in 1985, the second novel in the Crystal Singer trilogy.

The Walls of Air is a novel by Barbara Hambly published in 1983. Second part of The Darwath Trilogy.

References

  1. Langford, Dave (July 1985). "Critical Mass". White Dwarf . No. 67. Games Workshop. p. 14.