Zothique: Xeethra, The Voyage of King Euvoran, and The Garden of Adompha
More Zothique reviews! We were surprised to find out there are way more stories than we thought, so it may take a while to review all of them. Also, we're definitely not eager to read Necromancy in Naat. For now, here are our reviews of Xeethra, The Voyage of King Euvoran, and The Garden of Adompha. Three kings, three not very pleasant fates...
XEETHRA
Xeethra is a poor goat herder who finds a mysterious valley, where he eats some strange fruit. Quickly, he forgets who he is and instead remembers a life as a mighty king. Eager to return to his kingdom, Xeethra travels across Zothique...
I have heard my fathers tell that the gardens of Thasaidon, king of the seven underworlds, lie near to the earth's surface in this region; and caves have opened ere this, like a portal, and the sons of men, trespassing unaware on the gardens, have been tempted by the fruit and eaten it. But madness comes thereof and much sorrow and long damnation: for the Demon, they say, forgetting not one stolen apple, will exact his price in the end.
The story has a dreamlike atmosphere, focused on the demon's trickery and Xeethra's twisting fate. There are no monster attacks or bloody violence. Thasaidon is sneakier, and definitely not someone you should be making deals with.
THE VOYAGE OF KING EUVORAN
A stuffed gazolba bird has been part of the fabulous crown of the kings of Ustaim for 9 generations... until a necromancer revives it and it flies away. Now, King Euvoran has no choice but travel to ever distant lands to get it back. Things, however, take several unexpected turns.
The vessels approached a nameless isle that towered mile-high with cliffs of black, naked basalt, around whose base the sea cried with baffled anger, and about whose precipices there were no wings nor voices of birds. The isle was topped with gnarly cypresses that might have grown in a windy graveyard; and sullenly it took the afterglow, as if drenched with a gore of darkening blood.
This features everything we've come to expect from Smith: great descriptions, dark fantasy, and seemingly effortless worldbuilding (really, it just flows so naturally). It's also very funny. There's a little humour in some of the other stories, but not like this, and so we weren’t sure how it was all going to turn out. We loved King Euvoran's entitlement and lack of self-awareness. Really, how deluded do you have to be to tell the king of birds not only that you've been wearing a stuffed bird, but also that you're now hunting it so you can kill it and stuff it again? Especially after seeing he's wearing a necklace of human heads. The ending was a little predictable, but it's a fun story.
THE GARDEN OF ADOMPHA
There's much speculation about the secret garden of king Adompha, but only he and his sorcerer, Dwerulas, know what's inside. They've worked together for a very long time, but Dwerulas' powers have always worried the king. However, killing a powerful sorcerer isn't easy...
The garden, planted and tilled so privily, and sealed by its metal roof from the orbs of heaven, was illumined solely by a strange fiery globe that hung in mid-air at the center. Adompha regarded this globe with awe, for its nature and purveyance were mysterious to him. Dwerulas claimed that it had risen from hell on a moonless midnight at his bidding, and was levitated by infernal power, and fed with the never-dying flames of that clime in which the fruits of Thasaidon swelled to unearthly size and enchanted savor. It gave forth a sanguine light, in which the garden swam and weltered as if seen through a luminous mist of blood.
There's little plot here, and that things aren't going to go well for Adompha is pretty obvious. So, just sit back and enjoy this Boschian nightmare of a garden brought to life by Smith's dark imagination.