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Song of Kali (Fantasy Masterworks)
 
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Song of Kali (Fantasy Masterworks) (Paperback)

by Dan Simmons (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; paperback / softback edition (10 Mar 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575076593
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575076594
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 14 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 282,711 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #25 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > S > Simmons, Dan

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Product Description

Review

One of the most terrifying books ever written. 'Song of Kali' transcends any cheap thrills you get from a Stephen King novel, Dan Simmons' vision of horror set in the claustrophobic heat of India is fierce and unrelenting. (Aberdeen Evening Express )

Product Description

Calcutta: a monstrous city of immense slums, disease and misery, is clasped in the foetid embrace of an ancient cult. At its decaying core is the Goddess Kali: the dark mother of pain, four-armed and eternal, her song the sound of death and destruction. Robert Luczak has been hired by Harper's to find a noted Indian poet who has reappeared, under strange circumstances, years after he was thought dead. But nothing is simple in Calcutta and Lucsak's routine assignment turns into a nightmare when he learns that the poet is rumoured to have been brought back to life in a bloody and grisly ceremony of human sacrifice.
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fears and tears, 6 Jan 2004
This review is from: Song of Kali (Paperback)
As with other novels by Dan Simmons, the worst horror is the reality so movingly depicted. The real monster is Calcutta, a city dedicated to Kali, goddess of death, with its open morgues and its fresh dead on the morning streets - something that should be dead, but putrefyingly persists. This is not the only source of horror, however - at least one scene in an unlit room had me reading with my hand over my mouth in fear. And the ending is heartbreakingly desolate. As Mr Simmons says, don't blame him that his books are marketed as horror, and don't blame him for the artwork. He is a highly literate author whose novels are driven by character, not incident. A satisfyingly frightening and surprisingly moving read.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a classic, 23 April 2005
By Alex Fell (Rugby, Warwickshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
The Song of Kali was Dan Simmons' first novel. As such, it is something of an apprentice work. The themes which appear in his beter known works (the Hyperion Cantos and the Olympos series) are present: scholarly heroes, writers and great literature, and doomed children and the effect on their parents. The setting (Calcutta in the 1970s) is also extremely vivid and well described - there is an awful lot of wading around in filth, and a clammy, miasmic feeling is very strongly evoked.

But it has to be said, not a lot really happens. Our hero arrives in Calcutta to see a supposedly deceased poet, has a few stories related to him about the cult of Kali, a few nasty things happen to him (and one very nasty thing) and then he heads off again. The plot does seem a bit thin, and becomes fairly incoherent towards the end. And the tone is not really very fantastical or horrific - it is probably deliberate on the author's part, but we never really find out if his fantastical expreiences are real or not, or just figments of his imagination.

Overall, this is a good book and a worthwhile read if you like Dan Simmons. But it is not his best, and if you are new to this author, try Hyperion or Olympos first.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally underrated!, 9 Jun 2009
By Mr. K. Akram "Alkemist" (Wembley, London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Song of Kali (Fantasy Masterworks) (Paperback)
I first read this book in 1989. I found it unputtdownable then. Now, twenty years later I got hold of copy on ebay and lent it to a friend. My friend was also spellbound and finished it in three days.

The book brings Calcutta alive in way that I have not seen any author do. The story is well paced. There is mystery and suspense. The brooding, evil underside of Calcutta is really well structured. Not that Calcutta is like that - but its a fictional device that works very well.

The shock ending really got me - I was truely suprised and upset - so I won't spoil it for you.

The way he creates M Das as a student of Tagore is entirely believeable. The character Krishna leaves many unanswered questions. I would LOVE to see a sequel to this book.

I would recommend this books to anyone interested in India / Kali.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressively understated
I'll admit that I bought and read this novel expecting it to be more of a pacy bestseller style read. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2007 by Hart

2.0 out of 5 stars A one-way ticket to Calcutta for the price of a paperback
Robert Luczak, poet and editor, has just been hired to hop on a plane to Calcutta and investigate the claims of a man who says he wants to publish new material by a celebrated... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2006 by George Eliot

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