The Birthgrave
The Birthgrave is an influential fantasy novel by Tanith Lee.
Editions
- 1977
- Daw
- 1984 J'ai Lu
- 2004 J'ai Lu, La Saga d'Uasti, ISBN 2-290-33826-5, 1042 pages, Illustration Vincent Gaigneux; includes The Birthgrave ; Vazkor, son of Vazkor ; Quest for the white witch (1975)
Reviews
The Birthgrave is a remarkable sword-and-sorcery barbarian princess novel. The barbarian princess, a member of a Lost Race, has all the same attributes of numerous other barbarian princesses: she seems to crave submission to men, she is often contemptuous of other women. And yet, this protagonist ultimately discovers that she is complete on her own, that her desires for cruel dark men are part of a warped childhood, and that — oddly — although she is of the Lost Race, she reclaims her humanity. Very strange. And although hugely different in so many ways, The Birthgrave also reminds me of The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You, Dorothy Bryant's almost metaphysical utopian novel. In The Birthgrave, however, you go along thinking that the character is a barbarian Lost Race princess — very interesting, quite well done, albeit with Tanith Lee's now-trademark darkness — but nothing very interesting. And then at the end the heroine understands herself. She understands herself through a rather deus ex machina method, which is unfortunate, but the resolution is nonetheless very satisfying and somewhat surprising. — Chaotically reviewed, LQ 3/27/2001