Gunthar- Warrior of the Lost World. Paperback – November 9, 2019

This is great, old school sword and sorcery in the 1970s, Lin Carter and Gardner F. Fox, vein. I was thinking about homebrewing beer while reading this: in homebrew contests, successful beer is judged "to style," i.e. the gold medal beers hew closely to the profile of the style judged, i.e. a gold medal "Dortmunder" lager, has, according to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines, this narrow flavor profile: "Grainy-sweet malt nor floral, spicy, or herbal hops dominate, but both are in good balance with a touch of malty sweetness." The gold medal Dortmunder lager isn't the one that is iconoclastic, that incorporates, say, banana pulp or cardamom pods. Instead, it is the one that the skillful brewer creates to satisfy the judge's very specific flavor expectations. In an analogous way, Gunthar: Warrior of the Lost World is "gold medal" sword and sorcery anthology, an artful execution of the genre's archetypical conventions, tropes, and distinctive diction (a true love letter to the genre). Nevertheless, there are a few compelling innovations, i.e. the prevalence of super science (perhaps a nod to KEW's Bloodstone?) as a kind of foil to sorcery, the incorporation of mutants, and the use of fever dream montage and vivid imagery; however, the joy of this anthology is not how it experiments with the genre but in how it gives a spark of vitality to a specific period of the genre again, i.e. the S&S of the 1970s. A collection of novellas, a standout was Lord of the Black Throne, specifically its phantasmagoric ending, a montage of sword and sorcery images that recalled psychedelic, blacklight-illumined velvet paintings of sorcerers and warriors battling at the end of time in cosmic depths, or the airbrush tableaus of eldritch skullduggery on 1970s custom vans. The cover art painting by Regis Moulton is great, and the rough-edged interior ink illustrations by Steve Lines perfectly harmonize with the stories. If you enjoy Thongor, Brak, and Kyrik, you will enjoy the adventures of Gunthar, Warrior of the Lost World.

If you've read your Robert E. Howard Collection 10 times over like I have, then this is the kind of book you've been waiting for. Good, fast paced Sword and Sorcery. No fluff. Dilks definitely know the genre. I would put it at the top of anything from the 60's and 70's revival. Some of those authors were trying to hard. S &S is best in the short story format, and that is what you get here. Good stuff.

There are 4 stories in this collection. The first story sets up Gunthar’s world. It a post-apocalypse world with remnants of past technology waiting to be found. An elder god, Yorm, is a behind the scenes menace. The writing is reminiscent of Gardner Fox and Gunthar seems based on Kothar as much as Conan.The next three stories are a little different. The writing is more polished and echoes of Robert E. Howard are found in the last story.I liked all the stories but was disappointed that the last three barely featured any remnants of the pre-Apocolypse world. There are mentions of mutants and voltage whips but these are mentioned in a throwaway type of way. I would have liked to know more about mutant society and how sophisticated items like voltage whips coexist in a world primarily with swords as weapons.The last story reveals a bit of Gunthar’s past and what might be a future destiny. I look forward to more Gunthar but want his world to be broadened out more.

Non-stop excitement and Action, totally absorbing fantasy, not for the faint of heart . Almost makes you wish you were there.

I was very impressed with this book. The prose was first rate and the action nonstop. It felt like the author was writing these stories out of a true love for the genre. Hoping there will be more Gunthar books in the future.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I was looking for something Conan like. Not as good as R.E. Howard, but close enough for enjoyment. I thought the book suffered a little from first two stories having villains with the same motive. I would read more.

This is a fun entertaining read that reminds me much of the s&s I read of old. It is marred by some clumsy writing and some typos but neither are too egregious. I liked the mixture of s&s in a post-apocalyptic setting. It was Lin Carter-ish with a Thongor of Lemuria vein. I would recommend this those like me that enjoy sword & sorcery.