Brak the Barbarian Versus the Mark of the Demons by John Jakes

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Brak the Barbarian Versus the Mark of the Demons (1969) by John Jakes

While John Jakes would find enormous success in the late 70s with the wildly popular historical novels in his Kent Family Chronicles, even finding their way onto television screens in the form of more than one highly popular miniseries, he got his start as a journeyman pulp author tackling multiple genres including science fiction, westerns, mystery, and horror stories. 

In the 60s, Jakes jumped onto the burgeoning explosion of interest in sword and sorcery that occurred following the reprints of Robert E. Howard’s Conan collections in paperback. Jakes, a huge fan of Howard, leapt at the opportunity to wade into this resurgent genre with his own broadsword-wielding hero, Brak the barbarian. 

As was the case with most of the post-Howard protagonists, Brak is a mighty wandering swordsman prone to attracting intrigue and violence. Physically, Jakes sets his hero apart from the more famous Cimmerian by making Brak a blond-haired Northman with a single braid of hair hanging down his back, clad in a lion-skin loincloth (complete with intact tail) and a fur robe. 

In Mark of the Demons Brak takes on the task of leading a merchant’s caravan through a hostile desert wasteland, accompanied by an odd pair of brother and sister twins he has recently rescued from certain death. These twins are not all that they initially seem and the journey soon takes on the feel of a horror novel as gory death is soon being visited upon the caravan. 

There is nothing that steps too far outside of the established sword and sorcery template here, but Jakes is a smooth professional who knows how to keep everything moving effortlessly forward with genuine skill and a better than average grasp of description, detail, and well-paced action. Overall, this is a fine example of the upper tier of Howard-inspired barbaric adventure and worth the trouble to seek out.

Review by Steve Carroll


 

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