Red Sonja #1: The Ring of Ikribu (1981) by David C. Smith & Richard L. Tierney

Red Sonja began life as a comic book, the creation of writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith in 1973 for Marvel’s popular Conan series. She was partially based on a character created by Conan author Robert E. Howard, Red Sonya of Rogatino. However, it was the Marvel Comics version that captured the imagination of young boys in the 70s with her voluptuous curves wrapped in a chain mail bikini, her sword fighting skills, and her take-no-prisoners kick-ass attitude. She finally made the leap to novels in 1981 through the combined efforts of established fantasy authors David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. 

The first book in a 6-book series, The Ring of Ikribu, even had its prologue written by Roy Thomas, giving it his personal blessing as a proper extension of his character. What follows is a reasonably straightforward sword and sorcery adventure tale with the twist that its sword-wielding protagonist is a hot red-haired female adventurer. 

In The Ring of Ikribu, a sorcerer is in search of the titular ring that will increase his power and lays siege via Lovecraftian sorcery to a kingdom where he believes the ring will be found. In an attempt to stop this eldritch onslaught, the deposed king hires mercenaries to help him and his small remaining army in an attempt to reclaim power. This is where Red Sonja enters the picture. 

The main plot-line is interspersed with chapters that recount Sonja’s tragic origin, as well as explaining her extraordinary sword skills, which are revealed to be beyond human abilities thanks to supernatural empowerment. Sonja is now on a vengeance trail against those who raped her and murdered her family. This provides the ongoing foundational backdrop to her adventures as she drifts from place to place in her bloodthirsty quest. This aspect of the book brought to mind a multitude of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu movie plots. 

As stated earlier, there’s nothing ground-breaking or new here. Outside of the gender swap from the standard lead character for this genre (hulking barbarian male), it efficiently checks off most of the standard sword and sorcery tropes. That said, Smith and Tierney are solid writers and clearly know how to keep the plot moving in constant forward motion with action and monstrous adversaries aplenty. Best of all, their prose is actually quite good despite some anachronistic dialog that seems far too modern for Howard’s Hyborian age setting. 

Overall, recommended if you come across a copy and can keep your expectations in check.

Reviewed by Steve Carroll