Brood of the Witch Queen by Sax Rohmer

Arthur Henry Ward sat down one day and thought, man my name sounds so boringly British, what’s a hip sounding name that I can go by?

Sax. Rohmer.

Now let me put on this space smoking jacket, grab my pipe and pose for this picture.

And thus, the coolest pen name ever was born.

Sax also claimed to be a part of the occult secret society known as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which also included Williams Yeats, Arthur Machen and Aleister Crowley. Though how secret could it be with everybody blabbing about it?

Brood of the Witch Queen was first published in 1918. For some reason I thought Sax was a few decades later. Probably because of all the Fu Manchu in the 60s. Until I stopped reading and looked up the publishing date, I thought this was heavily influenced by HP Lovecraft. Jokes on me. This was first so it was probably the other way around. And now that I look it up Lovecraft wrote an essay about Supernatural Horror in Literature and included Brood of the Witch Queen so yeah, absolutely was an influence on Lovecraft. Solved that case, occult detective.

The basic premise: A father and son team, Robert Cairn and Dr Cairn, do battle chess with a supposed supernatural human/demon descendant of an ancient Egyptian Witch named Antony Ferrera.

I see this book split it up into three different parts. Each part has its own beginning and end.

The first part is the introduction of the characters and a minor love subplot. Two everyday college guys, Cairn and Sime, are hanging around their dorm discussing a third odd occult college guy, Ferrara, who is described similar to Raistlan from Dragonlance. Cairn is out on a canoe one night and sees a giant swan whom he dubs the King of the Swans. Suddenly he sees the swan’s neck break like someone grabbed it and snapped it. He freaks out and runs up to Ferrara’s room for consolation. Ferrara is in his room BURNING INCENSE, which as we all know is pure evil. Cairn sees a figure of the swan king in Ferrara’s fire. He has been practicing Black Magic to kill people and apparently swans for some reason. The next day a woman is found dead whom Cairn stumbled into on the same night outside Ferrara’s dorm room. Cairn puts two and two together and comes to the realization Ferrara is evil. Ferrara is an adopted son of an archaeologist friend of Cairn’s dad, Dr. Cairn. Ferrara also has a non-biological sister whom Cairn is in love with.

This whole beginning is loaded with information, back information, foreshadowing and characters. It’s clunky and a little difficult to get through. Not to mention, as with any book pre-40s its pacing is slower. Also, there isn’t a lot of action and Ferrara practicing Black Magic is over explained. The main character is Cairn but at times it will switch from his perspective to his dad, Dr Cairn. Sometimes they are just referred to as Cairn whether it’s the doctor or the son, so it gets a little confusing. It does have a great setting though and you feel as if you are in British Miskatonic University.

Part two is the death of Ferrara’s father by suspicious means. Dr Cairn takes over the narrative here and it was way more interesting. There is a family in town with a curse on it. A long time ago a wealthy British guy married a black magic witch who also happens to be a vampire. The people revolt and she is killed. There is more to the backstory, but we’ll leave it at that.

The second part is by far the most exciting part of the book. They go to Egypt to track down Ferrara who has leveled up in power. The old school Egypt atmosphere here is blazing and then the hunt leads to an exploration of a recently discovered pyramid. It was one of the most memorable scenes I’ve ever read. It’s Indiana Jones adventure with Egyptian folklore and occult seasoning. Damn this part was great!

Part three we are back in England in the countryside. The love interest from the first part makes a reappearance. We get in depth Egyptian lore. Like people studying at the library, in depth. Ferrara is back and more powerful than ever and we have our showcase showdown.

The tension is high, but I don’t know if it’s because the final act is shadowed by the enthralling Egyptian middle, but it loses steam here. I saw quite a few reviews that were unimpressed with the ending. I read this a month before writing this review and I can’t honestly say I remember the ending. I don’t remember being disappointed by it but at the same time I guess I wasn’t astonished by it as I can’t recall it at all.

This book is worth reading just for the whole middle section. As I was researching for this review I came upon a few folks that said it was originally published serialized which would explain how I thought it was three different short stories put together. I did enjoy the first part also but in a different way. The two guys at college and the one weirdo was just so Lovecraftian (I know, I know, this was first) and I love the Lovecraft so it was like reading a new HP Arkham story.

If you’re craving some old school ambiance and some slow burn occult action with Egyptian mythology, this would do it for you. You definitely have to be in the right mood though.

Pyramid Books 1966

Cover art: J Lombardo