Black God's Kiss - brief review

"Black God's Kiss" (1934), by C.L. Moore, is a short story about Jirel of Joiry, an (apparently) French female warrior, who finds herself defeated in her own kingdom and imprisoned by an evil enemy that is eager to humiliate her. Full of hatred, she decides to go into the hellish Abyss beneath the castle to find a useful weapon against her rival...

The plot is reminiscent of Worms of the Earth by Robert E. Howard. The writing  is also similar to Howard in tone, mixing action with weirdness and cosmic horror. 

Jirel is not quite a "female Conan" (nor the stereotypical princess, damsel, or amazon); she is strong and ferocious, but has enough distinguishing characteristics to be interesting. For example, she is a Christian, and fully knows that she is not risking only her life but also her soul - even if she succeeds on her quest. Also, apparently the first notable S&S female protagonist (probably some of the best female S&S author I've read, too).

As far as REH-inspired works go, this one is pretty good. The ending was a bit vague (probably explained in the next story), but other than than it could be a strong entry to any REHish collection. The pacing is very fast, the setting is interesting - and could certainly serve as inspiration for your D&D games.

For some reason, I thought this was part of the Appendix N, but, surprisingly, it isn't. It would be a good addition for lots of reasons: time of publishing, theme, quality. It is better than average when compared to the other books on the list. I can only assumed Gygax hadn't read it or liked it.

It is a short book, so there is no point in writing a long review. Maybe I'll do that after I've read the other books in the series.

For now, I'll just recommend you check it out!