Book Review: "Brood of the Witch-Queen" by Sax Rohmer

Brood of the Witch-Queen by Sax Rohmer (C. Arthur Pearson, 1918)

Apparently, I’ve been on a bit of an occult fantasy kick in recent months. Perhaps inspired by Moira Greyland’s memoir and subsequent reading of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Dark Satanic, as well as watching the recent Guillermo del Toro movie Nightmare Alley—and then reading the original 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham—there’s something in the air, water… or at least in my reading pile.

This wonderful 1918 novel, written by Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward under his pen name more commonly associated with Dr. Fu Manchu, picks up where Dark Satanic leaves off, almost—and digs deeper into some of the occult activities that might have been undertaken by the antagonists in Bradley’s much more recent novel. Rohmer’s action-packed, globe-trotting book details the trials and tribulations of Dr. Bruce Cairn and his son as they chase Antony Ferrara around their home city—and to Egypt—trying to determine just the cause, nature, and extent of his occult power.

It’s not an easy effort, and the heroic pair, as well as their friends and loved ones, come close to death or madness several times. Chapter 8, "The Scorpion Wind," reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Masque of the Red Death" as Ferrara—and a sandstorm—approach a hotel party complete with military band in Cairo from the depths of the Sahara Desert, emboldened and enlarged by collective belief in Khamsin, a hot wind some thought to be caused by an efreet. As the plot proceeds, elemental forces decidedly come into play, and the scenes set in the bowels of a pyramid and pharoah’s tomb are among the most claustrophobic, intense, and suspenseful I’ve ever read. As is the scene with ghostly beetles in the apartment of Cairn’s son.

Parts of the book read as though the book was originally serialized, which I don’t believe it was, and there are several instances in which the book resets, jumps locales, or otherwise changes direction, all in the service of keeping the narrative going for just a little longer. It’s not entirely a seamless read. Regardless, the book is a fun read, and notable. No less than H.P. Lovecraft referred to the novel in "Supernatural Horror in Literature."

This review previously appeared in March 2022 edition of The N3F Review of Books.