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Here In Cold Hell (Lionwolf trilogy book 2) by Tanith Lee
01/03/2006 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: TOR-UK. 418 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-4050-0635-8. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.toruk.com and www.panmacmillan.com
Every culture and civilisation that has existed is riddled with stories of gods and hells. There are supernatural beings who are immortal, invulnerable and capable of physical and mental feats beyond the ordinary human. Today, most of us regard them as tall tales, myths that are enjoyable to re-tell or listen to in the hands of a master bard. No longer do the ideas of many hells or vengeful deities frighten youth into obedience of their elders. These tales are often either inventions, exaggerations or distortions of a distant truth. No-one quite believes in them any more but they are a rich resource for the author or the film-maker. The modern reader doesn't expect to see a manifestation of an all-powerful god interfering in their way of life.
Tanith Lee has often had gods playing actual roles within her stories. This series is no exception. 'Here In Cold Hell' is the second volume of the 'Lionwolf Trilogy'. Lionwolf is a warrior and the son of a god. At the end if the first volume, 'Cast A Bright Shadow', he is killed. He now appears to be residing in a cold hell. A number of mythologies have layers of hells which often include a cold one. Lee is not attempting to recreate any of these but rather to invent a new mythology for the fantasy world she has peopled with her characters. Lionwolf emerges from the sea along with a small group of warriors from various countries. They discover that they are to be part of an army that is fighting another before the walls of a city. During the battle, they find that while some of the warriors stay dead, others appear to be immortal. Lionwolf fights a warrior whose arm shields become wings. Later, they fight side by side in an arena. For Curjai, this place is not hell but heaven. Before his death from fever, he was a deformed thirteen year-old boy whose hopeless dream was to be a warrior. In this place, he not only has a strong, adult body but he is also seemingly immortal.
The world Lionwolf was born into is also a cold place, the people struggle to survive in a land covered with ice. It has been this way for hundreds of years. Not long after the battle that kills Lionwolf, a mysterious woman chooses men from various parts of the world to sleep with. When they consequently sleep with another woman, she gives birth to a coal black child that matures at a very rapid rate. By the end of this volume, these children seem to be drawing together.
Tanith Lee is a complex writer whose work has layers of subtext and allegory woven in to it. There are themes running through this book of redemption and reincarnation. They have to sit beside ideas that gods are real and have real powers. When they exercise them mortals die, often because the gods don't even notice their presence. It is difficult to unravel the stands within the novel as it is not clear what significant things have occurred in the previous book. Lee is not the kind of author who feels it is necessary to review the plot for a reader that has come in part way through. 'Here In Cold Hell' is worth reading for the use of language and the images it evokes, but without knowledge of the first part it is difficult to unravel.
Pauline Morgan
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