Whom The Gods Would Slay by Ivar Jorgensen

Whom the gods would slay by Ivar Jorgensen

Ivar Jorgensen is a pseudonym for author Paul Warren Fairman. He was the founding editor of If, in 1952, but only edited four issues. In 1955, he became the editor of Amazing Stories and Fantastic. He held that dual position until 1958. His science fiction short stories “Deadly City” and “The Cosmic Frame” were made into motion pictures

I have to say, the cover and the title got me with this. As I’ve often mentioned, I’m not a massive fantasy fan, but this was a Catherine Jeffrey Jones cover, and I have a love of Vikings! Originally published in 1968, this star version was published in 1972.

So, a book about Vikings fighting an evil alien menace from Mars. Sounds epic!

The story is told in three parts. The first about the Vikings, the second about the Aliens and the final the part culminating in, what should have been, the epic end battle.

Although a great idea in concept, this is not a great book. The hero Rollo is pretty one dimensional. On his return from raiding, he has lost his best friend to Christianity and he falls foul of a poisoned drink from a mad witch , that gives him visions of the invading alien evil and sets off with a group of loyal men to go find and battle said aliens. The drink is given to him on purpose as the witch has visions from the future and its insinuated that she herself could be from another world.

The alien in question is a genetically engineered woman, who is so good looking and has a questionable sexual desires, she is sent in exile to the north of Mars. She takes on five husband to meet her need and gives birth to hundreds of ant children (giant ants about 2 ft long) that decimate mars before heading to earth.

She lands on earth, meets the Vikings and wishes to mate with them so her ant children can be bigger and stronger.

Eventually Ants are born, and fights begin, with the return of Rolos Christian friend to help them?

This is a pretty weird book, with the totally unexpected religious message towards the end. I should have seen it coming really, as a couple of chapters are Rollo’s pal questioning his faith, so he decides to go on a pilgrimage carrying a giant gold cross. He does use it as a weapon at one point, which was a highlight!

The characters are nothing special, it’s a touch dull and some elements are confusing and never really expanded on in anyway, or just never mentioned again. There a couple of great fight scenes (Rollo chops a man and horse in half, and the rider survives until he puts an axe in his head) but otherwise a tough read, even at only 130 pages.

Great title and cover though, otherwise, I’d avoid.

Catherine Jeffrey Jones , who created the cover art, was probably one of the greatest fantasy artist ever. I would say on a par with Frazzetta. You can check more of her work here.