Book Review: Solomon Kane novelization

Book Review: 'Solomon Kane' by Ramsey Campbell

5 / 5 Stars

'Solomon Kane' (290 pp.) was published by Titan Books in February 2010 as a tie-in with the film of the same name (the film was released in Europe and the UK in 2009, but due to legal reasons, it didn't appear in the U.S. until 2012).

I don't usually review books published after the early 1990s, but I occasionally make exceptions. In this case, it's because I've previously covered the Solomon Kane franchise, particularly the comics that appeared in the pages of Marvel publications during the 1970s and 1980s.

The novel is based on the screenplay, by Michael J. Bassett, who also directed the film.

Campbell does a reasonably good job of giving the novelization a ‘literary’ coating that expands on the screenplay and, unsurprisingly for a novelization by Campbell, gives greater emphasis to the horror aspects of the story.

The Kane in the screenplay, which is set in England in 1600, is different from that of the original Robert E. Howard stories. Rather than a dour Puritan who wanders the earth quoting scripture and dispatching evildoers, the Kane of the movie is a man convinced that his past transgressions have damned him to Hell, but nonetheless is hoping to gain Salvation by renouncing violence and trusting in the forgiveness of the Lord. 

As the novelization begins Kane reluctantly has agreed to depart a monastery, where he has been immersed in penitence, to make his way to Axmouth, his family's hereditary estate. Kane has not been in Axmouth since his childhood, when a moment of violence led to his banishment.

But in the screenplay's setting, even a simple journey home to Axmouth will be hazardous for Kane. The initial chapters of the novelization, which are the best, introduce him into a bleak and wintry landscape where bands of cutthroats and marauders are terrorizing the populace, and Kane's pacifistic attitude does little to spare him from undergoing all manner of cruelties. 

Can Kane adhere to his vow to renounce violence in the face of the atrocities committed by the minions of the sorcerer Malachai ? For if Malachai's provocations cause Kane to break his vow, then Kane's soul will belong to Satan......... 

I finished the novelization thinking it worthy of a 5 star rating. I did not expect to do so, since historically I have not been a big Ramsey Campbell fan. But Campbell avoids the ornate, highly stylized prose that characterized his output during the 1970s and 1980s in favor of a blessedly more restrained locution, one which makes the novel quite readable.

He also introduces some scenes that apparently were cut from the final script, and these give added depth to the storyline. Campbell's descriptive passages of the English landscape ably complement the 'desaturated' coloration of the film, a visual style that has become something of the status quo for contemporary fantasy feature films (Snow White and the Huntsman) and television (The Witcher).

Summing up, if you're a fan of the Solomon Kane character, sword-and-sorcery literature, or the works of Ramsey Campbell, then the novelization of the film is worth acquiring. I also recommend viewing the film (if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, it's free to watch - although you do have to sit through commercials).