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slaker's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
kzimm2024's review
3.0
What can I say? It was a violent, bloody, drunken, muddy, vampiric, necromantic, demonic ride without the rape and pillaging. SO MANY PEOPLE DIED. And for what?
Plus side: It did have a few small humorous bites to it. Very few. And a very cool cover that sucked me in.
Its a demonic mystery with twists you don't see coming. But I found that I just didn't care enough to appreciate the twists at the end. This book probably works for other people, but not me. The world building and character development was great, which is why a 3.
It was:
1. Horrible people killing other people in revenge and then Black Herran (due to being pregnant) disappears causing these monsters to turn on each other and it all falls apart. Most everyone dies.
2. 40 years later, the new threat to humanity are the "good" people and the Goddess with the Falcon Prince- killing and stealing from all those against them.
3. Black Herran concocting a new plan to get the old monster crew together to fight this new threat- in which people die no matter who they are serving. No one wins in my opinion, even Maeven is denied satisfaction.
The different monsters are given great stories but ultimately most every one was SO evil that I wanted them all dead so people could just enjoy a simple life. But no, some still made it thru.
I only like Red Penny and the fierce eyed little girl intimating that the Vamp is full of shit. And the Orc was deceived into all this killing, that was a damn shame.
The hive was an interesting side story. I could say more but I am ready to move on. Unfortunately I purchased this one, I will have to review my life choices now.
Plus side: It did have a few small humorous bites to it. Very few. And a very cool cover that sucked me in.
Its a demonic mystery with twists you don't see coming. But I found that I just didn't care enough to appreciate the twists at the end. This book probably works for other people, but not me. The world building and character development was great, which is why a 3.
It was:
1. Horrible people killing other people in revenge and then Black Herran (due to being pregnant) disappears causing these monsters to turn on each other and it all falls apart. Most everyone dies.
2. 40 years later, the new threat to humanity are the "good" people and the Goddess with the Falcon Prince- killing and stealing from all those against them.
3. Black Herran concocting a new plan to get the old monster crew together to fight this new threat- in which people die no matter who they are serving. No one wins in my opinion, even Maeven is denied satisfaction.
The different monsters are given great stories but ultimately most every one was SO evil that I wanted them all dead so people could just enjoy a simple life. But no, some still made it thru.
I only like Red Penny and the fierce eyed little girl intimating that the Vamp is full of shit. And the Orc was deceived into all this killing, that was a damn shame.
The hive was an interesting side story. I could say more but I am ready to move on. Unfortunately I purchased this one, I will have to review my life choices now.
lakishi's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
rkking's review against another edition
4.0
This book is for anyone who's a fan of the Suicide Squad comics or movies.
A group of fantastical villains must team up one final time to stop an even greater threat that's sweeping over the land in this very enjoyable single book fantasy.
No need for a multi-book saga here. It gets right to the point, the visceral, bone-breaking, hard-drinking, potty-mouthed grim dark fantasy that it is.
The characters really shine here, almost each and every one of them. I'm torn between which was actually my favorite; the war god? The necromancer? The vampire?
They were all really great.
It has a very open ending, which certainly leaves room for further books. But my hope is that doesn't happen. That way this book can remain as a lightning-in-a-bottle find of the fantasy genre.
Awesome work, Cameron Johnston!
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
A group of fantastical villains must team up one final time to stop an even greater threat that's sweeping over the land in this very enjoyable single book fantasy.
No need for a multi-book saga here. It gets right to the point, the visceral, bone-breaking, hard-drinking, potty-mouthed grim dark fantasy that it is.
The characters really shine here, almost each and every one of them. I'm torn between which was actually my favorite; the war god? The necromancer? The vampire?
They were all really great.
It has a very open ending, which certainly leaves room for further books. But my hope is that doesn't happen. That way this book can remain as a lightning-in-a-bottle find of the fantasy genre.
Awesome work, Cameron Johnston!
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
gabalodon's review
4.0
Not much emotional tension or explored character depth (and a lot of potential for both) but action-packed and full (and I mean FULL) of (fun) gratuitous violence and gore. SO gross
itsfreelancer's review
5.0
There are no heroes here. Only villains and monsters.
This is the story of Black Herran, demonologist and her 7 war captains with the intention to conquer the world. Or so it was until Black Herran disappeared on the day of complete victory and it all went to shit.
40 years later, there is a new goddess in town and old gods are being hunted. They aren't the good guys either. No one is. And yet Black Herran resurfaces and plans to gather her captains again who I might add have gone their separate ways and have been enemies to each other in these long years. And Black Herran is an old woman now so there's that. But the deals with the demons she made are not broken.
And there you have it. A last defence war story between villains and monsters. You do not know who to root for and yet to care about each one of them. If you enjoy warfare and not bothered by a little gore, you should pick this up. And you should definitely not underestimate Black Herran.
The enemies shouldn't.
The captains shouldn't more.
This is the story of Black Herran, demonologist and her 7 war captains with the intention to conquer the world. Or so it was until Black Herran disappeared on the day of complete victory and it all went to shit.
40 years later, there is a new goddess in town and old gods are being hunted. They aren't the good guys either. No one is. And yet Black Herran resurfaces and plans to gather her captains again who I might add have gone their separate ways and have been enemies to each other in these long years. And Black Herran is an old woman now so there's that. But the deals with the demons she made are not broken.
And there you have it. A last defence war story between villains and monsters. You do not know who to root for and yet to care about each one of them. If you enjoy warfare and not bothered by a little gore, you should pick this up. And you should definitely not underestimate Black Herran.
The enemies shouldn't.
The captains shouldn't more.
ltg61's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
ellamae98's review
4.0
I loved this. The way it was written was a challenge to read for me, for that i give 4 stars, but i loved the story and the characters nonetheless.
highlanderajax's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Fairly solid. It's an interesting take on a nice theme. As I've said before, I am a sucker for Magnificet Seven stories. Putting together a team of talents to Do Things? Hell yeah, I love that. This is a really fun twist, taking characters who would definitely be villains elsewhere and putting them into the classical hero role.
Johnston has done a pretty good job creating a couple of interesting characters here, and has got a fairly fun plot to go along with it. There's some really vivid descriptions, some nice motivations, and some fairly entertaiing fight scenes.
However, there are a fair number of things that just left me completely cold, and have me looking back at the book going "yeah, good enough, I guess."
Firstly, while the story is interesting, there's not a lot of worldbuilding. It would have been nice to have just a bit more information about, like, anything else that's going on. There's little to no explanation of how pretty much anything works here, which makes some of the reveals just kind of spring out of nowhere, rather than feeling earned. This kind of spills over into the rest of the plot, so I guess this is a combination worldbuilding/storyline weakness - the reveals either feel random or entirely predictable, never quite satisfying.
Second, the dialogue. One of the things that makes these types of team stories fun is the interplay between characters, and here so much of the dialogue feels stilted and artificial that a lot of that fun is lost. There's only a couple of characters that really come to life, with the rest feeling very flat indeed. In fact, the character work overall - with some exceptions - feels pretty lacklustre, and it really harms the overall work. A lot of the times, I was very aware that I was reading a manufactured conversation, rather than feeling that characters were talking and interacting naturally.
Third, while the plot is fun and the notion of using "dark" characters as protagonists is really interesting, Johnston's emphasis on things like torture, killing, dark stuff etc. means that it never really has much of an impact. There are scenes that feel like they should have some emotional or visceral weight, but when every other page has an organ being opened or skin being peeled off, it doesn't really hit home the 60th time. I can't help but feel that something abotu the bland way that a lot of this is discussed really stops it being an effective narrative tool.
Overall, this is a decent book, solidly fine. However, the slightly bland characters and some other lacklustre writing choices mean this never really rises to be an out-and-out fun read.
Johnston has done a pretty good job creating a couple of interesting characters here, and has got a fairly fun plot to go along with it. There's some really vivid descriptions, some nice motivations, and some fairly entertaiing fight scenes.
However, there are a fair number of things that just left me completely cold, and have me looking back at the book going "yeah, good enough, I guess."
Firstly, while the story is interesting, there's not a lot of worldbuilding. It would have been nice to have just a bit more information about, like, anything else that's going on. There's little to no explanation of how pretty much anything works here, which makes some of the reveals just kind of spring out of nowhere, rather than feeling earned. This kind of spills over into the rest of the plot, so I guess this is a combination worldbuilding/storyline weakness - the reveals either feel random or entirely predictable, never quite satisfying.
Second, the dialogue. One of the things that makes these types of team stories fun is the interplay between characters, and here so much of the dialogue feels stilted and artificial that a lot of that fun is lost. There's only a couple of characters that really come to life, with the rest feeling very flat indeed. In fact, the character work overall - with some exceptions - feels pretty lacklustre, and it really harms the overall work. A lot of the times, I was very aware that I was reading a manufactured conversation, rather than feeling that characters were talking and interacting naturally.
Third, while the plot is fun and the notion of using "dark" characters as protagonists is really interesting, Johnston's emphasis on things like torture, killing, dark stuff etc. means that it never really has much of an impact. There are scenes that feel like they should have some emotional or visceral weight, but when every other page has an organ being opened or skin being peeled off, it doesn't really hit home the 60th time. I can't help but feel that something abotu the bland way that a lot of this is discussed really stops it being an effective narrative tool.
Overall, this is a decent book, solidly fine. However, the slightly bland characters and some other lacklustre writing choices mean this never really rises to be an out-and-out fun read.