Reviews

Gavrax wakes up and has a bad bout of amnesia. He's trying to piece together who and what he is but his servants aren't exactly filling in the gaps. As he bumbles through he realises that HE'S the bad guy in this fairy tale! He kidnapped the Princess (doesn't know why), he's plotted some kind of revenge plot against a king (again, no idea why). He's trying to keep up the cackling evil façade but he's actually thinking that he's more of a washed out grey wizard than a dread Lord!

With goblins that have hidden talents and not so great acting skills, Gav has to try and detangle himself from a kidnap plot, return the princess and find a new, non evil job!

The zany plot gets zanier when Gav has to try and outwit uber baddie, Zarconar, which would be hard enough with the memory of an amnesiac goldfish! The goblins really pushed the old vocabulary memory banks I'll tell you.

Fantasy fiction which takes itself not so seriously, high humour, lots of farce and a smattering of romance all wrapped up in a mild mystery. Great new read and really worth a read!

bethfishreads's review against another edition

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3.0

Can an dark wizard with amnesia change his evil ways, remember his past, save the world, and make amends?

When Gav wakes up in a locked room, he doesn't remember who he is or how he ended up in a dark wizard's lab. Things get worse when he realizes (1) *he's* the evil wizard, (2) he's holding a beautiful princess in his dungeons (but has no idea why), and (3) he's supposed to be hosting some sort of meeting with his fellow evil wizards in just a few days.

In this fun cozy fantasy, Gav grapples with who he really wants to be while trying to stay alive and protect the people under his charge. I liked the humor, the well-rendered secondary characters, the action, and the way the story ended.

The audio was performed by Keval Shah. I particularly liked the way he delivered the dialogue (giving the characters appropriate voices) and his skill with the humor.

Thanks to the publishers for the review copy.

whatyoutolkienabout's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious

5.0

This might not be for everyone but it most certainly was for me. I love fantasy be it in books, games or any form really. I love high and epic fantasy, I love urban fantasy and, well you get the idea. So Dreadful was perfect for me since it takes some of the elements of fantasy and turns them on their head, makes a comedy of sorts of the whole thing and I loved every minute of it. Now what Dreadful doesn’t do is go into great detail of the worlds or cultures, we don’t get lots of insight into each and every character as such but what we do get is a fun and enjoyable read that you will find hard to put down.

I loved the storyline that mixes the stereotypical ‘evil overlord’ with someone who seemingly has amnesia and is trying very hard to be THAT evil person but failing miserably at it. I particularly did like how Rozakis uses this to explore topics that are extremely relevant today such as toxic masculinity and the idea of ‘beautiful’ princesses. Honestly I loved every minute of it. the characters were fleshed out well enough to get attached, I particularly liked the goblins myself.

If you are a fan of fantasy and want something a bit more light hearted but still with a bit of adventure this is the one for you.