Name: The Maleficent Seven
ISBN: 9780857669087

Cameron Johnston

When you are all out of heroes, all that's left are the villains. Black Herran was a dread demonologist, and the most ruthless general in all Essoran. She assembled the six most fearsome warriors to captain her armies: a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a twisted alchemist. Together they brought the whole continent to its knees... Until the day she abandoned her army, on the eve of total victory. 40 years later, she must bring her former captains back together for one final stand, in the small town of Tarnbrooke - the last bastion against a fanatical new enemy tearing through the land, intent on finishing the job Black Herran started years before. Seven bloodthirsty monsters. One town. Their last hope.

The Maleficent Seven

This is a well justified 5 star read as it was original and I felt like I actually understood all of the captains motives considering the amount packed in to its 400+ pages.

There's a lot of detailed gore some may say borders on horror but it is really well done and does fit in with how the story proceeds. 

Some of the scenes gathering the captains may have felt short to some but it gives all the information required to know the characters initially and certainly fits each of them individually. 

The only downsides if you could call them that were the fact that the reveal of the goddess and tiarnach's eventual redemption were kind of predictable but especially in tianarchs case actually very welcome.

The ending was greatly done as the twist is definitely unpredictable with enough room for either novellas or indeed another novel should the author want too. I'd certainly love to see some of the threads unfold more. 

Karl Ansell

This is a well justified 5 star read as it was original and I felt like I actually understood all of the captains motives considering the amount packed in to its 400+ pages.

There's a lot of detailed gore some may say borders on horror but it is really well done and does fit in with how the story proceeds. 

Some of the scenes gathering the captains may have felt short to some but it gives all the information required to know the characters initially and certainly fits each of them individually. 

The only downsides if you could call them that were the fact that the reveal of the goddess and tiarnach's eventual redemption were kind of predictable but especially in tianarchs case actually very welcome.

The ending was greatly done as the twist is definitely unpredictable with enough room for either novellas or indeed another novel should the author want too. I'd certainly love to see some of the threads unfold more. 

Nickie Mohler

I have been meaning to check this author out for a while. I have obviously been missing out! I loved this book!

This book is bloody, action-packed, and humorous. It has it all. I usually prefer more world building, but this story was great as is. The characters are horrible and amazing at the same time. I loved/hated them all!

I will be waiting impatiently for the next one. In the meantime, I definitely need to read the other books out by this author.

I received a copy from Net Galley.

Anyaconda

The promised Kings of the Wild Suicide Squad mash up was delivered, however it wasn't necessarily a book for me.
Plot and concept are amazing, I really enjoy a good anti-hero storyline, but what killed it in the end was the breakneck speed and some things that didn't make sense for me personally.
After collecting the first few members and all of them arguing for a couple of seconds on why they'd never work for Black Herran again, they do of course. It gets old quickly. Instead of getting more info about our band, there's a lot of killing and ripping people apart repeatedly. I feel this time could've been used better by the author. We already know how badass, strong and evil they are. The trips between locations are very short and I often found myself a bit confused.
I also wasn't a big fan of the dialogue between characters.

BUT. I can see other readers enjoying this, especially if you like fast-paced, action-filled scenes without a massive amount of culture, backgrounds and info dumps.
I do prefer my slow-paced epic fantasy 😅
2.5 out of 5 ⭐

When you are all out of heroes, all that’s left are the villains. Black Herran was a dread demonologist, and the most ruthless general in all Essoran. She assembled the six most fearsome warriors to captain her armies: a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a twisted alchemist. Together they brought the whole continent to its knees… Until the day she abandoned her army, on the eve of total victory. 40 years later, she must bring her former captains back together for one final stand, in the small town of Tarnbrooke – the last bastion against a fanatical new enemy tearing through the land, intent on finishing the job Black Herran started years before. Seven bloodthirsty monsters. One town. Their last hope. File Under: Fantasy [ Heroes or Horrors? | Flames and Faith | Blood and Guts | Hell Demons ]

The Maleficent Seven

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