Ｔｉｔｌｅ： Kagen the Damned
Ａｕｔｈｏｒ： Jonathan Maberry
Ｓｅｒｉｅｓ： Book 1
Ｒａｔｉｎｇ： ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
＊Ｎｏｔｅ：I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Sworn by Oath
Kagen Vale is the trusted and feared captain of the palace guard, charged with protecting the royal children of the Silver Empire. But one night, Kagen is drugged and the entire imperial family is killed, leaving the empire in ruins.
Abandoned by the Gods
Haunted and broken, Kagen is abandoned by his gods and damned forever. He becomes a wanderer, trying to take down as many of his enemies as possible while plotting to assassinate the usurper–the deadly Witch-king of Hakkia. All around him, magic–long banished from the world—returns in strange and terrifying ways.
Fueled by Rage
To exact his vengeance, Kagen must venture into strange lands, battle bizarre and terrifying creatures, and gather allies for a suicide mission into the heart of the Witch-king's empire.
Kings and gods will fear him.
"Hate is the shield the weak use against the knife thrusts of acceptance."
I originally requested this ARC because I was curious about the author after reading one of his short stories. I was really hoping to like this book, but I was unable to finish it.
Honestly, I'm not even sure how to comment on the characters and plot because I didn't get very far into the story. I really tried but the plot was so slow and there was so much violence (especially sexual assault).
It felt like the book's goal was to capture our attention through pure shock, but it really had the opposite effect on me. I couldn't stand so many mentions of rape, mutilated bodies, and violence in general. It's not the fact that these things were included in the story that bothered me, it was how the plot went nowhere and every page was saturated with violence. We were just bombarded with the cruelty of the invaders over and over. At some point, enough is enough.
I didn't feel like Kagen was moving toward anything. It took so long just to move onto the next day. By then, I had already lost interest.
Unfortunately, I won't be revisiting this one. I'd caution those interested in checking this out that the story contains many scenes that mention/describe rape and violence against women, which could be triggering.
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