Jonathan Maberry is an accomplished writer of dark tales, having won multiple Bram Stoker awards for his horror fiction, and is a national bestseller. With Kagen the Damned, he is entering new territory, somewhat uncharted lands, if you will. For Kagen the Damned is an Epic Fantasy. But it is so much more than just another Epic Fantasy novel, because Maberry brings his trademark horror sensibilities fully into this novel.
Kagen the Damned marks the first installment of an exciting new series of dark epic fantasy novels from bestselling author Jonathan Maberry.
Sworn by Oath
Kagen Vale is the trusted and feared captain of the palace guard, charged with protection of 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. While 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.
Kagen the Damned
When Kagen wakens from what he assumes to be a night of drunken revelry, he finds his world upended. Invaders, the long thought vanquished and quelled Hakkian have returned. They are led by the powerful and mysterious Witch-King Gethon Heklan, to decimate the royal family of The Silver Empire, including the children Kagen swore to protect. Kagen blames himself and spends a good portion of the novel wallowing in despair, drunk, and ultimately seeing the gods he worshipped and to whom he swore his oath to protect the young royals, turn their back on him. Kagen stumbles upon some allies and crosses paths with people who think he might be able to prevent the Witch-King from declaring himself emperor, Kagen just needs to climb a tower (the Tower of Sarsis) and procure a magical artifact to save the world. Just an easy little quest to undertake when the Witch-King has a bounty on Kagen’s head.
I realize the plot seems fairly straight-forward, revenge, quest, evil king and all that, but damn if Maberry doesn’t make it feel fresh and exciting. A large part of what makes this novel, and the world, feel so fresh is how much horror, specifically cosmic horror, informs the world-building. Elder Ones like Hastur and Cthulhu are major elements of the world’s mythology with the R’lyehian language appearing in the text. There are some decidedly dark and horrific passages and allusions throughout the majority of the novel and the Lovecraftian flavor is very welcome in an Epic Fantasy setting. It is a seamless infusion, and an elegant one that simply works to the point that I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before. I love that element of this novel and world because the delight in which Maberry reveled during the world-building emanates off the pages.
I’m a fan of Maberry’s Joe Ledger series of Horror/Military Science Thrillers and why those books work so good are the characters. That character element translates here in Kagen the Damned, the characters are fun and Maberry does a great job of putting the reader in their heads. He also is a plotting wizard, his chapters are relatively short which makes the pages fly through your fingers rather quickly.
Horror and Epic Fantasy tend to intermingle, just read some of the passages of Tad Williams’s The Dragonbone Chair and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re reading a horror novel. More recently; however, some big chonker Epic Fantasy novels don’t just have horror passages, or dashes of horror, they can be considered Epic Horror novels outright – Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief immediately come to mind. Of course, this novel could be considered Grimdark – and it will definitely appeal to Grimdark readers – but the horror DNA of Kagen the Damned is pretty potent.
The ending was a bit abrupt and some of the “mysteries” throughout seemed a little obvious and I suspect some of those elements weren’t intended to be surprises to the reader. Nonetheless, I found the ending extremely satisfying and it has me quite eager to dive into the next installment, Son of the Poison Rose when it publishes in January 2023.
I had an absolute blast reading Kagen the Damed, it hit my epic fantasy and horror reading sensibilities perfectly.
Highly recommended
© 2022 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | 560 pages
St. Martin’s Griffin | May 2022
https://www.jonathanmaberry.com/kagenthedamned.cfm
Author Website: https://www.jonathanmaberry.com/
Review copy purchased
