When I heard an anthology featuring a villain’s perspective was being Kickstarted I had to back it. The contributor list alone is enough to warrant buying it but, less than six months after publication it has collected a 2017 Stabbie from r/fantasy readers for the Best Anthology. Little did I know what a real treasure I was investing in.
The Blurb
Experience your favourite fantasy worlds through some of the most fearsome, devious, and brutal antagonists in fantasy.
Villains take centre stage in nineteen dark and magical stories that will have you cheering for all the wrong heroes as they perform savage deeds towards wicked ends. And why not? They are the champions of their own stories—evil is a matter of perspective.
For any of you wanting to pick up a new Fantasy series but are reluctant to try a new author, this anthology will have you needing more shelves in no time. Because stories are taken from existing Fantasy worlds, each story benefits from a well-established setting. I’m already a fan of Marc Turner’s Chronicle of the Exile series, and thoroughly enjoyed The Greater of Two Evils, in contrast, I’ve not yet been brave enough to start into Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt, after reading Old Blood I am now intrigued. A Game of Mages from Courtney Schafer has me wanting to read more of her work. Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Tattered Prince and the Demon Unveiled is an enjoyable take on Dijins. But these are just a few of the stories, the contributor list is enviable.
- R. Scott Bakker (The Second Apocalypse)
- Adrian Tchaikovsky (Shadows of the Apt, The Tiger and the Wolf)
- Michael R. Fletcher (Manifest Delusions)
- Shawn Speakman (The Annwn Cycles)
- Teresa Frohock (Los Nefilim)
- Kaaron Warren (The Gate Theory, Mistification)
- Courtney Schafer (The Shattered Sigil)
- Marc Turner (Chronicles of the Exile)
- Jeff Salyards (Bloodsounder’s Arc)
- Mazarkis Williams (The Tower & Knife)
- Deborah A. Wolf (The Dragon’s Legacy)
- Brian Staveley (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne)
- Alex Marshall (Crimson Empire)
- Bradley P. Beaulieu (The Song of the Shattered Sands, The Lays of Anuskaya)
- Matthew Ward (Shadow of the Raven, Coldharbour)
- Mark Alder (Banners of Blood)
- Janny Wurts (The Wars of Light and Shadow, The Empire Trilogy)
It’s billed as Grimdark, and some do take the dark to extremes, but Evil is a Matter of Perspective also shines a light on the variety of styles within the genre, and it does it very well.
The editor Adrian Collins and his team from Grimdark Magazine show their love and experience for this subgenre of Fantasy, and Collins’ foreword is well worth your time reading. They have compiled a book which gives a reader the opposing side of the hero’s journey to save the day. Readers have to remember that with the theme being Evil Is a Matter of Perspective we are repeatedly exposed to “the bad guy”, the antagonist. Something made these characters who and what they are. As a reader, every author gets you uncomfortably close to “that ultimate evil”. Authors build reader sympathy with characters which we are used to being the cause for a quest for our heroes and heroines, someone who must be stopped.
It is not an anthology you read with tea and cake; it does question morals. Only the coldest, hardest among you will read it all in one sitting.
Do I regret backing it? Well that depends on your point of view. Like in any anthology, some stories resonate, others are not for me, that’s to be expected. Evil is a Matter of Perspective is probably the best book I’ve ever invested in; it’s opened windows into so many new realms. I’m not going to be stuck for things to read but if I had to complain, my TBR pile now obliterates the sun.
My regret is not in backing it, but in not going for a higher tier as I am sure the interior artwork in the hard copy from Jason Deem added so much more to it.
My other regret is in not getting my review together sooner!
© Shellie Horst – SFFWorld.com Jan 2018
Publisher: Grimdark Magazine
Editor: Adrian Collins
Published: June 2017
Availability Kindle, Kobo and Paperback.
