Kagen the Damned: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry, an epic fantasy novel. Keep reading to find out what we thought of this novel and if you should read it next!

Kagen the Damned Summary

Kagen Vale is the captain of the palace guard and it is his job to protect the royal children of the Silver Empire. But one night, Kagen is drugged and wakes up to find the Silver Fire under attack and his family, friends, and the imperial family in danger. But all Kegan can do is fight for his life and make way to the palace and try to do his job no matter what.

But Kagen is too late and arrives to find the royal children killed and his brother and mother killed in front of him. Rage takes over and Kagen slaughters his enemies and is able to escape the palace. He might be alive byt feels dead inside as everyone he has loved was killed and the Silver Empire is overthrown by the Witch-king of Hakkia.

One goal drives Kagen and that is to kill the Witch-king of Hakkia. But to do that, Kagen has to find his way again and get out of his depression. He is not the only one that wants to overthrow the Witch-king of Hakkia. The Silver Empire may have been overthrown but they are still around and will fight to the end to reclaim their empire.

Commentary

I have been reading novels written by Jonathan Maberry for almost 15 years and it has been an experience seeing him grow as a writer. He might be one of my top read authors and I am always eager to check out any new book he releases. And Kagen the Damned was a great novel to come across since I love reading fantasy novels.

The first thing that I have to warn you about is that this novel tackles difficult subject matter. If you have read fantasy novels, then you know that it can get dark and fast. Maberry doesn’t hold back and instead he tackles them head on.

The world that Maberry creates is a fresh take on this genre and I enjoyed reading this different take on the genre. The bad guys start off wreaking havoc and winning the war. That is usually the one thing that they aren’t supposed to achieve but Maberry flips the scripts and starts off what would normally be the worst-case scenario.

And from there, we see the characters trying to grasp this new reality but many of them failing if they survive the aftermath. Kagen is especially down bad as he has turned into an alcoholic and he is anything but your typical protagonist. And yet, this novel is impossible to put down as you try to understand what happened and how it happened and where Kegan will go from here.

Conclusion

The fantasy genre is always changing and I loved seeing one of my favorite authors write an epic fantasy novel. And I enjoyed this novel and I recommend it but do warn you that the subject matter is not light. If that is something that doesn’t deter you, then you will love this novel. I know I will be reading the rest of the series and seeing where Kagen goes from here. 

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