Published: August 10, 2021
Publisher: Angry Robot Books
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 400 (Paperback)
My Rating: DNF @ 63%
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
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.
So, when I came across The Maleficent Seven I was filled with absolute certainty that it would be amazing. For sure it’s gonna be one of my favorite books of the year. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be the right book for me for one big reason.
First off, this story starts off with Black Herran at the height of her power. She’s literally hours away from utter victory, but she suddenly decides that everything is meaningless and slips off into the night to make a new life for herself and her unborn child. She spends four decades hiding out in a dinky little town, raising her family, being a respected member of the community, and even watching her grandchildren grow. Things would have carried on much the same, but the Lucent empire is on the doorstep of the dinky town of Tarnbrooke so she reaches out to her old acquaintances. She gathers her six captains – a necromancer, a vampire, a war demigod, an orcish warrior, a pirate queen, and an alchemist – to help defend her town.
Everything about this story indicated that I would love it – villains turning hero, redemption arcs, epic battles, etc. I just didn’t like the characters! I wanted to so badly, but there was nary an emotional connection in sight. Ultimately, I didn’t care what happened to any of them and none of the apparently sad/triumphant/tense moments gave me one iota of feels. I couldn’t get to the “suspension of belief” point and too many things just didn’t add up or make sense. Why should any of these people join together? They all hate each other, they’re villains, and there no profit! I was turning pages by rote and after forcing myself to pick it back up a few times I decided it was time to call it quits. I’ve sat on this for nearly a month now, so my feelings have cooled and I’m struggling to remember more specific details of what I disliked because I’ve read about 10 other books since then.
Perhaps it was simply a case of the wrong book at the wrong time because I’m in the minority when it comes to not liking The Maleficent Seven. I see tons of 4 and 5 star reviews, so if this sounds like something you’d like then please do check it out!
Powder & Page 
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