Customer Reviews

Darkblade: The Daemon's Curse (Warhammer Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't play Warhammer and never will, but 'The Daemon's Curse' is a phenomenal tale of dark elves that should not be ignored by readers of dark fantasy because of its ties to a video game. This is an outstanding tale of maliciousness and treachery, as rich as Salvatore's 'War Of The Spider Queen' series.

Malus Darkblade is the last, and illegitimate son of the Vaulkhar in the city of Hag Graef. Lurhan's (the Vaulkhar) legitimate children are Bruglir the Reaver, Isilvar, Yasmir the beautiful, Nagaira, and Urial the Forsaken, a priest in the Temple of Khaine. The dark elves, called druchii, have no regard for familial love. Indeed, their siblings are their worst enemies, and each one seeks to destroy the others in order to gain favor with Lurhan and become his heir.

'The Daemon's Curse' is the tale of Malus. Just as Malus sails into port from a victorious and bloody raid, he is betrayed and his prize taken away. Returning to Hag Graef with nothing but debt, Malus strikes up a bargain with his sister Nagaira, raiding a skull relic from Urial's temple and fleeing the city in search of a mystical fortune to be had in Kul Hadar, amidst the Chaos Wastes. But Malus will find deceit, though he expected nothing less of his sister, and it will almost be the ruin of him.

The Malus Darkblade books, of which 'The Daemon's Curse' is the first installment, are not for the light-hearted reader. Malus is the perfect dark elf antihero, vicious, cunning, merciless, and always bloodthirsty. Their mounts are dragon-like beasts called 'cold ones', or Nauglir. I tip my hat to artist Clint Langley who did the amazing cover art depicting Malus riding his cold one.

'The Daemon's Curse' is a bloody, fast-paced story of deception, torture, mutilations, sword fights, marauding bands of wildmen, revenge, daemons, cold-blooded treachery, evil aspirations, bravery, and best of all, dark elves. If you like your dark fantasy bloody and fast, like a flashing blade to the throat, you will love 'The Daemon's Curse'. Don't forget to grab the next installment, 'Bloodstorm'. Enjoy!

This fantasy novel held great potential, but unfortunately runs kinda out of steam about halfway thru. With beautiful art cover work, this novel held fantastical delights that rivaled those of R. A. Salvatore's hugely successful dark elf series.

I loved the imagery of the dark elves and their T-Rex-like war steeds, and those action sequences were done quite well, but with the main character being so bad, with no redeeming qualities, the reader is left not caring much for him. After about the halfway point in the novel, I found myself not caring much for him.

But the novel was pretty fast-paced, laced with enough action to keep it from being too bogged down. There are better fantasy novels out there with the full range of everything one needs to read to fulfill all areas of storytelling. But for a light adventure read, this one should do.

Malus Darkblade has no redeemable virtues, so why do I care what happens to Him? It is a testament to authors, Dan Abnett and Mike Lee that I do. They have created one of the most interesting protagonists in my recent memory. Malus Darkblade is the bastard son of one of the most prominent dark elves in Hag Graef. In his quest to prove he is worthy to be called his son he manages to out evil every other dark elf I have had the pleasure of sinking my literary teeth in to. The Darkblade books (4 so far) are a raucous rollercoaster ride of violence and double-dealing. the Warhammer universe is rich in history and beautifully realized in these books. Pick them up, settle back and let the bloody ride begin!

THE GOOD: This a very good book! Dan Abnett nails the grim world of the dark elf in the grim world of the Warhammer universe. His writing style is terse and he holds nothing back. I truly enjoyed each scene as they were displayed before me.

THE BAD: Only if you have a weak stomach will this be bad. The dark elf society enjoys much carnage and Abnett likes to show as much as he can (without be sickly gratuitous).

THE UGLY: Malus...conniving, evil, smart and darn ugly!

Ubermonkey says that if you are looking for grim, dark fantasy with no real protagonist, this is for you.

I love the Malus Darkblade books. They are very fast paced and action packed. There is just enough character development to keep you reading. By no means a classic but without a doubt worth the money to read.

This is the first in the series of 5 books. The background is set, and pretty
much only one character is developed. If you start this expecting fast and
furious action, and a fairly easy read, then you will not be dissapointed.
Pretty much everybody is a scoundrel in the book - it is only the depth
of their depravities that varies. Overall, pretty good pulp fiction.

Malus Darkblade is the latest in a line of "Dark elf" type heroes that can be tracked back to Elric via Drizzt Do'Urden, but he has a twist. Unlike his progenitors who rise above their heritage to show some redeeming features, a touch of humanity, Malus is a complete dyed in the wool swine of the first order, he's an incestuous, homicidal, sadist who'd like nothing more than to flay you alive, simply for his own amusement. His only redeeming feature is his courage and resilience in the face of his equally appalling family and their attempts to destroy him. Yet ghastly as he is, in the world he inhabits you almost find yourself rooting for him as his opponents are even worse.
Dan Abnet writes fairly prolifically in the Warhammer format, yet the choice of scenarios available to him give him sufficient options to be original within its confines. Malus gives him the chance to exercise his fantasy muscles rather than the Sci Fi of Eisenhorn and his creation is dark, devious and deadly. Well worth checking out.

Who put that knife into Frodo's back and chopped off his fingers.
Was it you Legolas or you Malus? Let's not get these elves mixed up with those. This is the first of many novels based on Malus Darkblade's quest for five relics of power to free himself of a deamon's possession, although he isn't actually possessed until the end of the book.

The writing in this novel is fantastic. A great opening paragraphs, introduction to the characters are gradually blended in based on appearance or conversation in proper order and at the story's own pace. The mood also starts off right, beginning with a very dark setting with the crew docking in a dangerous port city with many slaves. We are then quickly swept with a feeling of caution and danger from and for our characters. The mood starts off right and the book moves foward with excitement.

The feeling, settings and details are consistent, which is very good. The pacing throught the book is fast without the author rushing his work cutting any scenes. The book itself is written in a limited omniscient third-person point of view with limited knowledge and thoughts of second active person in the scene.

If your new to Darkblade or Dark Elves, then this book will quickly fill you in on how they live, think, kill and their overall hatred for one another. Brothers hate brothers, sisters hate sisters and house maids caught in the middle are converted into furniture. But they hold an extra special bitterness for their rivals who exiled them from there original homeland.

During his recent plunder for gold and slaves, Malus was completely ambushed and lost it all. He then finds his life being spared by the king elf called the drachau for not presenting any gifts or tribute. The bitterness of having lost nearly everything including his life leaves him to suspect everyone especially a cousin whom he tortures and then a brother, whom from he steals a relic. He is lead to believe that the relic would leave him with treasures and powers beyond his wildest dreams in the dangerous chaos wastes but that was no detterent to his ambitions and everyones lives but his are expendable. And he had no trouble letting his men know this.

They encounters dead riders, savage wood elves (more savage then they are), spirits of the dead, barbarians and beastmen with the bodies of men and the head of animals. What makes this book special is that we have a first class seat into Malus' evil mind and ambitions in full detail. He's a very vivid character.

I liked this book series a lot and plan on reading more of his work. Thanks for the great read. Rick

Before this book have never read a book based on the Dark Elves. After I finished this book and ordered the second book in the series. (Bloodstorm by Dan Abnet and Mike Lee) I enjoyed Darkblade and will find myself tracking this story to the very end.