aquaphase's review against another edition
5.0
When the synopsis for this novel came across my field of vision, it was damn near love at first sight. Here is a story that deals in very familiar tropes, pivoting the usual angles on their proverbial ears and taking a swipe at the entire concept of good vs bad, right vs wrong, and holy vs evil. To say the least, The Maleficent Seven definitely caught my attention.
I’m going to get a tad more spoiler-y than I usually do in my reviews, so you have been warned.
Very basically stated, The Maleficent Seven is the story of an evil demonologist general, Black Herran, who disappeared forty years previous to our story, right on the cusp of bringing the entire continent of Essoran to its knees before her along with her band of six merciless warrior generals.
With her abandonment, the royal families of Essoran prevailed, and the generals all went their separate ways.
Fast forwarding to our tale, a new force is wending it’s way through Essoran, and it’s threat is far different than what the citizenry faced with Black Herran: the army of the Bright One.
Headed up by the Falcon Prince, the army of the Bright One is charging through Essoran destroying every town and village who follow the ways of the Elder Gods: basically killing a majority of the populace in the process.
Here’s where the twist comes in (and where I get a bit spoiler-y): Black Herran has been hiding in one of these small towns as a “normal” citizen for these past forty years!
It turns out the Falcon Prince’s holy knights are making their way towards the town of Tarnbrooke: where Black Herran has been in hiding, and she is now forced to give up her simple life to, once again, become the terrible threat she was notorious for. Also, she’s decided to convince her dreaded six generals to help her in the effort.
If you weren’t already in on this stunner of a tale, let me give you a rundown of the generals.
There is a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a very mentally unstable alchemist. Almost all of these folks hate Black Herran with burning passions, as well as being not to fond of each other. It’s an absolute dream for the reader.
There are, naturally, some parallels with the nigh-homophonic title inspiration The Magnificent Seven[1], but it is the originality of The Maleficent Seven that really hit it home for me. Everyone loves a good villain, and there are seven that have been so meticulously constructed that I would absolutely love some off-shoot novels regarding their forty-year stories (hint, hint, Mr. Johnston).
Yes, the Falcon Prince is the real “baddie” of the story, and masterfully neglected by Mr. Johnston in his character development. That is one-hundred percent not a slight. Aside from the pressing threat, the Falcon Prince, for me, is only as useful as the mega-fight that is promised in the buildup of the rest of the story. It takes some serious dedication to stay that path, and Mr. Johnston delivers.
The Maleficent Seven is not the most profound novel I will read this year, but it will, absolutely, be on my favorites list. It’s mirthful, gory, drunken and gritty, and I absolutely loved it. It’s not often I gleefully giggle through battlefield dismemberment (oh, who’s kidding, it happens a lot), but there is a lot of that in this one.
[1] I prefer the 1960 John Sturges version over the 2016 Antoine Fuqua version, but both have their merits. It is also probably considered criminal to not to consider the original, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), since it is widely considered an epic masterpiece of cinema.
I’m going to get a tad more spoiler-y than I usually do in my reviews, so you have been warned.
Very basically stated, The Maleficent Seven is the story of an evil demonologist general, Black Herran, who disappeared forty years previous to our story, right on the cusp of bringing the entire continent of Essoran to its knees before her along with her band of six merciless warrior generals.
With her abandonment, the royal families of Essoran prevailed, and the generals all went their separate ways.
Fast forwarding to our tale, a new force is wending it’s way through Essoran, and it’s threat is far different than what the citizenry faced with Black Herran: the army of the Bright One.
Headed up by the Falcon Prince, the army of the Bright One is charging through Essoran destroying every town and village who follow the ways of the Elder Gods: basically killing a majority of the populace in the process.
Here’s where the twist comes in (and where I get a bit spoiler-y): Black Herran has been hiding in one of these small towns as a “normal” citizen for these past forty years!
It turns out the Falcon Prince’s holy knights are making their way towards the town of Tarnbrooke: where Black Herran has been in hiding, and she is now forced to give up her simple life to, once again, become the terrible threat she was notorious for. Also, she’s decided to convince her dreaded six generals to help her in the effort.
If you weren’t already in on this stunner of a tale, let me give you a rundown of the generals.
There is a necromancer, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish warleader, a pirate queen, and a very mentally unstable alchemist. Almost all of these folks hate Black Herran with burning passions, as well as being not to fond of each other. It’s an absolute dream for the reader.
There are, naturally, some parallels with the nigh-homophonic title inspiration The Magnificent Seven[1], but it is the originality of The Maleficent Seven that really hit it home for me. Everyone loves a good villain, and there are seven that have been so meticulously constructed that I would absolutely love some off-shoot novels regarding their forty-year stories (hint, hint, Mr. Johnston).
Yes, the Falcon Prince is the real “baddie” of the story, and masterfully neglected by Mr. Johnston in his character development. That is one-hundred percent not a slight. Aside from the pressing threat, the Falcon Prince, for me, is only as useful as the mega-fight that is promised in the buildup of the rest of the story. It takes some serious dedication to stay that path, and Mr. Johnston delivers.
The Maleficent Seven is not the most profound novel I will read this year, but it will, absolutely, be on my favorites list. It’s mirthful, gory, drunken and gritty, and I absolutely loved it. It’s not often I gleefully giggle through battlefield dismemberment (oh, who’s kidding, it happens a lot), but there is a lot of that in this one.
[1] I prefer the 1960 John Sturges version over the 2016 Antoine Fuqua version, but both have their merits. It is also probably considered criminal to not to consider the original, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), since it is widely considered an epic masterpiece of cinema.
daelly's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
theshaggyshepherd's review against another edition
3.0
The Maleficent Seven // by Cameron Johnston
The Maleficent Seven is a book that I looked forward to for a long time. The description combined with that cover just looked really badass and like the type of read that would make me want to finish the entire story in one sitting. Sadly, it didn't quite work out to be like that for me.
Johnston chose an incredible cast of characters to bring together. The prologue plunges right into the action and establishes what kind of crew we're working with here. And let me tell you, they aren't the kind you want to meet in a dark alley somewhere. Or a crowded pup. Or even in broad daylight in a flowery meadow. As a sucker for a good villain, I was immediately drawn to this group. The treachery immediately starts from there.
The pacing is FAST. Once the action got started after the avengers were assembled, you don't really get a break until the end. That IS what I was looking forward to but as a reader that really enjoys world-building and complex characters, I didn't really like how that was mostly thrown to the wayside in the process. When a story moves that quickly, I need to be more confident in the characters first or I will doubt whether their actions really fit the story as needed. There were definitely some aspects that I did like a lot, such as the consequences of believing in a god and seeing the personal loyalty between some of the characters.
While I do think Johnston has shown that he can bring together a very interesting cast of characters with a really interesting plot idea, overall it still fell a bit short and the ending turned out to be a little bit anti-climactic for me. The first half started out strong, there was a good bit of humor mixed in everywhere, but the second half definitely fell a bit flat for me. I do have more of his books on my shelf though and I'm looking forward to trying them towards the end of the year.
Thank you for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Maleficent Seven is a book that I looked forward to for a long time. The description combined with that cover just looked really badass and like the type of read that would make me want to finish the entire story in one sitting. Sadly, it didn't quite work out to be like that for me.
Johnston chose an incredible cast of characters to bring together. The prologue plunges right into the action and establishes what kind of crew we're working with here. And let me tell you, they aren't the kind you want to meet in a dark alley somewhere. Or a crowded pup. Or even in broad daylight in a flowery meadow. As a sucker for a good villain, I was immediately drawn to this group. The treachery immediately starts from there.
The pacing is FAST. Once the action got started after the avengers were assembled, you don't really get a break until the end. That IS what I was looking forward to but as a reader that really enjoys world-building and complex characters, I didn't really like how that was mostly thrown to the wayside in the process. When a story moves that quickly, I need to be more confident in the characters first or I will doubt whether their actions really fit the story as needed. There were definitely some aspects that I did like a lot, such as the consequences of believing in a god and seeing the personal loyalty between some of the characters.
While I do think Johnston has shown that he can bring together a very interesting cast of characters with a really interesting plot idea, overall it still fell a bit short and the ending turned out to be a little bit anti-climactic for me. The first half started out strong, there was a good bit of humor mixed in everywhere, but the second half definitely fell a bit flat for me. I do have more of his books on my shelf though and I'm looking forward to trying them towards the end of the year.
Thank you for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
jkathleen22's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
quolwy's review against another edition
2.0
Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing me a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
At first I was struggling to understand why this one didn't work for me. The story was exactly as pitched, suicide squad esc, with a band of villains coming together to destroy an even worse villain. However, I stumbled across another review that put it into words perfectly. This concept just works better as a film.
Introducing each of the characters in the middle of doing what they do best, I continuously felt as though this would have been better as a movie. The visual aspects would have made it easier to fall in love with each character, while unfortunately as a reader it fell a bit flat. Because this story is SO fast paced, I never had time to connect with any of the characters, and for me that made the entire story feel quite one dimensional.
While we did see some humorous interactions between characters, and moments that made them more empathetic characters, for me a lot of those moments came too late and I had already been struggling through the story for so long at that point, it left out some of the emotional impact it could have otherwise had if we had slowed down and done some world building or work with the characters backstories.
I felt I wish I'd gotten a novella for each character before reading this story, so that I could appreciate this book more for what it is.
Now don't get me wrong, there is definitely an audience for this book. People who want to skip the boring stuff, and just learn characters names and hop into the action will have a great time reading this. Unfortunately for me however, it left me wanting.
P.S. I refuse to believe men talk about their "cocks" as often as they do in this book, it felt very out of place for me and took me out of the action LOL
At first I was struggling to understand why this one didn't work for me. The story was exactly as pitched, suicide squad esc, with a band of villains coming together to destroy an even worse villain. However, I stumbled across another review that put it into words perfectly. This concept just works better as a film.
Introducing each of the characters in the middle of doing what they do best, I continuously felt as though this would have been better as a movie. The visual aspects would have made it easier to fall in love with each character, while unfortunately as a reader it fell a bit flat. Because this story is SO fast paced, I never had time to connect with any of the characters, and for me that made the entire story feel quite one dimensional.
While we did see some humorous interactions between characters, and moments that made them more empathetic characters, for me a lot of those moments came too late and I had already been struggling through the story for so long at that point, it left out some of the emotional impact it could have otherwise had if we had slowed down and done some world building or work with the characters backstories.
I felt I wish I'd gotten a novella for each character before reading this story, so that I could appreciate this book more for what it is.
Now don't get me wrong, there is definitely an audience for this book. People who want to skip the boring stuff, and just learn characters names and hop into the action will have a great time reading this. Unfortunately for me however, it left me wanting.
P.S. I refuse to believe men talk about their "cocks" as often as they do in this book, it felt very out of place for me and took me out of the action LOL
grushanna's review against another edition
1.0
Книга не понравилась от слова совсем. Читала по диагонали, дочитывала на упрямстве.
lizzy_22's review against another edition
4.0
Old school fantasy with lots of gore. The story was perfectly mapped out and nearly tied up at the end. Enjoyed it.
nerdyforbooks_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Action, adventure, 7 people who absolutely hate each other - what else could go wrong?
This book suffers from pacing issues at times - when the action is going it’s GOING, but when it’s not there is some drag. Overall, it’s one of those quick reads that doesn’t require much hard thought to push through. The characters aren’t meant to be loveable or even likeable. Yet you can’t help but enjoy how terrible they all are. The ending is solid with a great plot twist.
This book suffers from pacing issues at times - when the action is going it’s GOING, but when it’s not there is some drag. Overall, it’s one of those quick reads that doesn’t require much hard thought to push through. The characters aren’t meant to be loveable or even likeable. Yet you can’t help but enjoy how terrible they all are. The ending is solid with a great plot twist.