The Maleficent Seven

By: Cameron Johnston

Narrated by: George Weightman

Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Forty 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.

©2021 Cameron Johnston (P)2021 Angry Robot

Fun

Enjoyed this story more than I thought I would. It reminded me of Kings of the Wyld, though I wouldn’t claim nearly on par, with its dark humor and array of characters.

Suicide Squad meets Joe Ambercrombie

40 years after The Black Harren abandons her army on the eve of battle, a new evil arises that only the six villainous captains she spurned have a hope of defeating.

This is Suicide Squad meets Joe Ambercrombie. The first 25% is recruitment of the six and the last 75% is war. It’s very plot driven so if you’re looking for a deep character dive you won’t find that here but if you like grim dark/war fantasy I think you’ll absolutely love this. It’s fast paced, exciting, unique, darkly humorous and has all the morally grey/villainous characters you could ask for. Side note: The narrator is fabulous, every voice is very distinct, if you like audiobooks.

⚠️ adult content note: heavy violence and language, no sexual content

Good Listen

Narrator did great. Parts of the story were predictable but overall an enjoyable listen. Grew attached to many of the anti-hero characters.

Really enjoyable, absolutely violent

I love the dark violence of this book. The magic is fun and i enjoyed all the different characters and backstories in this book!

Truly Magnificent

This has easily become one of my favorite books. The characters, though all messed up in one way or another, somehow left me rooting for them till the end. It’s a masterful twist on an amazing story, making you care about and cheer for the most vile and wicked the world has to offer. A true masterpiece.

amazing! Really hope it helps you buy this book

this was a great book. pace was good, and the story keeps your mind filled with great images. I am a anime lover so I got a great trill after getting in to the book and finding it to be a great take on 7 deadly sins but dark and creative. I love the fact that age and time has a factor in this book as well. narrator was perfect and fit the story like a glove. nothing worse than a great book turned bad because of actor chosen to read. this thank the gods is not one of them, he did amazing.

Not you mother’s fantasy world…

I will start by saying I enjoyed this book. It was made more enjoyable by the “good guys” not really being that good, more anti-heroes if I were to put a name to it and some not even that. No one’s hands are clean and it really shows the difference between “bad” and “evil”. I puzzled out some things early on, but there was still a whole lot going on you just don’t see until it hits you in the face lol. Someone compared it to Seven Deadly Sins, I think that’s a bit of a stretch unless all the Sins were all blood thirsty and a touch mad lol. I enjoyed and I could completely see spin offs and prequels digging more into the lives of these characters.

Fun

This book was pure fun! It was a gem in the rough. Inspired by the Magnificent 7 story but original enough to keep you guessing😁

incredibly interesting

loved its use of all the gunslinger troupes.and the black hat turned white hat motifs.

Loved this!!

The characters are believably sinister, without being caricatures or stereotypes. The motives are also believable, even in the case of the antagonists.

Bad people do bad things, but people generally start off with a heart of some kind. It just darkens from life, or a warped sense of justice, or any number of different things. This explores several fantastical examples, and shows what happens when your heroes are just as messed up as your villains.