The Maleficent Seven

De: Cameron Johnston

Narrado por: George Weightman

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!

Do yourself a favor and get this!

Great VA work that kept the different characters separate. Great writing. One of my top 20 all time favorite books.

Intricate and Entertaining

This was an interesting take on the battle between good and evil. It is written from the viewpoint of the characters that are traditionally viewed as evil. Kind of like the way a non-religious person would see the evils of the church and it’s parishioners. But the “evil” side of the battle was still evil. It’s well written and entertaining. The narrator was a great choice too. His reading style and character voices are spot on. It brought the characters to life and created clear images of each one of them in my mind. The story brought all these pieces together with enough of their own backstory and new mission, Each was interesting and necessary to the overall plot. A very enjoyable listening experience for sure.

Very entertaining. Highly recommend.

Talk about perspective!Obviously, the originality is wanting. Anyone who ever watched a western knows this general storyline was stolen from that script. However, I don't care. Different time and a different audience. It was a little fast paced and could have developed the characters better. Even the worst of the 'evil' characters was likeable. Overall, it is worth the time to listen to. The performer was fantastic.

play on words

those who remember the magnificent 7 or 7 samurai will enjoy this take on the theme. not for those who find violence disturbing.

The Maleficent are Magnificent.

The author did an amazing job of taking the old and familiar framework of The Seven Samurai, and re-shaping it to the antihero’s perspective. The characters are well written, and the narrator does a phenomenal job at voicing each one of them. This is an amazing story that does not require loads of unnecessary sequels to be good. This was a great listen, to which I will be listening to again.

maleficent seven is magnificent!!

great story, awesome action with great character development and plot twist. this book will have you reved up and ready to go from the jump. the magic and fantasy is not to far fetched and the grit in all of the characters is so magnetic and makes you have multiple favorites. really excited to see where they go with the next book. absolutely loved how you got a POV from so many different characters. absolute blast of a book.