I was immediately sucked into this book because it started in the midst of all the action. Poor Kagen woke up with a vicious hangover amidst the sacking of the imperial capital, and his confused, nauseous stumbling through the butchery and depravity of the invading army was written in such a way that I felt as if I was right there alongside him. The first quarter of this book was brutal, frenetic, and captivating, and it set up an interesting mystery while introducing the reader to a fascinating world. It was definitely not for the faint of heart, though, and put the DARK in dark fantasy with plenty of epic fighting, torture, rape, and so much vomit described in, at times, excruciating detail.

After how the book started, I was very surprised by how dull it became. After the sack of the capital, Kagen became a depressed drunk who wanders the countryside before eventually making a friend that ropes him back into the fight against the usurper. If I hadn't really liked Kagen and been invested in his story, I think I probably would have DNF'd this book because of how long it gets bogged down at this point. The middle 50% of the book felt like the author didn't really know what to do with Kagen between the time he fled the city and the time he goes back to take his revenge. So, he just added never-ending scenes of him drunk or in training. To make things worse, several other POVs were added in at this point and served primarily as avatars of the info dumps. Even though the world-building was interesting, the additional POVs mixed with the super short chapters made everything feel choppy, and anything interesting that started to happen lost its momentum because of all the rapid shifts. I think it was meant to build suspense, but all it did was make me super frustrated.

All that being said, there were some great character moments for Kagen buried in that tedium. I found his struggle to overcome his guilt and depression to be incredibly relatable, and there were plenty of moments where he and his friend, Tuke, made me laugh out loud. The world was another major plus of this story. It was a unique blend of several different fantasy elements, and the societies explored felt historic and lived in. The book also touched on interesting themes related to religious oppression, postmodern philosophy, and the use of propaganda as a tool of subjugation. I enjoyed reading those bits, but overall the exploration of those topics was fascinating but felt a bit underdeveloped.

The ending of the book picked up the pace and had some very intriguing elements alongside an epic confrontation that I really enjoyed reading. It also weaved together the multiple story threads in a way that brought this first part of the story to a cohesive end. There were plenty of twists, as well, but I think they will be obvious to most people from pretty early on in the book. The clues were not subtle at all, but the emotional payout of them still felt impactful even though I knew they were coming.

Overall, there was a lot to like about this book, especially the world, Kagen's journey through depression, and the fantastic and brutal action sequences. I just wish the pacing had been better. If the beginning and ending could have been smashed together with only one quarter (okay maybe half) of the middle in between, I think I would have liked this a lot more. It definitely has promise, and I'll give book two a shot before deciding whether to DNF the series. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

I've read quite a bit of Jonathan Maberry's other works. I got an Arc of this off Netgalley, but I just could not get into it. I got through the first 5 chapters.

I loved everything else I have read by this author. I really tried to get through this, I might try again later on. I have so many books on my TBR that I am no longer pushing myself to read ones that don't catch my attention.

Thanks for the Arc though and I'll give it another shot if I can!

Kagen the Damned is a damn fine book. It's great, epic dark fantasy that dips into the horror genre. It starts off very strong for the first half of the book and slips a bit in the second half, but finishes strong. Kagen is an unlikable character at times but is still a great lead character and is a lot of fun to read. Excellent world-building here. Beware though, it's extremely graphically violent.

Jonathan Maberry takes on dark fantasy and comes up a winner! This book is just the beginning to a new series and it's evident because as much action as it involved, there was a great deal of setup and world building. I can hardly wait to see what else this author has in store for the readers.

This book hits the ground running. The book's so-called "hero," Kagen wakes after a night of drinking and "indulging" to find that the city, Argentium is literally under attack and burning. As a captain and esteemed member of the royal guard, he struggles with the after effects of his hangover but makes his way to the palace and is horrified by the level of brutality that has taken place there. Feeling that he has failed his charges, Kagen believes the gods have abandoned him.

Gradually the reader learns that the attack was planned and initiated by an evil being known as the Witch-King. His brutality knows no bounds. To make the situation even more frightening, he surrounds himself with a necromancer and others with bloodthirsty appetites and little in the way of a conscience. It's clear that Kagen has to find a way to stop him, he's just unsure how to do it. The Witch-King and those that follow him benefit from the use of magic which had long ago been made illegal. Therefore, Kagen and those around him know little about it or how to harness it.

While wandering, Kagen meets up with old and new friends and they eventually formulate a plan...but will it work? In addition, there are other characters and plot lines being told during this story as well. It's hard to keep up with it all at times but they all tie together towards the end of the book and make more sense. Of course, with the end of book one, there are still many questions to be answered and problems to be resolved...hence the next book. Overall, I found this to be clever and inventive. It's gruesome and bloody, but the characters in the book are cruel and heartless so it's realistic for the situation.

I truly enjoyed this first entry into the series Kagen the Damned and look forward to seeing what else lies ahead for this character and his friends.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for early access to Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry in exchange for an honest review.
TW: Graphic Violence, Adult Language, Adult Content, Rape, Suicide, Killing of Animals

I enjoyed where the plot of this story was going, however I felt that there was a lot of repeating scenes. Whether they were flashbacks, or different characters talking about them, I found it a bit annoying. In the first 1/3 of the book, our main character, Kagen, was extremely unlikable. Maybe that’s the point, but he was extremely whiney and drunk. Once he sobered up, he got a bit better.

There are multiple POV throughout the story, which is normally something I extremely enjoy. I did enjoy switching views and following different characters stories, but sometimes I felt it jumped around just a bit too much. Sometimes your character switch was for half a page, which was the full chapter.

I enjoyed learning about the different gods and religions, the magic system, and different creatures. It’s action packed and kept me reading late into the night. I’m not sure if I will continue the series, but also need to know what happens with the last page plot twist/cliffhanger.

I don’t this book will appeal to everyone but I do think the right reader is going to have fun with it. It was much closer to horror than I usually read but it was a fast paced page turner and I enjoyed it. I think a reader that likes their fantasy very grim and dark who isn’t going to be offended at the grosser content would enjoy this book. I think I’ll probably read book two despite not really liking horror, in the end despite the gross and grim bits I enjoyed book one. Also, and I have to add this: Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Kagen the Damned has been on my 2022 most anticipated list ever since the summary was dropped: a horribly dark fantasy story revolving around a fallen empire and the warrior who seeks revenge for its fall? Sold. I’m in. Tell me no more.

The first 50% of this book had me in an absolute chokehold. It was gut punch after gut punch, with a character you saw spiraling, and for good reason. So much is going on, Kagen’s world is falling apart around him, he’s losing the people he swore to protect, his siblings, his parents, all of it being torn from him and leaving him a mess. Oh the emotional damage is so sweet!

And the plot points? The moving pieces? All of it shifting around and you know, you KNOW, that more is going on behind the scenes. Maberry is smart with his characters and that cleverness is what got me hooked with each new page. Every. Single. Page. piqued my interest and I haven’t felt that in so long. It was so fun.

My one note for the first 50% is that there is is a LOT of sexual violence in here, and while there is a good number of strong women characters to balance it out, I wish there had been more men involved in the receiving end of sexual violence as well - not just women (I think I counted one instance where it was mentioned specifically towards a man). If you’re going to go that hard on the sexual violence component in a story - don’t just dish it out to women.

Then… oh gosh, then we get to the 50% mark.

Honestly, the first 50% of this book was 5 stars, but for me, as a reader, it fell off a cliff at that point and the remainder was 2 stars at best.

I guessed the “big bad” twist at about 43%, I’m sure other, quicker eyes will spot it earlier, but so many weird plot elements were also introduced: the oversexualized, exotic brown skin foreigners; a Gary Stu like sexcapade with a vampire-fairy in a tower that lasts months; and even Cthulhu!

I understand that Maberry has been a horror writer for a long time, so the addition of Cthulhu is probably a fun nod for his fans, but as a predominantly fantasy reader, this addition totally “lifted my sunglasses” so to speak and really took me out of the fantasy story.

Alongside the Cthulhu story line, we have a young, virgin, 15 year old nun being escorted to safety by another nun, 10 years her senior. As they travel, they get into a relationship and while Maberry makes it very clear that the older nun is grooming the girl, I don’t think their sexual relationship added anything to the plot. Also, even though they have sex (though it’s made very clear there is no penetration) both are considered ‘pure’ enough for the sacrifice ritual, which definitely minimizes their sapphic relationship. I’m sure the author didn’t mean it as such, just thought it was a clever loophole, but that’s what this plot choice did unfortunately. And it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Finally, the ending also felt incredibly rushed. It felt like an ending that should have been reached at the end of a standalone or the ending of a second or third book, not crammed into the first installment.

Overall, I struggle with how to rate this book, because the characters are FANTASTIC, the set up is AMAZING, the world building - SO FREAKING COOL. The plot just seemed to tumble off a cliff at the 50% mark and it never gained the same momentum again.

5 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the second half, so 3.5 stars. And I’ll round up because of how much of a chokehold this first half had on me. I just wish Kagen the Damned could have stuck the landing better.


CW: graphic violence, graphic depicitions of sexual assault/the aftermath sexual assault, war violence, child murder, child sexual assault, sexual acts with a minor, grooming of a minor, & PTSD.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley & St Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review*

An absolutely wonderfully dark fantasy that fits in with Maberry's works. This is definitely an adult title so be wary if grimdark is not your thing, but it is a good starting point for those unfamiliar with grimdark.

KAGEN THE DAMNED #1 by Jonathan Maberry


An immersive epic dark fantasy that is a melange of the best in heroic and sword & sorcery
works of the past masters. Rivals the scope of Game of Thrones, with elements of Robert E. Howards’s “Conan The Barbarian” , while borrowing from H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cthulhu Mythos”, and projecting the cinematic quality of “Indiana Jones”. Our intrepid hero, Kagen Vale is the captain of the palace guard and is sworn by oath to protect the children of the Silver Empire. While off-duty and enjoying the benefits of a maiden, he is drugged and fails to note the ensuing calamity enveloping the city. When he is eventually aroused from the drug addled stupor he rushes to the palace only to find the royal children butchered, after being tortured and defiled. He witnesses his father’s death and attempts to unsuccessfully intervene in a sword fight involving his mother, who is taking on a multitude of dark knights. The lavishly choreographed fight scene is a marvel to behold. The fact that the invading army “appeared out of nowhere” without warning is the first hint that magic has been used …. even though outlawed for a thousand years. Kagen miraculously escapes, only to be haunted by his oath failure and grief at the annihilation of his and the royal family. Surely he is “damned” by the gods. While on the road and fleeing for his life, he vows to kill as many of the Hakkian enemy as possible .. with the end goal of killing the Witch-King of Hakkia before he can be coronated as emperor. He will encounter many colorful friends and foes on the road in his attempt to seek revenge and retribution.
Maberry crafts a masterful complex and twisted tale, steeped in intrigue, menace and mounting obstacles. His world building and fight scenes are thing of absolute beauty and poetry. The elements of magic and sorcery are introduced so effortlessly that would make Lovecraft, Howard and Poe proud. The main characters are multilayered and compelling … the reader cannot help but identify with them as the suspense and action escalates to a crescendo denouement. The lyrical prose is laced with well placed humor …. irony, sarcasm , good natured blistering insults and a stream of colorful epithets that adds texture to this epic fantasy. Introduced are the concepts of the presence of many worlds, on different planes and the notion that time is truly not linear. Very appealing is the insertion of elements of the Cthulhu mythos. Although there is an artful crisis and conclusion during the denouement, many loose threads remain to be explored and enjoyed in future volumes.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication on May 10, 2022

This book captured every ounce of my attention from page one. Even with its hefty page count I was not ready for it to end. From its opening chapter I was urged forward to witness the extent of the vengeance Kagen was attempting. There was a LOT going on in this book. While not all scenes are action packed, something pivotal was almost always happening. The descriptions of battle, torture and murder are not for the faint of heart. These scenes ironically are deftly balanced out by Kagen himself. Whether the author intended it or not, I found a considerable amount of humor in the book mainly due to Kagen's lamenting to the gods and his quips with others.

Maberry presents almost everything that a dark epic fantasy should have: a darkly mysterious magical usurper, a far away island populated by cult followers, a haunted tower, outliers set on reverting the empire back to before the resurgence of magic, unexplained secrets, and a main character set on death and revenge. The author so skillfully wrote this that one cannot help while reading to visualize the plot unfold as it would on the big screen. This series could definitely be the next big thing.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

DNF'd at 30%.

I might pick this up later because it still intrigues me, but I could not get into it for now. I wouldn't say I liked the main character, and we kept getting POVs from many other characters, and I couldn't keep up. I was also not liking the violence/s*x/s*xual a***ult to plot ratio.

Characters: 3/5
Kagen as a character was great to read, even if he was unlikable at times. As he goes through a lot of trauma, he spirals out of control as any normal person would. What fell flat for me though is the fact that all other characters I thought might be important, ended up not mattering, or they disappeared for so long I forgot what they were all about. There are a lot of times where chapters introduce a new person to discuss their perspective in the world and then after one chapter they are never seen again. While I do love this as a mode of world building because it gives a lot of unique perspectives, I had a hard time sorting whether someone would end up being more important to the plot later on...or not. Including these bits as interludes instead of chapters would have helped to set my expectations for the characters.


Story and Plot: 4/5
At NO point did I know where this story was headed. Just when I thought I'd grasped with what the world was going to be like, it threw me another curve ball. As someone with a short attention span, this kept me always wanting more. I loved that it never shied away from the brutalities of war and what happens to people during it. This book was very graphic at times and I don't recommend it to the faint of heart (at times it was worse than some of the horror I've read). But I think that only made me love it more. I also loved the different supernatural elements that went into this, I did not see some of them coming, the Lovecraft elements were an amazing hook for me. There was also a lot of religion built into the worlds which is something that can sometimes be done poorly or not done at all, but I felt it was used nicely here to flesh out the world and motivations of the characters.


Writing: 3.5/5
I have never read anything by Jonathan Maberry before, but I really enjoyed his writing. It could feel lengthy or repetitive at times, however it was never flowery or confusing. I found it flowed easily and the descriptions helped me picture what was going on. There were some really lovely quotes sprinkled throughout as well. I did feel like some of it could be trimmed down however, as there seemed to be some repetition.


Final Verdict: 4/5
I enjoyed reading this and getting to know this new world Jonathan Maberry is setting up. I hope that in the next book we get more main characters, and have a little more focus on their stories and what they are going to do to stop the antagonist. I would love to learn more about Kagen and what his abilities may be in the magic department.


Thank you so much to Jonathan Maberry and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I am so disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to. I DNF'd at 35%. This was my first Jonathan Maberry and I don't think I will be picking up any more of his books in the future. The concept of following a revenge story about a character that feels he is damned was so intriguing. However, in the 35% that I read, I didn't know hardly anything about Kagen's character. He was barely present. The first 23 chapters span one entire night and it didn't need to be that long. I feel like this book just didn't start in the right place for me. I didn't care or share the emotional damage with Kagen when all these people around him were dead or dying because I didn't know Kagen yet or the dead people. The story needed to start after this night and Kagen reflects on the events as he wallows and feels self-pity, or it needed to start with establishing relationships for the reader so we can care that he just lost some very important people.

As someone who enjoys descriptions and imagery, this book was way too detailed and wordy. The overuse of subordinating conjunctions and similes put too many words on the page and took away from the imagery he was trying to use. The info dumps and the repetitiveness within the information dumps was also too much for me. The pacing was another issue I had. As Kagen is racing to find the children he is sworn to protect, it states that nothing could stop him from reaching the children and right after that he stops to admire a painting of his mother. Then an info dump about his mother and then he continues racing to help the children. The only thing that helped the pacing is the short chapters. None of them were very long, but over half of them could have been cut. We saw little slices of so many irrelevant characters that I was lost at 35% and didn't care about Kagen's journey or what happens to him.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry to say this probably won't be the review Jonthan Maberry or St. Martin's Press was hoping for. This book was painful to read from the first page, and it never got any better.

The story begins at the end of civilization as Kagen knows it, with his beloved empire falling to the villainous, black magic-using Hakkians. Kagen is caught with his pants down (literally), and fails to protect the royal children in his charge. The gaping plot hole of how he wasn't killed in his sleep like every other soldier isn't even acknowledged, let alone addressed. Queue a very long 15% of the book that was literally just a naked Kagen running around figuring out how badly his world is crashing down on him, and realizing how completely he's failed.

Nearly every other chapter switches points of view to Ryssa, an orphan preparing to become a nun. Ryssa and her guardian run and hide throughout the battle, find some mysterious, secret tunnels, and then disappear from the book for a long time.

Once Kagen accepts that his home is lost, he leaves the palace to sink into a state of drunken despair, resigning himself to the suicidal mission of killing every Hakkian he can one by one. Except Kagen takes the time between leaving the palace and starting his quest to meet up with an old friend, have sex, and smile and laugh over some drinks, completely ruining the organic flow of his arc. He was suicidally depressed when he left the palace, went to a friend for solace and had a good time, then actively chose to go back to being depressed and suicidal when it was clear that he was capable of thinking clearly and had alternatives.

Along the way, Kagen meets a bunch of new people, including a witch who would have been killed for having nearly passive magic under the old regime. For someone as devoted to his empress as Kagen was, he comes to the conclusion rather quickly that the religious persecution of magic users in his kingdom wasn't necessarily a good thing.

This book felt like something the author was so excited to write, he rushed through the first draft, then was too impatient to fill it out. The bare bones were there, but the writing was just so disappointingly lazy. The language was over-dramatized and read as though dictating what should appear on a movie screen. Every conversation was one big bad's monologue. The characters were one dimensional and even the main character was treated like a plot device instead of a person. Everyone was introduced as their role or profession ("the soldier," "the nun," "the empress," etc.), and while they were given names, and more often than not, with the exception of Kagen, they were still referred to by their title, de-humanizing them. Everything about the writing and the characters felt hollow.

There was also a strong vein of sadism running throughout the story, with a near obsession with rape. Put a man and a woman in a room together, and she's getting raped. Unless it's Kagen; then she's safe. Because he's the hero, right? Well, he may be the protagonist, but that's the only thing heroic about him. It's a bit like watching <i>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</i>, where the bad guys are depicted as bloodthirsty savages for no good reason, with some truly graphic and unnecessarily cruel punishments. I mean some of them were fairly creative - I'll give Maberry that - but it was in a torture!porn kind of way.

TW: War, rape, death

Firstly, I’d like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital copy.

So I had high hopes for this story as I love fantasy and in theory everything the synopsis of this book promised. Unfortunately, the hopes were dashed as the writing in this story was very repetitive and dull. While I understand this the first book in a series the world building was overdone and it left the plot empty. The plot stalled out at round 55% of the way through and at 70% I had to stop because I wasn’t enjoying it enough to finish. I think there are definitely compelling characters in the story, but the chapter length didn’t allow for those stories to flourish.

Jonathan Maberry's Kagen the Damned doesn't pull any punches (much like the protagonist himself) - it is a dark fantasy novel that leans heavily into the horror and violent aspects of the genre. The combat is frequent, bloody and visceral, lending weight and authenticity to the setting and story. Maberry's characters are shaped and molded by their experience with this violence, and their actions show the weight of their experience and understanding. The mythology and history of the setting is interesting; Maberry has pulled from a few sources and blended them nicely into his universe and magical system (which feels very sorcerer/religiously based). I'm excited to see what happens in book two, and while this might not be everyone's cup of tea, it's a nice change of pace from the traditional epic fantastical worlds that feel bright and shiny.

Absolutely as good as the Joe Ledger series and Rot and Ruin. I don't think there is one book by Mr. Maberry I don't love. His world building is excellent and he really sucks you into his story.

It was fun and interesting. Very, very graphic so be sure to look up the trigger warnings. There were instances where the writing was annoying and I don't really plan on continuing if it becomes a series.

As with all of Jonathan Maberry's writing, this story is relentless. It opens with a seige on the Silver Empire and the 13 nations it is comprised of. All the capitol cities are taken in one bloody night. The Silver Empire came into existence at the expense of the defeat of the nation of Hakkia and their sorcerer ruler known as The Witch-King. Now Hakkia is back in power and The new Witch-King is eager to complete his coronation to solidify his right to rule the new Empire.
Kagen Vale was the Captain of the royal guard of the Silver Empress and her family. Even though he was off duty, he is on the point of breaking from his failure to save the royal children and from witnessing the death of both parents. His only driving desire is revenge. This story follows Kagen on his road to redemption, though he doesn't feel he deserves it, in a world where forbidden magic is now reawakening and strange things are happening. I never saw the final twist, during the ending climax, coming.
Jonathan Maberry has touched on the world of HP Lovecraft and the existence of many other worlds in his writings before and it is exciting to see that aspect expanded on in this world.
I look forward to seeing more from these new characters and if I had any complaints it would be that I didn't have a world map to look at because this is a digital ARC of the book. That will be fixed as soon as the book is published because I am buying a copy right away.
Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to entire into this start of an exciting fantasy epic.

Look, duty-bound guard with a tragic past is everything I love, but I had to put this down around 25%. The style, and just overall level of violence, isn’t for me.

When it comes to violent subjects, this book pulls no punches. There is death. There is blood. There are corpses mutilated and strewn in gruesome patterns, and blunt mentions of abuse. In no way are these things glorified, but the totality of it all feels uncomfortable, and at times crass.

I might’ve been able to push through, except I wasn’t really attached to Kagen either. His failure and mission, instead of being fueled by delicious tortured guilt and melancholy, feels melodramatic and negligent. Blocks of exposition weigh down the fast-paced action scenes, dragging out the opening conflict and driving me nuts. Return of magic? Awesome. The last stand of the Poisoned Rose? Unbeatable enemy knights? Cool and cool. It’s just so hard to be immersed in a one-night-dash-through-a-revolution when everything is padded by all this information that’s less immediately important than Kagen trying not to get slashed, stabbed, or smashed.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC**