I've enjoyed the previous titles in this trilogy, and it's always a pleasure to return to David Annandale's writing - but this plot just didn't keep me as hooked as I expected. The Red Skull didn't connect with me as a villain, and while I love how Doom is depicted in these tales, this seemed like it didn't belong in the same way as the previous two books.

It's a good next chapter, but the weakest of the three, for me.

Both Doom and the Red Skull are tyrants. Neither one is someone who would normally be rooted for in a battle. But when Annandale pits them against each other it’s clear that the Red Skull can’t win. It would be disastrous not just for the citizens of Latveria, but for the entire world.

So once again we find ourselves in the odd position of cheering for a bad guy and loving it. There’s something perverse and exciting about wanting Doctor Doom to win. Annandale does a good job of making Doom likable enough to cheer for and relatable enough to hope for his redemption.

Marvel fans should definitely stretch their imaginations by seeing Doom as a good guy. If nothing else, it stretches your own empathy when you find yourself caring about Victor von Doom

I had a hard time putting this book down. When some odd attacks happen on Latveria, Doom knows of only one person who would dare attack his homeland. When he tries to stop them himself, he ends up getting captured instead. Yet somehow a part of him escapes, and this gives them a way to move forward with their plan. As this book comes to a close, life in Latveria will never be the same.

Book Summary:

We often hear the stories of villains versus superheroes. But what happens when two infamous villains clash?

Victor Von Doom is many things. As such, he has many enemies. And he tends to make new ones with every move. Believe it or not, one of his biggest enemies is the Red Skull. They often clash with their core values. Yet we all know that Doom will stop at nothing to secure Latveria.

My Review:

Ohhh. Give me a fight between Victor Von Doom and the Red Skull any day of the week. The Tyrant Skies is the Marvel book I never knew I needed, but now I can't live without it. Give. Me. More.

If you love Doctor Doom, you'll probably love this book (and his trilogy). David Annandale does a great job of capturing the character here, and his portrayal does Doom justice. But that's just one Marvel fan-girl talking.

Honestly, I don't think I've read a story that humanized Doctor Doom so well, and I loved Infamous Iron Man, so I believe that is saying something! It felt profound at times but in all the good ways.

Also, it was simply good fun to watch Doom go up against Red Skull. Seeing their plotting turned toward another villain was a blast.

Highlights:
Marvel Universe
Marvel Villains
Doctor Doom versus Red Skull

Thanks to Aconyte and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2023 MARVEL

Finishes the trilogy of untold prose stories about Dr. Doom by David Annandale. This one is about the Red Skull invading Latveria for a second time. I really like how Annandale ground these stories, giving them basis with previous obscure Marvel comics. It's not quite as good as the previous two, probably because the supporting characters don't play as big of a part in this one and Annandale did such a terrific job with Dr. Orloff, her wife Kariana Verlak, and Zargo in the first two. Still this is certainly worth a read if you're looking for new Marvel prose novels.

Two of Marvel’s greatest villains square off in this highly entertaining tie-in novel from talented author David Annandale, The Tyrant Skies.


After defeating the deadly monsters that haunted his realm, Victor Von Doom has established peace within Latveria. However, this peace is short-lived as a new danger begins to rise in the world, one with an unhealthy obsession with both Latveria and Doom. The newly formed island nation of Wolkenland has just revealed itself to the world and quickly establishes itself as a playground for the rich and powerful, while also appearing to offer new lives for the world’s dispossessed. However, Wolkenland hides a dark secret at its heart: it’s true ruler is the insane fascist Red Skull.

Still enraged by his failed invasion of Latveria and his humiliating defeat at the hands of Doom, Red Skull is determined to gain revenge on his enemies by using the influence and power of Wolkenland. Utilising advanced technology and cosmic power, Red Skull transports Wolkenland to float above Latveria and begins a deadly invasion to capture the country and its advanced technology.

Doom’s only choice is to travel to Wolkenland and confront Red Skull directly, but even the might of Doctor Doom is unable to face the full power his enemy has amassed. With his country threatened, his body weakened, and the only woman he ever loved held hostage on Wolkenland, Doom will need to use every bit of cunning, intelligence and manipulation in his possession to face down the Red Skull. But even if he succeeds, the Red Skull has an ace up his sleeve that could destroy Latveria and break the entire world.

This was a pretty solid and deeply enjoyable novel from Annandale that tells a great story while also referencing some interesting elements from classic Marvel comics. The story in The Tyrant Skies follows on a degree from Annandale’s last two novels and this time sees Doctor Doom and his country facing an insidious invasion from the Red Skull and his new island fortress. The story advances at a pretty awesome pace, and the early highlights include Doom invading Wolkenland and unleashing his trademark havoc upon his foes. After the necessary setback for the protagonist, the story evolves into an intriguing phase with a de-powered Doom leading a slave rebellion against Red Skull, while down in Latveria several of the series’ supporting characters fight off the invasion using tools featured in the prior books. The action and intrigue were pretty non-stop the entire way through, and Annandale keeps the reader hooked to the book with some amazing and elaborate sequences. I personally loved some of the twists that developed, especially as Annandale brings in a couple of foes that haven’t been seen in comics for a very long time, and it was great to see how Doom faced off against them. The story does get pretty big and explosive at times, and I liked some of the great underlying examinations of tolerance, fascism and the vices of the mega-rich, all of which were used to great effect to make Doom, the brutal and deadly tyrant, actually seem like the good guy. The author ends everyone on a pretty compelling note, and I ended up coming away from The Tyrant Skies fairly happy with the cool action-filled and entertaining story that Annandale served up.

As I mentioned before, The Tyrant Skies serves as the third book in an intriguing trilogy from Annandale that dives into Doom’s connection to his country as well as his own dark ambitions and adversaries. I felt that The Tyrant Skies continued this story thread extremely well, and it was interesting to see how several of the recurring characters and their storylines developed as a result. However, Annandale also makes The Tyrant Skies quite accessible to new readers as well, and if this your first Marvel novel you can dive into it with very little prior knowledge about the series. While substantial comic or Fantastic Four knowledge isn’t needed to enjoy this book, Annandale does fill the story with several compelling references to previous comics, some of which were published a very long time ago. Not only does the origin of Doom and Red Skull’s feud emerge from the pages of these older comics, but there are references to Doom’s dark relationship with Valeria, especially her death in the main comics, as well as other previous adventures. Annandale also pulls one particularly intriguing feature out of a very old, obscure comic by Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Stan Lee, which I had honestly never heard about. The author’s fun description about this somewhat absurd comic will get a chuckle out of aficionados of classic comics who will appreciate the intriguing references. Annandale’s love for all things comic related really shines through with his writing, and I loved how he was able to effectively describe and bring to life several scenes that would usually need a full comic spread to appreciate. I personally thought this was an outstanding and very clever tie-in to the larger Marvel universe and The Tyrant Skies is a great book to check out no matter how connected you are to source material.

Of course, one of the major parts of The Tyrant Skies is Annandale’s excellent portrayal of Victor von Doom, who steals any scene he is in. Doom is probably one of the best villains (or anti-heroes, depending at how you look at him) in the entire Marvel canon, so anything featuring him is bound to be good (excluding a few Fantastic Four movies). Annandale’s use of Doom in The Tyrant Skies is pretty spot on, and he shows the protagonist at his full power and intelligence. I love the sheer arrogance and pride that dominates much of Doom’s character, and every scene shown from Doom’s point of view works to highlight this. Annandale also looks deep into the powers and abilities of Doom, puling out some interesting elements of his abilities over the years. Not only do you get to appreciate the technological prowess of Doom, but Annandale also makes sure to fully feature his magical skills, something which the mainstream media usually avoids, and even his old-school abilities to hypnotise people. However, the best part of Doom is his sheer intelligence as he manages to outsmart anyone he goes up against, even when disadvantaged in other ways. There are some great scenes when a de-powered and vulnerable Doom manages to secretly organise and inspire a slave revolt and lead his new followers on a deadly rampage against a superior foe. Watching him succeed in controlling everyone just with his sheer force of personality while tactically outthinking his opponents was pretty damn epic and it really captures just how impressive Doom can be as a character.

Aside from Doom, there are several other great characters featured throughout The Tyrant Skies that add a lot to the story. This includes the infamous villain of the story, the Red Skull, who serves as a great foil to Doom in this book. Few villains can make Doom look like a sane, noble and reasonable figure, but the Red Skull is one of them, especially in Annandale’s hands. The author seeks to make Red Skull as evil and diabolical as possible, causing chaos and initiating world-ending plots for petty reasons and prior defeats. I loved seeing the rivalry between Doom and Red Skull that formed the basis for much of the novel, and the author did a great job capturing the hatred they both have for the other. It was interesting to see Red Skull’s methods against Doom in this book, and he proves to be a very dangerous opponent, able to outsmart Doom at several turns, which works to make the novel pretty compelling and fun. As such, Red Skull is a very impressive villain for this book and it was really something to see these two iconic figures square off once again.

I felt that the rest of the cast, which includes a combination of some over-the-top second-tier villains and several recurring figures from Annandale’s existing novels, were worked into the plot well, and there are some great scenes, especially with the characters of Doctor Elsa Orloff and Captain Kariana Verlak, who have become heroic figures within Latveria during the last two books. I also deeply appreciated the inclusion of Valeria, Doom’s long-lost love, who is a key part of his origin story. The powerful reunion the two have in this novel is quite impressive, especially as it is clear that Doom still has feelings for Valeria, despite her reluctance to trust him and his nature. This was a very interesting inclusion, especially considering how their story spun out in the comics, and I am glad that the author attempted to dive into this older character element of Doom. Throw in some craven, evil and incompetent members of the uber-wealthy, many of whom are parodies of certain business owners, and The Tyrant Skies proved to be a very rich novel in terms of character, and I liked the wider story elements that emerged thanks to this cool alternate focus.

Overall, The Tyrant Skies is an outstanding and highly entertaining novel that perfectly ties into the larger Marvel universe. I deeply enjoyed how David Annandale set two of the genre’s best villains against each other in this novel, and I had a ton of fun with the thrilling encounters that emerged. Featuring a great blend of story development, references to classic comics, and amazing portrayals of Doctor Doom and the Red Skull, The Tyrant Skies has something for all comic book fans, and you are guaranteed to have a fantastic time getting through this amazing novel.

David Annandale’s The Tyrant Skies threw me for a bit of a curveball at first. It opens with Doom watching the new island nation of Wolkenland being granted membership into the United Nations. Doom knows there is something not right about this place and is proven right when after being admitted into the UN the island disappears. Great start, really hooked me. Then the curveball hits. While we see little snippets of Doom and Red Skull, neither really seems be center stage, more peripheral characters while the story seemed to be taking the route of sort of old school espionage-ish thriller. Even when the attacks begin on Latveria (who’s crazy enough to attack Doom on his home turf? lol) Doom still feels like an outsider to the story. Don’t get me wrong, the story was still quite engaging, I just kept thinking where are the two guys from the cover? Don’t worry they are there, it’s all just an interesting build up. It’s not until a quarter of the way in, once Doom has located Wolkenland (always where you’d least expect) that he jump into action…and action is exactly what we get. I don’t want to spoil the story, but the action/battles are intense and immense, definitely worthy of the word epic. And while he might not be my personal favorite, there is no denying that Dr. Doom is an absolute classic, dare I say legendary, Marvel character—one that none of the many movies featuring him over the years has even done justice to—but Annandale nails him perfectly. The Tyrant Skies is definitely worth the time for any Marvel fan. I’d like to thank Aconyte Books and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an eARC of The Tyrant Skies.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2022 MARVEL

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3RH06CJ73PI0T/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

The final part of the fantastic Doctor Doom trilogy from Aconyte Books and David Annandale is finally here, and after battling the forces of hell in The Harrowing of Doom, and battling vampire-like monsters in Reign of the Devourer, Doctor Doom is facing his most evil and disgusting enemy yet, Nazi's.

The Tyrant Skies follows on some time from the events of the previous book, and Latveria has begun to return somewhat to normal following the events of the last book. Not a huge amount of time has passed, as we open with the heroes of Latveria receiving a parade in their honour, celebrating the actions that saved the country. Doctor Orloff, who went through a huge number of changes in the last book, in particular is held up as an example of what it means to be a citizen of Latveria, willing to step up and fight, and to follow Doom without question.

During all of this, Doom's attention is turned to the new island nation of Wolkenland, who are petitioning the United Nations for membership. A new nation built for the rich and powerful, and promised as a place where the wealthy elite can hide away from the rest of the world, it already seems somewhat dubious; but Doom suspects it harbours something even worse. When the UN grants it membership, a membership that Latveria voted against the island vanishes.

Deep within Wolkenland it's leader, the evil Red Skull, uses the power harnessed from the Cosmic Cube to make his island nation into a fortress. A flying fortress that hovers now over Latveria. And this begins a war with the fate of both nations hanging in the balance as the Red Skull begins launching terrorist attacks upon Latveria, before initiating all out war. As Doom flies up to Wolkenland to deal with the threat, his people are left to fight the invaders on their soil below. But when Doom is captured by the Skull things begin to look dire for Latveria.

One of the things that I've loved about this series since the first book, and that David Annandale does so well, is that it makes Doctor Doom into a character that you want to root for. He's a villain. He's a character that has done some truly awful things over the years, and is considered one of the worst villains in the Marvel universe. There are some villains that you can walk back a bit, some characters who can have their villainy not only justified, but also acceptable (Magneto was right!); but can Doom really be one of them? Not really, no. But in these books he' definitely the hero.

Part of this is down to the fact that the people of Latveria that we're shown seem to approve of Doom. He took power through force, and is a dictator, but the lives of the citizens of Latveria seem to be massively better than under their last brutal leader. It's not always palatable to think of, but there are people thriving in Doom's Latveria who would have probably have just been killed under the previous regime. Making one of the main characters, and one of Doom's top people that he seems to have respect for be a queer trans woman was a huge part of showing that he might be a villain, but he's not a monster. It also helps that he does fight monsters in these books.

The first book has Doom tackling the forces of Hell, the second has monsters that would kill or convert everyone in their path. This book needs a villain that's on that level, a group that is as disgusting as that, that you don't feel bad seeing die at all. Nazi's more than fill that role. Any decent person will agree that Nazi's are scum, that they're a stain on human history, and anyone who identifies as a Nazi today is worthy of scorn and contempt. The Nazi's in this book revel in hurting people, they enslave, they kill, they torture. They're led by the Red Skull, an actual World War Two Nazi. There's no moral grey here. They're scum. As such, when Doom and his people start killing them you actually feel fine about it.

Annandale puts a human face on the villains for this entry in the trilogy, but it's one that's barely a human face. We see the horrors that they perform, with the rich and powerful of Wolkenland coming to watch slaves being worked to death whilst they sip champagne. We see the fear that the Skull and his people bring with them as Orloff realises that as a queer trans woman she will absolutely be put to death if the Skull wins. These might be people Doom is fighting, but they're the worst of humanity. And him standing against that makes him a heroic figure.

It's tough reading these books in some ways, because you shouldn't like Doom. You shouldn't be seeing a decent side to a villain that has invaded other countries, that has experimented on aliens, that has killed thousands, and has literally sent a child to hell before. He's not a good person, but he might be the person that Latveria needs the most. I imagine that there are a lot of writers who would make him either too heroic, or too villainous, but Annandale leaves him in this middle ground where you can put him in either category, and yet both feel wrong. It's a complexity that you don't often get with villains, and one that can be a lot of fun when you do.

The Tyrant Skies marks the end of this trio of books, and some of the best comic book prose novels around. I hope that we can get more from Annandale with this character in the future, though I'd also love to see what he could do with other characters in Marvel. Give him a Magneto book that allows him to go this dark and this morally ambiguous and it could be the best one yet.

Please note that all I knew about the Red Skull before reading this was from the first Captain American movie, and Doctor Doom was...a vague knowledge of him, and what Baron Ünderbheit parodied in The Venture Brothers. I did do a quick Wikipedia skim of each character during the reading. So I am not the person to tell you how true the characters are written.
I'm a casual Marvel fan, the cover looked cool, the ploy synopsis interesting. This is a very good action adventure book. After getting to the end of the book, it's apparently the third in a trilogy? Oops. Previous events are absolutely discussed in this book, but I honestly assumed it was part of the upmteen decade Marvel lore. The book still read great without reading the first two, so please feel free to jump right in.

This book was given to me for an honest review.
#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2022 MARVEL

ARC Book Review The Tyrant Skies A Marvel Untold Novel by David Annandale
I was given a copy to review via Netgalley and Aconyte Books. My reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. #TyrantSkies #DavidAnnandale #AconyteBooks #ARCBookReview #TieInFiction #Netgalley #BookReview

David Annandale’s Doctor Doom Trilogy has been one of my favourite series by Aconyte Books. Not only does it feature my favourite Marvel ‘villain’ Doctor Doom it also has given voice a life to some amazing supporting characters including Verlak and Elsa who honestly are iconic in this series. But the thing I love the most is that Annandale captures Doom’s humanity for it is. He captures his loyalty and dedication to Latveria and the people there. He is no hero, even Doom knows this, but he is protector of his land and while he, of course has his own goals he does, at the back of his mind keep his homeland in his thoughts.

Now to say I was excited for another Doom focused novel was an understatement but when we also get excerpts from William Blake (my second favourite poet after Poe) I was completely in love with this novel. Also, any book seeing someone tackling and taking down nazis is a good thing. As anyone who follows my reviews knows I never like spoiling the plot so I will try and give an overview of what you can expect.

Doom has many enemies, heroes and villains alike but one he has a special loathing for is the evil Red Skull. Doom is no fool and when The Red Skull creates a flying haven for billionaires which is declared a microstate in its own right by the United Nations Doom knows the worst is yet to come. Soon his worries are justified when terrorist attacks begin to beset Latveria and he learns that the Red Skull is coming for his Homeland. Unwilling to sit by and wait for the Red Skull he decides to infiltrate the city drifting in the skies above his land to save his people from annihilation. But finding his way on to the floating city is the first of a series of deadly trials that Doom must face to test his limits of his strength, his powers and his beliefs.

Tyrant Skies kept me on the edge of my seat. As I have stated before I am a big Doctor Doom fan so I was more than ready to see him take down the Red Skull and his Nazi ideology. I also love the mixture of science and mystic arts that Doom uses within his arsenal. The scenes of him infiltrating the city were almost straight out of a comic – vivid, action packed and brilliantly executed. Annandale knows Doctor Doom and his source material and brings him to life in a vibrant and refreshing way. I adore seeing a bit more in the mind of Doom, the conflicts he facts and what motivates. It was honestly perfect.

On top of these we have occasional easter eggs to the wider universe, connections to the previous works and perfect characterisation. As I mentioned in some ways this reads like a comic but that is not a bad thing or negative. It marries the action and punchy story telling of the comics and melds them perfectly with prose to create a memorable adventure that is sure to be a big hit with fans of Marvel but most importantly Doctor Doom. I am so said this trilogy is over and hope we see more Doctor Doom in the future. This is not one to miss.

The cherry on the top was the brilliant cover illustration as well by Fabio Listrani who captures the showdown and face off between two well know villains in the Marvel universes. Honestly perfection.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2023 MARVEL

I never get tired of any marvel story and this one is no exception. A great story with classic characters that really make you love the genre.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Aconyte Books for an advanced copy of this adventure featuring the most complicated supervillain in comics and his battle against the most poisonous of ideas and its evil avatar.

His enemies are as vast as his willpower. His intellect and gift for technology are only matched by his control of the ancient magics and occult secrets of the ancients. His benevolence as a leader is equal to his need for dominance, subjugation and compete and utter control to his words. And he really hates Nazis. Doctor Doom is a scholar, mystic, scientist, leader of a powerful nation, adversary to Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, and Earth's last hope against a resurgent Red Skull, his army of billionaires and fascists on their floating tax haven in the sky. The odd will be challenging but as The Tyrant Skies: A Marvel: Untold Nove by David Annandale shows, Doom does not shys away from a challenge.

The book opens with Doctor Doom watching the United Nations grant nationhood to a new island created as a tax haven and residence for billionaires, a place that seems immune to Doom's observation. This does not sit well with Doom for he trusts not the rich and powerful. As soon as nationhood is declared the island disappears. Soon Latveria is suffering from attacks on both its people and property from terrorists, and a strange disease is affecting the populous. Doom investigates this embarrassment to his rule, and of course the loss of life, and finds that this new nation is floating over the skies of Doom's country. Lead by the Red Skull, the fascist leader has used the money of his billionaire supporters to pay for this floating island, powered by both the science of a dead Celestial, and the power of the Cosmic Cube. And even Doom might find the odds are not in his favor in this battle.

Another great book in a trilogy that understands and shows Victor Doom in a way that is rare, but is the most honest. Yes Doom does awful things, but in doing awful things, Doom is made stronger and a stronger Doom is good for all of human kind. Only Doom has the power, the intellect, the magical ability to protect those who declare Doom leader. Annandale does a great job of getting into the head of both Doom, and his most loyal supporters. The world sees Doom as a villain, but to his people, they are the reason that the despot who made their lives miserable is gone, they live in relative peace, and seriously if these superheroes stopped trying to kill Doom, it would be a whole lot better for Latveria. The supporting characters are great, diverse and strong, with powerful women who are key to the story. That's the thing about Doom, nobody is his equal, so her cares only about what they do for Doom. If you are good at your job, and care about Doom's people, you have his support. Be a Nazi, kill his people, or don't have Doom's interest in heart, well a thousands years of hellfire will be nothing compared to what Doom will do. The story is good, the action is great, huge cinematic splash pages of huge creatures, big tanks, energy weapons and Doom above this all. Just a really great adventure.

Aconyte continues to get the right writers doing Marvel right. There are a lot of deep cuts, Easter eggs, and just great writing the only thing missing is Jack Kirby doing the art. Recommended for comic fans, kids who would like to be comic fans and people who love big stories with complicated heroes. And Doom.

The Tyrant Skies by David Annandale will be released on April 4, 2023. Aconyte Books provided an early galley for review.

Annandale continues his run in the Marvel Untold line with another story about everyone's favorite evil dictator. The author really connects with Dr. Doom in a way that resonates. And what situation he puts Doom into during the second part of the book is something I found very intriguing and different.

What also really excited me about this one was the cover by Fabio Listrani. The image of the two villains squaring off reminds me of Marvel's Super-Villain Team-Up comic from the 1970's where the two crossed swords over several issues. Annandale has done his homework as this novel feels like a natural extension of that long-established rivalry. Annandale's own notes in the Acknowledgments section at the end of the book further cemented those same first impressions I got. I appreciated his siting of his inspirations for his Doom book trilogy.


About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2023 MARVEL