Let’s Review: The Demon’s Curse – A Tale of Mauls Darkblade

There are a good number of die-hard reviews online for this book, and some very negative (if less verbose) reviews too. My guess is this tale is a bit like Marmite- you either love it or hate it. Amazon gives it an aggregated four star review, Goodreads a three and a half. And for sure, this novel is a very good read, but it isn’t flawless. Let me elaborate.

Good Point: Novices welcome

With the novel telling the tale of a character in the Warhammer world, one might expect you needed to have some inside knowledge of the place, the game, the setting, to enjoy the book. This is true of novels based on film franchises, game console series or tabletop war games. Abnett and Lee make sure this is not the case in The Daemon’s Curse. The world building is amazing in this book – as it is in all Abnett books – so much so that it could easily be read by someone not at all familiar with the wider lore and cannon, and enjoyed.

But even better than that, the book builds upon what is cannon in the setting too, so there are new aspects for in-the-know readers. Such things as the Shades in the hills, the way the undead work in Naggaroth, Land of the Dark Elves. The political structures are developed far beyond the scant details of existing cannon too.

Good Point: Captivating Main Character

Malus Darkblade – there is no way of saying this nicely – is a bastard. He’s evil. He should be an antagonist in someone else’s story. But it is true to say we, as readers and consumers of fantasy, fall in love with the bad guys. Look no further than Golem in Lord of the Rings, or Zuko from Avatar:, or Darth Vader from the original Starwars trilogy.

I think Malus might be the main sticking point for many readers who were looking for some sort of redemption tale, like Drizzt. Malus is a mean, loathsome protagonist all the way through the series. He takes slaves, plans fratricide and patricide, has an incestous relationship with his sister, murders those loyal to him. He’s just vile.

But also… He is compelling. To paraphrase David Corbett, writing in April 2011:

Compelling characters need:

– a driving need, desire, ambition or goal;

– a secret;

– a contradiction;

– and a vulnerability.

How to Craft Compelling Characters

Malus Darkblade has that driving need that fuels the whole book with impetus to the end. He has a secret, one that others are party to, which he is running from before it is discovered. He is a contradiction – a powerful Dark Elf lord who must suffer the hardships of the narrative; a hero, perhaps, but not to humanity. Does he have a vulnerability? Perhaps, but only as a means to make his drive all important.

Good Point: A cast of fun, colourful and interesting characters.

Nagaira, Lhunara, Delvar, the Urhan, Kul Hadar – nobody can deny these characters are not interesting even if we see them in only in light of the roles they play in the narrative. Lhunara’s backstory is hinted at, eluded to, but never explicitly given. There is a subtext around Nagaira suggesting she and Malus have an intimate sexual relationship we never see, and that she is an illicit sorceress – which is implied but never actually stated.

Good Point: Abnett’s Style

I don’t know if I have said this before, but Dan Abnett has a writing style I strive to be as good as. He is a masterful storyteller and his tales are action-packed and engaging. I’ve never read an Abnett novel and not got to the end. He’s great.

Good Point: You feel like you are reading about Dark Elves.

I started to read a book called Orcs by Stan Nichols recently and put it down because the orcs were too human – they were not orcs at all save for the way they looked. Abnett has nailed the feel of a Dark Elf in his story. You cannot confuse them for humans at all – they have a character all their own.

BUT (there had to be a but)

Have you seen Mad Max: Fury Road? The entire story is a series of physical dialogues where the characters argue but as action scenes. Trust, friendship, forgiveness – these things are reflected physically in what could be described as a two hour action scene.

The Daemon’s Curse takes a different tack with fight scenes – and sprinkles them throughout the story. There are definitely filler fights – like the conflict in the tower: the spiders and the monsters that emerge before Malus gets what he wants in Uriel’s tower are nothing, low-stakes fights. Much the same is true in the Wighthallows and in the conflicts with the Beastmen. In short, some of the fight scenes would not have changed the story if they hadn’t been there – they simply serve to up the word count.

I don’t know why this is. Abnett does not normally put unnecessary filler in his books. Look at Gaunt’s Ghosts, the Eisenhorn series, or even Embedded. Much like movies can be spoiled with studio interference, I have to wonder if Games Workshop, the company behind the Warhammer World, didn’t play some part in this. Could they want spiders in as a metaphor for Malus being better than Drizzt? Surely not.

What was worse, though, for those of us who had read the Warhammer Monthly series of Malus Darkblade, we knew he couldn’t die. And yet, in conflic after conflict, it was his life at stake. We knew the outcome before we’d finished the opening paragraph of the fight – Malus survived. With no stakes, these filler combats become a chore to read.

There are ways Abnett could have got around this. There could have been something along the lines of a love interest with Lhunara, one of Malus’ closest retainers, and the stakes could have been her life. This would have given the readers something to care about. Neo is the star of the Matrix, but we still care what happens to Tank, for instance. The Daemon’s Curse did not do this, and I think is poorer for it.

That said…

The Daemon’s Curse is a damn good book all in all, and a fun read that makes me want to read the next in the series. This is one of those classics that will slide into obscurity outside the small circle of Malus Darkblade fans and I think that is a shame. For all the books’ flaws, there is a lot of good still to be read inside it.

I hope you’ve found this review interesting. Malus Darkblade is 21 years old now and deserves some recogniton that the likes of Drizzt gets. And he is unapologetically an action hero all the way.

Sorry Drizzt, I’m a Malus fan.

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