Official Review: Armies of Malice by Joseph hendon

[Duende Knocking]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Armies of Malice" by Joseph hendon.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Armies of Malice by Joseph Hendon is the second book of the Malice trilogy (the first and third being the Reign of Malice and the Return of Malice, respectively), a high fantasy series about revenge, war, and love. This book ranks a high 2 out of 4 stars, and I have hopes for the rest of the series.

Trama may have defeated the Dark King in the first book of the trilogy, but darkness is quick to rise again. As the elf queen Kressara and her human consort wage war to save humankind, her sister Arryn and Trama's friends must turn to the dark elves, and to necromancers, to save the hero from Kraven, the new Lich lord, before they can even consider entering the fray of the war. Meanwhile Trama, an anti-hero obsessed with murder, is realizing that perhaps there is more to life than vengeance, and it takes a terrible turn of events for him to truly decide what he wants most in life.

The world itself was very intriguing, and I hoped for more details about the heart stones of the elves, the nuances of necromancy (the dark magic in this series is very well-concocted, if not a bit gruesome), and the lay of the land (which had much potential). While nothing was shockingly original for high fantasy, the dynamics of magic and the various races was refreshing enough to be enjoyable.

Granted, this is the second book in a trilogy, so one might expect to be a little confused as to the politics in the tale, but it is also important for the author to properly set up the conflict - even if one has read the first book, they might want their memory jostled. The author here fails to do this, abruptly launching the reader into a chaotic war scene several chapters in with little explanation (indeed, the chapters prior seem to be setting up a time of peace, which makes it even more puzzling). Though it is mentioned that in the previous book, Trama killed the Dark Lord, there is another one in this novel with no clear explanation of the relationship between the two. It leaves one wondering whether or not there is a concrete reason for the war, or if it's simply man and elf versus orc, dark elf & lich, just for the sake of good versus evil.

Characterization was, for the most part, enjoyable. There are some characters who stand out, in their varying levels of importance: Arryn, the elf girl who falls in love with Trama regardless of all his faults; though her love seems frustratingly selfless at times, she eventually reveals very realistic emotions that endear her to the reader. The Paladin King Jake, who marries a woman for political reasons, but vows not to touch her or make her uncomfortable until the war is over and he can properly court her, and who acknowledges that the decisions of kings in wartime are often hanging offenses in peacetime. Perhaps my favorite was Lebie, the necromancer and dark elf (but a protagonist), who does as she pleases (I can't say too much about her without ruining the plot!).

Trama himself leaves something to be desired. It can only be nailed into the reader's head so often that a character is not a good person, that he is a killer, that he is out for revenge, etc... He comes across more as an anti-hero of insecurity, one strangely pre-occupied with playing the part of a heartless murderer, than actually being an anti-hero of action. While this might come across as pitiable, even likeable, in some characters, with Trama it just ends up being uncomfortable and tiresome.

The ending was a bit of a surprise, and a very well-done one at that. I found myself cheering for Arryn in the end (though I can't say why!) and was very relieved to see how things played out.

Before I wrap up my review, I want to point out several editorial issues that I found frustrating:

• The voice can at times be difficult to follow - sometimes it jumps from omniscient third person to first person (Trama's voice) from paragraph to paragraph, with no clear warning. The editor should have either suggested that the author stick with omniscient third person, or they should have marked when perspectives were changing.
  
  There are enough typos in the manuscript to be a bit off-putting (for example, a "hoarse voice" is repeatedly called a "horse voice", and the author vacillates between calling elves in the plural "elves" and "elf").
  
  The excessive CAPS-LOCKING at times can also grow tiresome. I understand that the author wants to show that someone is yelling, but an editor should have suggested the use of italics instead, as is commonly done.
  
  Apparently, this editor was unaware that commas are used for the direct address. These were consistently missing, which made for some interesting scenarios that I had to puzzle out before continuing. The "Let's eat Alice" joke from first grade grammar class should never be forgotten.

All in all, this book is worth 2 out of 4 stars. I should note that this is a pretty high 2, but it doesn't quite make it into the range of "3". I suspect that the trilogy as a whole (perhaps published in 1 book) might, though.

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Armies of Malice
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[Lisalovecraft]

Sounds like an interesting concept. I would not like the jump from third to first person. Nice review!

[Duende Knocking]

Sounds like an interesting concept. I would not like the jump from third to first person. Nice review!

Thank you!

I had a lot of trouble with that as well...if an author changes perspective every other chapter and tells the reader, that's fine, but every paragraph with no warning? It was really confusing sometimes.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Great review!

[Duende Knocking]

Great review!

Thanks! I wasn't sure about adding all the details at the end but decided I might as well, seeing as a couple of them did affect the way I read the book. Hope it wasn't too nitpicky.

[zeldas_lullaby]

I don't think it was too nitpicky, and it shows an area that the author can improve upon and maybe resubmit for a higher review. I personally had never heard that "Let's eat Alice" joke, so it worked for me!

[Duende Knocking]

I don't think it was too nitpicky, and it shows an area that the author can improve upon and maybe resubmit for a higher review. I personally had never heard that "Let's eat Alice" joke, so it worked for me!

Yikes, really?

Its the big danger of not using commas for direct address...especially in a story like this with a lot of action and fighting, the lack of comma usage led to some odd situations. More than a few times I did a double-take before I realized that one character was simply addressing another, not proposing to do something awful to them. Pretty simple fix though!

[zeldas_lullaby]

Yikes! You didn't misread me and think I said you WERE too nit-picky, did you?
Or is that Yikes! in reference to my ignorance of the "Let's Eat Alice" joke?

[Duende Knocking]

Yikes! You didn't misread me and think I said you WERE too nit-picky, did you?
Or is that Yikes! in reference to my ignorance of the "Let's Eat Alice" joke?

Haa the latter! That was one of my most memorable lessons from grade school.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Ha ha ha ha ha.

[Melanie_Page]

Great review!
Though not personally a fan of the many fantasy novels currently hitting the shelves, these are good things to look for in any text.
Can I ask a question? What did you think of the quality of the prose? Was there adequate description? Did he SHOW the reader the characters he was portraying or merely tell us? Much may be forgiven an author whose words come alive, even if the story or editing aren't perfect.

[Duende Knocking]

Great review!
Though not personally a fan of the many fantasy novels currently hitting the shelves, these are good things to look for in any text.
Can I ask a question? What did you think of the quality of the prose? Was there adequate description? Did he SHOW the reader the characters he was portraying or merely tell us? Much may be forgiven an author whose words come alive, even if the story or editing aren't perfect.

The prose was decent. Outside of the editing issues, the actual writing was quite enjoyable. I'd say it was one of the strongest points. I know exactly what you mean with the show versus tell issue (drives me up the wall sometimes if an author doesn't show me things!), and I think that the author here was definitely more of a "show" type. Depictions of scenes/events were quite vivid, and descriptive scenes were not tedious but instead visual and alive.

Thanks for the prompt! I should have put this in my review.

[bookowlie]

Nice review! I agree with your point that an author should give some explanation in books in a series. Even if the reader has read the previous books, it gives a reminder of the main conflict in the previous stories.

[Duende Knocking]

Nice review! I agree with your point that an author should give some explanation in books in a series. Even if the reader has read the previous books, it gives a reminder of the main conflict in the previous stories.

Same! Unless a book is split up for publication reasons (for example, if it's too long to publish as a paperback, it's put out as two paperbacks at the same time, like Tad Williams' "To Green Angel Tower", which was one book as hardcover, but would have broken a paperback spine), it can be pretty confusing.

Especially here, as it was very unclear what the relationship was between the old villain and the new one.

[bookowlie]

I personally like when series books keep the reader up to speed on the characters and plot in subsequent installments. I read a book recently that was the 3rd book in a mystery series. I understood the mystery, but there were a few inside jokes about some of the characters that I didn't get.