This book just drops you into the world running! You don't have any time to breath before you're in the middle of action. I only figured it the twist right before it was revealed. The pacing was a bit weird for me, but overall I really enjoyed this book and plan on living up the next one too.

If you're looking for a triple whammy then look no further- Kagen the Damned was simultaneously a classic fantasy/ horror novel with adventure and a healthy dose of revenge!

Kagens progression and growth throughout the book was my favorite part, losing your empire and so many loved ones is tough but his journey on the path of revenge was exhilarating. You do have to power through a lot because he self-sabotages and is kinda douchy for the middle portion of the book but eat some cheese, drink some wine, and power through!

The Cthulhu- worshipping cult adds just the right amount of mystery to leave readers guessing.

I don't want to get into too many details but that ENDING!!!!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review. You can follow me on IG @JessicaReadsIt.

4.5 I really enjoyed this dark fantasy and really enjoyed the horror aspects throughout this book. This story follows Kagen a knight who is sworn to protect the seedlings ( royal children) that is till the Hawkkians raid the city killing the empress and her family as well as Kagens parents and brother. The Hawkkians a small nation that was suppressed by the silver empire rise up and conquer the silver empire forcing the peoples life’s to change and Kagen to swear to get vengeance.

This book I found to be fast paced and I really enjoyed the snarky morally corrupt main character overall. I will say there were points where the constant complaining got annoying but it was fitting for the character.I will say this book is pretty dark and some scenes were just brutal and gory so if you have any triggers I’d recommend checking for trigger warnings. I already have the second book in the series reserved and cannot wait to read it. I would say this would be great for fans of Nevernight or Red Sister. I would like to thank the publishers and net galley for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

It's a darker world, built on a foundation of the different Lovecraftian mythos, and it starts out with the fall of an empire, and the death of a helluva lot of people significant to the world and to the main character, Khagen. He wallows for a bit, and the story wallows with him, but it picks up speed, and by the time you get into the latter third of a book you're barreling down a track to an amazing climax. There's a few twists at the end that work well.
Full review on YouTube

I've tried to read this book a few times and it doesn't seem to stick with me. I definitely believe this is a case of the reader and not the book.

I read and loved Jonathan Mayberry's Rot and Ruin series so I was really excited to read this. It is very different than the zombie dystopian style I am used to from him but I still really enjoyed it. I will admit that there are a lot of things I still have questions about, but knowing there is another book makes me content to see if those are answered later. There are some spicy scenes in the book, but they were fairly short and could be skipped entirely if wanted. Honestly they kind of just felt like they were thrown in because fantasy with spice is such a big draw these days, honestly I feel like they would have been better left out. But overall a great book and I will be reading the other books in the series.

This is a story about damnation.

I love a good grimdark & I’ve loved the author’s other works, so I was super excited for this one. This was an interesting read! I would’ve liked more action, but I think that there was a focus on world/character building to set the scaffolding for an ongoing series. Unfortunately, the amount of sexual violence was off-putting for me, but in fairness any number of rape scenes is too many for me personally. Overall, a solid pick if you enjoy grimdark & don’t mind some building.


Thank you St. Martin's Griffin & Netgalley!

Great fantasy novel, I really enjoyed it! The world building was so good and I felt like I was there the entire time I read. The cliffhanger killed me but looking forward to reading the next one!

I loved this beginning to an epic dark fantasy series!

I loved the author's world building and how the story really felt alive, as if I was experiencing it rather than just reading it. I also really loved the arc of the character, and how he grew into a redeemable character with depth.

Kagen the Damned was a really wonderful new take on the fantasy novel. I think Maberry has a history of putting out really great stories and his most popular do focus on the flawed and dark protagonist who happens to also have great skill in killing. Seeing this novel as his first attempt at traditional fantasy both excited me and worried me, but Kagen was a beautifully designed character and the world building in this novel was fantastic. He is, of course, just the fantasy version of Joe Ledger, and that is both a good and bad thing.

I received an advance reader copy of Kagen the Damned through Net Galley, the publisher and author, in return for an honest review.
I must say at the outset that I did not and could not finish the book. I was aware that the Author, Jonathon Maberry, is primarily known for his novels about the world of monsters, creatures, the undead and other dark creatures, but I thought that “Kagen” was going to be was going to be a change for him - a novel, of heroic fantasy. It is a fantasy, but a grim, violent , bloody one.
It begins with Kagen waking up from a night of drunken debauchery to the clamor of a battle going on in the streets outside the bar/ brothel where was sleeping. Battle it was. The capital city had been invaded by the hordes of an evil empire long defeated and believed to had lost all its arcane menace, it they are back, with vengeance. Using terrible new weaponry and physically enhanced warriors, the soldiers of the Evil King swarm the unaware defenders of the city, leaving piles of bodies in the streets.
Kagen , sworn to defend the priestess/ heirs , tries to fight his way to the castle, only to find he is too late. The book has an electrifying beginning with Kagen, sort of a super soldier himself able to slay multiple foes with dagger. It seems that the Witch-King who was long dead is back and that the black magic and ancient daemon gods long buried in the seas and under mountains are reborn.But the pace slows as the author fills the next 100 pages or so with exposition . I struggled to keep going with the book, but the farther I read, the more I realized that I was in the wrong genre for my tastes. I enjoy fantasy novels, but this was more horror than heroic. I should warn unsuspecting readers that the book contains blood- drenched violence and sexual violence.
Summary- not for me, but that is only my opinion. For a person who enjoys monsters, black magic, and 300 pound fanged, armor- wearing dogs, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book will be right up the alley of Game of Thrones fans. From page one you are thrown into the world and feel immersed. You don't get much room to breath at the beginning as you are immediately trying to figure out what's going on from the main character's POV, and then are in a battle. The descriptions of the battle and brutality of it are very detailed and keep you in the moment. Unfortunately this book was just not for me. I like new things in fantasy, not the same tropes over and over again, especially when they include brutality to women. Which is why I think Game of Thrones readers will like this one.

This novel was much more graphic/dark than I had initially anticipated. I also think that a lot of scenes/events were drawn out more than what was needed and a lot of characters were introduced in detail with no follow up on their story line later in the book.. I also personally didn't love the MC, Kagen, and found his whining and self pity infuriating at times.

I don't understand how this book does not have more 5 star reviews. I loved it - at times it may have slightly dragged. But I put all other books on hold to finish it.
The friendships, dark humor, desperate thrist for revenge reminded me so much of The Princess Bride.
Kagen is drugged - only to wake with a raging headache. The sounds of swords clashing - somehow he missed the Hakkian invasion. With the use of magic and mercenaries, the Hakkians defeat the Silver Empress.
After centuries of oppression, the Yellow King claims the throne. And Kagen is damned for his failure.
He jouneys and drinks among the kingdom, desperate for a purpose. For revenge.
I cannot wait for the next book!

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

This is the first installment in a new dark epic fantasy series and boy is it dark. This book really does not hold back with descriptions of the violent nature of war, so if you get squeamish reading about graphic violence, this book may not be for you. Definitely look up trigger warnings before starting Kagen the Damned.

That being said, I really enjoyed this. I loved Kagen’s growth throughout the first installment and how he’s working to redeem himself. The first third of the book, I was not sold. Kagen spends the entire time drunk and feeling sorry for himself for something that happened that was out of his control. But after he started to clean himself up, I was hooked.

The action sequences were done exceptionally well. I could really picture all of the movements and fighting styles that Maberry tried to capture. Again, it’s very graphic but it fits with the tone of the book.

I really love that this book made you question who were the ‘good guys’ and who were the ‘bad guys.’ Was the Witch-King justified in overthrowing the empire that was oppressing his people and making their religion illegal to practice? All of our characters are morally gray, as is typical with many grimdark fantasies, and I eat that up. I will definitely be continuing on with the series to find out what happens.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin, and Jonathan Maberry for an e-arc of Kagen the Damned in exchange for an honest review.

Kagen the Damned is a dark fantasy following the captions of the palace guards revenge quest against Witch-king, a usurper who killed Kagen’s charges in order to take the throne.

The worldbuilding was the stand out in this book. The world was well rounded and naturally introduced without ever getting too info-dumpy. Kagen is not necessarily a likable character, he is filled with guilt and rage that lead to him making a lot of bad decisions, but he was intriguing and interesting to follow.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC!

This is a really tough book for me to rate because this book was just soooo misrepresented. Its got an almost romantisy cover and sounds like epic fantasy, but what it is is more Horror than fantasy. If the writer is writing to scare you than I consider that horror - regardless of the setting or window dressings - there are plenty of dark fantasy books out there but while they may be very violent and dark, and even depressing they aren't creepy scary. This book is intentionally horrific and so it just caught me really off guard. I actually love the horror genre and maybe if this had been listed as horror I would have had very different expectations. This felt like Rob Zombie trying to do Lord of the Rings or something. I don't know I was confused. And when the super creepy bad guy was described all I could think of was the weird Kiss concert wanna be crazies from John Carpenters "Ghosts of Mars". So as a horror fantasy mashup maybe a 3 star. But as a fantasy novel...maybe a one star. I think this could definitely benefit from a fix in marketing, that would probably help all the low reviews and DNF's too.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.**

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kagen the Damned started off okay. First, I didn't really like Kagen if I'm being completely honest. He just seemed to either be drunk or whining about something. So, yeah, at times I felt like strangling the guy or slapping him silly. Eventually he became way more likable, and the book felt easier to enjoy.

If you really think about it, I get why he was the way he was in the beginning. Not sure if that makes sense but I get it. He feels guilty for something that he wasn't there to protect from happening. One would think that he would jump into revenge mode right then and there, but nope. He definitely goes through the stages of grief until it's time for him to move on from what happened.

Luckily, he's not the only one who wants to murder a certain someone. Nope, we got some nuns and a fifteen-year-old girl named Ryssa who want a stab at the guy. I really enjoyed the mystery around the witch king because we don't know that much about the guy. Definitely can't wait for the next book to come my way because I need all the answers that I can get.

In the end, the cliffhanger was pure torture, and the waiting game has begun. I'm excited for more twists to come my way but also more action. Lots and lots of action with magic and everything else.

This was my first Jonathan Maberry book, so I went in blind not knowing what to expect and man I was not prepared for this ride. 😳😂 First of all, I did not like Kagen for the first half of the book and I don’t think you as a reader are supposed to. There were some parts I wanted to smack him sober. 😂 Also this is very dark, and a lot of bad graphic stuff happens, I would even say this might be more horror than fantasy, so if you have triggers you might want to tree lightly. That saying though I absolutely LOVED this book. So much that I even bought the audiobook so I can listen during my walks, also another positive is it’s narrated by Ray Porter who I absolutely love. 😍 I cannot wait for the rest of the series now.