It doesn’t start off too well where Bloodstone clapped you on the back and strapped you into a rollercoaster straight into a volcano made of solidified awesome right from the start, Dark Crusade starts by putting you in a rocking chair and feeding you breast milk next to a warm open fire. What you really want to know is if this novel, in particular, is any good. Well, fear not, reader, that part, the actually good bit of this review, is forthcoming. He’s hands down one of the best anti-heroes in the business.īut you all already knew that, didn’t you? Yeah, you did.

He’s fascinating, fantastic, utterly self-interested, somehow channeling Moorcock’s Elric and Howard’s Conan at the same time two opposite sides of the same coin. His long years have given him knowledge and skill beyond that of any normal man, but also a sense of detachment the man has no true friends, no real allies and any he attains are mere tools, to be used to meet his own mercantile means. Kane really is the star of the show here, as anyone familiar with the series will tell you, but for anyone not in the know, Kane is a prince cursed with immortality who has wandered the world for eternity, plumbing its secrets, learning grim and interdicted sorceries, seeking out mysteries and conflicts and battle and war, and just generally trying to entertain himself during the course of his unending life. When Orted’s fanatical cult of peasants try to seize the southern kingdoms, they are swiftly and brutally quelled by a superior military force, and that’s when Kane, a mercenary, steps in to help.

So whilst you do that, I’m going to get on with the review, if you don’t mind.ĭark Crusade revolves around the rise of the dark Cult of Sataki, its meteoritic domination of the kingdom of Shapeki, the brutal regime it establishes and its enigmatic and mysterious prophet Orted something or other. It’s kind of bittersweet actually, because it means all that time I spent rummaging around in the musty corners of used bookshops looking for Bloodstone (which I reviewed, by the way) has kind of gone to waste, and anyone that spent around 100 bucks for a copy of Gods in Darkness or Midnight Sun is going to want to curl up in a big ball over there in the corner and have a little cry. Someone, somewhere might have mentioned this already, but whatever, now it’s my turn.Īll of the Kane books, both the novels and short story collections, have been released on Kindle for four or five bucks each, which is a mere three pounds if you live in England. You guys are going to love for me for this.

Bloodstone karl edward wagner