Please feel free to comment or share.
Kagen the Damned is a meaty book, 560 pages and chock-full of story.
There are authors who write good stories; they pull you in and create a connection with the protagonist, they are innovative and bring you to a new and exciting place. Then there are authors who write great books; they do all of the things that make a good book and then some more; their supporting characters are given as much attention as the protagonist, they make you run the whole gamut of emotions. They make you tense, laugh, cry, just everything. Jonathan Maberry is one of those authors.
Just read the synopsis, Kagen the Damned is a story of war, death, turmoil, and destruction. Why was I laughing? Because Maberry knows that the story has to be multidimensional; the story and the protagonist must have layers. The secondary characters need and get as much attention to detail as Kagan, their every action adds to the enjoyment of the story.
As a book one, Kagen the Damned did exactly what it should have done: I’m invested, I like the characters (except for the ones I hate), and I want to see the story resolved. Will I read book two, hell yeah! Sign me up now!
Over the past few years, I’ve been avoiding series, I find that they get repetitive after a while. I want to see some change/growth/evolution in my protagonists. There are too many authors who get a good thing going and they just ride that pony for as long as they can. I hope that Maberry can wrap up Kagen’s story in a nice trilogy. A good 1 500 to 2 000 pages in total.
*5 Stars