The Grim Company
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3.9 • 15 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The Gods are dead. The Magelord Salazar and his magically enhanced troops, the Augmentors, crush any dissent they find in the minds of the populace. On the other side of the Broken Sea, the White Lady plots the liberation of Dorminia, with her spymistresses, the Pale Women. Demons and abominations plague the Highlands.
The world is desperately in need of heroes. But what it gets instead are a ragtag band of old warriors, a crippled Halfmage, two orphans and an oddly capable manservant: the Grim Company.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Video game designer Scull makes his fiction debut with this complex series opener, set in a fantasy world where the gods are dead and the Magelords who killed them now act as tyrannical overlords of an increasingly hostile, decaying land. As war threatens to bloom between the Grey City of Dorminia and Thelassa, a disparate group of not-quite-heroes are drawn into the conflict, including Davarus Cole, a callow youth convinced of his own heroism; Eremul, a legless mage; and several barbarian warriors long past their prime. The premise is fleshed out through political intrigue, graphic violence, and a richly detailed setting. It's not without flaws: female characters don't leave a lasting impression, and almost no one is truly sympathetic. Nonetheless, this novel will please fantasy fans who like their protagonists to sweat, swear, bleed, and obsess about bodily functions. Scull both revels in and gently tweaks genre conventions while delivering a visceral, sometimes off-putting story.
Customer Reviews
Worth a read
I believe this is the author’s first novel. As such, it is an excellent effort. While some areas of character development aren’t really as good as they could be. One strong example is MC Cole displays behaviour more typical of someone a couple of years younger than the character is shown. Making the character less obvious in his self delusion and narcissism, or a little younger would have made it more believable. Making more allusions to the heroic conventions in popular literature, movies and melodramas would have made it funnier. He sort of straddles a line between believable character development and satire and then seems to slip over into serious character. That process … the author finding the voice for his writing , and some more critical review… could use some polishing. I don’t regret reading it. I will probably buy the series.