Maybe you don’t know it, but apparently, John Wick once killed three people with nothing more than a pencil. Usually, he uses guns – but what if he instead used a cursed dagger? Then he would be the protagonist of this series. Welcome to the world of Darkblade!
Imagine you’re soul bound to a weapon that empowers you, but demands indiscriminately killings to feed itself. Would you do it? Could you keep up some semblance of honor by picking your victims to those who deserve it, or would you give in to the darkest desires?
Meet Hunter, the assassin for whom this is not a rhetorical question, but the reality of his life. There’s more to him than meets the eye, and even more that he himself knows about. (Yes, amnesia of his life before a certain point is a trope you’ll encounter in this story, along with the obvious trope of the anti hero.) And also meet his dagger, Soulhunger, who is aptly named, if I say so myself.
Hunter’s world is grim and dark, everybody out for their own good – or at least most. But even the dark and feared assassin has a weak and humane side to him, even if that isn’t on full display all the time. It does serve well to turn the ruthless killer into a more likeable character, though.
On a negative side note, there was one occasion where I really struggled with the main character: The first time the existence of demons is mentioned, Hunter immediately declines the notion. Don’t get me wrong – I think it would be a rather sane reaction coming from you or me, sitting here in my IKEA armchair, watching out the window at cars driving by. But it’s rather rich coming from someone in possession of a dagger that – literally! – screams bloody murder into his thoughts. Just saying, the existence of a weapon like this is a rather big point towards the existence of dark and cruel forces.
Despite the possible philosophical and moral implication this might bring to the story, at its heart, it is a revenge story. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now – you have, right? And if not, you should! -, you will already know that space operas are one of my guilty pleasures, along with the LitRPG genre. I might as well complete the set and come out with my confession about my love of revenge stories, despite the genre or the medium. Fantasy, science fiction, thriller; book, graphic novel or movie – I love revenge stories (as well as underdog stories, and both concepts usually work well together). I love the old Mel Gibson movie Payback, as well as John Wick. I’ve read – and watched – the Count of Monte Cristo (but truth be told, I don’t remember much on account of this being a long, long time ago), and a lot of other stories. It all boils down to this: I’m a simple man, and I like to see justice dealt out. The primal lizard part of my brain insists that this kind of revenge is a dish that can be enjoyed, and thinks not much about the digging of two graves. Of course my real life experience is different – but escaping the real world in favour of an imaginary world with different rules is exactly the point why I like reading. So, in terms of my lizard brain: bad guy bad, good guy smash bad guy, everything good, Stefan happy. Ugh.
Alright, it’s also a story about the battle with our inner demons – quite literally, in some cases, and also the external ones. It’s thrilling, and quite satisfying in the revenge parts.
Where there’s light, there’s also shadow. (What else should an assassin use to conceal himself?) In this case, I would say it’s the pace. The story does have its lengths, and quite a few of them are fueled by needless repetitions. I swear unto all thirteen gods, I will scream if I have to read one more version of »He WOULD avenge them!« – I got that the first time around, and even for a more dense audience, the third time would have sufficed. Every repetition after that is just overdoing it.
All in all, I enjoyed my time hunting through Voramis, but the pacing issued will mean I’ll take a little time before I pick up the second installment in the series. 3 out of 5 cursed daggers!
Crossing the Pond Reviews 