I loved the premise for this one, and I can certainly see the appeal, especially for anyone in the mood for a fast-paced story with some truly excellent action. Unfortunately, I wasn't completely sold on the characters although they were interesting, it just felt as though they could have used a little more establishing for my liking. But, what ultimately made this not the book for me was the humour - which I will freely admit I am fussy about at the best of times - and it just meant that this wasn't the book for me, although again I can see the appeal for the others and I think this book will work really well for others.

I had been looking forward to reading this book ever since I first heard of it, way before it was released. When I started reading it I knew this was going to be a special ride, and I wasn't wrong.

The story is a familiar one at its base; getting the gang back together for one last job, a group of unlikely heroes defending a small town against an invading army, magic and mystery are part of their history, etc etc. What I enjoyed about this story was how you can't help but like the main characters regardless of how unlikeable they should be.

There are some interesting twists as the book unfolds, Who is The Falcon Prince, how do you kill a vampire or summon the Kraken?

There are some really good character arcs going on in this book, and it all comes together nicely at the end to either stop it there or continue with other stories from these lands - Who wouldn't love to read the further adventures of Red Penny? What will become of Lorimer's people?

If you're a fan of fantasy books, this is a must-read for you. If you aren't, I'd still suggest giving this a go. This is just the sort of book you could see being a major film, and I would love to see that.

Indulgingly gruesome, with an abundance of snarkiness, and an underlying dark, dark humor. This is an adventurous 'let's gather all the reluctant antiheroes road trip' that leads to a satisfying brutal battle of epic proportions. And the tying of loose ends in the finale doles out quite a few surprises.

So I really screwed up on this (new for me) and reviewed this title and 25 to Life off of NetGalley for the blog tour, then never posted the reviews to NetGalley :{ this is not my usual and the books were reviewed elsewhere :( please don't hate me!!

Mixed feelings on this one. It's a bit out of my comfort zone of a story - love fantasy, but this is more antihero than I've ever gotten into - so, keep that in mind on my feedback. While the "bad guys" are there to stop the "even worse bad guy," there is a LOT of seemingly unnecessary evil/killings/digressions that made it hard for me to really get behind the story.

I do commend Cameron Johnston because even though there wasn't a character that I "felt" for, I was still interested enough in the story and world-building to keep reading. He did a marvelous job of painting a picture of how chaotic and devolving a group of evildoers can be, and how the misguided "savior" can really be a WAY worse type of crazy and evil than these monsters can ever hope to be.

Overall - big fan of the author, not the greatest fan of the book content itself.

I love a good “getting the team back together trope”. There is something so fun about going down a list of unlikely allies and having the hero show up on their doorsteps and convince them to come back for one. Last. Job. It’s a simple and easy plot device, but it does a great job of building natural tension and emotional payoff without the need for a ton of context. So, when I saw that Cameron Johnson had written a villain-based version of The Magnificent Seven, called The Maleficent Seven, I requested an ARC as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my excitement.

Maleficent Seven has a fairly cut and clean story. Once upon a time, a grand villainess named Black Herren built up an army to take over the world. On the eve of their grand victory to take over the world, Herren grew tired of the constant infighting of her six generals and abandoned her own cause to go live in the woods and start a family. This caused the army to disband with a lot of negative feelings all around. Now, many years later, a new villain has arisen to destroy the world and threatens the family that Black Herren built. Thus, she decides to take a trip down memory lane and re-recruit her old generals to teach this upstart what true villainy is about.

The problem with Maleficent Seven is that the high-level premise simply doesn’t have enough depth beyond its elevator pitch. Black Herren’s decision to get the band back together feels extremely contrived and it was hard to build goodwill for the character. This isn’t helped by the fact that Herren’s first move is to recruit her right-hand woman, a necromancer named Maeven. Once Maeven is recruited, Herren falls off the edge of the page and Maeven leads the recruitment initiative for the next third of the book. The result is that I grew very attached to Maeven, but once all the team had been convinced to join up I found myself completely uninvested in Herren’s goals. I ended up quitting the book about two-thirds of the way through because I just didn’t care about the plot.

Despite quitting, I did enjoy reading about Maeven traveling around and pulling in all these all old villains. There is a great mix of bad boys including a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish war leader, a pirate queen, and a twisted alchemist. However, the next problem arises from the fact that the meetups of the old frenemies felt too rushed. Maleficent Seven felt like it was sprinting through the recruitment portion of the story to get back to “plot”, which meant that the part of the book I liked most felt rushed to get back to the part I didn’t really care about. The characters are fun, but they aren’t particularly deep or original. They embody their tropes, and they are good tropes, but there isn’t a whole lot extra there.

The Maleficent Seven is a fun reimagined romp of The Magnificent Seven. Unfortunately, not enough was added to the premise to fully engage me as a reader and I ended up falling off the bandwagon. It is definitely possible that you might love this short and sweet story, but it failed to maintain my attention.

Rating: The Maleficent Seven - DNF/10
-Andrew

I turned 45 while reading this book… My left hip hurts and stay-at-home orders haver done a number on my waist. I can’t say that I’m ready to fight! But Black Herran is. Yep, demonologists don’t really have that problem. She is ready to save her family and her town from the goodies…

Forty years after she left the battlefield to protect her daughter, a new threat, a pure and unsullied group of knights. Their own brand of tyranny… vs. Black Herran and her crew of baddies (a vampire, a demigod, a pirate queen, a crazy orc, an off-kilter alchemist, and a necromancer). I hate to simplify a story too much, but the book can be broken into parts… The past (who the heck is Black Herran?), the regroup (getting the band back together), the planning (I love a good siege defense:), and the fight (chaotic and bloooooooooody!). I found fun in each section. Grim and gruesome in atmosphere, lightning-quick in pacing, and the ending is quite unique…

My only gripe (a small one) would be that this is a stand-alone. I liked the world that Johnston put together… a good mix of so many of geographical areas, and quite a mashup of magic fun. I haven’t encountered a good vampire in a long, long time… and this one got me… I mean he really got Pandemic Paul! Ha!

At it’s heart The Maleficent Seven is a book that can be enjoyed at so many levels… as a homage to The Seven Samurai, as a grimdark gem, as a great Weekend Read , as a case study in bodily fluid ejection… It’s all good!

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Angry Robot, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me access to an e-arc!

I haven't read many grimdark novels, but this one caught my eye with the crazy good looking cover and the synopsis. The majority of the characters are not... the nicest of people, being that they are what people would definitely view as villains. This is touted as a sort of mashup between Suicide Squad and Kings of the Wyld, I can't say anything about Kings of the Wyld since I haven't read it, but this novel does give me Suicide Squad vibes. It was interesting to read a book that consisted of mainly villainous characters, the different races and creatures seen in the book was also enjoyable.
I greatly enjoyed this book, it was a bloody and violent fun time while reading this book.
Can't wait to read other books written by this author!

The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston, I enjoyed this book. A threat that villains of unspeakable stripe must work together to defeat (especially since those same villains already defeated the heroes). How long can they work together to beat this threat before they turn on each other?

La premisa sobre la que se basaba el libro en principio era muy atractiva, un conjunto de villanos que se tienen que unir para hacer frente a un mal mayor, en plan Doce del patíbulo pero con ambientación fantástica. Hay que reconocer que el libro cumple las expectativas, por no es que los protagonistas sean malos, es que son peores. Lo más selecto de cada casa, si la casa está en Elm Street esquina con el inframundo haciendo chaflán.


Nos encontramos ante una obra tan exagerada, con una violencia tan gratuita y tantas salpicaduras de sangre y vísceras que te tienes que reír y te lo pasas estupendamente esperando la siguiente barbaridad que tiene pensada Cameron Johnston. No es un libro para tomárselo en serio, pero teniendo claro este comienzo, es perfectamente disfrutable.

El comienzo se sitúa cuando Black Herran, una demonóloga al mando de sus huestes infernales está a punto de liderar la última batalla contra el bastión defensivo de sus enemigos, rodeada por una serie de capitanes que solo se mantienen a su lado por la codicia y el miedo. Y sin embargo, algo sucede en este último momento que da al traste con las aspiraciones de destrucción de todos.

El libro en sí tiene lugar cuarenta años después de estos sucesos, tras la desbandada del ejército y con una relativa prosperidad en las tierras anteriormente asoladas por las huestes de Black Herran. Pero hay un nuevo poder que va acaparando tierras y sirvientes bajo el estandarte de la luz que amenaza la vida reposada a la que se ha dedicado Black Herran, y tendrá que volver a reunir a sus capitanes para hacerle frente. Solo queda el pequeño problema de que sus antiguos aliados la odian por haberlos dejado en la estacada y que el paso del tiempo no deja a los guerreros igual que estaban antes.

La verdad es que el autor se saca de la manga un repertorio de personajes variopintos que están tan bien dibujados que llevan todo el peso de la obra en sus hombros. Con la fórmula ya conocida de la típica reunión de recursos antes de llevar a cabo un golpe, vamos conociendo poco a poco a estas heces de la sociedad curiosas personalidades, cada cuál con su propia historia y motivación. Un vampiro, una reina pirata, un dios de la guerra sin seguidores… la lista es larga y variadísima. Además, seremos testigos de las interacciones entre ellos que ya os digo que no están basadas en la confianza y el bienestar de los demás, lo que dará lugar a situaciones incómodas… y sangrientas. Lo de sangrienta puede que salga mucho en la reseña.

Es un libro con su buena tanda de páginas, pero os digo yo que se lee en un suspiro, Además, Johnston se guarda algunos ases bajo la manga para crear un final inolvidable y más que adecuado para la historia. Definitivamente recomendable.

While this book was just okay for me, I think there is an audience for it. If you're looking for a plot-driven fantasy that reads like a DnD campaign brought to life, loaded with brutal fight scenes and characters with fantastical abilities, this might be up your alley! For me, I was disappointed there wasn't more character work, especially since the trope of an old team rallying for one last battle can be such a rich opportunity for relationships and conflicts. The characters were distinct and are still what stands out the most to me after having read it, but I wanted more depth. The beginning was a little repetitive as the captains were being gathered. Things really picked up toward the end and I liked what was done with the epilogues.

I really don't know how I feel about this book. It was funny, extremely graphic and an intriguing idea, but it just didn't work for me. It was incredibly slow starting, and the battle at the end was over far too quickly, especially with how they built it up to be the battle of all battles.

I did enjoy the characters, and for readers who enjoy well built characters with little plot this might work, but it was just a little too tongue in cheek for me and I found myself unable to care if they survived or not.

It was extremely well written and the fight scenes and general descriptive writing was sublime, I found it extremely easy to visualise myself in the story, even at the times when the gore was that bad I wished I couldn't.

Overall I enjoyed it, but it just didn't really add up to anything for me.

The Maleficent Seven – Cameron Johnston



I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in order to provide an honest review.



Cameron Johnston is a Scottish writer how is a gamer and has interests in archaeology, history and mythology. He has written dark fantasy stories such as “The Traitor God” and “God of Broken Things”.



“The Maleficent Seven” follows the story of an old war general known as Black Herran, who was feared and ruled over her people with an iron fist – she also was known as a demonologist; she could wield what lurked in the shadows. She had a pact with a great and old demon, thus allowing her the power she was able to wield over lesser demons, power she was able to cultivate to her own ends.

Black Herran had her trusted captains of her dreaded and dark army, they were loyal to her and followed without question. That was until she abandoned them all on the very eve of battle that would have seen them ruling over all the conquered lands. Yet abandon them she did and her captains and people were almost wiped from the lands of Essoran.

And for 40 years there was no word of the dreaded Black Herran and her follows, they were presumed dead and forgotten. That is until a new threat comes to take over and impose their new world order. The problem with this is Black Herran is not dead, she faded away into obscurity and became known by another name, had a family and lived in peace.

This peace is now being threatened by the goddess known as the Golden One and her brainwashed army of followers. In order to stand a chance of crushing this new rising power Black Herran and her captains must rise again, yet are they up to the task after all the time that has passed. Can they work together and forget old grievances or will they betray each other when it suits their own individual ends.





“The Maleficent Seven” is a dark fantasy story with a refreshing plot where the villains are the heroes of the day. The author gives the reader an intricate story line with detailed characters. I enjoyed reading a fantasy story that doesn’t have a hero as the focal point but rather several villains. Villains that actually won in the end, villains that were relatable and almost lovable. I can’t state enough what a breath of fresh air this story was, an original and creative work of fantasy.

The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston is a story about monsters, revenge and lots and lots of killing. It’s the kind of story that catches your attention like a kick to the balls by a drunk Scotsman.

We start the story with a brilliant prologue which really sets the possibilities of the world Cameron has created. The Demonologist, Black Herran, is the general of an army full of monsters, pirates, vampires, the undead and other devilish creations which are camped outside of a fortress when, on the eve of battle, she disappears. Her captains confused and unable to hold the army together scatter only for her to recruit them again for one last suicide mission forty years later.

“I have just unleashed one of the mightiest of all demons upon the Lucent Empire.”

I first heard about this book from my friend on Twitter @FantasyBookNerd who put up a glowing review. I was immediately intrigued by the cover and his review sold me. I applied for an ARC and was lucky enough to get one. I then devoured this story like a starving demon gnawing on fresh flesh. It is by far the most memorable and enjoyable book I have read so far this year. It just oozes fun, brilliantly choreographed battles, expertly executed characters and iconic scenes.

The first thing you will notice when you read this book is that it is unlike other fantasy books and you are going to hear this comparison a lot but this is like Suicide Squad (2021) meets Kings of the Wyld (and maybe throw in a bit of Overwatch). Sometimes though when you have too many different ideas going on in a story it can take away from the enjoyment as you flick backwards to work out which character is which or lose enjoyment through confusion. This story has absolutely no problem in keeping you engaged while never once confusing you with the various characters, their species, the action or their own wants and needs.

“I don’t give a fuck if you all die so long as I can take that Falcon Prince’s head. Me, I’m dead simple to understand.”

Cameron’s prose is sleek and smooth like silk on a laminated floor. There isn’t one part that felt like a speed bump in this book and the whole thing reads like an old favourite despite the fact that you are reading it for the first time. The story is a simple one. Black Herran and her crew have to defend Tarnbrooke, a town she has lived in for the past forty years from the rampaging religious zealots threatening to take over the whole of Essoran.

The characters are brilliant. To elaborate, there is Maeven (necromancer), Lorrimer Felle (vampire), Tiarnach (god of war), Amogg (orc warrior), Verena Awildan (pirate queen), and Jerak Hyden (crazy alchemist). They all feel real, have their own personalities, their own desires in the story and their inter-relationship actions and conversations really pull you into their conflict through their own eyes. You will really enjoy reading this story as you find a favourite character and root for them whilst also reading to find out what happens to the rest of them. The dynamics between the characters is so well crafted. The fact that they’ve been apart for forty years doesn’t change the flow of conversation or their hatred for one another and it shows all over the page, pulling you in with it.

“The Kraken is coming.”

The worldbuilding in Essoran is actually quite minimal. You will know of a handful of locations and visit less in detail but you will fully know the lay of the land as Cameron describes in varying detail the town of Tarnbrooke, the surrounding ocean and the people that live there. It really shows that you don’t always need a lot of worldbuilding if you can paint the world through the eyes of many different characters thus not taking away from the pace of the story or the characters own journeys. This story is a very character driven, action focused story and there is constant action in here.

A lot of it is fighting but the fighting is excellent. At other times it might be tense planning of battles, someone setting traps, soldiers being terrorised by something in the dark or heated standoffs between monsters working with Black Herran. Regardless, it always moves the story forward and always has you wanting to just read one more chapter.

“he admired the taste of a human heart even more, he thought as he ripped it free and sank his fangs into the steaming organ.”

To summarise, The Maleficent Seven is a fantasy book for adults and really is the kind of fun, excellent book that everyone needs to read. It’s like Kings of the Wyld but the other way round – you’re now reading from the monsters POV while “heroes” try to kill them as they provide one final stand-off and for me, I loved KotW but this is just that little bit more naughty.

Rating 5/5 – You need to read this book. Cameron Johnston is a fantasy name you need to look out for. The story that Cameron has painted on these pages is scarily good. Monsters, heroes, epic action, bigger monsters, constant twists and turns, brilliantly written battles and a hilarious and angry God of War. I don’t know what else to tell you without spoiling it. Get it. Now.

Buy The Maleficent Seven from The Broken Binding and use the code BLURB5 on all your orders to save money (for more books).

Alternatively you can pick this up in Kindle, paperback or Audible on Amazon UK or Amazon US.

I adored this one. Johnston manages to hit the same nerve that Nicholas Eames did with King of the Wyld, writing a book that is just fun from start to finish. Even though the characters are some of the most evil I've encountered in a while.

Just a fantasticly fun and delightfully evil piece of fiction.

To be honest, I couldn't click with this book.
The writing style didn't grab me, and maybe I was expecting something else…more epic fantasy, and that led to this not being my cup of tea.
It's more comic book vibe ..... Suicide Squad style with higher percent action than anything.
I feel sad because the synopsis got me really intrigued…I mean, when you read the odd team that is forming you just grab your popcorn and buckle up.
Alas, I felt a little weird while reading it and couldn't immerse in it.

Black Herran, a dread demonologist, disappears on the eve of her greatest victory. 40 years later she must return to the land she almost destroyed and save it from a new enemy, religious fanatics trying to finish what she started. She must bring her 6 captains back together again: a necromancer, a pirate queen, a vampire lord, a demigod, an orcish war leader and a twisted alchemist. The objective is to take one final stand in the town of Tarnbrooke.

This is 'Suicide Squad' of the fantastical bloodthirsty kind. Don't you just love villains being forced to do good? Unlikely heroes bickering amongst themselves is so entertaining. This is a group of badasses, each in their own right. My favorite is a toss between the orc leader Amogg and the demigod Tiarnach.

Presenting charismatic worldbuilding, Johnston's creativity is evident in even the smallest detail and has your imagination working in overdrive. "There is always another plan in play" says the protagonist and that captures the essence of shocks, surprises and betrayals.

The introduction of all these awesome characters is uniquely interesting and entices you to the story. Multiple POVs with the voice of each character giving a sort of old-timey vibe in a modern wrapping that compliments the narrative.

Sometimes it lags a bit in parts, taking too long to set a scene and other times the changes between characters are whiplashy, making the flow of the story uneven. These two aforementioned things would make me feel detached from the story. What the author does well though is make you root for their characters and enjoy the action. In the midst of guts, gore, relentless fighting and insults, you cannot help but notice that hope springs eternal. And that all, bar none, need something to believe in.

Indulgingly gruesome, with an abundance of snarkiness, and an underlying dark, dark humor. This is an adventurous 'let's gather all the reluctant antiheroes road trip' that leads to a satisfying brutal battle of epic proportions. And the tying of loose ends in the finale doles out quite a few surprises.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing me a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

At first I was struggling to understand why this one didn't work for me. The story was exactly as pitched, suicide squad esc, with a band of villains coming together to destroy an even worse villain. However, I stumbled across another review that put it into words perfectly. This concept just works better as a film.

Introducing each of the characters in the middle of doing what they do best, I continuously felt as though this would have been better as a movie. The visual aspects would have made it easier to fall in love with each character, while unfortunately as a reader it fell a bit flat. Because this story is SO fast paced, I never had time to connect with any of the characters, and for me that made the entire story feel quite one dimensional.

While we did see some humorous interactions between characters, and moments that made them more empathetic characters, for me a lot of those moments came too late and I had already been struggling through the story for so long at that point, it left out some of the emotional impact it could have otherwise had if we had slowed down and done some world building or work with the characters backstories.

I felt I wish I'd gotten a novella for each character before reading this story, so that I could appreciate this book more for what it is.

Now don't get me wrong, there is definitely an audience for this book. People who want to skip the boring stuff, and just learn characters names and hop into the action will have a great time reading this. Unfortunately for me however, it left me wanting.

P.S. I refuse to believe men talk about their "cocks" as often as they do in this book, it felt very out of place for me and took me out of the action LOL

Received arc from Angry Robot and Netgalley for honest read and review.
This was a fantastic read that had me hooked from the beginning.MIn characters were brilliant especially the boss, Black Herran, loved her.

I loved the idea of seven bad ones coming together to save a town,it was a brilliant read and so funny in bits.
I will definitely read some more from Cameron as his writing was absolutely brilliant.
Loved this book,definitely recommend.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and, to be honest, I really couldn't get into it. It was mostly because this book was far, far darker than I thought it would be. But the writing was excellent, and the characters were well thought out, they just didn't interest me, so I didn't finish it.

Fans of grimdark fantasy will probably love this title, I didn't.