Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Book Review: Dreadful


It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.

Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed. But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be?

Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.

Dreadful, the debut novel from Caitlin Rozakis, will be published May 28, 2024. Titan Books provided an early galley for review.

The description for this one sounded interesting and fun. I always enjoy a story where a villain is the protagonist as those stories are often few and far between. The cover jumped out to me too. Together, the perfect draw for this potential reader.

Rozakis plays well with the amnesia angle and the absurd situations that can arise from it. The fantasy genre works here, with the worldbuilding delivered in measured, as-needed doses. As the layers are added to the characters so are the layers added to the plot, all culiminating in a final confrontational situation.

This was a fun fantasy novel. I am eager to see what the author does next.

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