Monday 4 April 2022

Zachareth: A Descent: Legends of the Dark Novel by Robbie MacNiven - Book Review

 


'The first in an exciting new series of heroic fantasy novels, Zachareth, explores the past of one of Descent: Legends of the Dark’s most notorious villains.

'Zachareth, Baron of Carthridge, is a driven, ruthless and obsessive man – a man who could be a hero, but he wants so much more. Having watched his father fall under the sway of a sorceress, Zachareth grows up craving knowledge and power. When his tutor at Greyhaven introduces him to forbidden magics, Zachareth discovers there is more to power than meets the eye. As he returns home to a barony on the verge of rebellion and beset by necromantic foes, Zachareth must choose his true path – the path of virtue and heroism, or that of darkness and villainy; the line between the two is finer than most imagine.'

One of the things that I love the most about the books being produced by Aconyte is that its introducing me to worlds that I've never experienced before, producing stories about games that I've only ever heard about, but have never had the chance to play. Descent: Legends of the Dark is one of these worlds, a game that I'd only heard whispers of in gaming shops. As such, I went into Zachareth a complete novice, with no knowledge or expectations; but I soon found myself wanting to experience more of this amazing fantasy setting.

The story follows the life of Zachareth Carth, a figure that will probably be familiar to fans of the series as he's one of the main antagonists of the game. Zachareth is described as being something of a figure that divides peoples opinions on whether he's a villain, or simply a dark hero; and the book very much explores this idea by showing a descent down a path that leads to some dangerous places, making deals with some dark folk, but always doing so from a place of wanting to do the right thing.

The novel begins years before Zachareth has become the figure from the game, when he's a young boy living in his fathers keep, Castle Talon. Barely into his teens, Zachareth hates his studies, doesn't get on with his ageing and angry father, and distrusts Leanna, his fathers elven adviser. His anger and frustration gets pushed to a breaking point during the Silver Tourney, an event that sees several of the surrounding baronies travelling to his home to compete with each other, when he comes to blows with the son of a rival. Zachareth is an angry teen, one who wants to simply lash out at the world, to find the easiest solution and take it as quickly as he can. Over the course of these chapters we get to see Zachareth getting taught his first important lessons in life; that sometimes there are better way to achieve his goals that simple force.

From here the book jumps forward several years as Zachareth prepares to become a man, ready to take his oath. The years have been good to Zachareth, and he's become an attentive student to his teacher, seeking out knowledge wherever he can find it. Whilst this has broadened his horizons considerably, and make him into a much more even headed man, his relationship with his father is still strained. At his banner hold ceremony Zachareth announces to the assembled nobles that he intends to leave Carthridge to study at Greyhaven, a prestigious university, where he plans to try to learn the secrets of rune magic to help him protect his future barony. His father is appalled at this idea, yet Zachareth leaves his home and sets out to learn what he can. With murmurs of undead at his home's borders, and his father growing more and more resentful of his son each day, Zachareth becomes determined to learn every magical secret that he can to protect his home; but this begins a journey that will lead Zachareth to some truly dark places.

I know that the book described this as an origin story for one of the game's 'most notorious villains', but I didn't come away from this book with that impression. Zachareth is not a villain. Or at least he's not a simple villain by the end of this book. He is, if anything, a man with a desire to do good who makes a few mistakes, and finds himself walking down the wrong path.

With so many villains in media wanting to conquer other lands, to wipe out certain peoples, or to amass power simply for the sake of having it I think it's fair to say that we've all had swathes of fairly simple villains in the past. We might often be able to see where those villains started from, yet end up condemning their means. There's a certain point where killing innocents means you've gone too far. Zachareth never has any moments like this in this book. He doesn't weight up one life versus many, he doesn't consider certain sacrifices to be worth it. He constantly wants to do what is best for his people. That's all.

Because of this, and because of the place where MacNiven has to have the character end up, there was never a time when the character felt dull or uninteresting. Knowing that this person is destined to end up a villain meant that I was constantly weighing up everything that they were going through, and all of the choices they were making. I was considering whether the choices they were making were right, if the actions they were taking could be considered justified, and if they'd made that turn into the villainous. I ended up engaging with the text a lot more than I thought, and I found that I came to care for Zachareth more than I was expecting because I felt this kind of odd sympathy for him. I could see that he was trying to be a good, decent protector for his home; but I was also aware that this would not have the outcome that he was hoping for.

Over the course of his journey Zachareth takes the readers to some interesting locations. As I've said, I'm not familiar with this setting, so I don't know how many of these are locations that will be familiar to players and how many are newly created by MacNiven, but there is a wonderful and varied mix. Zachareth's home of Castle Talon feels like a very traditional fantasy style lords home. It's a castle in a more norther, remote location that means the people are hardier and used to war, especially with the shared border to a land where the undead walk. You could make the comparison to the North in A Song of Ice and Fire, and that wouldn't be a completely wrong comparison as I did get those kind of vibes from it.

There's also Greyhaven, a city built around the school that sits at its heart. Everything in the city seems geared around this seat of learning, from the school itself to the shops that sell supplies to students, bars for people to relax, and import for the many needed supplies. It felt like a bustling, ancient city where people were always rushing around getting from one class to another, and it really did feel like the fantasy equivalent of a bustling university campus. We also visit another city that seems to have a much darker kind of feel to it, a creepy remote island, mist shrouded bog-lands, and we even get a traditional fantasy tavern thrown into the mix too. Despite only seeming to take place in one small corner of this hugely fleshed-out world there's a sense of scale to things here, and it feels like a bustling, lived in world.

MacNiven also includes a number of action scenes throughout the book, adding a nice break to the wonderful world building and character development. It's clear that MacNiven knows his stuff, and the fights feel like they leap off the page and are wonderfully clear and easy to follow. He gives plenty of detail, enough that you can clearly picture everything that's happening, and you'll soon find yourself getting swept up by the grandeur of it. Despite knowing that Zachareth must come out of every combat alright due to this being his origin story, MacNiven makes it always feel like there's a large degree of risk during these moments, and you never quite feel safe for the characters; especially towards the final chapters.

Zachareth: A Descent: Legends of the Dark Novel was a book that I found to be intriguing from the first time I saw the gorgeous cover and read the blurb, but I never expected it to grab me the way this did. I ended up devouring the book, desperate to keep reading to find out what happened next. This became a world that I went from knowing nothing about to being really invested in, with some of the best morally complex characters I've read in a long time. Part of me is angry that this is a first volume, because it means that I have to wait to get more of this character; but on the other hand, as someone who absolutely loved this book I'm extremely happy to know that I'm going to be getting more of this in the future.


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