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The Warlock Sagas #2
Mutagenesis
The dire legend of Thagrosh Hellborne began in cold and darkness . . .
Thagrosh has known nothing but bondage and grueling labor for all his adult life. Prisoners of Khadoran slavers, he and the other ogrun of his village have spent their lives toiling in the lightless depths of a mine. Yet Thagrosh and his brother Vargal have a plan to escape their misery and flee to the nearby nation of Rhul. When their bid for freedom is discovered, Thagrosh is forced to escape alone into the wilderness.
Pursued by the brutal Khadoran overseer and his band of relentless trackers, Thagrosh flees ever deeper into the cold mountains. But he is not only running for his life—he feels an irresistible draw to a towering peak, where an ancient, unknowable power awaits the perfect vessel to make manifest its will upon Caen once again.
Thagrosh has known nothing but bondage and grueling labor for all his adult life. Prisoners of Khadoran slavers, he and the other ogrun of his village have spent their lives toiling in the lightless depths of a mine. Yet Thagrosh and his brother Vargal have a plan to escape their misery and flee to the nearby nation of Rhul. When their bid for freedom is discovered, Thagrosh is forced to escape alone into the wilderness.
Pursued by the brutal Khadoran overseer and his band of relentless trackers, Thagrosh flees ever deeper into the cold mountains. But he is not only running for his life—he feels an irresistible draw to a towering peak, where an ancient, unknowable power awaits the perfect vessel to make manifest its will upon Caen once again.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2014
About the author
Orrin Grey
104 books351 followersOrrin Grey is a skeleton who likes monsters. When asked, he claims to mostly write oubliettes.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 6, 2015
I'm familiar with the setting of the Iron Kingdoms, I play the wargame and the card game, both released by Privateer Press. This means I know who Thagrosh is.
Thagrosh is the protagonist of this book. I found this a fascinating read, because it really taught me something about my own writing. Something to avoid.
No character in this book ever makes a decision. It's VERY boring because of it.
None of the main characters make a conscious decision, they all just talk about how they HAD to carry on, and it was more muscle memory than will.
I am down on this book because it means that Thagrosh, a potentially really cool character, the guy chosen to awaken Everblight (big evil dragon), is a total blank slate. He has no personality.
I understand the reason this was done. It was all about an overwhelming feeling of compulsion. Thagrosh felt compelled to go to a certain spot and awaken Everblight. He never chose to. I get how that MAY be an interesting concept, but I felt it was done poorly, and simply never interested me.
Thagrosh is the protagonist of this book. I found this a fascinating read, because it really taught me something about my own writing. Something to avoid.
No character in this book ever makes a decision. It's VERY boring because of it.
None of the main characters make a conscious decision, they all just talk about how they HAD to carry on, and it was more muscle memory than will.
I am down on this book because it means that Thagrosh, a potentially really cool character, the guy chosen to awaken Everblight (big evil dragon), is a total blank slate. He has no personality.
I understand the reason this was done. It was all about an overwhelming feeling of compulsion. Thagrosh felt compelled to go to a certain spot and awaken Everblight. He never chose to. I get how that MAY be an interesting concept, but I felt it was done poorly, and simply never interested me.
July 3, 2015
Great back story for Thagrosh, it really aded a lot of depth to an already interesting character. One thing I disliked was the chapter titles being the name of the character from whose viewpoint the story was being told for that chapter. The titles seemed redundant as it was obvious within the first two sentences. A must read for any Iron Kingdoms fan.
December 29, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this story. This is the backstory to one of my favorite characters in the Warmachine/Hordes setting so I am a bit biased on this. What I also liked is that the story does switch between the prospective of the escapee and the purser so that you can a feel how they are progressing during the story.
November 20, 2018
Good read
As a whole it was a good read slow start and not bad. The ogrun took awhile to figure out. It was kind of confusing to imagine what Thagrosh looked like whether monster part human or what. That's probably all I should say so it doesn't give new readers to much information. All and all I would give it thumbs up.
As a whole it was a good read slow start and not bad. The ogrun took awhile to figure out. It was kind of confusing to imagine what Thagrosh looked like whether monster part human or what. That's probably all I should say so it doesn't give new readers to much information. All and all I would give it thumbs up.
May 30, 2021
Disappointed
I really thought I was reading another book by Larry Correa. This book did not follow the first book in the series. It really felt like the book kept going on and on and didn't need to. I won't read any more in this series.
I really thought I was reading another book by Larry Correa. This book did not follow the first book in the series. It really felt like the book kept going on and on and didn't need to. I won't read any more in this series.
May 21, 2014
The story is told too much through exposition and internal monologues. More dialog and more character-to-character interactions would have made it a much stronger story and also much longer. I suspect that was deliberate choice in the balance of the story. Keeping it short allows a lot of history to be covered but feels closer to the game sourcebook entry than the full fiction story. The thing that makes me like it is how I feel I can see all the pieces in place in the story for believable and intriguing characters, just hidden beneath a calcified layer of exposition!
Still, for a fan of the Warmachine universe this is good stuff!
Still, for a fan of the Warmachine universe this is good stuff!
March 12, 2014
I've been eagerly awaiting the second novella in the Warlock Sagas for quite some time now, especially once it was revealed to center around Thagrosh, one of my favorite characters in the setting. However, Roughly 1/2 of the novella even takes place from his perspective. There was a good deal to like in this novella, but little of it will appeal to Legion of Everblight fans. Those who favor the nation of Khador will be much more pleased.
Not a bad entry in the series, but I was expecting significantly more, especially after the excellent first entry.
Not a bad entry in the series, but I was expecting significantly more, especially after the excellent first entry.
August 26, 2015
Nice little diversion, nothing particular special about this story, nothing horrible either.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews