Diablo: The Black Road

Diablo #2

by Odom

Darrick Lang is coming home. Years ago he left the town of Bramwell to walk the wide world as a soldier of fortune and champion of the realm. But Bramwell is not as he left it. Something dark and terrifying has ensnared the townsfolk, something very old and very patient, tangling innocents in a web of malice and profaning the very earth itself. Now that same power calls to Darrick and his only hope may be to walk the same perilous path of damnation. Darrick Lang is coming home. Years ago he left the town of Bramwell to walk the wide world as a soldier of fortune and champion of the realm. But Bramwell is not as he left it. Something dark and terrifying has ensnared the townsfolk, something very old and very patient, tangling innocents in a web of malice and profaning the very earth itself. Now that same power calls to Darrick and his only hope may be to walk the same perilous path of damnation.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Video Games, Novels, Magic, Supernatural

364 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Adi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just because you can sit down and write a novel, it doesn't mean that you should. Putting the name Diablo on the front cover, and filling the pages with spellbinders, waling skeletons and magical swords also doens't help if the narrative is mousey and lacks the writing skills of the true pros in the genre.
"The Black Road" for instance is a completely unnessecery and easily forgettable novel. For 2/3 of the book nothing interesing happened. The main character Darrick and his crew are supposed to save the king's nephew, however they accidentally witness how a demon is brought back to the human world. The style of wrinting was so dry, that it was hard to care that something so dangerous is happening. The king's nephew is never mentioned again afterwards, and for the next 5-6 chapters we are indulged with Darrick's descent into oblivion and alchoholic delirium. The final part of the novel is full of battles and contant danger, which never really feels truly dangerous for the main characters (apart from the bad ones).
There are way too many better fantasy stories out there compared to this one.

[Teodora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Малко по-слаба част от първата книга, но преживяването не беше отекчително. Пирати, битки, демони, ходещи мъртъвци и магически мечове.
И един млад моряк - Дерик Ланг, изправен срещу всичко и всички, и най-вече срещу собствените си страхове ще трябва да пребори мрака в себе си в името на светлината за всички.

[Stephen Holtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book in the action\Horror franchise deals with a necromancer named Zayl as he stumbles upon the Evil Lord’s Jitara’s plan to awaken a demon. Now he has to do everything in his power to stop it before Sancuary gets destroyed. This stand alone entry was a nice addition to the Diablo series. The writing in this one was very exciting. I really liked the way that the second half of the book played out. The first half wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. But the action that dominated the end, especially the final battle between the Zayl’s crew and that of the evil king, Altric. The action was a little on the light side. But there was still enough there to make it enjoyable. As for the Suspencefullness, well it definetly had it’s moments. As for the bad portion, well I did find that the astrogha caratcher did kind of fall short of his menacing possibliby. He seemed to be more of a background caratcher then an almost unstoppable looming threat that he was suppose to be. But all in all this was a fantastic book and deserves every single one of it’s four stars.

[Matthew Steinmetz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listen, Mel, just because you haven't been able to write a Star Wars story doesn't mean you have to co-opt the Diablo canon to write your Star Wars book.

Magical sword that glows, slices through things like butter and can fly back to the wielder's hand? Really?
The protagonist can do sick flips and jump off walls? Easily the worst part of the book is when this author is describing his character judo-kicking bad guys in the head and flying around like a ninja. I mean come on.
He even has a force-ghost willing him to use the power of the light in the fight against the dark, let's go, Mel, surely you can be a little more creative than that!

The ending was god-awful and rushed. It's such a shame, because the writing in here was actually pretty good! A lot of this book was engaging and well written, it's such a shame it fell flat on its face at the end. Somehow the first 50 pages of the book, where a *lot* of stuff happened, was the slowest section of the book, but once it picked up it really got going.

There was so much promise here.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining dark fantasy novel set in the demon-haunted world of the Diablo games. There is a sailor in the Westmarch navy, Darrick Lang, who goes on a mission to save the nephew of the king from pirates (they are holding him hostage). Unknown the Darrick, the pirates have made an alliance with a demon-worshipping cultist, Buyard Cholik. In the course of rescuing the king's nephew, Cholik summons a horrible demon, Kabraxis. The narrative of the novel gets dynamic at this point and mostly focuses on the aftermath of Darrick's horrible encounter with the demon, i.e. his efforts to recover from the horror of it. Generally speaking, this was written quite well. Odom is a talented writer who captures the fantasy/horror atmosphere of the Diablo games. This notwithstanding, there were some surprising conventions that did not harmonize with me toward the end: the use of prophecies, the reliance on "fate," the idea that there is a certain "chosen one" who will save the day. The first two thirds of this were a grittty, atmospheric sword and sorcery tale of demon worship and degeneration; ths shift to something like high fantasy toward the end was jarring and felt inelegant (almost as if Odom had to rush writing the last third). Still, I'm glad I read this; given the chance I will read more Odom.

[Batuhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Diablo ile neredeyse alakası olmayan korsan kitabı. Yazar bu kitabı yazarken aralara bir tutam canavarcıklar serpiştirmiş o kadar. Kitabı okurken diablo evreninde misiniz yoksa bir korsanın maceralarını mı okuyorsunuz anlayamıyorsunuz. Hatta kitabı okurken yaklaşık bi 100 sayfa falan atladığımda hiçbir şey kaçırmadığımı görünce şaşırmıştım. Bu kitap kitap olmasaydı da kısa bi hilaye olsaydı 20 sayfa falan tutardı ve ona göre değerlendirilirdi.

Bu kitap, diablo evrenine bi hakarettir. Yazar diablo severlerle bu kitabı yazarak resmen dalga geçmiş ve okuyucuların zamanını bu alakasız macera kitabı ile çalmıştır. Yazar yargılanmalıdır.

[Jerome Ramcharitar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quite surprised.
A lot to appreciate in this novel: a tightly paced opening act; a satisfying yet ambiguous ending; compelling and horrifying images throughout.
The Black Road reads like a later draft rather than a finished product, but I have to give a hand to Mel Odom. Great work!

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting one. Really good, but it had me realizing some things.
For one, I don't feel I have the whole picture of the universe in this series, unlike "World of Warcraft" or "Starcraft". Those follow pretty direct storylines and events, but Diablo doesn't seem to have a connection that shows a bigger picture. I do enjoy the stories eithor way, but it's made me wonder about the larger picture.
Ok so, on to this story, I gotta say I loved the demon Kabraxis. He was super cool, I love his description of rainbow snake hair, that was hilarious and made my day ("cool crystal colors of the rainbow") I loved it. Every description in this was awesome. The story was really good and I enjoys the ending a lot.

[Justa Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Context: I am a big fan of the Diablo franchise. This is the 6th Diablo novel I have read, after Legacy of Blood, the Sin War trilogy, and Demonsbane. I would have given this book 1.5 stars if possible.

- This did not have to be a Diablo book, the connection to the world of Sanctuary is basically non-existent

- This story is entirely siloed away from the rest of the Diablo universe, save some name dropping of big bads here and there, and some geographic locations. This could literally have been a book that had nothing to do with the Diablo universe if a few names and locations were changed around, that's how disconnected from the franchise this book is.

- Annoying "pirate talk/accent" for so much of the book. I get it, they are sailors and pirates, but it's so tedious to read phonetic garbling of pirate talk, I can only take so much "ifn yee may mustn't"s and "aye, it neer be told by ye capn's ol' skipper"s in one page

- The entire first 1/3rd of the book is really dry and slow, not much plot to be had that creates any real foundation for a storyline

- Very repetitive writing style that is often such a slog to get through. Continued use of tired metaphors that break the immersion because the exact same metaphor (word for word) was used 10 chapters ago, and 5 chapters ago, and 3 chapters ago, with no literary device tying them together.

- Very repetitive storytelling. We get it, Darrick's father was an abusive prick, we really get it. How is this topic still having paragraph upon paragraph of description dedicated to it well into the final chapters and last moments of the book? It did not create a feeling of overbearing, inescapable trauma/PTSD, just inescapable authorship

- A lot of the storylines just end, or disappear. There is no cohesive coming together of plots, there is no satisfying end to certain story arcs or characters. Some things/people just disappear, and then the plot basically starts anew

- The book has some flashes of brilliance in the middle when the plot finally starts to pick up, and a few sparks at the end, but overall the story falls short in comparison to other entries in the Diablo universe

Final thoughts: As the 6th Diablo novel I have read in a short period, this is so far the worst one. A Diablo story in name only, there is no real connection to the Diablo universe at large except for there being a demon who comes back to the world and some people have to fight to banish/kill it.

Every other Diablo novel I have read so far has been much more integrated with the universe at large, has been written much better and contained more thoughtful/satisfying storylines. This had some potential, but the editors failed this book. It's a great first draft of a novel, though. Could have been much better with a few more passes, some thicker plots, some actual character development for Darrick, and some better tying in to the world of Sanctuary.

[Gabriel D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Black Road by Mel Odom is the second novel entry into the Sanctuary lore of Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo, a good entry overall, but somewhat distant from the game's lore than its spiritual predecessor, Legacy of Blood. This distance might throw Diablo fans off guard, and the story itself delivers a mixed experience as a standalone.

The story follows Darrick Lang, a sailor from the Westmarch Navy in two separate occasions. The first half of the book deals with Darrick leading a team that is trying to rescue the King's nephew. We familiarize with Darrick as an impulsive leader haunted by his past. He is skillful, but the past keeps crawling inside, seeking surface, and leading to imminent self-destruction. This section happens mostly in Tauruk's Port, wherever that is, and is mainly a rescue mission led by could-be pirates that are actually Navy sailors.

After the climax of this initial half, it's like the book takes a complete turn to something else, and we get to the second session, a completely different story. Darrick now feels secondary, the main spotlight shining mainly on Buyard Cholik, the antagonist, and its ascension to power as the Prophet of the Light. Meanwhile, Darrick is coping with his existence by drinking and drifting.

Most characters we knew are gone, and we meet some other characters that take decisive roles or dismissible roles. For quite sometime, Darrick is almost out of the scene until Taramis summons him for help, reminding him that he is the protagonist after all.

Mel Odom's writing is alright, but his choice of POVs is a bit off. Some scenes, for example, uses Maridor as POV, a completely forgettable character that later just vanishes from the story. The same happens for some characters we meet in the beginning that felt had more decisive roles, but rather didn't.

For fan service, we get our fair share of Diablo-related terms, but that's about it. Remove the Diablo dressing, and the story would remain unaltered.

I can't hide that I struggled a bit to complete the book, and by the later chapters I was enduring to get to the end. Maybe the problem is that Darrick feels too flawed and secondary to the main plot, and even his hero moment actually only happens because of others.

At least the ending was dark and clever, but the ending alone does not make the whole book.

The Black Road is alright for die-hard readers of dark fantasy, and a must for Diablo overkill fans trying to get their hands on every piece of lore, but the story is a hit and miss overall.

[Ricardo Arcos · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly enjoyable read, it falls somewhat short on its purpose. Which, as for any videogame tie-in novel, should be to expand the setting of the game in order to enrich the gaming experience. Unlike the first book in this series (Demonsbane),it is coherently written, the reader is able to follow the story; there are no jarring flaws that spoil the light immersion available. It’s greatest strength remains the dark fantasy setting of the Diablo universe, and how it chooses to explore it. In this case the dichotomy of the angelic and demonic natures in man and how, despite there being a universal law for balance, it is choices that dictate the ebb and flow of these opposing forces. But of course, not being a serious novel or philosophical treatise, it only introduces and teases this concept. This philosophical teasing was an unexpected, but welcome surprise.

However, the reason I consider it fell short on its purpose, despite exceeding expectations in some ways, is that, even though the writer shows some strengths in writing simple, but entertaining characters. This most evident in the case of antagonist Buyard Cholik and even secondary characters like Captain Tolliver, the novel is dragged down with unnecessary ambient detail, which the writer is just not skilful enough to do well. This is an action/adventure novel, and the events should be the focus, not the sights, smells, and sounds. In addition, the pacing feels very slow. Thus the slow pace and unnecessary fluff turn what could have been an exciting Novella into a 360 page grind… which is a strength in the Diablo games, not here.

Also, the king’s nephew, Lhex, which half of the novel is spent on his rescue was the most interesting “good” character and we don’t see him again after his introduction. While the protagonist, Darrick Lang, is an unsympathetic character. Taramis is another example of a character that would have served the novel better if more time was spent on him.

[Francisco · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Diablo novel which is frankly a bit of a bore. Compared with the previous Legacy of Blood, I found this to be kind of a snooze. Not only that but it seems to not capture the horror elements of Diablo as well as other stories set in the universe did.

Again we have a guy who summons a demon who another guy needs to kill. There's a really long opening on the sea where the main character is going to rescue a prince, and that takes like 100 pages of sea-faring pirate battling action, which to me is like watching paint dry.

When the actual demon comes into play, later on in the story, the whole thing gets more interesting, but still not enough to capture my attention that much. Maybe it's Mel Odom's style which is the obstacle for me here, verbose and stale. Blergh. Oh well. Hoping for better Diablo stories in the future.

[Israha · Rating 3 out of 5]

V popisech akce a fungování světa Diabla v celé své temnotě a drsnosti výborné, ale snaha o epický dějový oblouk tomu ve své nedotaženosti a zkratkovitosti podráží nohy. Darrick Lang coby hlavní postava není tak vrstevnatý a propracovaný, jak se ho autor pokouší ztvárnit; lidský záporák je nevýrazná figurka a démon v pozadí je spíš anonymním hybatelem dění, než zajímavým charakterem. Snaha o přesah za hranice "obyčejné" sword and sorcery fantasy se zde Melu Odomovi spíše vymstila. Ve výsledku spíš průměrné čtení, které zaujme zdařile napsanými souboji a atraktivním herním světem, ale už méně zápletkou a nosnými motivy příběhu.

[Scotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, much like the first entry of the Sin War trilogy, took some time to get going. There were a lot of characters and concepts to be introduced, and some of them ended up not being too terribly important, but that kind of worked out by masking real plotlines until the reveal. Then, before you know it, you're more than halfway through the book.

Overall, I found Legacy of Blood to have some clunky writing at times, but it was a solid story with some real heart put into the execution. With branded fantasy like the Diablo series or even the World of Warcraft books, that's really what should matter most, in my opinion.

[Kan Nordlof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diablo is my favorite game franchise of all time. As a fan of the lore and world of sanctuary, it’s always fun to get to explore the stories that happen outside of the games themselves. This book does not disappoint. Tons of gore, swords and sorcery, and of course, demons! Enjoyable character arcs, and some genuinely horrific scenes and monstrosities. Give it a read!

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

It starts out a lot of fun and as it goes it gets worse. I got tired of the mopey main character and random characters get tossed in at the right time to make something happen. I was so tired of hearing about the main characters child abuse and his dead friend.

[Carlos Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro de espada y brujería entretenido, con muchas batallas pero poca chicha. Los personajes tenían cierto carisma, aunque a Mat le hacía mas desarrollo.

[Chips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of Diablo

[Derrick McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Great ending.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

How do you make pirates, church cults and summoning demons boring and a chore to read?

[Sarah Ehinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit of a slog. The story didn't really allow me to like any of the characters, and the storyline wasn't strong enough to overcome that lack.

[Vincent Hagman]

Excellent book!

[Jason Pym · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really good, way better than it needed to be. Definitely checking out more of Mel Odom's stuff.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining pulp fiction with Diablo flavoring

[Fatih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oncelikle kitabı alma sebebim olan ana hikayeyle uzaktan yakından alakası yok Siyah Yol'un. Daha kitabın tanıtımında Kabraxis'in sıkıcı bir iblis olduğu anlaşılıyor zaten. Diablo, Baal gibi değil daha ezik bi iblis bu. Kitap size aslında Kabraxis'in de korkulması gereken bir iblis olduğuna ikna etmeye çalışsa bile bunu başaramıyor.

Ana karakterimiz Darrick Lang de keza aynı. Klişe bir şekilde bütün kitap boyunca ailevi sorunları ile başetmeye çalışıyoruz. Bu da kimi zaman "yeter artık" diye tepki vermeme yol açtı. Yazar Darrick'in hayatını aşırı dramatize etmeye çalışıp öyküyü bozmuş bence. Böyle bir hikayeye yakışır epik bir baş karakter beklerken, bunu alamadım.

Kitabın bana yararı öğrendiğim bir kaç denizcilik terimi oldu, onun dışında çok kötü bir hikaye olmasa da tavsiye edebileceğim bir kitap değil. Belki 400 sayfa değil de 200-250 sayfalık bir kitap olsaydı hikaye daha canlı tutulabilirdi.

[Freezard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst novel I've ever managed to finish. I had to skim through the first 100 pages since nothing happens at all and there's no sign of the story even being fantasy. It's about pirates sailing on the sea. Pirates!? I've never seen a single pirate in all of the first three games. When the demon appears and The Block Road is introduced, things become more interesting, but in the end, I skipped most of the chapters about the main character Darrick Lang and his pirate adventures. There's literally 1-2 pages of Diablo lore in here, the rest is generic fantasy including the enemies.

As if it couldn't get worse, it all ended in a very anticlimactic way: the way Buyard Cholik (the demon Kabraxis' apprentice) was killed was laughable, considering I found him to be built up in a pretty interesting way, definitely my favorite character from this novel.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good start of a Trilogy (The Black Road, Legacy of Blood, The Kingdom of Shadow). The characters, although written well, barely kept my interest. Especially the main protoganist Darrick Lang. I had to fight the urge to shelve it, and fight through some pages, which is why it took me an unholy amount of time to finish it. At times, it felt like Season 2 of 'The Walking Dead' TV series or the beginning of 'Breaking Bad', where you feel kind of lost and depressed. But eventually it picked up enough and turned out to be really enjoyable.

I would recommend this as a good start of the Trilogy, if you are planning to read the books that take place in the first 3 games.

[Tyler Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most definitely my favorite book of the series. I plan on reading this again quite possibly in the near future. I love this book, to me this book never really was boring. Honestly the most boring part of the book was maybe the first 5 pages after that it was a delight to keep going on. I will say the epilogue was also uninteresting to me but was nice to have. Mat was my favorite character but that changed around chapter 10 I believe.Raithen was also a fairly impresive character in the book. Would recommend to any reader who likes fantasy/fiction.

[Razvan Bucur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Darrick Lang, a young sailor in the Westmarch Navy with a lot of issues from his childhood and from his super abusive father, who at the end turns to be a hero, a healer and a portal for the Black Road, his own body becoming a demonic host that he was only able to keep in check with the aid of Stormfury.
This is also the story of the renegade Zakarum priest, Buyard Cholik, who's searching for immortality and power and is ready to walk over skeletons & swear allegiance to a demon feared by the Prime Evils.
Overall is a good read for a Diablo fan.

[TL Jeffcoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a terrible book, it's well written, and the characters are well played. I enjoyed the book from beginning to end, but after I was done, I just felt that overall it was just ok. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but the only thing I can think it must be is that this book could have taken place in any setting. I was looking for something more related to the game. It isn't a bad story though. A fun read.