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The Witch Hunter
“Everyone assumes you’re some sort of monster, Richter. The man who kills crones and slays ladies. A hunter of the helpless you are and yet, when the time comes, they find they must hire you anyway. That they both offer you crowns and do not stab you in the back requires of them an enormous sense of charity and constraint alike. It is in these trepidations and suspicions that our commerce finds common ground. You the witch hunter, myself the mercenary.”
Hated. Distrusted. Needed. Richter von Dagentear, a witch hunter known in legend as the Wight, traverses a realm falling headfirst into war. To survive, he will have to betray his profession’s purpose and undertake a task that goes against everything he believes in. All that stands in his way are backstabbing nobles, cruel sellswords, terrible beasts, and a mysterious traveler from another world.
~~~
Battle Brothers is set in a gritty, low fantasy medieval world with a focus on the common man. Here, everyday people are not concerned with the happenings of history and their belief in the future is about as far flung as tomorrow’s sunrise. It is about getting you and yours fed and making it to the next day. With money being scarce and the wilds full of danger, many turn to mercenaries, witch hunters, beast slayers, and more. These lowly vocations fulfill a need: to take all the world’s violence and – hopefully – point it somewhere useful.
Accolades for Battle Brothers:
“… Battle Brothers' writing is great …” - PCGamer
“… abundant and high-quality for a procedurally generated game writing …” - GameBanshee
"The writing is very good at setting the mood with descriptive prose that reminds me of dark fantasy novels such as Glen Cook's 'Black Company' series." - TechRaptor
"Simple, but interesting premise with great writing." - KeenGamer
"I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic quality of the writing. [...] The writing perfectly matches the tone of game that Overhype Studios has set out to make." - Attack of the Fanboy
Hated. Distrusted. Needed. Richter von Dagentear, a witch hunter known in legend as the Wight, traverses a realm falling headfirst into war. To survive, he will have to betray his profession’s purpose and undertake a task that goes against everything he believes in. All that stands in his way are backstabbing nobles, cruel sellswords, terrible beasts, and a mysterious traveler from another world.
~~~
Battle Brothers is set in a gritty, low fantasy medieval world with a focus on the common man. Here, everyday people are not concerned with the happenings of history and their belief in the future is about as far flung as tomorrow’s sunrise. It is about getting you and yours fed and making it to the next day. With money being scarce and the wilds full of danger, many turn to mercenaries, witch hunters, beast slayers, and more. These lowly vocations fulfill a need: to take all the world’s violence and – hopefully – point it somewhere useful.
Accolades for Battle Brothers:
“… Battle Brothers' writing is great …” - PCGamer
“… abundant and high-quality for a procedurally generated game writing …” - GameBanshee
"The writing is very good at setting the mood with descriptive prose that reminds me of dark fantasy novels such as Glen Cook's 'Black Company' series." - TechRaptor
"Simple, but interesting premise with great writing." - KeenGamer
"I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic quality of the writing. [...] The writing perfectly matches the tone of game that Overhype Studios has set out to make." - Attack of the Fanboy
490 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 15, 2022
55 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 21, 2022
The Witch Hunter was always going to be a book that I was predisposed to like. I’ve been known to enjoy books that are on the darker side and a little grim shall we say. Throw in the fact that it is based on a game, in this case Battle Brothers, and yeah you could say I was eager to get started. I don’t think I was prepared for just how dark this book was, but once I got used to the tone and the writing style I settled in quite nicely with it. This book was really impressive in its world-building and action sequences. Some of the battle scenes are so intense that I found myself clenching my teeth at times. But I guess that’s to be expected seeing as how this book take its roots from a pretty action-packed game with battles galore. It’s easy to see why Casey Hollingshead is the head writer for Battle Brothers because there’s much more depth to his writing than simply hammering out one dark and bloody sequence after the other. Dare I say I got pretty connected to these characters as well? Whether it be main character and witch hunter Richter or the side characters, each was brought to life in a vivid and very real way. Ultimately once I turned the final page I simply wanted another book pronto because this one ends with some questions that I need answering. But that’s also part of the fun of The Witch Hunter, the mysteries it puts forth kept me sucked in and now I just have to read every installment from here on out. Definitely enjoyed this one a great deal!
April 22, 2022
The “video game adapted into a movie” genre is a generally disappointing one, so I was skeptical how well a “video game adapted into a book” would fare. However since Battle Brothers is one of my all time favorite games and I enjoyed all of the in-game stories and writing I decided to buy the book not knowing much else.
It’s the story of Richter the witch hunter who after slaying a witch that he was contracted to pursue, he finds a trapped young orphan that reminds him of himself. His journey to find a good long term place for the boy takes them various places with mercenary companies and caravans encountering foes of all kinds. All the while they are pursued by a mysterious and malevolent entity.
I enjoyed the compelling adventure and I really hope the author writes more books that explore this medieval low fantasy world that he’s created.
I do have two complaints though:
1) While I get it’s a violent world with adult situations, I still feel like the grossness and gore were over the top sometimes (particularly in chapter 2)
2) I like mysteries in stories, but I feel like too many of them remained unanswered at the end of the book.
It’s the story of Richter the witch hunter who after slaying a witch that he was contracted to pursue, he finds a trapped young orphan that reminds him of himself. His journey to find a good long term place for the boy takes them various places with mercenary companies and caravans encountering foes of all kinds. All the while they are pursued by a mysterious and malevolent entity.
I enjoyed the compelling adventure and I really hope the author writes more books that explore this medieval low fantasy world that he’s created.
I do have two complaints though:
1) While I get it’s a violent world with adult situations, I still feel like the grossness and gore were over the top sometimes (particularly in chapter 2)
2) I like mysteries in stories, but I feel like too many of them remained unanswered at the end of the book.
April 9, 2022
I was going to give it a 4, but I think it deserves the 5 on account of it being different than the mainstream grimdark novels out there. Really nice atmosphere, and I liked the portrayal of the witches and how witch hunters are perceived by the population. You'd think that after being kidnapped 3 times, a character would wise up and not be kidnapped a 4th, though...
Hope there's a sequel to tie it up soon.
Hope there's a sequel to tie it up soon.
Did Not Finish
October 19, 2022The Witch Hunter is one of Team Queen's Book Asylum's SPFBO 8 semi-finalists. Our group review can be read on Queen's Book Asylum, and our overall rating was 6/10.
My personal rating is 4/10.
I think I’ll just go and rip the band-aid off: I did not like The Witch Hunter. In fact, I only managed to read 41%, which I know is less than 50% but I honestly couldn’t see my opinion changing all that much. As I was trying to put my thoughts together, I kept wondering why this book fell short for me. Is it the book? Is it me? The truth might be a little bit of both. While I enjoyed grimdark books in the past, I haven’t read much of them in a while. I simply wasn’t in the mood for them. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to appreciate one. And so, my main issue with The Witch Hunter was that when it was grimdark, it was a bit over the top. It felt like the extra gorey details were there for shock value. Less could have been more. Also, everything is just bleak in this world. The characters, the places, the situations. Except for maybe Hobbs, an innocent child who strikes an unlikely friendship with Richter. The only thing I actually liked about this book were their relationship and conversations. Other than that, I was either bored or disgusted. Or confused as suddenly there was a siege going on out of the blue.
It started out well-ish, though. After the first chapter I had this vibe, like the real Grimm tales, just the grimmness turned up by a notch. Or two. Or a lot. The encounter with the witch could have been a great set up if Richter didn’t loose my interest pretty quickly. I just couldn’t see any purpose to him or his actions. It probably didn’t help that there is a long journeying sequence, which is something I don’t like much reading about. The only mildly interesting character is Yuchi, who follows Richter’s trail, but even he remains pretty much one dimensional. I wish I was invested enough to find out about the whole Davkul business, but alas, The Witch Hunter really wasn’t my cup of tea, which doesn’t mean the lovers of the genre wouldn’t find it more enjoyable than I did. It certainly has a dark german folklore taste to it, sprinkled with violence and battles. Being a debut novel, it leaves some things to be desired, but it surely will find its audience – as you can see from the reviews of some of my fellow judges.
My personal rating is 4/10.
I think I’ll just go and rip the band-aid off: I did not like The Witch Hunter. In fact, I only managed to read 41%, which I know is less than 50% but I honestly couldn’t see my opinion changing all that much. As I was trying to put my thoughts together, I kept wondering why this book fell short for me. Is it the book? Is it me? The truth might be a little bit of both. While I enjoyed grimdark books in the past, I haven’t read much of them in a while. I simply wasn’t in the mood for them. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to appreciate one. And so, my main issue with The Witch Hunter was that when it was grimdark, it was a bit over the top. It felt like the extra gorey details were there for shock value. Less could have been more. Also, everything is just bleak in this world. The characters, the places, the situations. Except for maybe Hobbs, an innocent child who strikes an unlikely friendship with Richter. The only thing I actually liked about this book were their relationship and conversations. Other than that, I was either bored or disgusted. Or confused as suddenly there was a siege going on out of the blue.
It started out well-ish, though. After the first chapter I had this vibe, like the real Grimm tales, just the grimmness turned up by a notch. Or two. Or a lot. The encounter with the witch could have been a great set up if Richter didn’t loose my interest pretty quickly. I just couldn’t see any purpose to him or his actions. It probably didn’t help that there is a long journeying sequence, which is something I don’t like much reading about. The only mildly interesting character is Yuchi, who follows Richter’s trail, but even he remains pretty much one dimensional. I wish I was invested enough to find out about the whole Davkul business, but alas, The Witch Hunter really wasn’t my cup of tea, which doesn’t mean the lovers of the genre wouldn’t find it more enjoyable than I did. It certainly has a dark german folklore taste to it, sprinkled with violence and battles. Being a debut novel, it leaves some things to be desired, but it surely will find its audience – as you can see from the reviews of some of my fellow judges.
May 17, 2022
Four stars because it has some really genuinely great writing, and sequences, in parts (especially during the first encounter with a witch). I also found the characters to be relatable and entertaining, and the plot to be decent (though very open-ended).
I would've liked to see more witch hunting, but it is based on a mercenary game so not too surprised!
In parts too the flow was interrupted by dialogue that lent towards the philosophical or 'wise', which would really have benefit from characters reacting to it, to flesh out the meaning behind their statements. By all means show, don't tell, but I found myself sometimes reading back over a section to divine the meaning more than once when it wasn't immediately obvious.
(Also theoretical points deducted for usage of 'y'all' in a fantasy setting).
Overall good book from a lesser known author, recommend.
As a final note, just be warned that it leaves lots of unanswered questions. I believe the author mentioned on Reddit that a draft sequel is already written so that's forgivable.
I would've liked to see more witch hunting, but it is based on a mercenary game so not too surprised!
In parts too the flow was interrupted by dialogue that lent towards the philosophical or 'wise', which would really have benefit from characters reacting to it, to flesh out the meaning behind their statements. By all means show, don't tell, but I found myself sometimes reading back over a section to divine the meaning more than once when it wasn't immediately obvious.
(Also theoretical points deducted for usage of 'y'all' in a fantasy setting).
Overall good book from a lesser known author, recommend.
As a final note, just be warned that it leaves lots of unanswered questions. I believe the author mentioned on Reddit that a draft sequel is already written so that's forgivable.
March 13, 2024
Pulpy fiction enjoyable for fans of the video game Battle Brothers. Set in the same universe, it holds the same grimdark charm of the video game. If you enjoyed the writing in the in-game events, you’ll probably enjoy this book. There’s some references to the game sprinkled throughout and it does a great job expanding more on the Hexen and some of the wildlife found in the game.
However, the setting doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. There’s not much concrete worldbuilding and the more you think about why the kingdoms are set the way they are, how the nobility are still in charge in spite of being so inept, why practically every male character is a horrible person the less it makes sense. There’s essentially no political, social, or even military structure to the setting.
In terms of writing, the plot was enjoyable for the most part but the pacing was a bit chaotic and the characterization left something to be desired. Looking forward to reading the second novel, and I hope it improves upon the worldbuilding and the writing.
However, the setting doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. There’s not much concrete worldbuilding and the more you think about why the kingdoms are set the way they are, how the nobility are still in charge in spite of being so inept, why practically every male character is a horrible person the less it makes sense. There’s essentially no political, social, or even military structure to the setting.
In terms of writing, the plot was enjoyable for the most part but the pacing was a bit chaotic and the characterization left something to be desired. Looking forward to reading the second novel, and I hope it improves upon the worldbuilding and the writing.
October 6, 2025
I was initially worried this book would rely too heavily on game references and it would take me out of it, after reading it however I could not have been more wrong. This book could exist happily if Battle Brothers did not, the world building and characters are all independently built up with the occasional reference. The pacing of the book is well done and keeps you wanting to read more. The main character, whilst gruff, is not a boring one note, too cool for school monster hunter, but a well fleshed out interesting protagonist with Depth and Growth. I really enjoyed this book and will likely read the sequel. Shoutout Richter.
September 30, 2024
Davkul is patient. Davkul awaits us all. 😁
Battle Brothers is one of my favourite games. So when I discovered there were novels set in the world of Battle Brothers, I had to check them out.
There is more than enough here to appeal to fans of the game. Casey Hollingshead has managed to capture the brutal nature of the world, and the perilous life of a sell-sword in a mercenary company.
But it should also appeal to people unfamiliar with the game, but whole are looking for a low fantasy grim setting.
Battle Brothers is one of my favourite games. So when I discovered there were novels set in the world of Battle Brothers, I had to check them out.
There is more than enough here to appeal to fans of the game. Casey Hollingshead has managed to capture the brutal nature of the world, and the perilous life of a sell-sword in a mercenary company.
But it should also appeal to people unfamiliar with the game, but whole are looking for a low fantasy grim setting.
October 10, 2024
Enjoyable, if a little too OTT on the explicit gore. I don't mind some gore, but a lot of this just seemed to be for the sake of it.
Liked the characters and was good fun, especially if you play the game itself. I imagine still enjoyable if you don't though.
Lots of unanswered questions by the end of the story, but there's a book 2 so that's all good
Liked the characters and was good fun, especially if you play the game itself. I imagine still enjoyable if you don't though.
Lots of unanswered questions by the end of the story, but there's a book 2 so that's all good
November 3, 2025
Love the game. Casey is one of the story developers for the Battle Brothers game which is by far my favorite game of all time. This book is a great companion to that game. Fantastic characters and everything you could want from medieval fantasy.
April 5, 2022
If you enjoyed the little side stories in battle brothers you will enjoy this book.
April 19, 2022
Excellent insight into the Battle Brothers world, great characters and story. Does go a little hard on the dark and gritty fantasy but never to an overwhelming degree
January 22, 2024
Surprisingly good. And it's free on kindle unlimited. It's shocking to find a book this good there. Fantasy lovers and or Battle Brother players will really like this. It's brutal :)
October 17, 2024
Good but GORY.
December 31, 2024
A storyline and setting so similar to Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series that it's hard to separate the two and designate originality. Still good, but not as fresh as I'd hoped.
August 20, 2025
I love battle brothers my favorite video game ever and this book encapsulates the atmosphere of the game so swell and the world building is bussin.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews