Book Review: Damoren by Seth Skorkowsky
I'm a huge Seth Skorkowsky fan and that is both on his Youtube channel (which mostly reviews tabletop RPGs) as well as his fantasy writing. I happen to know the guy in real life and he's a fantastic supporter of indie writing as well as gamers. So, understand I'm a bit biased but I don't have to be because the books he writes are genuinely fantastic. So much so that I wish he'd take more of a break from his channel to write more of them.
My favorite of his books is undoubtedly the Valducan series and, specifically, the first book called DAMOREN. The premise of this is that a demon slaying gunslinger has a magic gun that he is overly protective of because it has a consciousness of some sort. Matt Hollis may or may not be a demon as well but isn't sure. It has kept him from being recruited by the Valducan demon hunters, though. A group that isn't sure whether to kill him or recruit him.
Until events insist on the latter.
What follows is a fascinating story of Matt joining an organization that is full of weird and interesting characters that each have their own dangerous magical artifact. The Holy Weapons, which aren't very holy, are all things their owners are obsessed with. However, said Holy Weapons are the only thing that are capable of destroying the evil spirits that inhabit your typical werewolf or demon. If they're not killed by a holy weapon, they can just move onto a new host in this world. Which I found to be a very clever idea.
This is a good urban fantasy novel and verges closer to action horror than some of the more quippy superhero-esque stories that are out there today. This is a terrifying world where there's not many recourses against the supernatural and the Valducan group is on its last legs despite how successful they've been holding the line for a few centuries.
The world-building is also extremely well-done, highlighting Seth Skorkowsky's tabletop game experience. He basically thinks through all the various questions about how this world works in terms of monster variety, social elements, hierarchy, and other things that other writers kind of just skip past. I think this helps ground the action and makes a world that you could imagine not only reading about but playing in if you are a gamer.
Matt Hollis is a great antihero protagonist that is dark and edgy like so many others but also someone who would very much like to have friends or associates. Unfortunately, not only is he possibly tainted by the very forces that he's faced but he's socially awkward in a way that everyone assumes is standoffishness.
In conclusion, Damoren is a fantastic novel and if you want an action-packed well-designed adventure then this is something to pick up. It was written as a standalone novel but has several sequels. I think this is also best appreciated in audiobook form as RC Bray did the narration and it was fantastic.
