The Doom Guardian

by Terri Lynn Felix
(Philadelphia, PA)

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Number of Pages: 200*

Year of Publication: 2010

Crown Discussion Rating: 3

Crown Book Rating: 4

Short Summary: A dhampir with assassins on her trail takes on what is suppose to be a simple assignment to dispose of ghouls terrorizing a small town. But the situation becomes complicated when she finds herself wrapped up in both the escape plans of a fleeing jewel thief and a the quest of a dwarf with a mission to retrieve the mystical chaos diamond from the Mouth of Chaos to restore a magical ward that protects the world.

Short Opinion: The Doom Guardian is an exciting and fun read thanks to the interesting cast of characters. Nadia Gareth is a half vampire who works for the church, hunting down undead monsters, necromancers, demons, and whatever else may threaten the land. She is first presented as a morose and brooding character, but slowly reveals a quirky and at times morbid sense of humor as she becomes more comfortable with her new traveling companions. Nigel Stormthorn is a dark elf that tricks Nadia into helping him escape the law, but then finds himself drawn into the quest to save the world from the evil workings of the undead god known as Vagruth. His cavalier attitude suppresses his own deep-rooted insecurities. The dwarf, Darseidon Stonecleaver, is the much put-upon backbone of the group, often serving as referee between Nadia and Nigel. The evolving relationship between these three characters leads to surprises story twists that will keep the reader reading.

The main antagonists in the novel are a group of baddies called simply The Necromancers. Worshippers of Vagruth, they are seeking to free their god from his eternal prison in order to destroy the world. The author avoids the epic, world-shaking battle scenes common with this sort of story, and instead focuses on the more localized effects. We become personally vested in the world as we watch the characters move through it, from the engineering marvels in Greystout to the hidden slave auctions in Zaronbar. Each region has a distinct personality that is shaped by the events going on. There is still of course plenty of fighting going on, but instead of the glamorized heroism one would expect, our heroes are more that ready to engage in trickery and underhanded brute tactics to get a job done.

The conclusion leave a lot of unanswered questions, and sets up a potential series of books in the world.

*The book is available in print at Amazon.com. My review is based on the ebook version available at Smashwords.com