*Warinng: Major Spoilers Ahead!*
We all love underdogs. Rocky Balboa. Daniel Larusso. Harry Potter. Peter Parker.
Waldo Corpselover isn't necessarily one of those.
Born to the most powerful dark mage family in Aletha, he hasn't wanted for anything. Sure, his older brother Walter is a zombie who is constantly trying to kill him, his sister Gwendolyn is a ghost, and his grandfather, the powerful arch-lich Lucius, wants to drink his blood for the "evulz". Still, his isn't bad, all things considered.
His mother Lilith. the head of the Corpselover clan, loves him dearly, and Waldo has been blessed with immense magical talent on top of living in the lap of luxury. Problem is, his talent is in Light magic, healing and protection specifically.
Waldo is annoyed about being the white sheep of the family. He wants to crush his enemies and conquer the world just like everybody else. But he can't do the simplest dark spell, and contrary to his upbringing, has not developed the cold, borderline sociopathic mentality needed to survive in the harsh, back-stabbing world of dark mage politics.
This problem of Waldo's magical orientation comes to a head when Lilith's enemies, the other heads of the seven ruling families, see an opportunity to get rid of Waldo, who they view as a mistake that must be dealt with, and weaken Lilith's position in one go.
Every dark mage must undergo a quest after they come of age to prove their worth. They must meet three requirements: they must bind three familiars to them, kill a knight, and steal a valuable treasure, not necessarily in that order.
But since Waldo is barely 16, and an inept dark mage, the other family heads see this quest as a suicide mission. Since several of Waldo's siblings died on their own quests, there is good reason to be confident that the plan will work.
Before setting out, Waldo gets some unexpected help from Ember, the household vampire butler. Despite hating Waldo's guts, Ember tells Waldo the locations of three powerful monsters. Gwendolyn, who is also a seer, cheers Waldo up by assuring him that he will "return in glory" within a few years time.
So despite some understandable nervousness, Waldo heads out on his quest determined to do bad by his family.
Waldo is not necessarily an underdog, but he is definitely a fish out of water. He has lived all his life in what is basically Mordor except with more undead than orcs walking around. As soon as he leaves Aletha, he freaks out over a bright sunny day, and is baffled that everyone he comes across doesn't fear him as a dark god. This "evil is good" mentality, very similar the Addams Family, is a great source of black comedy throughout the book. It constantly plays with your expectations of the classic fantasy adventure story.
There are times where it gets legitimately disturbing. Monsters and lower class humans are treated like chattel, to be bought and sold and bargained over. Only skilled workers have anything resembling real freedom. It definitely sucks to be a peasant. If you don't get killed for accidentally insulting a noble, a wizard can mess you up with impunity. Even the so-called white mages from Avalon are on the whole a bunch of religious zealots who want to destroy Aletha and all monsters everywhere, regardless of who or what they are.
Don't get me wrong, the black comedy, for the most part, works very well, but every character's callous disregard for the well-being of the lower classes gets outright creepy in parts. There are times where it's intentional, to be fair.
The plot really kicks off when when Waldo runs into his first familiar, a barmaid named Alice.
Waldo hit the jackpot with her. Not only is she a fiery redhead with a killer body, (quite literally being a succubus and all), but she also has super strength, razor sharp claws and the ability to charm men with a look, making them her willing love slaves.
Thanks to a funny bit of miscommunication and a botched binding ritual, the naïve sweet young girl believes that Waldo proposes to her, making them husband and wife. No matter how much Waldo protests that they are master and servant, this girl will not let her romantic fantasies go.
Alice and Waldo's relationship forms the crux of the whole book, and it is consistently entertaining and heartwarming.
Alice, despite being basically an indentured slave who has worked at a brothel most of her life, is surprisingly innocent. She is knowledgeable and tough when the story requires her to be, and it doesn't go against her character, but she is also a great foil for Waldo, acting as his conscience and common sense all in one role.
Her willingness to look past all the horrible things he says and does has him questioning himself, but also allows him to be stronger as a person and mage by tempting him not just physically, but emotionally.
The writer does a good job of having these people with two internal struggles constantly butting heads, Alice wanting to not be seen as a creature of evil to be spurned and killed on sight, and Waldo wanting to be bad, and a large part of him fully believing it, but he just doesn't have it in him. I was constantly chuckling reading their back and forth. It's the classic "buddy cop" dynamic with a romantic undertone.
Is isn't all sickly sweet sunshine and rainbows between them, far from it in fact. The huge culture gap makes for a lot of funny material, but also gives us exposition and drama, switching constantly between all three. Especially when you find out why Waldo seems immune to her advances, and how he struggles to understand the female mind. Those parts are pretty run-of-the mill men vs. women humor; but more times and not, as Waldo reveals his background to Alice, there are some surprises.
There is a great scene when his grandfather Lucius, his powers somewhat diminished due to being undead, is still a serious threat to him and Alice. For the first time, Waldo really must confront the fact, that the 'smart' thing would be to use Alice as a shield and run, but his heart wins out. Waldo shows us that he has a conscience, and is actually quite a skilled mage.
The scene also really drives home how messed up Waldo's life has been up to this point. His grandfather is attempting to kill him, simply because Waldo's blood tastes good (apparently, the closer the relation, the better the flavor). Lucius, who was summoned by Walter (who even in death, can't let his jealousy go) wants to test his grandson before he kills him . Keep in mind, this is normal behavior in Altera. It's like all the worst families from Game of Thrones founded a nation together and just dropped all pretense of familial piety over time. It's just a great fight scene, showing us exactly why we should be on Waldo's side. Yes, he is still very much a villain, but he's hardly holds a candle to the monster that he's fighting.
I called Waldo "not really an underdog" earlier in the review, and throughout the book, he repeatedly show's that he's really not when you learn more about. The thing is, everyone else, basically everyone else who knows him besides his mother, sister, and lover, see him as one, which arguably makes him one anyway.
He's good at magic, he just refuses to accept that he's not built for truly evil spell work. He's naïve and self-centered, but also cunning, well-read and charismatic. He's clueless about women, but in a romantic scene near the end of the book that caught me off-guard with how sweet it was, shows himself to a lover talented enough to please a sex demon. Waldo has strengths and weaknesses like any other good character.
Even though the narrative switches between several characters besides Waldo, very few are really that interesting or really fleshed out. Although this is the first book in a series, there is plenty of time for character building, the cast feels thin right now.
Lilith Corpselover is by far the most interesting secondary character. A powerful and intelligent woman, she has risen to the top through talent and ruthlessness. She is an unrepentant villain; in one particularly uncomfortable scene she prolongs the torture of a young man, though indirectly, just to take a rival down a peg. Several household slaves are tortured and killed by Ember everyday and she doesn't bat an eye. Ember is her familiar, which means she could make him stop this at any point.
Yet, despite her cold-blooded, iron-fisted persona, she does have a genuine love for all her children, not just Waldo, and also his father, who is heavily hinted to have been a white mage. Her genuine grief over losing nearly all her children clashes with her mindset that might makes right, that you have to destroy threats to yourself and your family, either through physical force or psychological manipulation if necessary.
Lilith's personality, that of a monster who is neither sadistic, nor lenient, is fascinating to read. It is very hard, in my opinion, to create a noble demon character, yet the author pulls it off well.
Beyond her, the characters feel lackluster. Melissa, a white mage who hears of Waldo by chance, and is determined to track him down and bring him to harsh justice, is your typical white hat crusader,. Reading a religious zealot's thoughts isn't terribly exciting, especially when she isn't even insane per se, just dedicated to the job.
You have pompous nobles, greedy slaveholders, one note villains, albeit some smarter than others.
Even Ember isn't interesting, you would think he would be, being a vampire forced into servitude. His motivation for helping Waldo are for predictably selfish reasons.
Walter, who would think would be interesting, being an undead and a far better dark mage in life than Waldo, in a whiny narcissistic idiot who never shuts up about how he's the "true heir" to the Corpselover name. Everyone else is disgusted with him too, so he's meant to be annoying, but that doesn't add any points in my book.
The world this story takes place in very by-the-numbers as well. Mages use wands and incantations. The world is divided between slaves, peasants, nobility and royalty. Monsters are hated and feared by everyone; even the bad guys see them as useful canon fodder, nothing more. The currency system is straight out of an RPG. The monsters look and behave exactly like you think they will. Yes, Alice is a good person, but like any other succubus, she still needs to feed off of the lust of men to survive.
Outside of an interesting Cold War scenario between Aletha and Avalon, the white mage capital, there's nothing new here. Which is a shame, because the comedy is very good.
With a very interesting non-underdog on his way to becoming an unwilling anti-hero, a very sharp, sometimes uncomfortable dark sense of humor, and a very strong ending that makes you eager for the next book, The (Not So) Dark Mage is a good start. There's plenty of room for improvement, but there is a solid foundation here as well.
I can't wait to see how Waldo and Alice continue on their quest with their new friend Gronk, who is shaping up to be the most...unique ogre you've probably seen since Shrek. Definitely check this book out when you have a chance.
