Antihero

The One-Armed Warlock: Book One

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Audiobook Review - By Ray Johnson

The One-Armed Warlock: Book One

By: Durl White

Narrated by: BJ Whimpey

Series: The One-Armed Warlock, Book 1

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins


 This book was suggested to me, and to be frank I would have picked it up even if it hadn’t since the whole premise sounded crazy.  I mean it features an antihero and is full of gore and demons and such.  This was right up my alley.

The Good:

We start off with the apocalypse already in effect.  People are pretty much in their last days as more and more nightmarish things start showing up.

The Bad:

The game system isn’t really exciting or different, and the MC is fairly flexible in his viewpoint.  Honestly, I thought there was going to be bigger deal about his one arm, but it didn’t really seem to be any kind of a hindrance to him.

The Fugly:

I absolutely loved the baby companion.  Not  lot of writers would be baller enough to write something like that.  Also, the MC has a moral flexability in which he starts off as a caring individual but quickly turns into a blood thirsty menace.  I really attribute this to the fact that he is the thrall of a demon, and that his mind is being subtly controlled, even if he never realizes this.

Overall, for me the humor was weaker than I’d have preferred, but then I am spoiled by Rimmel and Ugland and my bar is set high.  Honestly, Whimpey might be to blame for that.  Humor is all about timing, patter, and inflection and I’m not sure he pulled it off as well as someone else might have.  Its hard to say but he is a newer narrator, and he may not have found his groove just yet. 

My overall score is 7 stars.  The story has some good parts, and Lord knows I love an anti-hero MC, but the pacing was slower than I’d have preferred, and the biggest issue is the complete lack of agency the MC has.  He is a mind-bound minion who has to do whatever he’s told, and when he is told to do something he never really complains or questions unless the commandments are going to get him killed.  I would have preferred Benjamin Dark to have been a complainer and smart mouth to his evil overlord.  Mini revolts until he figured out how to get his freedom.  I’m considering getting book 2, but I need to think on it some more.  This isn’t a bad book, but my socks stayed firmly where they were as I read it.


Review score: 7 out of 10

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Wail continues on with his deranged, egotistical antics – continuing down the road of pointless revenge. One directed at an obscured enemy, as he lashes out at the innocent – excuses thrown about at every turn. While dragging all those close and under him together towards an unknown destination. With real life all but pushed to the recess of his list of priorities, discarded as more of a chore than a commitment, a responsibility or simply – a pleasure. An occasional unpleasant outing drowned out by the events that seem to be swiftly developing towards something a self-destructive individual such as Wail would enjoy. Consequences looming ever closer as his actions are bound to draw unpleasant attention. A result of selfish actions that are bound to wound those around him more, than the warlock himself.

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