Blackwood Marauders

I discovered KS Villoso through The Wolf of Oren Yaro, and after reading that I was keen to try some more of her works. Having backed Dyrk Ashton's Paternus KS, this work was included in a bundle of eNovels included.

Blackwood Marauder's is set in the same world as The Wolf of Oren Yaro, but works as a standalone story following Luc ‘Lucky' apn Jak, the adopted son of a farmer. He initially dreams of joining the army to help support his family. However, because he is racially foreign he is rejected. He ends up joining up with a rag tag group of mercenaries.

Luc is an incredibly likeable character, written with just the right amount of naivete to make his luckiness fun rather than irritating or unbelievable. He has his code which he follows. The story is essentially a coming of age tale as we watch Luc evolve from a simple farmboy into a mercenary leader. An enjoyable and well written romp and actually a very good introduction into Villoso's writing as a standalone in the world that she explore more in other works