The Hollow King
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A wandering vampire hunts for the sorcerer who ruined his kingdom Cado Ezechiar is a wanderer who has outlived the memory of the age that made him. A Soulblight vampire who accepted the curse as his people and kingdom fell to Chaos, he now roams the Realm of Death and beyond seeking retribution and salvation for the ones he failed. Aided by the bound spirits of those he lost, Cado follows a path of revenge, hunting the servants of Chaos to slake his need for blood while seeking the Sorcerer of Change who destroyed his kingdom. When his hunt leads him to the free city of Aventhis, Cado becomes caught up in the machinations of greater powers – beings who see the city and its people as dust in the eyes of ambitious gods. Torn between his code of honour and his desire for vengeance, Cado must navigate a web of war and deceit, or lose everything.
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The Hollow King asks the question we've all been thinking but were too scared to voice: “what if Edward Cullen but his family got killed by Tzeench and he had a zombie dragon?”
Cado Ezechiar was a mortal king but after his kingdom is destroyed by chaos cultists and he is almost killed, he accepts the curse of the soulblight to give him new un-life to track down the chaos worshippers and exact his revenge. This path leads him to a mortal city in the realm of death where he has to dodge city guards, witch-hunters, psychopathic Lumineth and Ossiarch Bonereapers to try to find the cult of the Burning Hand and bring his justice to bear.
It's a bit unfair to liken this book to Twilight and I did actually like it quite a bit. But I think its worth noting and getting out the way early that is a somewhat defanged soulblight. I can't say I'm the most knowledgeable about soulblight lore, but in the other stories I've read they are definitely not the ‘good guys'. Of course there are plenty of examples in the Black Library of ‘the baddies' being given a sympathetic treatment while, nonetheless, remaining totally terrible people, Arron Demsky Bowden's Night Lords books being perhaps one of the best examples. That's not the approach taken here though. Instead, Cado has all the innocent-murdering, blood-sucking edges knocked off to try to make him a protagonist we want to root for.
It's a choice and I don't think it's an inherently bad one. I just think you should be aware of it before you pick this up, and if that doesn't sound like your thing, maybe read something else.
Also, Cado is an idiot. Much like John French's Ahriman, for some reason, everyone (including a five-year-old girl) somehow gets the better of him. Even when he is confronting bad guys to throw off the mask of their deceit, he still manages to get it wrong and winds up almost dead.
I don't want this review to sound like a panning of this book. I really enjoyed it. Cado is a pretty cool character and he gains some very likeable side-kicks along the way. There are some super cool and creepy baddies, a plot with a few decent twists that sustains your interest throughout and a very metal final battle involving a zombie dragon.
I think this is a very solid mortal realms book and a good introduction to Cado which definitely leaves the door open for his return in future novels. It isn't a classic, but I'd certainly pick up his next adventure if French does write more. In the meantime, if you like this one, I think you'd also like the Vaults of Terra series The Carrion Throne and The Hollow Mountain. Although set in the 41st Millenium, these books are also driven forward by their central mystery and have some good plot twists. For something set in the Mortal Realms, maybe try Callis and Toll: The Silver Shard, which is a more straightforward plot but also very enjoyable.
