Warden is the second Kevin Hardman novel that I read and whileSensation was an overtly super-hero infused novel with a lot of sci-fi elements thrown in (and the occasional mystical/magical elements), Warden is the complete opposite. It deals with the arkane and the supernatural. Magic and monsters galore. And it was pretty good, if you ask me.
The things that I liked:
First of all, definitely the magic. I have always been a huge fan of stories that involve magic. I liked the way Kevin used it in his novel. The background and the setting were also very rich and well developed. It really gave me an incredible picture in my mind that made the book even easier to fall into. I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, but he was definitely a stronger character by the end of the book. My favorite character in the novel (which is a weird one because he's actually not in it a whole lot) was the MC's older brother, Tom. He was a strong, able person that knew his stuff and used it ruthlessly to stay alive and survive. The other characters were good too, but Tom had something that really gave him a spark, shall we say. The Wendigo was also a pretty cool monster. This one was smart and cunning. And the combination of those two things with the fact that he was nearly indestructible made him a truly terrifying creature. I also liked how the monster was defeated (I won't go into any details but it was pretty awesome).
The things that I didn't like:
There were some things that I wasn't fond of when it came to Warden. As I mentioned before, I wasn't a huge fan of the main character. He was very whiny and complained a lot. That and the fact that he wasn't willing to really learn the skills he needed to stay alive were also a little annoying. I"m not saying that it wasn't good for the story, however. I think that was what Kevin was aiming for and he did pull it off, I just am not a big fan of those kinds of characters in general. So, it's not a dig on the book, it's just my rule of thumb for the whiny characters. I also wasn't a huge fan of the main evil doer in the book (again, I cannot go into details at this time). I thought that part of the book didn't really mesh well with the rest of the novel. It felt disconnected to me, like they were two halves of two completely different stories. I also think that the story needed the MC's brother a little bit more. He was a really strong character and even though it wouldn't make sense for the story, I still wish he would've been in it a bit more.
Stars: Four of Five stars.
Overall, I did enjoy the story a lot. I'm a huge fan of that genre and I thought Kevin did a great job with it. There wasn't a whole lot that I disliked about it. I definitely enjoy Kevin Hardman's writing style and the stories he tells.
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