Villians by Necessity

After an all-out war, Good has at last truimphed over Evil. Peace, milk and cookies now reign over all the kingdoms. But something is wrong. The total victory of the forces of Good has created an internal imbalance in the universe and now, unless Evil is raised up to a measure of its former glory, the world will end. It falls upon an assorted group of leftover minor villains and misfits to save the day. Included in this contentious band are: Sam, a bored assassin always clothed in black; Arcie, his vertically-challenged sneakthief sidekick; Valeriana, an embittered sorceress; Kaylana, a Druid priestess; Blackmail, a mute black knight; and Robin, a naive minstrel-centaur who chronicles the villains' deeds. Pursued and harried at every turn by the minions of Good, with a spy lurking in their midst, this bunch of lowlifes must learn to co-exist and then somehow reopen the magically sealed Darkgate and release darkness back into the world. Only the Good die young? Not in this book. Eve Forward may be the daughter of sci-fi writer Robert L. Forward but this debut novel is more reminiscent of Roger Zelazny's work, in its wit, tone and predisposition to upending themes. She writes with zest and imparts a sense of satiric fun to the epic proceedings. Her oily-haired assassin Sam is an endearing character, never mind that he's technically a bad guy. I fervently hope she puts out more books in the feature. I wouldn't mind a bit if she revisits this fantasy universe. Lastly, this book needs to be re-released and soon. I've looked everywhere for a copy and the lowest price I've found is $38.25 for a paperback from the original printing.

What happened AFTER the Heroes saved the world and entered into a time of great prosperity? Now we know! It plays both ways. A hard-to-find book, to be sure. My one complaint (ok, two) is that the publisher has decided not to reprint it, and that a sequel hasn't been written! It is an ingenius story line and screams to be a series and/or a movie! I highly recommend it for anyone who is into Fantasy or is thinking about it! Some of the scenes and aspects of the book I would have liked to see fleshed out more, and further character development. However, as books go, it is a supreme balance of plot, background, and interaction and is one of my all-time favorites!

In a twist on the usual fantasy story, Forward's heroes are not classically good-hearted heroes, but instead villians. Including an assassin, an evil sorceress, a greedy thief, and a black knight, the main characters are likable and intriguing. They band together to save the world from destruction by the powers of good.In the beginning, I found the characters one-dimensional. However, as the story quickly unfolded, I was fascinated to see that both character introspection and interaction developed their personalities to an amazing degree. After that, even minor, short-lived characters managed to grab my attention fully.There are a number of sly digs at other fantasy works, which make Villians By Necessity an even funnier book if you're well-read in fantasy novels.

Golly, so much to say about this book, and so little time. Well, first off, it was a wonderful twist on the usual good-going-off-to-battle-evil storyline, and showing interesting reprecussions of that particular storyline as well. So, take the plot, an interesting twist on an old (good vs evil) concept, and you've got the makings for a great story. Now, onto characters. I have read hundreds of books in my day, and, with the exception of Kaylana (and I believe she was supposed to be like that, too), I have never read a more likable cast of characters. Forward did some real character development, again, giving the usual one-dimensional bad guys depth- the heartsick, black-clad blond assassin, who kinda of likes rhymes, for example, and the dark sorceress who saw her family brutally murdered at the hands of heroes, simply for being what they were. Interesting, interesting, I say. A great book. I just finished reading it for the sixth time.

You know this has happened to you. You're reading a traditional, high-fantasy type novel. About fifty pages in, you're skimming through the third long-winded, introspective inner monologue of the hero of the story about battling the evil in his heart. Don't you just wish sometimes that the bad guy, who's usually a much more interesting person anyway, would just come up and whack him? This is the book for you. Along with all the traditional aspects of high fantasy--the warrior, the mage, the theif, quests, labyrinths and insurmountable odds--this book has a wicked sense of humor and depth, and characters that will stay with you forever. It's for those of us who have always wanted to step on the lovable gnomes, smack around vapid princesses and say "BWA-HAHAHAAAA!!" and mean it. Definitely my favorite book of all time :)