This was very meat-and-potatoes high-testosterone epic fantasy, and while I would have suspected the author of drawing on gaming sources even if I didn't already know it was a tie-in novel, it still mostly read like an actual epic fantasy and not like something written to sell miniatures.That said, the world, a sort of steampunk fantasy Russia where certain people have the ability to magically control "steamjacks," steam-powered mechanical golems, could not escape its derivative feel, and the "hero," while given a certain amount of depth for someone who's transformed into a raging hulk of a killing machine, went through every trope in the book to detail his "crucible of pain" yadda yadda.First Orsus Zoktavir's family is killed by evil beast-men raiders. Then, growing up as the biggest, strongest man around, he's recruited by a criminal gang, then meets his one true love who wants him to quit all that killing and nastiness, so Orsus agrees to quit after one final job that will make him enough money to pay for their wedding, and if you can't see where this is going then you must be either ten years old or you've never read a dark fantasy novel before.Once Orsus has lost everyone he ever cared about, he turns into the biggest, baddest "Warcaster" ever, until he finally goes crazy and has to be brought before the queen in chains, having maxed himself out as a human superweapon.This was a violent, action-packed story that was quite a lot of fun, fairly well plotted (even with the segments going back and forth in time), and which I could almost forgive for being a tie-in novella.That said - who the hell thought this merited a Hugo? It's popcorn. It's written for teenage boys to sell them miniatures of ridiculously 'roided dudes in ridiculous suits of powered armor. Kudos to Dan Wells for taking such an inherently silly premise and making a real character out of it, but there is nothing original or fantastic enough here to make it stand out. I am so not the audience for this kind of story. It's about some sort of giant, warlike man, who maybe, kind-of has some sort of personal honor, except that he occasionally has these fits where he murders absolutely everyone around him. There's manpain about his dead wife and how he thinks he failed her. There's also some bit in there about a young queen who wants him to kill for her. It's part of a larger universe and I'm sure had I read any of those stories this would have made more sense to me because it really seems like the origin story of the queen's killer.
What do You think about The Butcher Of Khardov (2013)?
The Butchers tale is a kinda a sad one.dude goes crazy for a pretty good reason
—mazhar
