Review: Bringer of the Scourge by M. Daniel McDowell

Blurb:

When the end of ages comes for the empire, the princess must rescue herself.

Vierrelyne du Talorr, the last living daughter of the tyrant king, waits locked in a tower cell for the prophesied apocalypse only she can prevent. An army of three brittle allegiances, united under a rival prince, aims for the throne and lays siege to the castle in search of the princess and the fabled weaponry of the empire.

With the aid of her mentor in music and swords, and a desperate cultist sent to find her before the mercenaries do, Vierrelyne steals that formidable ancient weapon from her family crypt: a holy suit of armor and a diadem infused with the soul of a demon prince—the Bringer of the Scourge. With it, Vierrelyne discovers an unstoppable power, but the demon within is corrosive, hungry, and dangerously persuasive.

Vierrelyne is haunted by what it means to tame this power bequeathed to her, and by what means she might conquer it. When that rival prince finds her, it will take all the strength she can muster, for, if the dread prophecy is true, the weapons she wields may just destroy everything—and everyone—she holds dear.

Review:

The first time I truly looked over this book, the blurb of it, if you will, was during a community event held on SFF Insiders. Fast forward two months, and after entering a giveaway for a paperback copy, I was placing this on my shelf to read. And once I picked it up to read, I didn’t want to place it down because it drew me in almost immediately. 

If I had to sell this book in two sentences, I’d say “Once held hostage in a tower, now free to run from every nation of Derebor, Vierrelyne has no easy life. Come wander the path of woe that follows her!”. But, just like the other pitches I’d throw for books in one or two sentences, this doesn’t do the book justice for what it accomplishes.

So, first of all, let me talk about the characters of this book. Well, more or less just Vierrelyne du Talorr because the others aren’t named in the blurb. She has her flaws, a short temper being one of them. And yet, through the help of others, it doesn’t fly too far off the rails if she does lose her temper. It’s interesting to see du Talorr grow from her imprisonment all the way to the end of the book. And now to go to the unnamed characters. Her teacher and that cultist. The teacher stays mostly the same throughout the entire book, acting as a helping hand to du Talorr while the cultist, he’s the more well rounded of the two in terms of growth. Mainly due to him having his own motivations that misalign with the goals of the other two that eventually brings him back full circle. 

After this comes the plot of the book. While a bit foreseeable in some degrees, mainly with how du Talorr, her teacher and the cultist run about the land, other parts decided to fully run with the element of surprise. If we look at the plot in more detail, Vierrelyne du Talorr is trapped in a tower designed by her father before escaping it. But before she runs off, with her teacher to help protect her and the cultist attaching himself to the troupe because he’s supposed to bring her to his leader, she heads into the tomb of her mother to retrieve an artefact. And that artefact is the focal point of the entire plot. I won’t say much more than that, except that it’s cursed and that you will probably be blindsided by the ending of the book.

Then, we have the world building. Worldbuilding itself was pretty good, it did its job bringing the story to life. What I found really well done however was the way the map at the beginning of the book. It helps move the world about in such a way that you have a rough idea of how the book will wander, yet at the same time, tells nothing concrete.

Following the world building, we have the magic system, which is summoning things or harnessing energy from the Scourgelands. What are the Scourgelands? More likely than not, the Scourgelands are infinite planes of existence twith varying degrees of danger present in them. And that’s where we can circle back to the cursed artefact from earlier. It’s tied into the magic of the Scourgelands and can amplify the power of the wielder by a lot, which is why it’s sought after by pretty much everyone who wants any degree of power. It’s definitely one of the more unique magic systems I’ve seen and I can’t wait to see how the second book continues to explain the Scourgelands and its magical properties.

What did I not like about this book? Not much, not much at all. The only real gripe I had is that it sometimes came off as confusing when the action picked up. Aside from that, not really anything at all.

All in all, if you want a book that is full of questing to reach a destination in order to gain answers, and want to read battles of mass destruction caused only by a few glyphs and thoughts, this book is for you!

As always, thank you for reading to the end of this review and I hope I’ve helped nudge you towards your next read. If you want another person's perspective of this book, click here to view Konstance’s review of the book. If you’re more interested in another genre or a different book in the fantasy genre, don’t fret. We here at SFF Insiders have a vast catalogue of reviews that are here to help you make a choice of what to read next!

Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening or good night!