Synopsis
Red Sonja, the iconic, fiery, she-devil with a sword, is reinvented for a new generation of readers in this action-packed epic fantasy by legendary comic book writer Gail Simone.
The warrior Red Sonja, the famous fiery She-Devil of Hyrkania, has never concerned herself with the consequences of her actions. She’s taken what she wanted, from treasure to drink to the companionship of bedfellows. She’s fought who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn’t). And she’s never looked back.
But when rumors start bubbling up from her homeland—rumors of unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to their deaths—and a strange voice begins whispering to her in her sleep, she realizes she may have to return to the country that abandoned her. And finally do the only thing that has ever scared her: confront her past.
Review
First…stop what you’re doing and go find Gail Simone on your nearest social media app. I mainly use BlueSky these, but she posts a few other places as well. She wrote a good novel here, but if you aren’t familiar with Gail, she is — hands down — one of the best follows on the Internet. I don’t want to spoil it, but Gail sometimes likes to light a digital molotov cocktail in the corner of the Internet and watch it burn. Figuratively, of course.
Gail is better known outside of social media as a writer for some of your favorite comics from Birds of Prey to Wonder Woman to Deadpool and of course, Red Sonja.
Speaking of watching it burn, that’s a lot of what Sonja does in her Simone’s debut novel. Sonja tragically sees her entire family killed and is forced to become a ruthless hunter in order to survive. Her whole life is surviving from one fire to the next. In fact, that’s one of the things I liked best from this book – Sonja isn’t perfect. Far from it — one of the very first things she does in Consumed is a massive mistake that sets the course for the whole novel with multiple adversaries on her trail because of one poorly-thought-out decision.
Sonja is a great character that has her roots in the stories of Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian). The current incarnation was brought to life by Marvel Comics in the 70’s and Simone was brought in to reboot the series in 2013 for Dynamite Comics. Simone has definitely brought her own flavor to the series and that shows in Red Sonja: Consumed.
The novel is told in a very linear fashion with Event A leading to Event B leading to Event C and so on. Not to say that’s all bad — the book’s storyline is fairly easy to follow (which is a little refreshing after dusting off Sanderson’s Wind and Truth about a month ago). On the other hand, there isn’t a ton of complexity to the narrative, either. Even with the straight-forward approach, Simone manages to weave in multiple love interests, sociopathic assassins, underground creatures that can kill from below, found family, and Sunder.
What’s that? Who’s Sunder? Sonja and her people have a special connection with their horses and Sunder is Red Sonja’s very special loyal attack horse. Who amongst us hasn’t wanted an attack horse before?
I would recommend Red Sonja: Consumed. It’s a fun and easy read with a likeable protagonist. The book can easily stand on its own even with a weighty backstory in the comics and wraps up this story nicely in the 384 pages given to it. Goodreads is listing it as Red Sonja #1 so we may get more from Simone and Sonja in the future, in which case, great.
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