I, Minion

by Lewis Dix

Volume 1 of The Minion Chronicles

Centuries pass and the Dark Lord's Empire spreads across the land, its unconquerable armies forcing kingdom after kingdom to bend the knee. At the fore of these armies are the minions, skeletal warriors raised from the dead with dark magic to serve on the frontlines of battle. They are the perfect soldiers - made to be unthinking, unfeeling, and expendable. After all, there is no killing what is already dead.

So when one of them makes the unlikely choice to spare the Dark Lord's greatest enemy, a powerful young witch named Kora who has awoken feelings in him long forgotten, he sets off a chain of events that threaten to change the course of the Empire forever.

This fantasy story is the length of a short novella. (21,000 words or 65 standard pages)

Genres: Fantasy

65 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2013

About the author

After working for nine years as a member of the fun police, Lewis Dix got tired of melting eyeballs with lasers and decided to give writing a go. He figured all he needed was to be able to write in the third person and come up with things that are entirely (mostly!) untrue.

He can most often be found at home, where he's busy corrupting his two young sons and making his wife question why she married him in the first place. Otherwise, you can catch him playing Xbox...err, writing fantasy stories. But seriously, his gamertag is MEL7D0WN.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very different story. It is all a first person perspective ok a 'mindless' skeleton minion. I say mindless because we wouldn't get his thoughts for the book if he was. Sometimes his thoughts seem too willful for the minion he describes himself and others as being. He has no name. He was once a name and when he was killed, a Dark Lord took his body and has been using it as a minion since.

At times, this sort of made me think of 'Warm Bodies' with the dead perspective going on. I battled with liking this or not. It is very dry oftentimes. Yet, being how he is, it probably is suppose to be.
It read like a roller coaster. I would be into it...then not...then into it..then not.. Being this was a short novella I cannot say much without giving away the story. Final opinion-not a bad story, but could use a bit more life, even though he is dead.

[Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL review (includes pictures!!) on my blog @ http://diamondlovestoread.blogspot.co...

My Rating: [3 1/2 stars]

Ok, like I mentioned above, this book reminded me of two very awesome things. Ray Harryhausen and R from Warm Bodies. I wanna tell you all the reasons why I liked this book. [by the way, since this was such a fun book, I'm having fun with this review]
It's short. It doesn't waste time explaining things-- it dives right in. I love this. Why? Because it means the author thinks me (the reader) is smart enough to put pieces together!

This is the first book I've read where the narrative / main character was a undead Skelton minion. Awesome subject matter!

Has a badass Dark Lord character. Who else would be wielding the magic to control our minion (he has no name). Oh yeah, and he talks in CAPS and BOLD. *snickers* not sure how I feel about that but its funny.

Reminds me of Ray Harryhausen film Jason and the Argonauts where the king / sorcerer used Hecate's magic to create skeletal minions to fight Jason and his argonauts!! If you haven't seen this classic movie yet you MUST. The special effects are awesome (for the time period, still considered revolutionary). But I remember watching as a kid and being like, I wonder what the skeletons are thinking? Ha! Curiosity Somewhat fulfilled!!


The narrator is different, he strives to be different. He's curious and doesn't really want to be an undead minion. It is a sad situation if you think about it. All these poor souls are prevented from moving on into an afterlife and caused to just kill all these people for a glimpse of "life."
He is different/unique. His thoughts (I strongly suspect) are very developed and deep. AND He does break free of it thanks to his strange (as yet unexplained) connection to Kora the witch. I won't say anymore, because it's a short story I don't wanna spoil!
The MC is very similar to R of Warm Bodies. This was super cool.
Great ending. I didn't feel it was a cliffhanger BUT I did feel like I want to read more!
Why 3 1/2 stars? I've been more critical lately. The reason in this case was mostly technical stuff. I didnt care for the bold caps when the Dark Lord was speaking or angry. Some of the parts seemed contradictory...like one minute he wants to murder people then he doesn't? But he doesn't explain the sudden back and forth, even after his encounter with Kora he does do some "bad guy" stuffs.
I recommend this book if you want to read a great fantasy novella that is fun and funny too! It's a quick read and you'll love how imaginative the story is.

[Ashley Byland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories that are from a different POV. Usually with the stories I read it's usually the young girl POV. This time, it is a guys POV, but not just a guy, an undead, sort of evil, guy. I have to say that alone made me want to read this story, but the synopsis was very interesting and I knew I would be in for a good ride. And right I was!

I really really REALLY enjoyed this novella. Usually with novellas they feel rushed because they are so short and you feel like a lot of information is missing. I didn't feel like this at all with I, MINION. There is so much detail in this story but it isn't rushed or does it feel overwhelming. The detail and story about the minions aka the undead shoulders is very descriptive and you can picture them while you are reading the story. The blood lust they feel was an interesting since they don't have any feelings, but when they are told to kill, it is like a switch for blood lust. Very descriptive without being gory.

I'm quite curious to see with happens in the next book with Kora and Corbin. I loved how their first interaction wasn't an overwhelming oh I love you and I love you blah blah blah. It was a subtle action that made Corbin feel when he looks at her and it is a strange sensation and I love that he doesn't understand why or whats going on but still goes with it. You can feel the posibility of love blooming with these two at the end of the book, and I won't spoil the ending, but what happened gave me chills and I cannot wait for the next book!!!

[Step Into Fiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really REALLY enjoyed this novella. Usually with novellas they feel rushed because they are so short and you feel like a lot of information is missing. I didn't feel like this at all with I, MINION. There is so much detail in this story but it isn't rushed or does it feel overwhelming. The detail and story about the minions aka the undead shoulders is very descriptive and you can picture them while you are reading the story. The blood lust they feel was an interesting since they don't have any feelings, but when they are told to kill, it is like a switch for blood lust. Very descriptive without being gory.

Read full review at Step Into Fiction

Review completed by: Ashley

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prize from Momma Says Read x

For most of this story i had no idea what was going on, but it was good enough to keep going. The character description were blurry, so much detail, it was hard to keep up. There was no background of how this empire came about or the rebellion. Why this one undead man was so special is yet to be revealed. Felt like a middle of the story, really strange.

The writing style was hard to get into, but got flowing after a while...so many unanswered questions, would like to read the next one, if there is one.

Interesting yet hard read.

"Nor would a smart man brave the charge of an undead horde with only a sword to protect him."

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told from the warrior’s prospective, his only task is to destroy and kill each battle the Dark Lord sets forth. Particularly the death of Kora, a witch who could change things for the warrior whose life has been mundane as a servant to the Dark Lord.

Fascinating story, quite different from what I normally read. I thought it was written with wonderful visual descriptions. I would definitely read more from this series.

[Gregory Close · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a six star concept and would be my vote hands down for the next PIXAR movie. Although there were a few distracting editing errors the narrator's voice was very engaging and humorous. This is the most endearing bloodthirsty skeleton warrior you are likely to find in any fantasy story. It's a bit short, but a fair length for the price. In the end, I just really enjoyed myself while reading it, and that's probably the best compliment I can give.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome point of view, the eye of the minion. Great internal dialogue, main character, Dark Lord, Magic swords, massacres and an epic battle towards the end. Whats not to like?

I'll definitaly be getting the next one.

[Ethic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff, looking forward to more.

[Scott Jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fantasy reader, but I did enjoy this short story. Well done and a good read that's does not require you to be a fantasy nerd.

[Dan Kretzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I, Minion tells the story of a great battle between the forces of good and an evil dark lord through the eyes of... well, a minion. Nameless at first, the protagonist is an undead foot soldier in a dark lord's army, re-animated by the lord's necromancer after foolishly trying to resist his invasion in the ranks of a peasant army. There are small medieval villages ripe for pillaging, and an army of brave druids and paladins with magic swords who wage a desperate last stand against the villain's conquest. If that sounds like it's full of tried and true (and, frankly, trite) fantasy tropes, it is, but quite deliberately so. Dix examines and lovingly satirizes those tropes through the unusual and darkly humorous point of view of an animated skeleton. But there's something not quite right about our minion, some lingering shred of humanity that questions his evil crusade in those quiet moments when the necromancer isn't directly controlling him to slaughter and burn. There's a character arc happening here, hindered as it is by the compulsion of the necromancer's commands and the obvious physical and cognitive limitations of someone who's mostly just bone and ligament.

Dix's writing is clean and fresh, with a hint of self-aware modernism in his protagonist's voice. The author squeezes some comic impact out of the novel point of view he explores while earnestly following the character's story to a rewarding--if slightly predictable--conclusion. We root for the minion as he starts to shake off the shackles of mindless servitude and strives, sometimes in vain, to resist the bloody commands of his superiors. The story is at its best when focused on the satirical take on the fantasy genre and I would have liked more of the slice-of-an-evil-minion's-life narrative that we get early on. As the character begins to regain his humanity, the story trends toward a more dramatic nature that is somewhat undercut by the very tropes Dix poked fun at in the first part of the book. I think Dix would have been better served to stick with his irreverent tone more as the story developed past the initial situation.

In spite of its faults, I, Minion punches above its weight, at least for me. The book is very short--maybe 25,000 words and coming in at 54 pages--with a neat piece of cover art by Sarah Sullivan. I found it a fun and humorous take on the fantasy genre, well worth a couple of hours of my time. Sadly, although the book promises a sequel (and his web site has a cover reveal for I, Dark Lord), it seems Mr. Dix has stepped away from writing and not pressed on with his Minion Chronicles. I hope he comes back to it someday. If I, Dark Lord is, as the title suggests, a take on things from the villain's perspective, I bet it will be just as fun to read as I, Minion.

[Ben Pick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a mindless grunt?

This story conveyed that in a way to make me care about a character risen from the dead. There is wonder and loss delivered in the narration.

The next time I am mowing down hordes of skeletons in a video game, I'll think about how they got there.

I can't remember the last time I rooted for a grunt. I really enjoyed this story.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style was ok, but the plot was meh and nothing about any of the characters grabbed me. It was like a distillation of Basic Fantasy Plot to its bare minimum. Luckily it was short.