Dark Souls: The Willow King

Dark Souls: The Willow King

by George Mann, Mann House (illustrator)

König Uthrel, Gebiter von Ustrad, entsandte einst einen mächtigen Krieger, um die Erste Flamme neu zu entfachen. Der edle Ritter Herad stellte sich der Herausforderung, doch die Flamme erwies sich als zu stark und verzehrte ihn. Seine Asche wurde in alle Winde zerstreut. Notgedrungen nahm sich König Uthrel höchstselbst dieser Aufgabe an und ihm gelang das Unmö Er brachte sie wieder zum Lodern, wodurch er zum mächtigen Aschefürsten aufstieg. Als aber die Zeit gekommen war, die Flamme erneut zu entfachen, schreckte Uthrel vor seiner Pflicht zurück. Er wurde zum skelettierten Weidenkönig, der über ein Reich der Toten regiert. Nun ist es an Herad, sich aus der Asche zu erheben und seinen einstigen Herrn dazu zu bringen, die Flamme wieder zu entfachen und der Finsternis Einhalt zu gebieten, die die Welt zu verschlingen droht. Aber der Weg durch das gefallene Königreich Ustrad ist dunkel und voller Gefahren. Herad und seine Verbündeten müssen sich einer Heerschar von Monstern stellen, die dort begierig auf sie lauert …

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Video Games

112 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the Time Hunter novella "The Severed Man", and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.

Reviews

[Tonia Skjaldmær]

Εικονογράφηση άψογα ταιριαστή με το mood του game, αν και σε κάποιο σημείο τα αρχαία αγγλικά με κούρασαν. Σε γενικές γραμμές, πέρασα πολύ καλά!!

[Calvin Daniels]

Not a full 4, but darkly entertaining.

The art fit the mood but at times was rendered so darkly it was hard to grasp the image.

Still as a quick read it was fine.

[Amber Loptien]

This fucks

[Online Eccentric Librarian]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This collection gathers comics 1-3 from Dark Souls: The Willow King together into one volume. In it we get a new story in the Dark Souls "universe." I do not believe this is officially canon but the premise of the story is such that it could well be. It mainly aims to capture the mood and style of Dark Souls though.

The story is set in the timeline at a point where the flame is dwindling and someone must link it to renew the world. Herad, our protagonist, is sent on this mission but fails. The titular Willow King then takes on this task himself, completes it and saves the world. However, when the time comes to link the flame again, the Willow King refuses the task. The story begins here with Herad, along with four companions, attempting to force the Willow King to complete the task.

There's a lot here that is good. The general atmosphere is Dark Soul'ish, and the art supports it well. There is little to no insight to our protagonists which I feel is perfect for this type of tale. The path they take is also suitable, with new 'areas' and 'bosses' to encounter.

Where it falls flat is that the text is perhaps too melodramatic to the point of eye rolling at times. The story is extremely predictable and while it is appropriate that we know little of the main characters, it also means it's hard to care what happens to them. The art, in most situations, is gorgeous and worth the price of admission alone - but it also sometimes makes it hard to see what is going on or even to identify characters.

All in all, it's a passable entry into Dark Souls and if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed. It's not up to the level of the games themselves and feels perhaps a bit like a professionally produced fan fiction. But the art is good and it definitely captures the mood. As a stand-alone, this can very well be enjoyed by a reader who has not played the games - no prior knowledge is needed. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Chris Lemmerman]

The Willow King once linked the Flame, becoming a Lord of Cinder. But when the world calls upon him to do so again, he refuses, and a group of undead warriors set out to put him to rights.

I do like a Dark Souls book. They're as depressing and gloomy as the games, and oftentimes more brutal. These four issues introduce and kill off enough characters to fill twice as many, and there are a few unexpected twists and turns along the way, including a very clever ending that I didn't expect to see, but that ties neatly into some of the more obscure Dark Souls lore (it's all obscure but you know what I mean).

The artwork is pretty good, if a little flat sometimes, and at one point I did have to flick back and forth between pages to work out what had actually happened due to a poorly chosen angle. The colours are very much like smeared charcoal, which suits the simmering flame of Dark Souls' world very well.

Solid, as always with a Dark Souls book, and maybe not quite as dreary an ending as I expected.

[James]

The dead quest to save a dying world. Interesting companions for the main dark soul. Sacrifice along the way.

Link the flame.

[Ian Carpenter]

3.5 There's a powerful crudeness to both the language and art here. It feels archetypal, hewn in rock, communicated from another time. I really liked it.

[Esra]

Düşleri yaşatmak gerek, yaşam dediğin bir hatıradan ibaret kalsa bile.