Villains by Necessity, By Eve Forward

I usually don’t like to review books out of order, or to stick in a random book when I’m already reviewing a series, but this was too good to pass up. I randomly picked it up at a library in hopes that it would prove moderately interesting, and I was not disappointed. This book seems to be made for this day and age, when the most interesting characters are those that are not black and white, but dwell in shades of grey. We love the anti-hero, the person who might be termed evil or bad but who has a surprising conscience or instinct to do good once in a while. I admit that I feel the lure of these characters, even though I still love those unconquerable heroes of good who are what they are even in the face of death. But I’m getting farther and farther from my point. And that point is, what happens to your book when all your heroes are villains?

Villains by Necessity takes place in a world where good has already triumphed over evil, triumphed so well that it has banished evil forever. So the world prospers, with peace and harmony and happiness positively brimming everywhere you look. Even the thieves and assassins have all retired to take up the good occupations of farming and shopkeeping. All except for Sam and Arcie. Sam is quite possibly one of the best assassins in the world, especially now that all the rest have retired. Arcie was the Guildmaster for the thieves, before they all retired. Now their professions are obsolete and they are the last of a dying breed, barely able to feed themselves. But soon they find themselves joining a band of fellow villains in order to save the world. Or more properly, to put it back to the way it was. For the world must exist in balance, with good struggling against evil, for in conflict there is life. With the ultimate destruction of evil, good has grown too strong and soon the world and even the entire universe will immolate itself in light. Even though cooperation is foreign to this dark company, sheer self-interest keeps them together. For if they do not cooperate, they will all die, and if there is once thing evil understands, it is self-preservation.

In a complete reversal of the traditional epic sword and sorcery tale, the forces of evil are called upon to save the world. And instead of the armies of evil arraying against them, the well-meaning armies of good try tooth-and-nail to stop them from undoing all their hard work. They already banished evil, and they see no reason to let it back into the world. This upside down story pokes great fun at the traditional fantasy story, while availing itself of the worst of its clichés. But therein lies its humor. Rarely does a book ever make me laugh out loud—not that I don’t think many books are funny, but there it is—but I could not help myself at one point. If you read it, and I hope you will, just beware of the tile with magic ability. Actually the whole sequence around that is marvelous. Our six anti-heroes meet one on one with some of the forces of good in underground tunnels. And according with their characters, they act appropriately. That’s all I’m going to say.

I didn’t really have high hopes when I started this book, I wasn’t expecting anything special. But I found such good tale-weaving that smacked the fantasy genre in its face. We get to look at evil from the inside, and to look at good from the outside. At that distance one can very much look like the other. It is rare that a character will stick with me after I finish reading a book, but Sam is one I don’t think I’ll forget quickly. No book is without faults, but I am going to highly recommend everyone to go out and find this book to read. It is really well suited to this newer trend in fantasy, and well deserves any attention it can get. It would also make a great movie, a kind of Lord of the Rings antithesis that I think would be very popular. A group of villains that must save the world: you can’t get much more ironic than that.