I’m sure if I was better versed in fantasy I would know that there are several books like this with the same concept. Villains having to do the right thing because the heroes don’t realize they’re dooming the world. But the one I ended up coming across was Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward.

From the cover, you know this book is going to rock. Our concept is simple, a wizard Mizzamir and his band of heroes saved the world by killing a great evil. Mizzamir has also started using his powers to forcefully remove the want to do evil from people. Because of that, nights are growing shorter and lighter. The world is “whiting out” as it were but no one can think that because everything is so much better.

Enter two of our villains Sam and Arcie, a human assassin and depressed dwarf thief, respectively. They get captured and Arcie gives Sam a contract to kill Mizzamir, this motivates Sam to break free and the two of them go on the run. They run into a druid named Kaylana who explains how the world is ending and the way that they can save it, by opening something called the Black Gate. It’ll release evil back into the world and balance it out.

What proceeds is a well written, funny and altogether great story. They encounter a sorceress who just loves being evil but has some real pathos about her, a silent black knight and a centaur bard who doesn’t know much about what’s going on but he is a double agent for the heroes.

It’s just such a bummer that this book didn’t get off the ground and become a series or that Eve didn’t write more than three books(I just found this out, I never actually looked it up until now). Because she’s an excellent writer. The book flows with wonderful character moments, it’s funny(there’s a moment where they encounter a village of Smurflike creatures and do what we all want to do and cuts a tree down so that they get crushed) and she utilizes the concept to its utmost. Just because evil is gone doesn’t mean people are better. And shows that forcing people to change isn’t this great and good thing. That there is a truly horrific cost for all of it. And just because “evil” is gone, doesn’t mean that people are better. There’s an exceptionally well written scene where Sam is out and about at night and hears a woman being sexually assaulted, which he steps in to save her from. This could easily just be a save the cat moment but it then rolls into Sam discovering a power that becomes a major plot point.

Mizzamir is a great villain because he’s not over the top but he’s so sure that he’s right. He looks upon the villains with pity that reeks of hypocrisy and snobbiness. The rest of his crew are more overtly antagonistic towards the villains and seek to harm them. They make for two distinct and interesting antagonists that feel like viable threats.

My main complaint honestly is that some things are not delved into as much as I would like. My sister has told me that she doesn’t need things like that and that it’s a personal issue of mine. Maybe it is but if the main complaint I have for a book is that I want more of it, then it’s something special.

It’s available on kindle and audible so read it if you can. A paperback version will run you about 86 bucks because it was only a first pressing. I got it for about forty back in 2004. I don’t regret spending that at all. Read it and enjoy it my friends.