Customer Reviews

Blood on the Reik: Death's Messenger (Warhammer)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the other reviewer has already mentioned,
This is a good novel. Not quite up to the Cain novels
but good nonetheless.

This novel was more of a character development novel.
Lots of stuff happens to the protagonists but we don't
really see too much change in the main characters, at least
in their mindset.
Something else worth mentioning is that this isn't one of the
gory style warhammer fantasy novels with action packed into
every page.
The reader will be able to tell from the style of the writing
and action that is really is intended to promote the
warhammer fantasy roleplaying that features so prominently
on the front and back covers of the novel. We don't have any
munchkins in the entire book. Just regular citizens of the
empire going about their everyday lives, some of them
dying/mutating/changing as the story progresses.

The last thing worth mentioning is that this novel is a bit
short for the story. At over 400 pages, you'd figure that
we could get some kind of solid conclusion to the story,
even if there would later be sequels or a trilogy.
The novel however leaves off with a MAJOR cliffhanger and
ends with the feeling that the second half of the novel is
missing. I can only hope that the Black Library and
Sandy Mitchell won't be taking too long to write and release
the sequel.

Rudi Walder lives with his adoptive father in a village named Kohlstadt. He grew up learning how to track, scout, hunt, and some weaponry. He also dreams of seeing the world and making a difference in it.

His life changes when Luther Gerhard, a witch hunter, enters the village. Beastmen have been in the area and a Chaos cult has been spreading. Rudi and another villager, Hanna Reifenstal (herbalist), flee Kohlstadt. Gerhard has a bounty out on the couple, accusing them as heretics.

Rudi and Hanna travel as siblings, trying to stay away from all those who would turn them over for the bounty. Currently, their only plan is to reach a city named Marienburg. As they travel, they will come to realize that they each have special abilities.

***** This is part of the Warhammer, Fantasy Roleplay, saga. This looks to be the first of a series by author Sandy Mitchell. If the rest of her novels are as awesome as this first installment, then she can add me to her list of fans. The authors has successfully captured the Warhammer flavor. This novel will grab your attention quickly and lead you on a fabulous adventure. Excellent! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Death's Messenger is a nice opening volume of a unnamed series, at least on the cover of the book. A quick read, Mitchell provides a stirring plot and decent characters in the world of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.

The story is a well plotted travel tale of two wayward spirits accused of wrongdoings and heresy. Throughout the story, we're drawn closer to the focal characters, and can't help but feel for their plight. However brief, the story leaves us with the question of what happens next as the story hits a cliffhanger ending. Hopefully, the next volume answers the questions of character raised during the course of the tale.

Sandy Mitchell is one of my favorite Warhammer authors, right up there with Dan Abnett, but this book was a little bit of a let down. The characters seemed to be just a little flat, almost as if Mitchell decided to cram as many people into this story as he could. As a result, he did not go into as much depth with the main characters as I would have liked. Also, the book seems to break off in the middle of the story, like Mitchell was told that he could not write a longer book. Although the plot had moments of suspense, it seemed like nothing really got resolved. Dont get me wrong, this is a good read, but the book could have been so much better.

Being a Warhammer fan I really enjoyed this book. I peticularly liked how the author keeps the reader in the dark about the Warhammer universe, just as if you were some superstitious country folk. As the story goes on you discover more and more about truths in the Empire; this was the most enjoyable part of the book for me.

Death's Messenger was a real page turner - quite a quick and enjoyable read. A coming of age story set against the fantastic world of the Warhammer miniatures game (which is in and of itself a lot of fun), the novel does a great job of taking a young hero-in-training and bringing he and his friends across the captivating campaign world of the game. Well worth the read.

I have never read a Warhammer novel but have been playing the games for about 15 years, if not more, so I am familiar with the world.

When I first started reading this book, I did not like it. I thought the writing was poor and the author was a little too casual and wrote in terms that are too often used. Everything about this book is very basic, from the descriptions to the dialogue to the plot. Reading this book made me feel like the author wrote it on a Sunday afternoon sometime after finishing a crossword puzzle. There were moments when I felt as if the story was coming out of its lull, hence the 3rd star for it was not a complete failure. But in the end, when you read the last page, you realize that this is just an obvious set up for the second part, which does not make much sense since the book is only about 400 pages long anyway. Over all, its an OK read if you're not looking for anything too deep.

I like the way the book presents village life in the Warhammer world. An interesting insite into how villagers should be played in the game. The superstition and agenda of the characters are very well represented (or misrepresented in some cases). The characters are not one dimensional and the main characters are people you can care about. The flow of the book is good, exciting enough to keep you reading, but also very descriptive. I am going to buy the next book when it comes out because the cliffhanger was quite good, disappointing because I didn't want the book to end, but I can't think of a better place to end it.

This book has two major and very annoying flaws.

The main character suffers from a serious case of obliviousness. he simply doesn't get things which anyone familiar with the Warhammer world can tell will have very bad outcomes. Sure, he is young and naive, but mostly he feels just plain clueless if not stupid. This I could live with but...the book has no ending. It is as if the author met a page quota and stopped. I don't like cliffhangers on TV, I hate them in novels.
The village where most of the action happens is nicely detailed. Much of the plot felt highly predictable, mostly because I could see where things were going before the clueless main character has any ideas.

The book is clearly a tie-in with the Warhammer FRPG. As such it is a good introduction to the game.

I wouldn't read this one unless you have the sequel handy (which I didn't). The lack of anything even approaching a resolution really kills this book.

This series (Death's Messenger, Death's City, Death's Legacy) is basically one novel chopped into three books. The various books do NOT stand alone. Treat this series as one novel & have all three on hand before you start.

The book offers a good description of how a warhammer village setting should be roleplayed from the point of view of the main character; a hunter if I'm not mistaken. Come into this book with that in mind. We get a full cast of side characters(NPCs) with various careers as well as a main villain in the form of a cold and callous Witch Hunter. Storywise, it reads like an introduction to a Roleplaying game. Nothing wrong with that but a writer of Mitchell's calibre could've made the gaming elements a little more subtle and less obvious in my humble opinion. So 4-stars instead of 5.