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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very pleasant surprise, November 21, 2000
This review is from: Hammers of Ulric (Warhammer) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book turned out to be a most pleasant surprise. As a collector of Warhammer products in the past, I was intrigued to find that a book had appeared about the White Wolves. That alone made me buy it. But what I did not expect was the high quality of the story-telling. Although the plot is not original, and the resolution rather unimpressive, the biggest asset of the story is - well, the story-telling itself. The three authors succeed in creating a very authentic Warhammer atmosphere, gritty, grim, and believable. Characters from many different backgrounds take part in the story - priest of a death god, rogues, servant girl, nobles, determined knights, arrogant knights, wizard, old crone, etc. - very many of whom contribute significantly to the weaving, but not complicated, plot. And the wonder is that they are all weaved together into a fascinating story that keeps the reader in suspense - we are not even given a clear picture of the Big Foozle until about 60 pages from the end. But the destruction of the Foozle is not important in this book - it is the telling and the growth of all the characters in the book that give it its magic. Everything is there - the grim funeral rites, the training lesson, the chance meetings, the amusing love relationship, the treasure-hunting, the possession, the search for things lost... Resolutions come both in expected ways and unexpected ways - there are little lessons of sacrifice, honour, friendship, personal growth and even about death. The only flaw with the book, perhaps, is that its plot could have easily been stretched over a trilogy - which would give much more breathing space for the telling of the story. Nevermind - still highly recommended!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fun fantasy novel, probably could have used more pages, August 1, 2006
This review is from: Hammers of Ulric (Warhammer) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book looks like a case of the book having material cut to keep within BL target page length. Most notably, the stand-alone story of the priest of morr abruptly ends after the affair of the countess and the assassin despite many implied events later when he re-enters the story.
this fantasy story, at times in spite of itself, was enjoyabe to read. the plot was nothing complex and the end result somewhat cliche, but the multi-thread storyline made up for many flaws. I was surprised to learn that a sword could slice (not stab) through plate mail like a 'hot iron through ice.' additionally, it is annoying to read about men running around in full plate all the time, that stuff is HEAVY. knights would never put all that on except to be mounted before combat. this is a common issue in warhammer in general, not just here, and reminds me of the movie excalibur with knights going to dinner in full plate.
maybe warhammer plate mail is lighter?
in any event, this is still a fun book. if you like the genre, good way to spend a few hours.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Doubts, April 9, 2009
This review is from: Hammers of Ulric (Warhammer) (Mass Market Paperback)
I really wanted to like this book, but there are many other better Warhammer novels. This is the second 'Dan Abnett' Warhammer novel that I've read, and like the first I didn't really feel like it was up to much. This is co-written with Nik Vincent and James Wallis, resulting in a book that doesn't hold together at all well. It only really levelled out towards the end, up to that point it couldn't hold my interest. The characters could not hold my attention, and this really is a bit of a mess.
Perhaps 'Dan Abnett' is better at writing Warhammer 40000 novels, so far I have my doubts about his 'Warhammer Fantasy' offerings. I'm only giving it 3 stars because the 'White Wolves' have not really been explored in any of the other novels I've encountered, otherwise it would be 2 stars only. If you are a hardcore Warhammer nut buy anyway, if you aren't look elsewhere.
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