Customer Reviews

Nagash the Unbroken

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

 

 

You are Nagash, sorcerer, warlord, master of the dead. Absolute control was within your grasp, but just look at you. The only survivor of your army, presumed dead by all, you wander the wastelands. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Where once you exuded power to make mere mortals tremble, now you are as dried as old leather, your left arm held uselessly to your body one of many reminders of your defeat. You travel by night. Even at your peak you could not survive the sunlight, your armies fought under a magical darkness. That power is lost to you. A pity you think as you find yourself in the open, no caves to hide in, nowhere to run, morning just minutes away. Suddenly the pack of hunters pursuing you comes up from behind. Four rat creatures only vaguely resembling a man fall upon you. You'll make a fine meal. The leader comes to your prone body turning you over...

So begins Nagash The Unbroken. It's a story of being on the top and then thrust to the very bottom. Nagash finds a new source of magic and begins to rebuild his base of power. It's not just your usual episode of a cartoon where the bad guy runs back to his base to rebuild; this is a guy who's barely surviving but still focused on coming back stronger than ever. On several occasions, he is in very real danger of being defeated before he even gets started. The story itself feels very realistic, given of course that this is a world of monsters and sorcery.

The book also tells the story of a king and queen searching for immortality using one of the last remnants of Nagash's minions. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself just as interested with their situation as Nagash. You have inside and outside power struggles, betrayal, murder, all the good stuff for a book like this. Because the inner strife is about recreating an elixir of immortality, things can play out over an extended period of many decades and even centuries. The only problem I had with this is that nobody seems to find it odd that some of the royal court are living several hundred years while barely aging. People do eventually start to notice, but it takes so long it strains credibility.

I must admit to a fondness for Necromancers. That was my favorite class to use in Diablo 2, so any book featuring one gets a few extra bonus points from me. I've always found it compelling how they're able to create their own band of warriors without having to rely on the uncertain loyalties of mortal men. Soldiers who are unrelenting, single minded, and cannot feel fear. Equally interesting is how Necromancers lose their humanity and their power corrupts and devours them from within. I liked reading about that in Nagash, how his body was forever changed by the powers he yielded. The only other book I've read in this series is Empire, which dedicated almost a third of the book to defeating a Necromancer. Nagash The Unbroken was a fun read. After this, I may have to go back and read the first Nagash book.

I do wonder if some of the book wasn't cut at the very last minute to go into the next one. The tease on the back of the book mentions Nagash's alliance with the Skaven (ratmen), which never occurs. Also, you can tell this is book two of three because the story doesn't really have an ending. It's like reading this review which just...

Many hope, pray, or believe that Nagash the Usurper, Undying King of fallen Khemi, perished with his undead army. The remaining immortals were hunted down, a feat that took decades, and eliminated. Only one remains, Arkhan the Black. As the Usurper's army fell, Lamashizzar smuggled the books of Nagash from the Black Pyramid outside Khemri. Now Lamashizzar, Priest King of Lahmia, City of the Dawn, seeks the power that Nagash once held. With Arkhan nearby, locked immobile within his own flesh and bone, Lamashizzar studies Nagash's tomes. Yet Arkhan knows that once he reveals all Nagash's secrets, he will be destroyed.

Queen Neferata realizes that Lamashizzar cares for nothing more than his studies. The care and protection of Lahmia falls to her. Therefore, without her husband's knowledge, Neferata strikes a bargain with Arkhan. The immortal gives the queen secret tutelage of the necromantic arts. Soon she can deal with Lamashizzar, care for her people, and eventually make Lahmia the undisputed center of power in all of Nehekhara.

Unfortunately for Nehekhara, Nagash still lives. Nagash retreats to the mountains where he slowly rebuilds his strength and finds new allies in many of the barbarians and the skaven (mutant ratmen that dwell beneath the earth). In his new lair of Cripple Peak, Nagash discovers warpstone, which gives the necromancer more power than ever before. Once Nagash unlocks all the secrets of warpstone, he will be unstoppable.

**** FOUR STARS! The blurb on the back of the book speaks only of Nagash and the skaven. This is extremely misleading. Less than half of this book follows Nagash. As for the skaven, they are hardly seen or mentioned. The main focus this time is on Queen Neferata. My main problem with the story is the large gaps in time. More than once I turned the page to find that fifty years or more had passed. This caused me to somewhat flounder as I tried to figure out if anything vital had changed. I believe these sections could have been handled better. Yet overall, this story is intriguing. The epilogue, which begins after another huge time gap, gives a minor sneak peak as to how the third book will begin. I look forward to reading more about the beginning of the vampires. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

The Time of Legends series brings the second book of Nagash in Nagash the Unbroken. Lhamia has been hearled as the saviors of the lands by changing sides at the moment when all seemed to be assured for Nagash and total victory. Instead the King alongside his famous dragon legions betray him and seize the day forthemselves. As part of the spoils of war he secrectly takes the books of Nagash for himself and Arkhan the Black as his prisoner. Meanwhile the Queen of Lhami has been ruling in the king's stead while away on his mission to stop Nagahs. She soon realized her husband has forsaken any dignity and custom and begins his dark journey into the very books that caused the pact with the gods to shatter. Meanwhile Nagash has survied. He has weaken and lost much of his power. His body a runiened mess battling the sun and his own demons in those who he has killed to become a king. But Nagash has a purpose and a will. He senses a strange power from a mountain top. A power that calls him to reach its peak and claim it. Back in Lahima the King as called for a time of rejoice and to renew ties with its other kingdoms. The Queen tries in vain to tell him that he needs to by sly like thier father was in dealing with the now ravaged kingdoms. For the are the city in which all trade comes from, but he does not listen and she soon comes to understand he is weak. But the King puts her in her place and sends her to her own prison in the palace itself. The Queen comes to the fact that she must take control of the kingdom. She allys herself with the immortal Arkham the Black so that he may teach her the ways of power. While Nagash has found a new source of power and a new race. The skaven and warpstone. Nagash realizes that the warpstone infuse him with power and can regain what he lost with a new army and a new drive. To return to Kehmri and conquer its lands and the rest of the world. Will the old world be ready for a new onslaught of the dead from two sides? Can Nagash truly never die? And what of the Queen of Lahmia? Will she become like Nagash or something far more sinsiter?

Yet another Warhammer Fantasy book, this time focused on the origins of that giant undead guy, Nagash. Here he's beaten and battered, having recently been defeated and had his army, books, and knowledge stolen. However, like any good villain, he's down but not out.

The book follows two separate groups - Nagash and his return to power, along with Lahmia and the intrigues of the royal palace in filling in after the fall of Nagash. You'll find yourself hating almost all of the characters as they fall deeper and deeper into evil, with various reasons for doing so - ranging from lawful evil to pure, chaotic, I want it for myself, evil. The most interesting part was contrasting the separate paths that descents took for various characters.

This book is pretty light on action, focusing mostly on political intrigue and the occasional uber ownage of some people by the super sorcerer Nagash. However, I found it a good, quick read, and definitely in the top 20% of all Warhammer/40K books I've read. I'd suggest picking up the predecessor book first, then read this one - though I read this first and didn't have any problems picking up from there.

While Nagash rebuild his strength in the Wasteland around a new found source of power, in the city of Lahmia, Neferata scheme to cement the power of The City of the Dawn after the fall of the Blessed Land. Meanwhile, she pursuit her own research, set after Nagash, towards immortality. Later, this will give birth to the first Vampire Bloodline, nothing less.

Who could beat in darkness the amazing series of Malus Darkblade than Mike Lee himself? If you did enjoy the sinister tale of the infamous Dark Elf, you will love Nagash the Unbroken as well. This story is dark, very dark, maybe even more than the Chronicles of Malus Darkblade. Life and Death dance under the lust for power of the main characters, which waltz over a floor soaked with blood and innocence. The trilogy is all about the repercussions set by the usurpation of Nagash over his own land, his people, his faith and his gods. With this story, the tale of the development of necromancy, through the research for immortality, is told. The story reaches up to the birth of the Vampire and their Bloodlines in Warhammer.

To establish credible characters in accordance with their vile acts, Lee takes great care to set a context, reasons and interests that would sustain and explain their actions. Through this construction of motivations, Lee avoids most cliché, or at least, succeeds to give them substance.

Nagash the Unbroken is, also, refreshing for a Black Library novel for the few combat action scene it offer. The actions in this book lie in the political plots the main characters have to deploy to reach their goals and to answer the twists of History.

True to the grim atmosphere of Warhammer, Lee also makes great used of the Warhammer mythos and remain very accurate to it, to my knowledge. His story feature characters from Cathay for the first time. They add to the exotism and the mystery of the city of Lahmia. Their presence can, also, be explained to remain in line with the Warhammer background concerning the Vampires (Night's Dark Masters WFRP). Here we can see the meticulous care of Mike Lee for the details of his story and for the Warhammer Background.

One small negative note that have to be addressed to the Black Library editors, the back cover description of the book doesn't sum up very well the story of the book. Also, the cover image of the book is not very representative, because the Skavens are not that much on the story front stage, at least, not yet in this volume. Something like Nagash infront the Cripple Peak mountain would have made a better cover.

I found this book hard to follow. Jumping between storylines (including centuries), and multiple characterskept me going back to reference pages trying to figure out who everyone was, what year it was, and how it all fit in the timeline. This was a frustrating book, although I think the story of Nagash could have been interesting.

As already mentioned in my review of Nagash the Sorcerer, this story seems very forced. The story picks up directly after Nagash had been destroyed in the first book. Which is fine. The only problem are:

1) The back of the book mentioned the Skaven. I am sorry to disappoint that aside from an initial encounter in the beginning of the book the Skaven only reappear on page 364 (about 47 pages before the end) as a little scouting party. It seemed that the back of the book is referring to Nagash Immortal more than anything else. Again poor editing I assume.

2) The picture is not related at all.

3) The book itself is about Nagash discovering a massive deposit of warpstone and trying to dig it out. During the actual digging he is somehow forced into taking over some abhumans and fighting their other tribal counterpart.
The story skips between what has been happening in Nagash's original country, sorry can't spell it, which seems to effectively set up the final book when Nagash presumably will become the true undead.

All in all, Nagash seemed busy and so did everyone else. Nothing overly dramatic in this book. A plot filler.

After the epic first novel of the Time of Legends series around Nagash and Ancient Nehekhara, 'Nagash the Sorcerer', I was impatient to get my hands on its sequel.

I was disappointed to find that this novel had nothing of the epic grandeur of the first book. Nagash becomes embroiled in long, drawn-out wars with barbarian tribes to the north of Nehekhara, and this served no purpose other than to show that Nagash is a survivor.

A second story thread involves Queen Neferata of Lahmia and the birth of the Master Vampires, an essential part of Warhammer Fantasy lore. The story was rushed and failed to bring to life the advent of these powerful beings whose bloodlines would contribute to shape the Warhammer world for millenia to come.

The two story threads kept evolving in parallel, never rejoining at any part.

It felt as though Mike Lee was on a tighter schedule for this book than for 'Nagash the Sorcerer', and was unable to further do justice to the grand events he has been offered to relate.

In addition there were a couple of strange mistakes that left me baffled. To cite one of them, on page 39 Lee makes an impossible error twice: Nagash has a vision of his brother Thutep and calls him his 'older brother'. Later on the same page Nagash curses the fact that he had not been his father's firstborn son. ?! Nagash was the firstborn son, as was established and repeated many times during 'Nagash the Sorcerer'! The tradition in Khemri is that the firstborn son is offered to the Mortuary cult while the second son inherits the throne. How could the author have made such an enormous mistake? Any reader would have spotted this, let alone the author himself...

Anyway despite all these criticisms I still got to the end of this book quite fast and look forward to the next one. Knowing the history of Nagash quite well I wonder how the author will cram so much into the final book when he has more or less wasted this one without advancing the storyline much at all...

"Neferata the Undying" should be the correct name for this novel never mind "Nagash the unbroken". I am a big fan of the Horus Heresy and Time of Legends prequels and I generally will love every single book, "Nagash" is no different though you should not expect to see the books namesake for more than 1 chapter out of every 2 or 3, the real characters in second novel of the series are Neferata the queen of Lahmia and one of the old characters from the first book, a certain immortal by the title of "the Black" (if you want the name rad the book). Nagash spends most of the book rebuilding his power and exploring new avenues to strengthen them, the other two main characters are the true villans/heroes of the book as they continue to explore the arts of necromancy. Though the title may be misleading and you may want to read a book on Nagash, this novel is worth every penny and a good read for any warhammer fan. Go on buy it, it may bot be the best book in the BL collection but it is still worth it.

Mike Lee, Nagash the Unbroken (Black Library, 2010)

Dear Vine: an indication on the Vine page (or, better yet, in the initial email) that indicates whether the book is in the middle of a series or not would be a very, very good thing to add to the brief description excerpts we get, thanks. That would stop me from finding myself smack in the middle of a trilogy about which I know nothing. It's not that I care about spoilers (and I tend to look askance at those who do), but the first fifty pages of this book, which comprise its prologue, are a perfect example of what does matter: backstory. Now, I know I've gotten on some authors (especially Terry Goodkind) for giving us way, way too much backstory in each book of a series, but when I complain about it, I don't mean there shouldn't be any. Steven Erikson has learned the perfect balance, and Robin Hobb is pretty close as well. Read these folks, aspiring fantasy-series authors, and learn from them.

In any case, we open here not long after Nagash has been overthrown, and he's off wandering the wastes, healing, plotting revenge, that sort of thing. You know, what deposed insane emperors do when they can't really be killed. He gets into a tangle or two with the Skaven (and it should be noted very strongly here that the back jacket copy is not only wrong, but a major spoiler, since it contains information that obviously occurs in the next book) on his way to his new hideout, and a new alliance with a tribe of barbarians who have been mercilessly attacked by a more civilized tribe to the North every year. Meanwhile, back in the lands Nagash has just been tossed out of, the current rulers have forged an alliance with one of Nagash's former underlings (again, since I haven't read the previous book in the series, I'm not certain, but I infer from some things said that this happened during the previous book) and are trying to hammer out the secret to Nagash's immortality. Problem is, as usually happens with these things, the ruling cabal in Lahmia are not quite all in agreement with what they should be doing should they ever achieve immortality...

First off, let me say this may be different for those who read Nagash the Sorcerer, the first book in the series. But I found the first fifty pages of this book absolutely interminable; it took me an entire month to force myself through that prologue, which is half the time I spent on it altogether. (In other words, the pace does pick up.) Once we start getting into the political intrigue in Lahmia and Nagash attempting to overwhelm the barbarians, the book gets workable, but until then, gird your loins, you're in for some rough going. ***