Shadow King: A Tale of the Sundering (Time of Legends) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gav Thorpe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Time of Legends | Publication Date: December 29, 2009

When his family is betrayed and slain, Alith Anar, ill-fated prince of the Nagarythe, is forced to walk a dark path. With the island of Ulthuan in the grip of a civil war with their evil counterparts, the druchii, Alith Anar follows his destiny to become the Shadow King. Hunting his enemies from the darkness, he is now on a quest for vengeance that will never end

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gav Thorpe has been rampaging across the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 for many years as both and author and games developer. His works include the hugely popular Angels of Darkness, The Last Chancers series and the ongoing epic tale of The Sundering.  

He is currently laying low in Nottingham and avoiding the authorities while his mechnical hamster Dennis is hiding ouy in the Amazonian rainforest where he is worshipped as a god by several lost tribes of natives.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844168174
• ISBN-13: 978-1844168170
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Right in the middle of a contradiction, that's the place to be.",, January 31, 2010

By 

Ryan Williams (Lichfield, Staffordshire.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadow King: A Tale of the Sundering (Time of Legends) (Mass Market Paperback)

One of the many pleasures about this novel, the second in the Sundering trilogy, is its sense of inevitability. Shades of grey are a Thorpe forte. Shadow King, the story of a man (and of a people) shaped by the borderline between two cultures and the two sides of their own nature, suits Thorpe's talents superbly.

Not that Alith Anar's rise seems inevitable. GW fiction works well when it focuses on character; following Anar around through his adolescence, you see an unlikely candidate for a future legend. Dreamy and sullen, Anar's main concerns are spending long periods on his own or mooning after his love interest, Ashniel. So long as he's left alone to copy the occasional line of verse or to hunt, he's content. Such a state of affairs cannot endure, however; House Anar, normally a bastion of neutrality within Nagarythe, is forced into taking sides in the bitter dispute between Morathi's followers and those of their one, rightful ruler...Prince Malekith, champion of the Phoenix King, respected by all, admired deeply by the young Alith. Seeing this, the death of Bel-Shanaar and later the rise of the mysterious 'Witch King' through Alith's eyes, you see the convincingly bitty way history seeps through its people.

That goes for the growth of its heroes, too. During what is effectively an undercover mission, Alith is almost surprised at himself for how easily he can fit into the simpler life of a court cook. (He developes quite a hand for cutting up meat.) In an amusing scene, he finds how much easier and direct a tryst is with a lower-class female elf. Disguise, duplicity. Today the Shadow Warriors will slay their fellow elves; tomorrow they will mourn them.

If ambivalence is their failing, it's also a kind of integrity. Butchering people in their sleep is seen as the lesser of two evils; as is leaving sacrificial prisoners to their fate when a mission's success depends on it - 'such deeds as we are about to commit are so that others may not know such sacrifice.' You wonder at times whether the real reason for the Shadow Warrior's hatred is how much of themselves they see in the Dark Elves. As much as the the Shadow Warriors claim their actions have a goal, they come across as ultimately wedded to war and misery without end as their foes. Even Alith gets a hint of this, at times, and relucant to change. ("Cannot, or will not?" one character asks of him, with quiet insight.)

Most great characters are two people, if not more: their drive and energy grows out of the splits in their personalities. Shadow King, despite its mild outbreaks of heavy-handed symbolism, is a satisfyingy complete tale of a incomplete man, very much Thorpe near the top of his game, and well recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 522 pages of visceral treachery and revenge!, January 4, 2010

By 

Jeffery Preston (Madison, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadow King: A Tale of the Sundering (Time of Legends) (Mass Market Paperback)

Shadow King: A Tale of the Sundering
One of the best parts in reading Gav Thorpe's books is that he's a smart writer. He's a pro when it comes to hooking you right in at the first few pages. He grabs you by the nose and drags you kicking and screaming down a road that you *KNOW* is going to end badly. Especially in writing about events considered "history" in the Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40,000 universe.
A lot of the time we have the broad strokes of what the story is about far in advance of the novel ever being read. The story of Alith Anar is a prime example of that. We all know that Alith Anar is the last of his line, prince of Nagarythe. His family murdered, and his revenge is eternal. Blablabla. Yeah, we know.
The Shadow King delves in to territory we didn't even know existed. He paints Morathi and the Witch King and others in vibrant colors. You get to understand a bit of the "why" of the story. You see just how far the elves had fallen in many cases and as a reader you can grasp the "why" of Alith's plight and to a certain degree understand why he snaps the way he does. It's a deep and treacherous story.
I think the main reason for this is because the characters aren't bi-dimensional, 4-color comic book toons. Alith Anar is one messed up dude. Serious. He's got problems. He's not perfect. He's not the shiny perfect High Elf lordling riding a pegasus whose farts sound like angels singing. Think of Alith Anar as being kind of like an elven Batman. His scars are deep, and revenge...brutal.
The battle scenes are epic in scale and seem tactically smart. Some thought on how forces would maneuver definitely went in to it. There is a definite feel of the mythic fairy tale of shimmering hosts, and gleaming spear tips and lances and coats of maille. Banners flying, beats on the ground and in the air. Seriously good battle than seems all mythic and shiny...and dwindles down in to the more brutal reality of the aftermath. Like it starts at sunrise and goes until a bloody sunset and a night of weeping over the dead. Really moving stuff. Then there are the skirmish-level bits: raiding caravans and Special Forces/ unconventional warfare stuff.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warhammer continues, August 5, 2010

By 

StevenJM "stevenjm" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shadow King: A Tale of the Sundering (Time of Legends) (Mass Market Paperback)

(What's this?)

In Shadow King, Gav Thorpe does a great job of continuing in the expanded universe of Warhammer. When I picked up this book, I hadn't read the first book in the series, but being familiar with the universe, I found the book easy to get into, and I found myself engrossed within the first chapter. I certainly had a hard time sitting it down! If you haven't read the previous book, or ever experienced the Warhammer Universe, don't bother with this book, it simply is not for you.