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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Be forewarned of a major cliffhanger ending. Book eleven., October 6, 2009
This review is from: Shamanslayer (Gotrek & Felix Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
Dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson and his human companion Felix Jaeger return for another adventure. Felix returns home to learn his father is dead. Felix vows vengeance upon the skaven sorcerer who had ordered his father's death. But Felix's revenge must be put on hold. Sir Teobalt von Dreschler is the templar and librarian of the Order of the Fiery Heart. The knight gives Felix the task of locating his missing comrades and recovering the order's regalia. So Gotrek and Felix travel north to seek the remaining members of the Order of the Fiery Heart. The pair soon find themselves crossing paths with some people from their past.
Gotrek is not the only slayer seeking his doom in the area. Three more slayers join Gotrek in this quest. One of those slayers is Snorri Nosebiter. It is a bittersweet reunion because it is obvious that something strange has happened to Gotrek's slayer friend.
It has been many years since Felix rescued a seven-year-old girl and left her in the care of the Messner family. Now Kat is all grown up. (Something Felix is trying hard not to notice.) The young woman is an exceptional tracker and lethal with her weapons. She has made a vow to rid Drakwald of beastmen. Recently a massive herd of beastmen have been traveling to a certain patch of sacred ground with their shaman and herdstone (the huge stone totem of the tribe). Once there, the shaman plans to unleash the herdstone's full power against mankind and change the Empire forever.
**** FOUR STARS! Be forewarned that this time the story ends with a major cliffhanger! Fans of this series may want to wait until the next title is released and read them both at once. Those that wait will not feel the disgusting frustration I currently am. In my opinion, a book cannot end in a worse way and I have done my duty in warning you.
On the plus side, it is wonderful to finally see Gotrek get his spark back. No longer does the slayer sulk in taverns and down kegs of beer to dull his misery. (Though beer is still the main staple in the dwarf's diet, of course.) Nathan Long has remained true to the Slayer Code and is slowly making the series his own. These stories of the duo's dangerous adventure have yet to slow down or start to become boring. This tale is a worthy addition to the Gotrek and Felix legend. But, hopefully, future books will not end with our heroes staring death in the face. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reminds us that fantasy adventure should be fun!, December 28, 2009
This review is from: Shamanslayer (Gotrek & Felix Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
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This is another in the Black Library Warhammer Series, and the first I have read of the Gotrek (a one-eyed dwarf "slayer" who has been dishonored and taken an oath to his god to meet his fate) and Felix (his human friend and sworn chronicler) series. This is about the 4th in the series dealing with these two characters, who were created and written by another author before Nathan Long has taken over the adventures of the pair. Prior volumes included three adventures each.
Nathan Long is a very good storyteller, keeping the yarn moving with healthy doses of danger and humor while blending unpleasant realities of travel in a lawless frontier -- cold, deprevation, poor sleep, and bad food.
These are two interesting and enjoyable characters -- Gotrek is taciturn and possessed of a rather singleminded determination to "meet his doom" in a particularly flamboyant fashion, and it is this desire for glory which led him to seek a writer-adventurer as a companion, but also keeps him from following the "slayer" path of throwing his or her life away upon the first "impossible" fight encountered. Felix, a formidable fighter in his own right, does most of the non-violent communication for the pair, as well as finding times to have published volumes chronicling their adventures. Encountering readers along the way is something of a risk, when it entails an expectation the pair will live up to their more outrageous exploits.
In this installment, the pair have traveled together for about 20 years. Felix has just discovered his merchant father has been slain by a lingering villain from a prior adventure, but after an unpleasant confrontation with his merchant brother, he is acosted by a Templar because of the ensorciled sword he carries. In a past adventure, Felix had acquired the sword from an owner who no longer had a use for it. Felix reluctantly returns the sword, but is given loan of it back on the condition he assist the old Templar's quest in finding the remains of his order and the order's regalia which seems lost in the fighting in the Northern forests. The enemy of this campaign (and there are lots of enemies of the Empire in this dark age) are the Beastmen, who are semi-humanoid mutants combining beast-like strength and determination with large numbers, nasty disposition, but lacking in human cunning. To keep Felix's sword, the quest is accepted.
The trip north is dangerous, uncomfortable, and highly risky, as there has been fighting the previous season and many of the settlements have been destroyed. Trade is uncertain at best, and the inhabitants are damaged and demoralized, with many of the less-reputable returning soldiers filling vaccuums left by vacant lords and authorities.
Felix is saved again by a girl he had saved (apparently from a sorceress mother) and last seen at the age of seven sometime near the beginning of his travels with Gotrek. Kat, the woman-adventurer, because her kind foster-family was wiped out by the Beastmen, has vowed an unwaivering quest to exterminate them all. To that end, she has become a scout-ranger who travels the dark woods in search of the enemy and calling down on them human authorities.
Felix's fondness for the memory of the small girl and his admiration of her lethality and forest cunning cause him to drift into conflicted feelings about her due to his circumstances and their disperate ages as they travel together. While each of these characters is of a "recognizable type" for this fixture, Nathan Long makes each of them interesting individuals, and punctuates bordom, adventure, and combat with humor, tactical choices, and romance.
The group ultimately discovers a powerful shaman of the Beastmen has wielded together a terrible monolithic vehicle for sorcery which can turn any human into a Beastman, and they see it happen to some of their unlucky companions. The novitiate who accompanies the Templar is one such unfortunate, as are the various military forces and villagers who have encountered this swarm as it moves through the forest towing the magic monolith toward an uncertan destination and for a mysterious purpose. The novitiate gathers his remaining humanity and reveals the terrible and appocalyptic purpose of the shaman and the Beastmen, but how can this small band thwart such overwhelming odds.
While this main plot nicely resolves, Long deftly provides a cliffhanger ending which will keep us awaiting the next installment.
RECOMMENDED.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Plenty of Doom to Go Around, December 22, 2009
This review is from: Shamanslayer (Gotrek & Felix Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
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Gotrek Gurnisson is a dwarf slayer seeking his doom (glorious death) to redeem himself for past wrongdoings. Felix Jaeger is his human companion, writing about the deeds/adventures of the slayer. Gotrek saved Felix's life, long ago, and Felix swore a blood-oath to record Gotrek's doom, to restore honor to his name. Unfortunately, Gotrek is so skilled in fighting that he is still alive.
In Shamanslayer, Felix returns to his home to confirm his father's death at the hands of skavens. Before Felix can carry out his revenge, a knight from the Order of the Fiery Heart demands that the rune sword, Karaghul, be returned to the templars. However, Felix -- desperate to keep the sword he has grown attached to -- manages to make a deal with the old knight: discover the fate of the missing knights of the Order, and recover the holy regalia.
After Felix and Gotrek set out on their new mission, they cross paths with two old friends: Snorri Nosebiter and Kat. Even though Felix was originally a poet before becoming an experienced swordsman, it was still strange to see him turn into a nervous wreck around Kat. The backstory with Snorri and his memory loss was also disturbing. Shamanslayer portrayed Gotrek and Felix in a slightly different way from previous Warhammer books.
Their group discovers that the missing templar knights were overtaken by beastmen; as they follow the trail of the herd, they realize that these beastmen belong to a herd numbering in the thousands. Urslak Cripplehorn (the shaman) and Gorgorath the God-Touched (a warlord) have found a way to increase their herd, and destroy their enemies at the same time. They are also planning to conquer the forests of the Empire through an elaborate ritual.
Gotrek figures he can either stop the ritual, or finally meet his doom. Felix feels he has no choice, due to his oath, but he wishes he was free to pursue a relationship with Kat. Snorri tags along, hoping to get his memory back. It was not the ending I was expecting, but I loved this book.
If you are a fan of the Gotrek & Felix series, you might like Grey Seer (Warhammer), which features the skaven Thanquol. I loved reading his view of his past with Gotrek and "his pet human."
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