Beastslayer

Reviewed by Pricey on 30/07/03 (including spoilers!)

I know I'm back tracking, but I didn't realise that I'd never posted a review for either this or Vampire Slayer. Ah well, time to make amends.

Fantastic read as ever, the fact that this book is written within the 'City of Heroes' is not lost on me and I could think of nobody better to inhabit the dismal place that Gotrek and Felix.

This book brings back the feeling of Skaven Slayer in so much as Gotrek and co. are predominantly in one area, defending rather than attacking. Of course it lacks most of the other book's humour but since the world may be about to collapse in on itself that sort of thing can be forgiven.

The start shows a very definitive change in Felix, giving him more of a power on his own rather than just being the slayer's lackey. The way Gotrek reacts to humans through out the book in cemented as Praag's second in command is given a verbal going over. This also helps to highlight the often referred to 'inhuman' nature of dwarves.

Unfortunately Felix is still enamoured to Ulrika and this makes for dull reading. A change of pace to add compassion into the books, admittedly but given the main subject (death, death, death and....................death) this could be better replaced with a few choice words from Snorri concerning the current state of elven spice trade with Cathay. Well, I think it would be a funny (if somewhat short) conversation.

The general examination of the city itself makes for exceptional reading. A particular favorite scene of mine is the Witch Hunter purge of the tavern. The reaction that Gotrek gives to Felix's shock at killing the lead fanatic is brilliant. Other high points are the Red Rose (Bjorni obviously comes into his own) as well as some of Snorri's more comical comments during the course of the book.

Now on to some of the side stories. The twin wizards/Chaos warlord/other Chaos champions parts are good, showing the general role of Chaos in the Warhammer world: Exceptionally powerful, just not too clever. The skaven stuff is also decent, I'm waiting for Lurk to return at the head of a tide of Skaven as well as Thanquol any time at all.

Now, on to killing (we had to get around to it eventually). The fights on the walls are fantastic. Having briefly touched upon the idea of defending battlements in Troll Slayer ('Wolf Riders' if memory serves) it's good to see it enlarged in this book. Max's tower destroying spell is good to read as is pretty much everything else where people other than the primary two characters do something well.

Ok, now for the final (massive) battle. The general death and destruction is good to see, especially the demon attack. Snorri holding back 'young Felix' is a more serious side of the slayer which is not often seen. The way in which Gotrek is nearly killed highlights this somewhat sentimental side of the nail headed dwarf which makes you feel sorry for him (this is the sort of sentimentality which is good, it actually means something rather than Felix's love thing, but I digress....)

That latter stages of the battle are covered fantasticly, with the Gospodar Muster, Malakai's showstopping entrance and of course the big Arek finale. The airship's return in a blaze of glory is good to see, first the engineer gets a machine gun, then he invents a bazooka, next he makes the first ever bombing run and finally he reinacts 'Armageddon Now' with alchemical fire instead of Napalm. Clever guy.

Final duel and the lead up to it is really decent writing, with Ulli finally biting the dust after losing his fears and Felix becoming something of a Gotrek. The way in which he described in this novel is unfortunately not carried on into the later ones, a great shame in my opinion. Anyway, the duel itself. The fact that gotrek need help to finally finish the warlord off is nice, it shows that despite the fact he killed a Bloodthirster, he isn't totally invincible.

At this point I would just like to say what a travesty the stats for Gotrek and Felix are for use in games of Warhammer, it's far better to just make your own rules which actually fit in with the books and then just let him kill half an army.

Anyway: great book, I've written too much to carry on and do a Vampire Slayer review right now, so that'll be along some other time.

Pricey

 

Reviewed by Johny Smith on 02/05/03

This book rocks. I love the Graphic violence. I am a Gothist

 

Reviewed by Tom on 25/03/03

Chaos...I HATE Chaos! Considering that Gotrek's axe could kill a Greater Daemon there shouldn't be any trouble right? Wrong. Funny moments in this book were less than in others [it is the end of the world] but the Red Rose scenes was great. Bjorni is a great character.

Max was particularly annoying in this book, but I never really liked him after he shot Thanqoul when he wasn't looking. Speaking of whom, the Grey Seer manages to avoid civil war at the hands of Lurk Snitchtongue and heads on back to Skavenblight...only to be attacked by Morgar Doomblade and his devotees of Khorne! Is he alive? Is he dead? Will we ever find out? I hope so!

 

Reviewed by Rickard on 06/02/03

An intense and pleasure giving book Its one of the greatest book i have read and i have read a lot

Keep up the good work !

 

Reviewed by Ilya on 26/01/03

This is, if not the most, then very close to one of Gotrek's best attempts to accomplish his oath.
During his combat with the beasts and knights of Chaos, Gotrek brings the term slaughter to a brand-new level. For those who love to read about brutal medieval combat, friendship, love, romance and magic, this book will grab a hold of you and wont let go until you see the bloody end.

 

Reviewed by Brock Schlough (Rashka) on 25/01/03

my friend let me borrow his beast slayer and i must say im allready just to page 50 and its better than any book ive read before.  lord of the rings was ok but it was much more boring then beast slayer.  the thing that sucks about beast slayer is that unlike most books it doesn't realy finish off before it switches to another charactor. there are a lot of spelling miss haps with quotes and all that.  But the battle scene (AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH) they are the gorest most detailed battles ive ever read about.  I would strongly not recommend this to people with weak constitutions, if affraid of blood or even the thought of it, or anyone under the age of 11.

 

 

Reviewed by Captain Faras on 4/10/02

this book was really cool and all but i have to raise one minor point.... MAJOR SPOILER FOR BEASTSLAYER

 

 

Reviewed by Cédric Billette on 14/06/02

Nice story with the huge siege and all, but I thought that calling this the Second Great War Against Chaos was a bit presumptuous : after all, the chaos horde was stopped at Praag!

 

Reviewed by Mike on 10/06/02

I think this book is one of the best in the series.  I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.  The siege in this book is awesome!

 

Reviewed by Jacob Harper on 11/05/02

A MIGHTY BATTLE BETWEEN CHAOS AND THE PEOPLE OF PRAAG RAGES ON AND WHO SHOULD BE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL GOTREK AND FELIX> CREATING CARNAGE WHEREVER THEY GO UP UNTIL THE FINAL BATTLE WITH AREK DAEMONCLAW

 

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