Black Library Novels (possible spoilers).

[Methrin]

Cross-posted here, upon suggestion by gjnoronh. Enjoy!

I've reached somewhat of a milestone yesterday, as I finished reading my 30th BL novel, after beginning the first one more or less a year and a month ago. This might seem like a lot to some, but I read really fast and my job offers plenty of time to read.

After reading more than a handful of novels, one begins to see vague outlines of trends and patterns, I thought it would be fun to discuss this, as well as offering some quick reviews plus pointers. If you like your reading unspoiled, do not read any of the sections in italic.

So here goes the list of what I've read, reviews in one sentence and pointers to what the books contain which some people might find useful if they fancy reading about X or Y.

Trollslayer. Short stories, perfect for minimal commitment reading. Slayer, Chaos, Gobbos.
Skavenslayer. Nice introduction to skaven interference in the realm of men. Skaven, Eshin, Pestilens, Skryre, Moulder, Thanquol.
Daemonslayer. The peak of the series as far as I'm concerned. Chaos Wastes, BloodThirster, Greater Daemon, Malakai Makaisson, Spirit of Grungni.
Dragonslayer. Cute, but anticlimactic. Dragon, Chaos, Malakai Makaisson, Spirit of Grungni, Slayers.
Beastslayer. Straightforward but entertaining. Kislev, Daemons, Chaos, Siege, Praag,Malakai Makaisson, Spirit of Grungni.
Vampireslayer. Unexpected twists, that or I'm gullible. Vampires, Von Carstein, Lahmia, Drakenhoff, Sylvania, Nagash.

I really enjoyed reading the Felix & Gotrek novels, but as I read more books, I'm enjoying them a lot less since I find most other series much better. I'd recommend them as first reads more than anything, or as introductions to various armies/lands, since each book more or less tells a lot about its topic (i.e. you learn a lot about Skaven in skavenslayer).

Zaragoz. Well written and a blast to read. Orfeo, Minstrel, Chaos, Vampire, Araby, Tilea.
Vermintide Fairly grim and skaven-centric, kinda complementary to the Felix & Gotrek series. Skaven, Gyrocopter, Malakai Makaisson, Spirit of Grungni, Skryre.
Masters of Magic Enjoyable laidback read. Orcs, gobbos, greenskins, shaman, Wizards, Colleges, Jade, Amethyst, Gold, Grey, Ludwig Schwarzhelm.
Magestorm. Weird book, makes one kinda depressed but still interesting. Bright Wizard, Storm of Chaos, Witch Hunter, Lore of Heavens.
Necromancer. Odd read, still partial to this one. Necromancy, Witch Hunter.
The Dead and The Damned. Jonathan Green's best book by far. Dogs of War, Mercenaries, Chaos, Daemons.
Ancient Blood. Thought it would be ok, turned out a GREAT read. Strigany, Strigoi, gypsies, Ushoran, Dogs of War, Regiments of Renown, Vespero's Vendetta, Lumpin' Croop's Fighting Cocks.
Curse of The Necrarch. Really grim and dark, lovely if you're into it. Necrarch, Vampires, Zombies, Zombie Dragon.
Knight Errant. Good as standalone story, not sure it's worth making it into a series though. Bretonnia, Beastmen, Knights.
Shadowbreed(Konrad Series). Erratic and wild, fun if you like the unexpected. Chaos, Mutants, Skaven, Middenheim, Warpstone.
Oathbreaker. Offbeat and fun. Skaven, Orcs, Gobbos, Troll, Dragon, Ironbreakers.

Witch Hunter Great story, really caught me off guard. Witch Hunter, Vampire, Necrarch, Necromancer, Mordheim.
Witch Finder Better than the first one, that's saying a lot. Witch Hunter, Vampire, Necrarch, Necromancer, Wurtbad, Skaven, Morr,Nurgle, Great Unclean One, Warpfire Thrower, Warpstone, Mutants.
Witch Killer Not as good as the first two, different pace but good. Witch Hunter, Vampire, Necromancer, Skaven, Skrittar, Grey Seer, Vermin Lord.

I'm obviously biased, I loved this series. The main characters are really fleshed out, even less important characters like Streng.

Mark of Damnation. Full of twists & turns, amazing story. Witch Hunters, Chaos, Warpstone, Mutants, Marienburg, heresy, Khorne, Chaos Knights.
Mark of Heresy. Not as wild as the first one, but an excellent follow-up. Storm of Chaos, Valten, Luthor Huss, Mutants, Witch Hunters, Khorne, Tzeentch.

Great series, since it shows the other side of mutants (i.e. the ones that don't run out into the woods).

Blades of Chaos. Looks boring at first but gets crazily addictive and enjoyable later on. Chaos, Witch Hunter, Knight, Kurgan, Norsca, Trolls, Marauders.
The Claws of Chaos. Quite different from the first one, which proved quite fun. Tomb Kings, Khemri, Norsemen, Marauders, Chaos, Ushabti, Liche Priest, Dwarfs, Giant, Amber Wizard, Ferret, Dwarf Engineering, Araby, Sea monster.
The Heart of Chaos. A fairly solid climax to the series. Chaos, Flesh Hounds, Daemon Prince, Mutation, War Mammoth.

Another amazing series, like the one above, this one shows you what it's like on the other side (i.e. a normal empire knight slowly crossing over to chaos).

The Ambassador. Good, but too similar to the average novel. Kislev, Ice queen, Chaos, Mutant.
Ursun's Teeth Liked the first book and this one much better after finishing both. Kislev, Ice queen, Chaos, Mutant.

The series is good, the only big downside is that it feels very similar to most books you can read from BL where the action is in the empire. More on this later.

Drachenfels. Felt like a long introduction to another book, still good. Drachenfels, Vampire, Lahmia, Karl Franz, Luitpold.
Genevieve Undead. Fun, offbeat short stories. Vampire, Lahmia.
Beasts in Velvet. Very good story with unexpected plot. Vampire, Lahmia, Emmanuelle Von Liebewitz, Nuln Elector Count.
Silver Nails. GREAT book to complement the rest of the series, not sure it's a great read without reading the rest though.Vampire, Lahmia, Chaos Wastes, Chaos Knights, Mutant, Cathay.

That's it for reviews!

On to the other topic I wanted to discuss, trends and patterns.

First of all, skaven are goddamn near everywhere in the empire. Pick any empire novel out there, you're almost guaranteed to have a subplot with skaven, the funny thing though is that they pretty much never attack with anything else than clanrats and stormvermin.

Next, mutants are all over the place. We're not talking about random mutant henchmen that get killed in brawls here, we're talking about almost everyone, high ranked officials, random peasants, chaos cultists, etc... Chaos cults? More like Chaos Communism, everyone gets to be a mutant.

Funnily enough, there's so many skaven and mutants out there that you pretty much have 1 witch hunter for every 10 skaven and 10 mutants. Only in cities though, anything that resembles an army won't find a witch hunter within miles, not even if they could use someone used to fighting vampires and the likes when they go marching towards a necrarch stronghold.

There's a lot more I was thinking of earlier, but I'm shooting blanks after reminiscing about 30 novels, so I'll let others step in and point out anything they've spotted trends-wise. :wink:

[gjnoronh]

Methrin thanks for posting this great review.

I don't have the same experience with witchhunters as a trend (but I didn't read the witch hunter series) but particularly the older BL novels really have a heavy representation of chaos/plots. Really the focus was humanity vs chaos (or if you are reading older books Law vs Chaos)

Some of the older books have more differences from currently accepted canon- the slayer series, genevieve undead and konrad come to mind.

Personally I find most of the older ones more interesting as folks were IMO more interested in really telling stores rather than getting a brief 'write about this warhammer army'

I may try and sit down and go through my library and do a similar analysis I've probably got 60 BL books floating around the house.

[gjnoronh]

Just finished reading Knight Errant and I liked it, some of the writing was uneven (particularly near the end) but overall a good read and you could tell Ant Reynolds had been a games designer - it read right.

Some cool beast imagery in the book. I'm going to pick up the next one as soon as I can.

[r1d3]

I loved to read the Konrad-Saga.
Gotrek&Felix somewhat remind me of Bud Spencer&Terence Hill Movies in the way they handle things.
And I have to add I admire the way Skaven are illustrated in the books, especially the parts with Grey Seer Thanquol. Alway fighting their own inability and treacherousness..
(books read: Gotrek&Felix: I-VI. (favourite: Skavenslayer), the Konrad Saga and Mark of Chaos)
Are there other skaven heavy books you`d suggest? Or any other books from BL, which you`ve found especially interesting?

[gjnoronh]

I'm reading the Grey Knights omnibus right now and enjoying it.

The Eisenhorn/Ravenor series is very good.

The Horus Heresy series is generally quite good.

Anything by Dan Abnett, Ben Counter is a good bet.

[Trogdor]

Huge LOL for me!!! I just finished reading my first Warhammer novel. I have long turned my nose up at the BL offerings thinking that maybe they're just there to make a quick buck off the fanboys. I also know a guy who was attempting to get GW to publish a book of his and wow it was bad. Luckily they never did publish it but it didn't help to raise my opinion of the quality of the writing I thought I'd see.

Just the other day I was having lunch with two good buds that I haven't seen in a while but used to play lots of Warhammer with. One was returning a book he had borrowed off the other guy. It happened to be "Nagash the Sorcerer" by Mike Lee. They both told me it was good and I had made it a point to read something other than a textbook over the summer so I borrowed it. OK, 515 pages. 2 reading sessions in two days (until 2 and 3 in the morning!). 1 Freaking Amazing book!

I am a big fantasy fan and I will openly admit that I have to take back any and all preconceptions about Black Library books that I had before. I had never even heard of Mike Lee (never read the Malus Darkblade series) so I had no idea what to expect. I was totally going to start my own thread about this book to rant and rave and here someone has beaten me to the general idea while I was out of town. Excellent says I.

If anyone else has read this book, please tell me what you thought. If you haven't read this book, I can't recommend it highly enough. Richly detailed without slowing down the pace. Excellent plot, twists, heroic actions, betrayals, tons of intense battles. True desperation. I am eagerly awaiting the next books. I will have to follow some of the other great recommendations here in the mean time.

[gjnoronh]

Cool Trog I was wondering about picking it up I'll check it out.

I just finished Steven Saville's Vampire Count series - it stinks and I'd strongly advise avoiding it like the plague.

Like any shared world theres some good stuff and some bad stuff from Black Library. But strangely some of my favorite reads over the last few years have been from BL.

[gjnoronh]

Discussion of the Horus Heresy
http://z2.invisionfree.com/herdstone/index...opic=17800&st=0

[Lichemaster]

I kike what Nathan Long is doing with Gortrex and Felix novels and even expanding on characters that Bill King wrote about. (a future vampire from the past is coming to surface) Also it was nce to read the Thanqual book as he even has a second book coming out about Thanqual!
I enjoy reading about the warhammer world, it's good old fun.
I have read everything to date that has been published for BL (fantasy wise) if I have not read it, it's on my self waiting to get read.

[gjnoronh]

Am reading Nagash the sorcerer now and am about 3/4 through and I have to say this is a REALLY good book - captures the true horror aspect of the birth of undead in the warhammer world.

[Grimstonefire]

@Methrin
Can you remember any of the details about how they describe the Hellcannons in Magestorm?

I understand there is something in there on them and I'm always keen to learn more about Chaos Dwarf background.

[Finnigan2004]

I'm currently reading Malekith, which is really good so far. I don't read that many GW novels, but did really like the first few Horus heresy. Now that the thousand sons books are coming out, I'll probably get back on finishing the series.

[gjnoronh]

Finished Nagash and started Titanicus - interesting so far

[Odominus]

Fan of Mike Lee? Check here:

http://z7.invisionfree.com/wyrmling_x/inde...?showtopic=7087

[gjnoronh]

New website for BL is up click here