Beastslayer: A Gotrek and Felix Novel by William King

 

"Storm clouds gather around the icy city of Praag as the foul hordes of Chaos lay ruinous seige to northern lands of Kislev. Only Gotrek Gurnisson, a death-seeking dwarf Slayer, and his sworn human companion, Felix Jaeger, stand between the ancient cit and the forces of Darkness."

Product Details:

Pages: 288

Publisher: Games Workshop (February 27, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0743411617

ISBN-13: 978-0743411615

Product Dimensions: 6.9x4.3x0.7 inches

Characters and the Plot:

Beastslayer: A Gotrek and Felix Novel by William King is the fifth book in the series. Although I haven't read the other books prior to this one I can definitely say that this book stands alone very well - I literally couldn't put it down and I look forward to reading the others in the series.

Gotrek and Felix are an unlikely couple of characters. Gotrek is a seeks an honorable death to atone for his unknown sins and Felix is bound to him by a Dwarven blood-oath - after a nasty night of binge drinking and an incident with some knights - and set to the task of recording their mighty battles and Gotrek's glorious death.

In this particular battle Gotrek and Felix have travelled to the city of Praag to aid them in the oncoming  clash with a chaos horde led by the warlord Atrek Daemonclaw. Once the chaos horde are outside the city there begins a never ending onslaught to the city ranging from summoned daemons that occupy huge siege towers to beastmen and tribesmen hurling themselves at the enchanted outer walls. However, they are not safe on the inside either, there is treachery brewing led by a high ranking official and his underground allies.

Just when it seems that all is lost messengers have reached Ivan Petrovich Straghov and the Ice Queen. The Ice Queen summons her armies against the chaos horde and organize an attack from the rear. Meanwhile a flank attack is also accomplished by the Grey Seer Thanquol - an enemy of Gotrek and Felix's - while he is investigating the surplus dark magic that is present in winds of magic of the battle. These two attacks, along with an airship attack - give Praag the edge that they need to win the battle.

This particular book gives us an in-depth look at what makes a Slayer. King explores Gotrek's background and we begin to see why the Slayers of the Dwarven race seek such glorious deaths. More Slayers such as Snorri and Ulli are introduced throughout the book which adds to the complex concept of Dwaven lifestyle.

The triangle of Max (a sorcerer who needs to find his confidence), Ulrika (a noble woman related to the Duke of Praag) and Felix gets some particular attention as well. It seems that with the stresses of the battle Felix and Ulrika's relationship begins to fail and she strikes up a deepening friendship with Max.

For any Warhammer fan King depicts a terrifying scene of what a chaos army of this magnitude is capable of. The sorcerers are capable of tremendous power and the army is in a blood-lust frenzy begging to advance not caring whether they live or die, either way it will please their gods.

My Verdict?

I loved this book right from the start, it kept me captivated and I couldn't put it down. King's style of writing is easy to follow yet he is able to conjure an incredible scene from very few words. I would highly recommend the series to any warhammer or dark fantasyfan looking for a straight forward book with gruesome imagery and subtle twists.

Lance 'Slayer' Pawman