Review: Blood for the Blood God - C L Werner

Title Blood for the Blood God
Author C. L. Werner
Pages 416
Year 2008
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 7 days (November 2008)
Rating 9 / 10

This is the second instalament of the Chaos novels that C L Werner is penning. The first book is The Palace of Plague Lord and it was a fantastic and different read. Probably the book I read that had more interesting evil characters... The third book will depicts Wulfrik (you can see more of it on my Grey Seer review that C L Werner had the amability to comment and share some new information about it. There is no need reading the first book to fully enjoy this one.

On this book it is focused on Khorne as the name of novel implies. Well on this book we are presented with Teiyogtei Khagan who had united eight tribes under his banner to entablished his own empire however he was killed in a duel with Skulltaker, the bloody executioner and champion of Khorne. On this duel the Skulltaker was wounded by Khagan weapon called Bloodeater. Well the book then jumps to five hundred generations after that conflict as the empire is divided again into eight tribes who are fighting among them with no winner... No tribe can destroy another... A stalemate war...

Well then the Skulltaker returns and wants the heads of every ruler of the eight tribes.. why? Well there's the plot of the other characters... They must find the Black Altar (Teiyogtei's tomb) and reforge the Bloodeater so they can have a chance against their adversarie.

Well one thing for sure... C L Werner can really do landscapes as he creates a great mood that we drawn into it as he as done on the previous novel.

The Skulltaker character is never fully devoloped and we are presented with only glimpses of it. But one thing that made me give 9 out of 10 is the uber fighter. He cannot be defeated and for several chapters we see the same thing. He arrives at a tribe and he fights numerous opponents and he kills them all and then behead the chief.

This book is more than hack and slash (but there is plenty of it). It's a political game of every tribe tries to take advantage of the next or situation. After all they are chaos cultists and have history of fighting against themselves.

On this book as the previous one C L Werner gives the Chaos followers a bit of humanity (after all they are human, well most of them are...). After all we in each book of Black Library are presented with the other side of the story. It's the views of elves, humans and dwarves and now we have the chaos view. Very nice indeed. But on the same level as he gave some humanity to the chaos followers the Chaos looses some of the horror they should represent.

The other thing that I hope to see more than I did were the development of the other characters but nevertheless they were satisfactory and I did enjoy the book believe me.

Another thing that I must congratulate C L Werner is the ending... That's Chaos alright. I really hope for the next chaos book... After all it will be Wulfrik...I really hope he could do a Sigvald book. I bought the figurine and all because i find it very interesting character...

Review: The Palace of Plague Lord - C L Werner

Title The Palace of Plague Lord
Author C. L. Werner
Pages 416
Year 2007
Publisher Black Library
Reading time August 2007
Rating 10 / 10

Let us start with the cover... Isn't it great or what? It's a old cover that appear in a now quasi-mythic book called Realm of Chaos: Lost and the Damned. Published in 1988 made a great inpact... But this is not about it.

Well this book is the first depicting the forces of Chaos. There are four forces of Chaos (and Undivided but that's not a single god) who battle for supremacy. There's Khorne a God of Blood, There's Tzeentch the God of Change. There's Nurgle the God of Decay and Slaanesh the God of Hedonism. Each faction fights against themselves and against all living things human, elf, dwarf and everything else... Well why I am telling you this? Because each book tells us a story of a character than follows a faction and battle against others...

This book is one of best Black Library published and it has some elements that I've never seen on a Black Library book. On this book and the next (which I will review later) there is no "good" character. Don't expect values that you could considered to be good. The realms of Chaos are a harsh land that breeds harsh people. Either you are the hunter and a fighter or you will perish. There is evil everywhere. There is perilous situations every day. Do not expect honor or symphaty. The only rule is the rule of survival.

As you read this book you are drawn to a harsh and unforgiven battle. After the first line of the first chapter you begin to see changes in you. You begin to feel the cold weather that strikes the norcsan people. You begin to feel fear and disgust. And believe me in a good way. C L Werner can really make people grip the book until the end. He really can make you hate every character but at the same time connect to them. You hate them but you want them to succeeed.

If you are sick of reading about good characters than are perfect and almost godlike don't look here. You will not find it. And for you all that are into forgotten realms, dragonlance and warhammer... Why is Raistlin one (for me the best) character ever made? He was a true evil character and even there is was the most famous and people wanted more novels depicting his strugle. I think we are drawn to this characters that fight their way through fire and ice and still succeed. Most people who read this books will cheer for Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers but why? The Rebels are the good guys... Well it's just it. We like something different from everything that was made... (I think that's why stars wars is so special and Raistlin is the best character in the all realms).

Having said that read on...

The setting as I said is the realm of chaos.If you are a fan of Chaos then this is definetely your book. It's brings some good memories from what chaos was before the changes they made to the setting... (remember the book I told you before). Here we are presented with several characters and each are special on their own away. Werner can really make characters, there is no doubt about it.

This main character is a Tzeentch follower that fought for it against Grandfather Nurgle it return he would get another chance to get his woman back and the tribe... I will not spoil you by saying what happens but know that as I said if you want to see the Chaos on the first person read this book. It has some members from other tribes as well who help our adventurer... Well help is saying too much maybe.

Either way... I loved the book and I would advice it to anyone, being a Warhammer fan or not...

I must re-read it in a couple of years...

Review: Dominion & Retribuition - Steven Savile

Title Dominion/Retribution
Author Steven Savile
Pages 416/416
Year 2006/2007
Publisher Black Library
Reading time I read it in 2007/2008
Rating 8.5 / 10

Well, I am reviewing this book despite that alread 3 years have passed. I still remember most of the plot and I add some things written here about these two books...

They are the second and the third of a trilogy about a family of vampires. It was a good trilogy and it's very unfortunate that Steven Savile is no longer a writer for Black Library. He could do so much... Oh well, life doesn't not always turns out as we wanted...

The review of the first book Inheritance can be found HERE.

In this book we are introduced to a new hero that will have a great impact in this book and the last. It's a Dwarf called Kallad with his has called Ruinthorn. He lives with a promise that he shall bring death (again) to all vile creatures specially undead. He was a prince and he was fighting at the walls of some keep that fell to the undead. His father and many of his followers sacrifice themselves to give kallad time to save some women and children.

The other two main character is Mannfred and Konrad von Carstein. Since the demise of Vlad fell in Altdorf those he sired battle themselves for domion. Mannfred wanders alone and forgotten. Mannfred only goal at that time was knowledge. He still has Vlad signet ring (with it's restorative magic), and within his goal there is a book with incantions crafted by Nagash.

Konrad meanwhile rules the court and prides himself with cruel savagery. He is to paranoid to trust any one even if picked every member of elite guard. (He reminds me of Ivan IV, The terrible a Russian tzar). Strangely enough Mannfred reminds me of Peter I the Great another russian tzar).

Then the second battle against the humans...

Meanwhile there are other characters who make this book so great.. Jon Skellon andf Jared from White Wolf changes...

Well this book is a build up for the last book... It is a good book with a good plot and great characterization. This book needs the third to be fully appreciated.

The third book does not disapoint anyone. It starts the same way the others had began and the end... well it's was not expected. Again great character building.

Obviously the story the book tell us were already known cause it's the Vampire Army Book but it was great seeing these way. I only thing that the vampires could dominate the humans if not by their own superiority = stupidity. It's a shame. In the end my vampire vampire was Vlad. No doubt and again the two SS I told before are there...

There is only another book by Steven Saville before he left called Curse of Necrach... It's a shame... he could really write about Vampires and could creat good characters... I really hope he is doing great out there...

Review: Forged in Battle - Justin Hunter

Title Forged in Battle
Author Justin Hunter
Pages 256
Year 2004
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 4 days (January 2010)
Rating 7,5 / 10

This was my first warhammer novel this year. I wanted to read something small and easy to read. So I start reading this book and it took me a while to get into the mood. Last day I went to a doctor and with 120 pages to go I read it all... (just see how much I waited and the darn transports... well it was nice to read so many pages in one set, I must start doing that again).

Well now the book.. This book as a straightforward story.. The Beastman are starting to gather in the woods around a small village. There is some sacred stones than are calling the beastman and to finalize a ritual they need to kill one man from a family of some old forgotten hero than 2000 years before thwarted the plans of the beastman (of course the humans don't know this part). In this village of a couple hundreds humans they have a company of around one hundred human pikeman and handguners. Of course the beastman are more and they have 2000 years of rage with them. Well they start to incenerate the surroundings areas as they prepare to invade the village. There are some chaos cultists (some of them are not that well hidden). Then there is a final battle and such... I will not dwell on the end but suffice to say it ends well (maybe because the title says... Forged in Battle (a Ragged Company novel) It means Black Library thought of a series... But this author never again wrote anything for Black Library. It's a shame...

Well.. as I said this is no-nonsence. There is no magic, no godfear characteres that never die, and such... Everyone is expendable... As I said before this is a small novel and if you want a novel with the depth exploration of warhammer world or character build just look somewhere else. If you want to entertain yourself with a good quick read then read this novel.

Sometimes I thought there was too many characters and in then end only care for one. Edmunt. One guy who saw his family being butcher by the beastman and the main port-standart of the ragged company. He has a axe and my god, he is truly awesome with it... It kills and kills and kills... It looked like I was seeing a human Gotrek. But in then it was the only character I really cared.

There is some plots than go nowhere like the sergeant dislike of our main character and his superior office. What happened to Edmunt (he didn't die but in the epilogue he is not mentioned). What happens to the chaos cultist that was saved in the end (nobody knew besides the captain and some men in the company of his true colours.

The most interesting part suffice to say was the battles, specially in the end with the siege and Edmunt.

Well this is it... I wonder what happend to Justin Hunter. I know this isn't the best book that Black Library published but it has some good parts... It is one of those authors who dissapear like Neil McIntosh who made a trilogy then puff... Or Robin D Laws or James Wallis. What happened to them?? David Ferring made one of the most important series in the Black Library with Konrad. Old readers love those book... Jonathan Green made two good books... Necromancer one of the most scariest books in Black Library. He sure could built a dark world. And The Dead and the Damned. A novel with a bunch of mercenaries (I will read it soon..) But this author went to Abaddon to write a new series so no loss there... (I have all Abaddon books... didn't I tell you before?) Well It would be nice to someone comment in my blog if they had any information of this writers...

Disaster Movies Part III - Mega Shark VS Giant Octopus

Well this was the fourth movie about Disasters. I heard some good things with this book.. Check the links for more information...

imdb
Wiki

Well this last movie is from a company called The Asylum... This company basically grabs a blockbuster movie and turns into a mockbuster. They have a limited budget and most movies don't exceed one million dollars (that's what they say). The differences are at hand. I had already saw some of their movies and maybe this week and next week I will post a huge post with my slmi reviews...

The plot for this movie is this... There is a small sub documenting whales and such in the water. Above it there is a helicopter deploying an illegal sonar (to the army). Now what does this do? Well the whales go berserk and start colliding with a glaciar (before this we have see beautiful pictures of hammer sharks, seals and some animals that don't belong anywhere near a glaciar... it was a brief national geoghraphic thing... very cute). Now after hitting the glaciar it cracks and two animals leave it... The Giant Octupus and the Mega Shark. Intersting no? How do they got there in the first place? And after the the glaciar cracks they just leave... By this point I must say that the special effects sucked... (Movie-B in some degree). The only thing that was interesting was the girl.. and even her, well... not so hot.

After their release in Alaska the octupus attack a oil plataform in sea of japan. His tentacles were big enough to engulf the oil plataform... (how big is the oil platform). A whale is found in the beach with a big tooth... BIG TOOTH! That shark then does something amazing... It jumped out of water and grab an airplane...Now this is not a small plane..oh no... This is a big plane with a capacity of two hundred people mayhaps, so it must be two hundred meters? well this shark is even bigger.... and it jumps hundreds of meters through the air and knocks the airplane... Oh for the love of jesus and judas. Thats two big boys out there.

By the way she was fired because she had stole that sub for sightseeing...

Now she and another oceanographic says that the tooth belongs to a megalodon... that's interesting... of course I already knew that being a freak who knows things not common... and I also knows that they measure seventeen meters, not hundreds.

Well if this is to be a fictious movies with fictious animals let us do something even bigger. An ship attacks it. Not any ship a destroyer (it's around 280 meters, it was portraited by the Uss Misouri) and the darn shark sink it. Well the shark attacks them in the middle of the ship but the ship is attacking straight forward... Interesting know?

Then the navy "requests" their help (meanwhile a japanese ocenagraphic joins the two)... Interesting or not the army dude has a ponytail... eheh... Btw, why does the army in this low budgets movies don't have a hat? They never do...

Well they decide to help the guards but only if they try to catch them first... The japanese dude and the blonde oceanographic as they try to have sex in a closet they come to realize they should use pheromones. No nude scenes btw, not even a breast. Well they start their quest and another planes goes does. This one was one hundred meters and the tentacle was big enough to slap it...

Tell me that they are irresponsable.. Okay, they want to grab the shark. I understand is one of a kind. But they drawn it to the San Francisco Bay because of the low waters.. So what happens? Another war-ship is sink and the Golden Gate gets a little decoration with a romantic bite. And the ship is attacking with their main weapons near horizontal and the shots go near the shark. Well.. It's interesting the side effects. Remember those old ww2 movies where the airplanes were dodging flak? Wel it was the same but underwater.. Talk about coolness... Oh and the shark mouth just engulfs the ship...

Well what the army want is to try next nuclear weapons... Their lines are completly nosence.. "Thouands of lives just die in san francisco. Well the only thing he attack was the golden beach and it only took one part (interesting the rest the bridge stood without problem). Well I don't think a twenty or thirty meters of a bridge don't have thousands of people. Then the oceanographic says that the underwater nuclear weapons will provoke milions deaths (hmm how? if he wanted in the middle of pacific ocean?) and then he says that it will create tidal waves... Well USA has done that and no tidal wave that big... Well their tactc is what next? Well let them fight together...

I must say that by this time the movie had several deus-ex-machina situations... The ocean is so big that to them to meet would be astronomic but yet they did... and a big fight begins... Shark attacks american sub (the shark is several times bigger than the sub) but fails... Octupus attack the five subs and destroys four of them. Only the one with the main character is saved. DEM (Deus-Ex-Machina situation happens here), Then as the shark is closing in the sub the octupus attacks (DEM)... The shark attacks the sub and has it destroys but before the guy that had threat them, the girl and the oceanographic guy escapes (DEM)... The japanese sub appears and attacks the shark and the octupus grabs it... but don't destroys it... Well it has strenght to sink a oil platform or to grab a three hundred shark but not to destroy a small sub... (DEM). Then the monsters begin to fight yet again and this time the octupus wins (but what a price... it sinks into the depths with the shark on his clutches...) The oceanographic says... finnally they ended what they started 80 milions years ago... Well the first time the guy said that the shark had lived from 25 milions to 1.5 milions years ago (and I checked on wiki). And then the movies ends...

Btw, where did they get so many flasks with pheronomes? Kilos and kils (or liters?) of it...
Japanese sub crew that talks english.. odd

So, what I thought of the movie? Well I won't get back this hour and an half back. I didn't learn anything new. I only learn that this guys can't make good special effects. Everything was wrong. The moving of the shark and the octupus. The ships and the subs were weak and move in ways they would be destroyed if they did. The characters were weak and two dimensional. Well... Everything was weak.

I would rate it 1/10. And I give 1 for the trying... but if you keep trying like this I will end up giving 0/10. At least show us some boobs so I can give you a star or two...

Disaster Movies - Part II (Megafault)

Now this is an awful movie. It almost made me cried... I really wanted to stop seeing because the book was just awful... It's like torture.

Wiki
imdb

When you make a disaster movie you choose what disaster you want to create and then you combine that with a good plot and good characters... Well this movie was just weird. The characters were weak without any depth. No character was good. Not even the late Brittany Murphy.

The story is somewhat odd.. Well some guy (one of the main characters) detonated TNT in some mines... What happened? Some earthquake happens in a zone where our main character, a seismologist says that that area should have none earthquakes due to the platonic plaques don't something in that area. Well so why this earthquake happened? Well then... earthquakes continue to happen along in an area, sometimes they seem to follow the main characters. A guy is running away in a truck and the fault just follows him. And then again with the father and daughter when they pick a truck to get to a city... Talk about pursuit. Well then the husband and daughter of the seismologist is going back up home through a airplane and somehow the plane loses connection with earth... and then what happens? Well... a plane crashes again other plane (what a hell? What are the odds???) Well... the only survivors in the plane is who? Both father and daughter... the dramatic of the movie.. the father is looking after the girl after they crash and the daughter is several hundreds meters of the plane crash. The military don't work as military. They look like some... bimbos... who have a weapon that creates an earthquake (isn't that nice.. and in handy). The seismologist and the guy who denotated the TNT loses family and don't even mourn them...

And the effects? Computer make as usual but with such bad quality... Watch a trailer and then see for yourself...

Megafault has an interesting title but the caps letter should have been on the F. It's truly a megaFault. I would give this movie in a scale 1 throught 10, 2. No more. And the 2 it's because is a disaster movie.

Disaster Movies - Part I

I always loved disasters movies and books. Having dozens of books and movies from time to time I get in the mood and start reading/watching... This all began with The Towering Inferno and other book which unfortunally I don't remember... It was a sad movie... I watch those movies when I was 9 or 10. To this day I never re-watched them but I still remember them vividly.

Well but this is the week of Disasters Movies. Having start with the popular 2012 today I watch a movie call Tidal Wave. It's a korean movie, the first disaster movie made there. It's about a ... tidal wave like the one that stroke the south of asia in 2004. It has some rare moments os pure distress and sorrow. The movie effects are very good for a budget of only 16 million us dollars. I think that in the end you couldn't have asked for more. The story is much more than a disaster movie like 2012 but it has some other issues... guilt, love, sorrow, parenthood and so on... It's more focused on the people rather than the tsunami. Well you could check it out... Either movie is great and should be watched... One for the special effects and the other for the plot itself...

Links for the movie:
Wiki
imdb

Book Review: The Return of the Time Machine - Egon Friedell

Title The Return of the Time Machine

Author Egon Friedell
Pages 127
Year 1946
Publisher Daw
Reading time 1 day (November 2009)
Rating 2 / 10

This book its the sequel to the H G Wells Time Machine or at least it should be... or not? The book was written in the beginning of 40 before the German invasion. Wells at the time was alive so Friedell starts his narrative with fictious (never denied by Wells) between himself the writer and the Time Traveler who is supposedly alive in London. He reveals the mishaps with time travel. The book is frivolous at that is the word for this book. He spends much of the time talking about scientific dificulties with time travel without saying anything of interesting (pseudo-scientific I might add). In the year of 1995 London is suspended in the clouds and earth is tended by holographic gardeners. (Bare in my mind that the book was written in 1940's and many scientific discovieries were taking place so It's conceibable.. in a way). The book talks nothing of the Eloi or Morlocks, about humankind or even of his travels into the past. In the end the Time Traveler in Friedel meets a woman and give up time travelling in favour of family.

In the end I don't think this book is worth the title of Sequel to the The Time Machine. No justice in the name...

Book Review: Hail Hibbler - Ron Goulart

Title Hail Hibbler
Author Ron Goulart

Pages 157
Year 1980
Publisher DAW
Reading time 2 days (November 2009)
Rating 2 / 10

This was one of oddest books I read this year (or the last to be precise). This book passes in a world a lot different from ours... I found it hard to get into the story and characters. I must say I only finished the book because the book was short or else I would have give up. The only thing worth mention is the funny relation between the detective and his wife (the other detective) and the funny situations they get themselves into... even if they didn't make sence on my head. Maybe that's why this book is part of a series called Odd Jobs Inc. I won't try any more books on this series but I am willing to try reading the famous Vampirella novels he wrote.

Review: The Big Four and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

Title The Big Four
Author Agatha Christie
Pages 282
Year 1927
Publisher RBA
Reading time 5 days (January 2010)
Rating 7 / 10

I've been reading the Agatha Christie's novels for some time. Apart from the short stories this was the weakest book but nevertheless it is a good book... but not the standard of the other books like Murder in Orient Expess or Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The plot was a bit different from other novels... On this book we have Poirot against the big(est) four masterminds on internacional crime. Interesting or not one of them resembles Fu Manchu. The others are a billionare, a mad scientist and the destroyer (the guy who does the dirty work). This four are behind everything that unrest the world. Even behind Lenin and Trotsky (who are puppets on their hands). Of Course their plot is ... take over the world.

Well this book fails everything Agatha has written before or after. It seems this book was in a hurry to get something out on a dealine or ... maybe it wasn't written by her (?). It's predictable, pointless and very far-fetched. I think this was the book someone read and then it was inspired to do 007. If you like james bond movies then read this book ... there is no point reading if you don't like James Bond.

Saying that read another book by her if you want to start reading Agatha Christie novels... I have made some reviews on my blog. Search them...

Title The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Author Agatha Christie
Pages 310
Year 1926
Publisher RBA
Reading time 3 days (November/December 2009)
Rating 10 / 10

Well this was some fun reading. It has something I didn't saw anywhere before. It's on the first person but... the end suprised me and I bet it suprises everybody. It is a masterpiece how Agatha writes in the first person and he (SPOILER ALERT) is the killer. How about that? It's completly briliant and it's the most controversial mystery novel of the 20the cenutry. You know it nearly got Agatha Christie out of Detection Club? (It's an organization of writers who agreed to play fair and adhere to a code of ethics in their writing to give the reader a fair chance at guessing the guilty parties). The oath was ... Do you promise that your detective shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminie Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or Act of God?)

This book will shock you. It's well crafted with devious plot devices and I say Christie raise a level with this book. It's a genius because she had the imagination to do something original. If Murder on the Orient Express is her most famous book this is her best book as she said on her bibliography.

Review: The Cellar - Richard Laymon

Title The Cellar
Author Richard Laymon
Pages 254
Year 1980
Publisher Headline
Reading time 6 days (July 2009)
Rating 8 / 10

Lately I am into horror books but reading a good horror book is dificult because most horror books doesn't scare me at all... some of them are not even interesting. Nevertheless I went into it with a good impresion of the reviews... and I was glad I did it.

This book is called The Cellar which is the only atraction of a little village called Malcasa Point called. This house doesn't have any windows and was the site of gruesome deaths... Well so what to do with this house? Let us make a theme tour and make money out of it...

The book starts with a typical manner, intrducing the reader to what appears to be somewhate standard "horror novel" style opening. The introduction, title and subject points to another attempt to a basic book of horror but this is not the case.

The storyline breaks away from the predictable route and turns or weaves into a tale of bizarre full of bestiality, paedophilia, torture, blood and sex. If any of this things bother you be careful reading the book... The plot is the killings but another sub-plot involves a sociopath killer ex-husband who rapes, murders and steals his way through until they meet (the plots).

The end is quite bizarre and it has a twisted ending.

There are somethings that could be done better but int he end I was glad I had read the book. Not scare but maybe the next book by Laymon will do it...

Review TV Series - Friends

Now that's how a series should be. After seeing the first season in december. January is the season two. Well I am greatly enjoying the series... It's becoming one of my favourite series of all times.

These guys can make a serie interesting and enternaining with their jokes and differences between all of them. I am supporter of all Ross and Rachel thingy... and when they kissed and finally make out... Well that was something...

As I said I liked all characters... but Chandler Bing is my favourite character... The all satyrical guy who makes fun of everything is great. Great concept creating it... Well let us see. I am on season 2. There are 10 series so... I am going for a treat.

Book Review: When The Wind Blows - James Patterson

Title When the Wind Blows
Author James Patterson

Pages 468
Year 1998
Publisher Headline
Reading time 3 days (January 2010)
Rating 3 / 10

This was the worst book I read in a year or more. I have failed to finish a couple of books last year, but none was worst that these one. It sounded a good story and that's why I pick it up. Having read a previous book by him (The Jester) and liked it I thought this one was had the same formula... It had but everything was horrible. The plot was dull and after the first chapters it went nowhere. The "Good"characters are excepcionally good (and adonis like) and the "Evil" guys are masters of horror alike. They are non-dimensional without true human qualities. They are just evil or good. take a pick. Even the writing was completly strange and went nowhere. It just add chapter after chapter. The book had more than one hundred chapters... some of them I just read a sentence a page after a while. They didn't add anything. Then the female main character was on the first person and the rest of the book in the third... what?? That's even weirder...

If you want to read about animal experimentation well read The Island of Doctor Moreau. But stay away from this book...

Review: The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett

Title The Colour of Magic (1st on Discworld)
Author Terry Pratchett
Pages 285
Year 1983
Publisher Corgi
Reading time 5 days (January 2010)
Rating 7 / 10

After reading Mort and enjoying the book I wanted to read more from the Discworld so I start where I shouldn't had start or else I might give up reading them. In this book we follow the adventures of Rincewind the Wizard and his new found friend Twoflower, the first tourist and his weird luggage with a hundred feet. Well as I said before I didn't start with this one and thank Perkunos. Why? Well let me tell you something... In 2004 I bought several Terry Pratchett books. Mort, Carpet People, Colour of Magic and a couple others. Well as Carpet People was the first book he released I started there. Well I didn't enjoyed the book so I waited 5 years to try again. This time I started on Mort and I enjoyed so I thought maybe there are good books and bad books... Let start again. And so I did. I started from the beginning. Well I didn't enjoyed that much. It was good don't get me wrong but maybe I would wait a year or so to read another... Now I know he can make good books and bad books so I have to keep reading and find those gems... Well now for the book.

This book is the collection of four short stories tied-in together.

The story begins in Ankh-Morpok and until then it was doing nicely but afterwards I just lost interest but I continue reading because I don't want to end up with un-finished books and because I really want to like Pratchett. I think his ideas are good and his satyrical/humurous/parody way is somewhat funny. I just hope he improves with the passing of the books. Mort was better in this way. Maybe because of Death.

About the characters... Õne thing I thought was that the writing style overshadow them as we wanted to get to learn more of them... But saying that the Luggage was the most interesting of them all and that's saying much. Rincewind is a failed wizard with a craven nature. He only knows one spell that he saw in a book and after memorizing every other spell doesn't want to be in his head. He meets the first tourist who is an insurance salesman (that unfortunally tries to teach the branch to his fellow new friends but just makes them burn half the city). Rincewind becomes an un-hero sort of a guy throughout the book and dull and anoying... Well and Twoflower... It's just there. He i a blissfully ignorant, cheery rube, blundering on protected from harm by his own inability to understand the danger he's in. One thing that make me thing is... In the beginning only Rincewind spoke is language but by the end he could speak with several other without problems.

I really hope that in the later novels he focus more... I read somewhere he should be Douglas Adams of Fantasy. I really hope he can make it because in this book I wouldn't have said that... Let us see...

In the end I must say this book is dull. Don't start on this book if you want to get into Discworld. Try Mort (it's the only other one I know) but it's a good book with Death as the Main character.

Review: Desert Raiders - Lucien Soulban

Title Desert Raiders (Imperial Guard IV) The Battle for Skull Pass
Author Lucien Soulban
Pages 243
Year 2007
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 4 days (January 2008)
Rating 9 / 10

Having read the previous novels on this series, Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon, DeathWorld by Steve Lyons and Rebel Winter by Steve Parker and loved them all I had to read this one straight away. It does continue the good reputation of this series. As the previous novels brought to the ribald the Catachan Jungle Fighters or the Vostroyans or in the later novels the Valhallan Ice Warriors or Cadia this one brought the Tallarn Desert Raiders. I like reading about the Imperial Guard Armies. I must say I like more of them than the Space Marines.

This was the first book I read of Lucien Soulban (he wrote another book a year before called Fleshworks in the Necromunda setting which Ifailed to read so far) and I was impressed. I really hope to see more of him in the following years. (For the time sone he doesn't have any book to be release until January. Maybe Black Library will not give him another book. The other authors of the Imperial Guard are well estabelished... Steve Lyons that penned the Death Guard already wrote a lter novel called the Ice Guard and is going to write Dead Men Walking later in December. Steve Parker tht wrote Rebel Winter already wrote another book called Gunheads (also in the imperial series) Michael Scanlon who wrote the first book already penned the Descent of Angels in HH series and in the coming months will be releasing, this time in fantasy, Call to Arms. The last author Aaron Dembski-Bowden that penned Cadian Blood (Which I will review later) is a rising star in Black Libray because he going to release three books in one year, first Soul Hunter in Mars, HellReach in May and the First Heretic in November. But enough of this and lets talk about the review...

This book is a straight forward novel with a good plot. The plot is simple... a Enigmatic call for help in a planet and the Tallarn are sent to investigate. There they find they are not alone in the planet. That's where the tyrannids appear. Always love a good tyrannid battle and this one was not the exception. The ending was predictable and it was a good story that makes you think of time travel or such...

But the book is not all that straightforward. Being a new regiment composed of Turenag and Banna (arab/berbers alike) alliance there are some divergences (as it happenned in our own history when several arabs tribes allied). The author does a great job building the tension between them. When they find a Cavern filled with layers of verdant jungle both alliances want permision to colonize Khadar. That's when a new threat arrives... the Tyranid Horde. But who needs Tyranids when the humans are fighting themselves so nicely...

So as I said.. Half the book is about in-fighting between the Imperial Guard Regiment and the other is the fighting of the tyranids. Both are great.

In the end I enjoyed the book and it gave me a feeling of satisfying... As the previous novels I would advice you all to read this book if you want to read a good war/intrigue novel. (To 40k fans or not).

Book Review: Counting Up, Counting Down - Harry Turtledove

Title Counting Up, Counting Down

Author Harry Turtledove

Pages 412
Year 2002
Publisher Del Rey - Ballantine Books
Reading time 14 days (January 2010)
Rating 5 / 10

Well... This was an odd book. Having heard that he his a master of alternate history I had to read something by him. I have some novels of the World War Series but after reading this book I will have them stand-by for another time...

This book is the collection of 17 stories.

I can't say I enjoyed it. I did not. Most of stories are dull and without purpose. There are some who I liked like After the Last Elf is Dead a story depicting a what if of (anti-)Tolkien's LOTR. In most books of fantasy out there ends nicely with the forces of good wining. So Turtledove came up with an idea of what's like an evil wining? It's a straight story about a high captain and his conquest for it's lord. This high captain admires it's opponents for fighting for a lost cause and the ending was nicely done. I would like to read novel with evil characters and such...

Most of the other short stories are bad. Some of them I couldn't finished for being so uninteresting like Deconstruction Gang or the Green Bufallo.

Forty, Counting Down and Twenty-One Counting Up are two good stories and good aditions for this book depicting what alternate history should be. (Well and time travel). Must and Shall is a different story of what if in the all North Vs South in the American Civil War. Usually (and Harry have several books with it) the alternate history depicts the South wining the war. But on this one the North did win the war but treat the Southerns as almost as slaves. It was a detective story and a nice one.

The Phanton of Tolbukhin and Ready for the Fatherland are two forgottable stories adding nothing intesteting.

Other nice stories were Il's ne passeront pas or In this Season. The other stories were unteresting, some with plot holes and un-appealing that I didn't finish...

Having failed to read anything by him with the sole exception of In the Presence of Mine Enemies a long time ago (which I didn't finish) I am afraid of picking up another book by Harry. He writes several books a year. Each book with 400 or 500 pages. How can he do it? Maybe the great output of books make them weaker. I hope I am wrong because I already have several more books by him and I hate to have just because of the covers...

Review: The Battle for Skull Pass - Nathan Long

Title The Battle for Skull Pass
Author Nathan Long
Pages 125
Year 2009
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 2 days (May 2009)
Rating 8,5 / 10

Since I do not have a scanner I will put the cover of the box set (which is the same as the book).

This was the companion book of the new box set of warhammer fantasy. I bought the gameboard and the novel. I already painted some goblins but I am not that good at painting... Should try more.. maybe on this holidays...

Well on this novel we see the fighting between the dwarves against goblins. Here we have on one sight a Dwarven Thane trying to recover the Pass and make a house of them own. In the other we have a goblin who's trying to become a big chief (he had a cool name like Earscrapper). The narrative switchs between the dwarves and the goblins point of view. Nathan Long has done nicely for a greenskin perspective and I think it could be done on a larger scale like a full lenght novel. How cool would be to read a novel about a Orc Champion or such thing.

We are presented as I said with both sides and we learn about Goblin and Dwarven societies and their armies. This is a propaganda book and you could reanact with the miniatures. The end was a good ending and even if one side did win (the dwarves), they are so fragile than another incursion of the greenskins would surely repel them from the new achieved home. That's what so great... A typic warhammer ending.

Nicely done Herr Long.

Review: Space Hulk - Gav Thorpe

Title Space Hulk
Author Gav Thorpe

Pages 125
Year 2009
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 2 days (September 2009)
Rating 8 / 10

This is the companion book of the Space Hulk Boarding game. It depicts the in-fighting of Blood Angels Terminator two squads against a an alien races called Tyrannids.

This book was done perfectly. Better was impossible. I had read the stories of each character on a White Dwarf magazine and then reading this book was the culminate of a great Story. There are great characters here and I really hope that we could see more of them (some of them since some died)

Gav Thorpe grabs the game concept and writes a good story. The tension is the most important trait of the game and the book didn't failed there. Will the marines accomplish their mission? Will all of them live? Can they do it before time runs out? He (the author) switchs the action between the two squads and builds a tension until the end. Gav as you knows have written the famous Last Chancers (about a penal squad) and one of the most mythical books calle Angels of Darkness.

In the end it was a good book and a good companion of the game. I really loved it and the only thing that I think could be improved would be the ending. As the other companions books they suffer from a rushed ending (but still this was the better one).

Gav Thorpe now is penning a trilogy depicting the fall of elven nation with Malekith and the next book for 40k will feature Eldar. He is also releasing a book for Angry Robots company.

Review: Daemonslayer (III) - William King

Title Daemonslayer
Author William King
Pages 285
Year 1999
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 12 days (August 2007)
Rating 10 / 10

After reading Skavenslayer I waited for a couple of months to read Daemonslayer. Well I read it and love it. It was as good as the previous novel. This was the first book as a all novel thingy... I enjoyed it and ended up so good as Skavenslayer.

In this book the duo is travelling north to Karag Dum one of the mightiest dwarf cities. It was lost over two centuries ago in the last incursion to chaos. Since there is no news from them and now due to a new machine they can reached without going insane or mad or die by the Chaos Wastes.

Our heroes travel to a Tower where they join other dwarves and by Borek Forkbeard (the one leading the expediction). Some of them will be recurring characters such as Snorri Nosebiter and the Mad Inventor Malakai Makaisson. There they travell by a zepellin to the mightiest of the northern citadels.

In this book Thanquol and his lackey Lurk Snitchtongue appear yet again with Snitchtongue travelling north inside the machine.

William King can really make us flop each page full of battles, strategies and traveling. If the last book we learn about Skaven Society here we learn about the Dwarven Society.

So what's they after? Well besides trying to figure out about the lost dwarves they want to find as well the Hammer of Fate and the Runemaster's Axe.

In this book Gotrek fights a Bloodthirster of Khorne (Greater Daemon of immense power). In the end Gotrek established as quasi-invicible. What in the name of Sigmar is more powerful that a Greater Daemon? Well at least he loses and eye on this novel.

Here you find more about Felix developning as a character. He is becoming a different person from the first novels and there is also love involved on this book. Also Felix is starting to becoming more and more akin to Gotrek....

Review: Skavenslayer (II) - William King

Title Skavenslayer
Author William King
Pages 310
Year 1999
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 15 days (Mars/April 2007)
Rating 10 / 10

This was the second book depicting the adventures of the Dwarf Gotrek and his human sidekick Felix. Of all the seven books William King penned this was my favourite. Well I loved them all too much but this one was the better because it introduced Thanquol, one of my favourite character along Gilead's (Gilead's Blood). William King could really write good books... It was a shame that he stop doing it.

Well as the previous this was a compilation of short stories but all tied-in together. They were all in Nuln and depict Skavens. Interesting or not each "adventure" or short story was a battle against one clan of skavens. It was in the end a great place to read about skavens. I learned a lot about the society and the way they think.

C L Werner penned a book with Thanquol as the main character and I think he understood how William King did it. I have failed to read any of the Nathan Long books by Gotrek but I really hope that he has done a great job as C L Werner did. Well he already wrote 4 books so I think someone liked it.

Well within this book we get to learn a bit more about Gotrek and Felix. One thing that is common in all 6 books I read is that William King starts in the first couple of chapters tell the story so far. We learn how come Felix is hanging with Gotrek and we still don't know why Gotrek is looking for a glourious death.

Each book he fights a different kind... We have already Trollslayer, Skavenslayer, Daemonslayer, Dragonslayer (Well that was Felix doing but okay), Vampireslayer, Beastslayer and Giantslayer. Then with Nathan Long's Gotrek goes around with Orcslayer, Manslayer (Which he had killed before), Elfslayer, Shamanslayer and now the next book coming out Zombieslayer. How many species more can they kill? It leaves us what? Mummieslayer, Dwarfslayer (well Chaos Dwarves), Goblinslayer, Lizardslayers? What else? No matter what I would read it...

Now coming again to the book...

Well now for the stories themselves...

Skaven's Claw - They are working in the sewers of Nuln hunting goblins and we find out more about Felix family (which will feature in later novels)

Gutter Runners - They are attacked by skaven assassins of clan Eshin as they work as bouncers at the Blind Pig.

Night Raid - In this story Thanquol helps our two heroes as he warns them about an attack at the college of Engineering (doing so also helps himself). Here we find more about Thanquol character. Good story.

Plague Monnks of Pestilens - Again Thanquol warns our duo that the Clan Pestilens are trying to spread a disease with the Caldron of a Thousand Poxes.

Beasts of Moulder - The Clan Moulder has another tactic. Starve the human city by releasing rat-like monsters into the city eating the food supplies within days. As they are arriving at the port our duo is helped yet again by the mysterious stranger.

The Battle for Nuln - This was the last story and it has a great ending. Thanquol finnally reveals himself and tries to take over a ball held by the Elector Countess. As the leaders of the other skaven who had their plans stoped, learn that Thanquol was the one to blame, they make their own plans...

Don't know why but I feel that Thanquol and Boneripper are based on a cartoon I watched a couple years back about a mouse who wanted to take over the world... Can't remember the name of the rat but... Oh well...

In the end I was pretty darn interested on these novel and these short stories worked out perfectly. They didn't felt like short stories but as chapters... I would hope that William King would return but I bet he isn't going to come back.

Review: Brothers of the snake - Dan Abnett

Title Brothers of the Snake
Author Dan Abnett
Pages 315 (Hardcover) 416 (MassPaperback)
Year 2007
Publisher Black Library
Reading time 15 days (June 2007)
Rating 8 / 10

I always have loved how Dan Abnett creates his stories. Having loved First and Only, Riders of the Dead, Gilead's Blood (one of my favourite books ever), I tried immediately after receiving it on pre-order.

This book is a collection of short stories but all of them tied together depicting the adventures of an Iron Snake Space Marine called Priad. For those who don't know he (Dan Abnett) created them.

Starting in the his first missions as a full battle brother to his defining as a Veteran Sergeant. As White Scars are based on Mongol Warriors or Thousand Sons as Egyptians the Iron Snakes are based on Greek, Spartan to be precise.

So much they are based on Greek History that the last story is based on the Battle of Thermopylae. I remember that the movie 300 had been released a couple of months before and so I made a connection... All the stories had something greek in it. The fighting the Wyrm is another thing that ties them.

One thing I liked, well loved, is the inclusion of Dark Eldars on this tales. I always thought that the Dark Eldars don't appear much on these stories and fortunally the Dark Eldars are the main enemy of the Ithaka saviours.

Another thing I liked was the humanity that Abnett created into his Space Marines. I have read some other books depicting Space Marines and they are apart from Humans... I don't think that's wrong, you see? I think that when you are a superhuman and have the weight of the safety of the universe on your shoulders you must have some distance from the rest of humanity. After all you are a superior being. But I liked to see these space marines more humane...

There are some flaws of course. The way he bcomes a sergeant (too quick). The disrespect with the gear (the helmet falling down (after all the revere every piece of equipament and they would not let the helmet fall down after the victory). The forgetting when fighting of a place (they have photographic memory).

Well in the I was happy to the reading and this book is a good book to start reading warhammer 40k. After three years there is no books in sight depicting more Iron Snakes or Dark Eldars... Shame.

Book Review: The Collection - Bentley Little

Title The Collection
Author Bentley Little
Pages 449
Year 2002
Publisher Signet
Reading time 4 days (February/March 2009)
Rating 8 / 10

Having read The Association I started reading this book. Then I read The Walking and then The Resort. All of them I made reviews and strangely or not I gave the first book 8,5 then 8, then 7.5 and finnally 5. You can read them here. It's falling down. I have more three books by him and I really hope this doesn't mean anything because I like the novels but something doesn't feel right in them.

Now this one...

This is a collection of short stories. Some are good some are not and some are so so... There are historical stories, horror stories, satirical stories, religious etc... I thing Bentley Little grabs everyday things and turns into something... else? It's quite good. Look at his books... Who had thought of things like The Policy? The Association? A good writer he is...

The most famous story is the Washightonians in which a man finds a letter where it says George Washinghton was a cannibal (eating children) and there are still people following that cult. It became so famous that an episode in Masters of Horror was made. (It was a little different than the story but good nevertheless). Colony is the other "historical" novel where things are not what they seem. USA is still a British Colony but nobody knows with the exception of a few key people. Then there is another war for indepedence.

Confessions of a Corporate Man is about the disagreements of several departaments in a company. But involves murder and betrayal. It's quite good.

The Sanctuary is a religous story that deals with Cal and his family. His mother sometimes enters a stage called "The Rage". It's quite good and ends beautifully.

Then we've got some other excelents stories like the The Phonebook Man (Paranoia just goes another level), Comes the Bad Time, The idol, Pillow Talk (What does it "thinks"?) and The Show (This one has a good twist in the end). Another good story and one of my favourite is Life with Father. Recylcing just goes another level. And not a particular good one.

There are in all 32 stories. Must of them are pretty good if you want to read bizarre stories. Not all of them are of Horror. Some just make you shake your head and laugh a little...

I enjoyed them. They are the reason I don't give up on Bentley Little even if the last two books were not of my liking.