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...