Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #465134 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 412 pages

Synopsis
As the dark forces of Chaos bring destruction to the northern lands of Kislev, only dwarf warrior Gotrek Gurnisson and his human companion, Felix Jaeger, stand between the evil hordes and the ancient city of Praag. Reprint.

Customer Reviews

Gotrek and Felix, Book Five
Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson is a dwarf on a death quest. He roams the land searching for the mightiest of evils to fight and slay until he is finally rewarded with a glorious death that will long be remembered and talked about for generations to come. Felix Jaegor is sworn to accompany the Slayer, however long it takes, even though it could end in his own death. Should he survive, it will be Felix's job to record and report the heroic dwarf's many battles, as well as how Gotrek fell in combat.

Our two main heroes, along with Ulrika Magdova (female warrior) and Max Schreiber (battle mage), reach the legendary city of Praag by way of a mighty flying ship to bring word of the invasion and orders from Ice Queen Katarina. A huge Chaos army is approaching and all blades are needed. This means the group must put up with many fanatic bigots and blow-hards within the city too. No force such as this has emerged from the Wastes in two centuries.

Beastmen, Chaos riders, and dark sorcerers are but the beginning. The group must deal with assassins, twin magicians, and a horrible plague as well. The love triangle between Ulrika, Felix, and Max continue, but must be put on hold when Ulrika is laid low by the plague. The two men may have their differences, but they would do anything to make her well again.

Grey Seer Thanquol, a cunning Skaven, has a secondary role in the story this time. His mutated minion, Lurk, has turned upon him. Lurk is now worshipped and has amassed his own army of followers.

**** The continuing sub-plot between Thanquol and Lurk flesh out a bit more for readers. New developments are occurring and readers may see new twists emerging.

This story has an open ending. I could not help but feel as though the climax of the story was well before the final page. If you have not read the previous stories, I highly recommend you do so before you begin this one. Each Gotrek & Felix novel picks up where the previous title left off. If you do not read these titles in order, you will get many spoilers because each book mentions things that happened in previous adventures.

Ice Queen Katarina and her followers play a larger role than before as well. Seems as though another sub-plot may be forming. One thing is for sure, these characters will have many more adventures before the author is finished with them. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This series is getting better and better.
The dwarf Slayer Gotrek and his ally Felix Jaeger help to defend the city of Praag, which is besieged by an impossibly mighty Chaos army.
Although the first two Gotrek and Felix novels ('Trollslayer' and 'Skavenslayer') were turkeys, here William King shows that his full-narrative stories are far better than the episodic novels.
The action is pretty much non-stop and is suitably gruesome, but now we have intrigue in the form of treachery from a highly-placed noble and also King adds a note of mystery by heavily involving the wizard Max Shreiber and two strange Chaos sorcerors. Also there is the Skaven Grey Seer Thanquol, more of an unlikely hero to the story than a major villain, who is finally portrayed as more than just an incompetent egotist.
The siege of Praag is nothing particularly new, with better sieges in Tolkien's 'The Return Of The King' and Feist's 'A Darkness At Sethanon', but the Slayers are such varied and interesting characters (the grim Slayer, the lecherous one, the cowardly one and the braindead one) that they add a nice new twist.
Not a good book to start reading the series with (try 'Daemonslayer') but unmissable for fans of the grim fantasy of the Warhammer world.

OK, but not enough Gotrek & Felix ...
Coming as no surprise for other readers of the books about Gotrek and Felix, Beastslayer is set during the siege of the city Praag by Chaos-Forces.

While this provides quite an interesting background for the story and while William King keeps up the darkly humorous tone of the Warhammer world that he so expertly captured in his earlier books I still felt a bit disappointed by the book.

The two original protagonists, Gotrek and Felix, were simply not given enough attention in this book. Instead the story got sidetracked to other, less interesting, characters time and time again.

And, after all, it is Gotrek and Felix who I want to read about ...