Beastslayer

Beastslayer caps off a longer story arch that has been running in the background of the Gotrek and Felix series since at least its third instalment. Spurred by arcane eldritch forces, the mightiest Chaos army in centuries - led by the invincible Aric Demonclaw - disgorges itself from the Chaos wastes and lays siege to Praag, the first bastion of civilisation against the tides of Chaos.

Having seen the start of this horde on their trip into the wastes, it falls to Gotek, Felix and their companions collected over the series to warn the Kislevites of Praag and fight alongside them against this Chaos horde.

I first read Beastslayer when I was young, I don't remember exactly when but I was an early teenager at the oldest. The powerful sorcerous twins who guide Aric Demonclaw have lodged themselves in my imagination ever since as some of my favourite fantasy characters.

As a result, I have a long-held nostalgic love of the Gotrek series. This book has all the classic features of the series with ferocious adrenaline-packed battle scenes, the stoic Slayers scything their way through monstrous enemies and Felix's reluctant heroism.

In a sense, then, I find it very difficult to be objective about this book. I loved it as a return to the past, made fresh by 20(ish) years of distance.

That said, I can see this book is not perfect. In particular, its insistence on flicking between multiple points of view becomes tiring and breaks up both the flow and atmosphere of the novel. The central focus of the novel is the siege of Praag. The sense of claustrophobia and desperation of citizens trapped within its walls and facing certain death is well done but all too often left to drop away as we flick to points of view outside the city.

Take, as a comparison, the siege of Helm's Deep in the Lord of the Rings. There, Gandalf's reappearance with the riders of Rohan is a miraculous beam of sunlight breaking through the storm clouds. We share in the defenders' surprise and relief. Here, we know the reinforcements are coming because we frequently flick to their point of view for, largely, pointless snippets of dialogue.

I hate to say it, but Grey Seer Thanquol is also an unnecessary distraction here. I love the Grey Seer and the Skaven. They bring real and skillfully balanced humour to these novels which is extremely welcome and unusual for Black Library novels. Unfortunately, in this novel, Thanquol's sub-plot does nothing important for the main story and doesn't even really resolve itself in any satisfactory way. It just serves to take us away from the main action of the book for a few pages. I assume that he will become relevant again later in the series, but I think the continuation of his story could have been handled better here.

Ultimately, however, these are minor gripes. I'm talking about what would have made the novel better rather than outlining fatal floors. I really enjoyed this book. I think anyone who is a fan of the series will too. However, these structural issues mean that I would guess, if you are less familiar with the Gotrek series or the wider universe, there probably are better fantasy books you'll get more out of.