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rogerhes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
clevermird's review
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Gotrek and Felix are back! (Well, maybe mostly Felix)
In the second book of the Gotrek and Felix saga (I'm not actually sure how many books there are), the dwarf-and-man duo find themselves in the bustling city of Nuln. Once again penniless and unable to find work, they take on a job as guards in Nuln's extensive sewer system, wandering the reeking tunnels in search of trouble. But they quickly find that far worse things than bandits lurk below the city, and it might take the last creature they would expect to thwart an invasion that only they seem to realize is coming.
Skavenslayer is a bit of a midway point between the very episodic structure of Trollslayer (where each chapter was more-or-less its own story) and a standard novel format. Each chapter follows its own story arc, but every chapter takes place in the same location, uses many of the same characters, and they all build on each other in a much clearer way than in Trollslayer. While I initially thought that I'd enjoy a longer narrative, I think in the end the short story format worked better for King than this one did. We'll see if he finds his feet in the next book.
The best part about this story was the kaven, by far. Before reading this book, I'd never quite gotten what the appeal of them was, but I 100% understand now. The ratmen are all utterly insane and so self-absorbed that it's hilarious and disturbing in equal measure. The description of the plague priests will haunt me, I'm certain. Their narrative sections are full of zany-yet-awful shenanigans with such unsympathetic protagonists that you won't feel bad laughing when it inevitably blows up in their face.
Sadly, the sections of the book that actually focus on our heroes don't quite live up to the rest. Gotrek barely has anything to do in this story, rarely even getting dialogue outside of battles. Felix, meanwhile, gets a bit more development as his past comes back to haunt him, but he alone is not strong enough to carry the story. Moreover, the good guys' storylines wind up feeling very repetitive, with problems being solved in very similar ways each time. I think this was present in the last book as well, but there, much of the fun was in the mystery of what was going on. Here, we know from reading the skaven chapters what's going on, so we just have to wait while it plays out.
Overall, Skavenslayer was a decently entertaining read and I'll pick up the next one, but if the series doesn't improve, I'm not sticking around for book 4.
In the second book of the Gotrek and Felix saga (I'm not actually sure how many books there are), the dwarf-and-man duo find themselves in the bustling city of Nuln. Once again penniless and unable to find work, they take on a job as guards in Nuln's extensive sewer system, wandering the reeking tunnels in search of trouble. But they quickly find that far worse things than bandits lurk below the city, and it might take the last creature they would expect to thwart an invasion that only they seem to realize is coming.
Skavenslayer is a bit of a midway point between the very episodic structure of Trollslayer (where each chapter was more-or-less its own story) and a standard novel format. Each chapter follows its own story arc, but every chapter takes place in the same location, uses many of the same characters, and they all build on each other in a much clearer way than in Trollslayer. While I initially thought that I'd enjoy a longer narrative, I think in the end the short story format worked better for King than this one did. We'll see if he finds his feet in the next book.
The best part about this story was the kaven, by far. Before reading this book, I'd never quite gotten what the appeal of them was, but I 100% understand now. The ratmen are all utterly insane and so self-absorbed that it's hilarious and disturbing in equal measure. The description of the plague priests will haunt me, I'm certain. Their narrative sections are full of zany-yet-awful shenanigans with such unsympathetic protagonists that you won't feel bad laughing when it inevitably blows up in their face.
Sadly, the sections of the book that actually focus on our heroes don't quite live up to the rest. Gotrek barely has anything to do in this story, rarely even getting dialogue outside of battles. Felix, meanwhile, gets a bit more development as his past comes back to haunt him, but he alone is not strong enough to carry the story. Moreover, the good guys' storylines wind up feeling very repetitive, with problems being solved in very similar ways each time. I think this was present in the last book as well, but there, much of the fun was in the mystery of what was going on. Here, we know from reading the skaven chapters what's going on, so we just have to wait while it plays out.
Overall, Skavenslayer was a decently entertaining read and I'll pick up the next one, but if the series doesn't improve, I'm not sticking around for book 4.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Vomit, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Death, Misogyny, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
A lot of the book is focused on plagues and epidemics, so if that bothers you, might want to look elsewherewimerek's review
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jonathanrobert's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mayastone's review
3.0
Only criticism is the number of times the Skaven either squirted, wanted to squirt or controlled the urge to squirt the musk of fear. Plus with Gotrek, winning was guaranteed in every battle.
mal_eficent's review
3.0
The main problem with this book is it’s just not that good.
I picked this up purely for the skaven content, which did not disappoint, and the maniacal mindset of the skaven characters hides all of King’s writing weaknesses. Who cares how cohesive the plot and structure are? They’re diseased, mutated, mad rats! I’ll forgive a multitude of writing sins if it means getting to read the ratmen’s dialogue and ridiculous schemes.
The human driven sections make the bad writing obvious. The characters repeat the events of the previous chapter at the beginning of every new one, just in case you forgot, and the jumps between Felix and random skaven often end up either repeating events or just ruining a joke by stating the obvious. It reads more like an RP thread in places - one character does something, the next reflects on those actions from their pov and acts, and so on.
Speaking of stating the obvious, that’s all Felix does. He’s such a boring and predictable character. Even his best moments are eclipsed by even just being boring. The background characters are even flatter. The entire love interest plot line was pointless and Felix’s odd reflection about where his relationship was going mid skaven invasion was honestly surreal. Who cares, there’s a war on!
I’m glad I never picked up the new Felix & Gotrek omnibus, but it was worth reading an old copy of this to learn more about my favourite faction.
I picked this up purely for the skaven content, which did not disappoint, and the maniacal mindset of the skaven characters hides all of King’s writing weaknesses. Who cares how cohesive the plot and structure are? They’re diseased, mutated, mad rats! I’ll forgive a multitude of writing sins if it means getting to read the ratmen’s dialogue and ridiculous schemes.
The human driven sections make the bad writing obvious. The characters repeat the events of the previous chapter at the beginning of every new one, just in case you forgot, and the jumps between Felix and random skaven often end up either repeating events or just ruining a joke by stating the obvious. It reads more like an RP thread in places - one character does something, the next reflects on those actions from their pov and acts, and so on.
Speaking of stating the obvious, that’s all Felix does. He’s such a boring and predictable character. Even his best moments are eclipsed by even just being boring. The background characters are even flatter. The entire love interest plot line was pointless and Felix’s odd reflection about where his relationship was going mid skaven invasion was honestly surreal. Who cares, there’s a war on!
I’m glad I never picked up the new Felix & Gotrek omnibus, but it was worth reading an old copy of this to learn more about my favourite faction.
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