# Fantasy Fiction



## bobss (May 18, 2008)

The Black Library forum, of late, has been clogged by 40k fiction, and rightly so, with a wealth of stunning authors (_Soul Hunter_ is simply amazing) and a general-step up in the quality and quantity of stories produced, series continued and trilogies begun. 

However, I read the occassional Warhammer Fantasy novel, most often the _Time of Legends_ series, for a slight difference in settings and theme`s.

What about you guys? Also, what would you suggest to read?


----------



## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

I've got about 3 times more 40K novels than fanatasy but the good WHFB novels I recommend are:

Vampire Wars
Kongrad Saga
Black Hearts Omnibus
Witch Hunter Omnibus
Genevieve Omnibus
Reiksguard
Ambassador Chronicles
Gotrex & Felix

I'm sure I've missed a few but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head


----------



## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

I've only ever read the Time of Legends series so far, apart from _Nagash the Sorcerer_ - for some reason I started it but only ever got about half way through, don't know why to be honest - just never finished it 

_Malekith_, _Shadow King_, _Heldenhammer_ and _Empire_ were good though 



Baron Spikey said:


> Reiksguard


Whats that like? I was flirting with the idea of picking it up a while ago.


----------



## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Very good, I've fallen behind in my BL though so I've got to pick up about 6 books next time I visit a GW (2 Time of Legends, the Empire Artillery one, Rynn's World, Soulhunter, and the Empire Swordsman one if it's out).


----------



## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

I recommend _Iron Company_, by Chris Wraight.

It's a real gritty, grinding take on frontier life and warfare in the rural parts of the Empire. Very immersive. The plot is nothing grand in terms of Tolkienesque journeys to end an immortal evil, but that's its charm: you've got people surviving on the edge of civilized lands, and it shows Imperial life / the Warhammer world with some lovely, down-to-earth detail. The attention paid to the description of the blackpowder weapons is immense, too. Very nicely done. You can almost smell the gunsmoke after a volley.


----------



## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Baron Spikey said:


> Kongrad Saga


Good choice.k: Those books are my favourite BL series, and I'm not really that into the WHFB.


----------



## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> I recommend _Iron Company_, by Chris Wraight.
> 
> It's a real gritty, grinding take on frontier life and warfare in the rural parts of the Empire. Very immersive. The plot is nothing grand in terms of Tolkienesque journeys to end an immortal evil, but that's its charm: you've got people surviving on the edge of civilized lands, and it shows Imperial life / the Warhammer world with some lovely, down-to-earth detail. The attention paid to the description of the blackpowder weapons is immense, too. Very nicely done. You can almost smell the gunsmoke after a volley.


Now that _is_ a suprise. Admittedly, I rather snobbishly looked down, and underated this series, due to the uninteresting covers, the lack of *big* authors, and generally the fact that it is Empire. But, begrudgingly (My wallets only so big!) I may take a look at this series now...:laugh:

@ Baron Spikey, again im suprised at the sheer amount of trilogies and series:grin: especially things based around Vampires/Witch Hunters.

And CotE, what was with _Nagash the Sorcerer_ that made you put it down? Oddly enough, I planned to get that, despite the ever growing mound of 40k and non-Black Library fiction I have...


----------



## dark angel (Jun 11, 2008)

Evenin' Chaps. I have not read a single Fantasy Novel, I prefer things that go bang too things that go woosh if im honest. However, when Black Library is up im going too be ordering (First ever time from BL!) This Time of Legends, is it one series? Does it all follow the same character(s)? Any help will be much appreciated, also is there anything else that I should pick up? Anything you guys would recommend?


----------



## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

bobss said:


> Now that _is_ a suprise. Admittedly, I rather snobbishly looked down, and underated this series, due to the uninteresting covers, the lack of *big* authors, and generally the fact that it is Empire. But, begrudgingly (My wallets only so big!) I may take a look at this series now...:laugh:


I definitely can't speak for the series (each book has a different author, and as far as I know, they're not connected), but _Iron Company_ was a nice read.


----------



## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

dark angel said:


> Evenin' Chaps. I have not read a single Fantasy Novel, I prefer things that go bang too things that go woosh if im honest. However, when Black Library is up im going too be ordering (First ever time from BL!) This Time of Legends, is it one series? Does it all follow the same character(s)? Any help will be much appreciated, also is there anything else that I should pick up? Anything you guys would recommend?


It's a group of books from the Warhammer Fantasy past, so far there are 3 separate novel series- The Rise and Reign of Sigmar, The Sundering of the Elves, and The Rise of Nagash.
My favourite by far is the Sigmar series (Heldenhammer is awesome), you find out that Sigmar is for all intents and purposes a driven mortal man which makes his achievements all the more amazing, Malekith is portrayed as an arrogant but in many ways likeable Elf Prince in the Sundering series...Nagash is a bastard though, not that many redeeming features with that s.o.b


----------



## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Baron Spikey said:


> It's a group of books from the Warhammer Fanatasy past, so far there are 3 separate novel series- The Rise and Reign of Sigmar, The Sundering of the Elves, and The Rise of Nagash.
> My favourite by far is the Sigmar series (Heldenhammer is awesome), you find out that Sigmar is for all intents and purposes a driven mortal man which makes his achievements all the more amazing, Malekith is portrayed as an arrogant but in many ways likeable Elf Prince in the Sundering series...Nagash is a bastard though, not that many redeeming features with that s.o.b


I agree totally. _Heldenhammer_ is a fantastic book in terms of its depiction of the early Empire, and the economic, political and social growth of Reikdorf (Altdorf) from its lowly beginnings as merley the capital of the Unberogens, to the seat of power in the lands of Men (I refrain from using the term 'Empire':laugh Also, the almost Herculean like theme of Sigmar forging aliances with the other human tribes adds a twist that we can almost relate to (Well.. if your into your Greek Mythology) and the Battle of Black Fire Pass, is arguabley the longest, uninterrupted, written battle ive ever read:shok:

Character-wise, then Sigmar is very human, in 40k terms him, and Wolfgart are similar to the Space Wolves. Malekith on the other hand, is like Horus. We all know he`s a bastard, but we can`t help but like him at first...:so_happy:


----------



## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

bobss said:


> And CotE, what was with _Nagash the Sorcerer_ that made you put it down? Oddly enough, I planned to get that, despite the ever growing mound of 40k and non-Black Library fiction I have...


Quite frankly, I don't know 

Its probably more to do with me rather than the book. I probably just wasn't feeling it at the time (not in the right mindset for reading etc), and then it didn't help that I tried to pick up where I left off about 2 or 3 weeks later, couldn't remember a single thing that had happened in the first half of the book I had actually read! So just gave up if I remember correctly, it was a fairly long time ago now though!

I guess i'll have to pick it up and reread it at some point, but there are far more pressing novels/books to read first. 

I enjoyed the other 2 trilogies (so far) of the Time of Legends series though!


----------



## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

I wasn't too impressed with Nagash either. Maybe it was the fact he had absolutely no redeeming features. In most of the other "origin" novels such as the HH series, or in Malekith, the future bad guys don't start as bad guys, and it's their fall from grace that's so interesting. But with Nagash, he started bad and just got worse. It got real boring real fast.


----------



## Serrated Man (Mar 3, 2010)

Haven't read that much WHF, but I liked:

_Chronicles of Malus Darkblade Vol.1_ one of my favorite BL series (haven't read the second omnibus yet!) just awesome. Highly recommended!
_Burning Shore_ (Florin & Lorenzo) first and best book of the series. I didn't like the other 2 books that much.
_Gilead's Blood_. Adventures of a deadly, insane elf. Great depiction of a "non-standard" aspect of Chaos. An insane amount of stuff happens in this short novel.
_Vampire Wars_ the Von Carstein trilogy. The first book (_Inheritance_) was the best imo. A VERY bleak depiction of a very bloody time in the Empires history.
_Matthias Thulman: Witch Hunter_ trilogy. Again I felt the first book was the best of the series. His sidekick Streng is bloody funny.


----------



## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Actually the Brunner book(s) were cool as well. Judge Dredd meets WHFB.


----------



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Ive had a fleeting on/off interest in Fantasy for a while now, mostly the Dark Elves though. Aside from Malus Darkblade are there any good novels about the Dark Elves?, or perhaps the Warriors of Chaos?.

Those are the only two factions that have caught my eye, the rest seem ok, the Orks seem to be pretty much the same though. But the Dark Elves and the Warriors of Chaos are the best looking ones, plus Malekith the Witch King and Archaon the Everchosen are epic.


----------



## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Once again that chaotic side to you rears it's head LotN. From what I have read of the fantasy side still in print, the Gotrek and Felix books, especially the earlier ones, are quite good. _Gilead's Blood_ is also very good, and _Heldenhammer_ left me wanting more. Don't let the taint of Chaos blind you to everything else.:grin:


----------



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Chaos does that to a person, its hard to fight against but ill give it my all :grin:, as long as the Chaos Gods dont find out.

Gotrek and Felix, ive read somewhere that that series is kinda childish, not as violent as the others. Something about it just isolates it from other BL literature.

I am definitely interested in Malus Darkblade, read an exert of the first book earlier and ive decided to buy the first omnibus soon.

Really i'd be fine with any of them, as long as they sound interesting. But.. dwarves. I dunno, something about them just turns me away. I just dont like them, dont know why but I dont.


----------



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Well I bit the bullet and have ordered the Malus Darkblade First Omnibus. And im looking forward to it :grin:, from the small exert that I read I have a good feeling that I will like Malus himself, plus Silar sounds quite cool.


----------

