I’ve been featuring a few ‘Warhammer 40,000’ novels on the blog, just recently, and a quick look at the reading pile (the other day) reminded me that the Black Library also publish books based around their ‘Warhammer’ fantasy battle game. As I’m still not allowed to lay about me with a sword on the underground (which is quite sensible really) I thought reading about barbarians hitting people with swords might help dispel some of the anger I feel towards those people who are intent on making my daily commute a little slice of Hell... Can you tell I’m still angry? :o)
Anyway... C.L. Werner’s ‘Blood for the Blood God’ didn’t help me feel less angry (as you’ve probably guessed) but, on the whole, it was a fun read...
You would have thought that living in the shadow of the Chaos Wastes was a stupid enough thing to do and that anyone living there would want to lie low and hope they weren’t noticed by various gods and demons. You would have thought, wouldn’t you? If there’s one thing worse than living near the Chaos Wastes it’s breaking a promise to the Blood God Khorne and his champion (the Skulltaker) has been sent enact a bloody revenge...
No-one can stand against the Skulltaker and no-one is safe against his rampage. There is a slim hope that he can be stopped but this means a journey into the heart of the Chaos Wastes themselves...
In the very best traditions of Khorne’s warlike appetites; ‘Blood for the Blood God’ is a meaty chunk of bloody confrontations where the only outcome is death. In the very best traditions of Khorne’s lust for war, this approach is a double edged sword that can cut the reader just as easily as not...
There is something incredibly cool about the image of one man facing off against hundreds of foes (and winning through against incredible odds) and Werner not only goes all out to set this image to the page but he also succeeds in making it look very cool indeed. The Skulltaker is by no means a hero but you can’t help but root for him every time you see what he has to go up against. The way in he dispatches his foes also makes for some compelling reading.
It does get a bit repetitive though... The nature of the story is such that it is full of these fights (to be fair, the lands bordering the Chaos Wastes are notorious for this by all accounts) and the fact that the two chief protagonists have to meet, for a final confrontation at the end, does rob fight scenes of a little of their suspense. To be fair though, Werner makes up for this (to a degree) with one of the more brutal and bleak endings that I’ve read in a while...
The other thing is that the overabundance of fighting means that you don’t get an awful lot of time for a story... There is a plot but it tends to get shoved to one side in favour of fights and introductory pieces about the territories of the Eight Tribes. Any devotee of Khorne will tell you that the only things that matter are blood and war but it would have been nice to have a bit more story as well...
Despite all this, C.L. Werner comes up with a story that is fun to read on the whole. ‘Blood for the Blood God’ is a non-stop bloodbath with characters that are all as evil and backstabbing as each other. Not one of them has a single redeeming feature and this makes for a much more interesting read as well as giving the reader a good idea of what it’s like living on the edge of the Chaos Wastes...
If you’re after something deep then ‘Blood for the Blood God’ won’t be for you. However, if you’re after wading through lakes of gore with the clash of swords ringing in your ears then ‘Blood for the Blood God’ could be just what you’re after...
Seven and Three Quarters out of Ten
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