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[Gotrek and Felix] they force fed Drizzit his own skull
Wishpig
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First to get you in the mood, a song all about Warhammer's Dwarf Slayers... preformed by two members of the Blue Oystercult (yeah really) and the minds behind Warhammer Online! It's my new favorite song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhAegvsXfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhAegvsXfE
Do you find Dark Elves pleasuring themselves to nude children being showered in scolding molten gold disturbing... would you enjoy seeing these aforementioned elves brutally murdered metaloclypse style? Do you enjoy the idea of reading about a short Hulk like dwarf rack up a body count larger than America's debt?
If you answered yes to either of these questions read on my friend! If you answered no... you probably fuck trees and molest butterflies. You pathetic hippie!
Welcome to the thread in which I discuss my favorite fantasy series, and arguably the most popular warhammer characters, aka the brutal adventures of Gotrek and Felix.
SPOILERS BELOW BEWARE!
Summary: Gotrek is a dwarf Slayer... meaning at some point in his life he made a big dwarfin no-no and to regain his honor he's dedicated his life to finding an epic and bloody death. Poor Felix swore a drunken oath to Gotrek, promising to record the dwarfs doom. Now the two travel across the depressing landscape of Warhammer in search of worthy opponents.
So it's a tale of suicide, axes, beer, and oceans of guts.
The Authors-
William King (wrote the first seven books): I got into the series back when I was barely a teenager, and I loved them and thought William King was the greatest writer ever. Going back and rereading the first several books I can safety conclude this is not the case. The first seven books were good, but his writing style is fairly simple and his stories straightforward with no punches pulled. Think of them as the book version of a fun mindless action flick. However, he wrote GREAT action scenes. They were so over the top it's ridiculous. For example, picture Gotrek scooping out the eyeball of a giant, and using it to swing down and slit said giant's throat. WIlliam King's books can be summed up in two words... guilty pleasure!
Nathan Long (wrote the last six books and is currently writing the next): I fucking love Nathan Long. I'm a huge reader, and I read mostly fantasy novels. Nathan Long's writing is pretty damn good, not George Martin good, but good none-the-less. HOWEVER, his books and writing style are/is just so damn unique! I've never read such long, exhausting (in a good way), action scenes. Action scenes can last for a hundred pages with this guy! And you feel every bump, bruise, and painful broken rattling breath of our heroes. Nor has any-other author captured the horror and crushingly depressing atmosphere of the Warhammer world like Nathan Long. That little Dark Elf thing I wrote above, yeah, Nathan Long really had that happen, it was so creepy! His novels really are a blast! If you're the kind of person who enjoys a good action fantasy book, I can't recommend him enough.
The Characters
Gotrek- Like I said, he's a slayer. His life is dedicated to finding his doom, only problem is Gotrek sucks at killing himself. He has survived the worst the Warhammer world has thrown at him, he's fought everything from endless armies too giant demons, but he just won't die! There's a reason behind his invincibility... and that reason takes the form of an axe so mighty it made Drizzit piss his girly pants. You see this axe used to belong to Griminir, one of the dwarfin gods (and death metal incarnate). The axe's innate godly magic has been twisted by the chaos wastes where it laid dormant before Gotrek found it. This warped godly axe has actually mutated Gotrek... to the point he's Warhammer's very own Hulk. He has everything from super-speed to a healing factor.
Oh yeah... Gotreks also a dick.
Felix- Felix is a poet. Pretty much the opposite of a slayer. He was a snotty son of a wealthy merchant, who rebelled against his father by becoming a hippie. Well, while taking place in a riot gone awry, Felix pissed off the local guardsmen who would have skewered him if not for the timely intervention of Gotrek. Felix repayed him by treating him too a few dozen barrels of beer. During their drunken binge Felix swore to follow Gotrek too his doom and write an epic poem about the slayer's fate. He couldn't have known where such a promise would take him. After following Gotrek around for so long, Felix has ALSO been effected by the axe. He too has been mutated, seemingly also gaining immortality (he doesn't age) along with other superhuman traits, although all too a much lesser degree than Gotrek.
Max- One of Felix and Gotrek's buddies. He's a wizard, a bad ass, and a generally good guy although he can be a snotty little prick and has a rivalry of sorts with Felix. A rivalry kindled by the fact Felix fucks every girl Max tells him not to.
Snorri- Gotrek's best buddy and also a slayer. Snorri is winnie the pooh meets a walking machine of death. He's dumb, lovible, and in place of a mowhawk, has a line of painted spikes pounded into his skull.
Ulrika- Felix's love, and later Max's. Her's is a sad tale. She also has a spin-off on-going series written by Nathan Long! Born tough as nails daughter of a noble on the edge of the hellish chaos wastes, she is no maiden in distress. At the moment she's a blood sucking bitch.
Malakai- Also Gotrek's friend and also a slayer, Malakai is a nut job. He's one of those engineers, and a genius one at that. He has a habit of making titanic like creations, and much like the titanic, they always seem to crash and kill everybody on board. He's become a slayer because of such... but his love of inventing hasn't changed! In fact he really doesn't seem that interesting in finding his death... although he's hardly one to avoid a good fight... which always provide a great opportunity to test his newest thing that explodes.
Grey Seer Thanquol- Ok... not a friend. He's a skaven, a crazy horned rat-man. Now, you could call him a furry, but like all Skaven he's so fucking disgusting and disturbing, calling him a furry just doesn't seem appropriate. He's Gotrek and Felix's archenemy, and despite Skaven's short life-span, still alive, ironically enough, thanks to his drug addiction. As creepy as Thanquol is, he's equally comical. Greedy, stupid, arrogant and extremely cowardly, he's good entertainment! Nothing like watching Gotrek make Thanquol and his cohorts shit themselves in fear... Like Ulrika he also has a currently on-going spin-off. I have yet to read it sadly.
What you should start with!
Trollslayer, Demonslayer, or Orcslayer- I think Long is a vastly superior writer then King... so I'm tempted to suggest starting with Orcslayer (his first novel). But half the fun of Long is how he handles the cameo's of G&F's old cast. King disbanded everyone at the end of his run and a good twenty some years separates the authors. So it's great to see how different everyone is when they all cross paths at various times. So I don't know, if you really want a great new series to read, start with Trollslayer or Demonslayer which marks the change from a collection of short stories to traditional novel set-up (black-library has put out some damn good omnibuses so you don't need to buy them individually).
NOTE- I'll clean up grammar 2morrow, I'm pooped atm!
WARNING: Picture below may cause spontaneous growth of facial hair and/or body hair.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
Wishpig on
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Will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread, though wary of spoilers :P
Ya trollslayer is the first one. Although unlike the rest of the series it's composed of short stories... Skavenslayer is KIND of composed of short stories, but all connected.
I highly suggest you pick up the rest of the series.
In order, you have yet to read,
Beastslayer- the first real epic siege in the story. I love the supporting slayers Ulli and Bjorni, who were in Dragonslayer as well. They're two of my favorite G&F characters. They are both at their best in this book.
Vampireslayer- Hate Twilight? Watch Gotrek teach those damn vampires a lesson. It's not the best book in the series but it's one of the most important.
Giantslayer- Gotrek teams up with, an elf???? Hilarity follows as Gotrek allies himself with one of the deadliest mages in the Warhammer world and always seems on the verge of beheading him. Without a doubt my favorite King book. Also his last...
Orcslayer- This is Long taking the reigns of the series, and the series is better off for it. Great story. It's dark, disturbing, and ventures deeper into Gotrek's past then any book to date.
Manslayer- The start and end are pretty weak, but the middle of the book is fucking brilliant, and contains the single greatest fight scene of any fantasy novel I've read.
Elfslayer- Very weak start. In fact the first 1/2 of the novel is very mah. BUT all of a sudden the story goes into overdrive. It's like someone took an adrenaline needle and stabbed the book all of a sudden. What starts as the poorest Slayer novel turns into one of the best. Plus the later parts of this book contain some of the most disturbing moments I've ever read. Dark Elves are fucking sick. The bad kind of sick.
Shamanslayer- revisits several key unanswered points from trollslayer. This book is all around pretty good, and Snorri makes an awesome return. I really love Long's plot twist regarding our beloved stupid slayer. It's also surprisingly touching.
Zombieslayer- Just finished this and WOW. What an amazing read. The greatest siege scene of any book I've read, and sieges are very very very common in my books. This book oozes crushing despair that leaves you (the reader) as tired as the characters. Long truly captures the essence of Warhammer in this.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
I have only read the books written by King, may have to go read the rest. However, they are a bit pricey for the nature of the book, i.e. murder porn.
William King was writing super powered Conan books. The first seven books (Trollslayer through Giantslayer) follow a rising tide of "holy shit" moments. Beastslayer, in particular, is full of so much badassery per page that it's hard to comprehend. However, with each book, G&F are fighting grander and more terrible opponents (with the exception of Vampireslayer, which IMO is the weakest King book). King was writing an epic saga.
Long has vastly mismanaged the Slayer. I can't take the threats in his G&F books seriously at all. Oh no, Chaos-corrupted Orcs! What a shame, wait, Gotrek's actually breaking a sweat? The same Gotrek who went toe to toe with a Bloodthirster in the Chaos Wastes? The same Gotrek that has torn down swathes of Rat Ogres and Chaos Trolls like they're wheat before a scythe? That Gotrek? It's such a massive step down from where King was going, and the series has lost a lot of the cavalier adventure that was the heart of it. I've been reading them on loan (I paid cash money for Orcslayer and swore to never buy a Long G&F again) and it's just sad.
Of course, Long's done even worse to the venerable Space Wolf series. I won't even go in to how much he's ruined Ragnar Blackmane.
EDIT: It's a shame that King and Games Workshop had such an epic falling out. King really understood the Warhammer Fantasy setting better than any other author I've read. His 40k books, as well, are welcome changes of pace; only with the recent Ciaphas Cain series of novels have I found a book series that's as enjoyable as Space Wolf was.
Ya Snorri's alive and kicking (well kinda, read the books!)
I would describe King's novels as, lol, murder porn. Thats pretty much all they are, brainless action.
Long's much more mature in his writing. While it is still very much near nonestop action, Long can actually weave a great story. I'm far more emotionally invested in the characters since Long took the helm, and honestly, he can really surprise me with where he goes. He can write a good twist and toss a nice curveball. In other words, I would not describe it as murder porn.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
... I don't read Gotrek and Felix for good fiction. I actually don't read any Warhammer books if I'm looking for seriously good stories. I'm looking for, basically, action pulp. King delivered that in spades, and he made the whole setting sing while doing it.
Long is writing more modern fantasy fiction, which is fine as far as it goes, but it lacks the punchiness and action of King's books. Long is making Gotrek and Felix more, for lack of a better term, realistic. If you like that, that's cool but it's not why I started reading G&F. G&F under King were these grand, doomed adventurers and you were never quite sure if King was really going to kill Gotrek (especially after Skavenslayer). He kept a certain tension running throughout, as well as making sure that the battle sequences were grand in scale. In Giantslayer, Gotrek basically fights Cthulhu within the first seventy pages!
Sanity and reasonableness were never a part of King's G&F books, that's what made them such great fun! Long's books, by comparison, are dreary slogs through the grim n' gritty Warhammer setting, which works for many books that don't involve an insane Dwarf that is slowly being turned into a godlike being and his hapless human companion.
This is a perfect case for King's books. Obviously I love Long's writing and am not a huge fan of king. I do like the fact Gotrek and Felix are written as a bit more, errrr, realistic (lol sounds funny to say). Which is important because Long actually puts both of them in a multitude of emotional situations and King's flat action heroes wouldn't have worked. But you make a great argument for King and I'm sure many would agree with you. King does action better then Long. Although I'd have to argue the whole sinking of the ship in Elflsayer and the betrayal scene in Manslayer may have been the best action sequences in the series, and that was all Long. But on average King did have much more "punchiness"... well put.
Although Long has a much much much much darker tone then king. I've read many warhammer books, and I've got to say, I think Long does atmosphere the best. And the relationship between Ulrika and Felix is fantastic. I don't think King could have gone there as well.
But to be far, Felix is hardly a hapless human companion. Outmatched by Gortrek ten times over, sure... but Felix himself is probably amongst the deadliest humans alive in his time. He's just overshadowed by his godly companion.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com
I should pick it up again, but how does the quality vary as the series goes on? Not that the Drizzt series was high art to begin with, but those books got fucking unbearable after a while.
To be honest; King's Gotrek also had some weirdly fluctuating powerlevels. And he had some amazing bullshit luck a lot of the time. Long's Gotrek seems to be a bit weaker but he made up for it by making Gotrek more cunning.
Long hasn't pulled that stuff nearly as much, Gotrek is still a badass but actually has a tough time with other badasses and can't simply rely on his luck. He breaks a sweat sometimes but at least Long doesn't imply that Gotrek can't take the chaos-orcs or beastmen or even dark elves.
He is also overshadowed by nearly everything the fight, which is understandable but Long having Felix constantly thinking about it feels kind of silly. You've been fighting for 20 years dude, it's gotta be a bit routine by now.
Wait...there's a new one out?
Not so much now. Granted this didn't start with Long, towards the end of King's run the series began taking itself too seriously. Now with Zombieslayer I doubt I got a single good laugh out of it. Mostly lots of teenage melodrama between a 40-some year old Felix and his jailbait.
Ya came out October I believe (new book every year).
I loved Zombieslayer. 9/10 without a doubt imo.
At the start of King's run, Felix was a wuss and a bitch. As time went on he became tougher to the point he wasn't phased. Thats one thing King did right.
Long tweaked Gotrek and Felix to his liking. He made Gotrek weaker and smarter(as someone pointed out, this is a good thing) and he made Felix bitchey. He didn't make Felix A bitch, as he's still willing to follow Gotrek into hell and certain (lol) doom, but Felix tends to bitch and moan about it.
PS- Well she isn't jailbait considering she's well over 20 I would guess. And can you fucking blame Felix? He has immortality and eternal youth! I certainly wouldn't be banging 50 year olds if I looked 25-30 years old.
Image by Sharpwriter on deviantart.com