Gianfranco Mancini
2,281 reviews1,028 followers
A good prologue to the final two books of the Gotrek & Felix saga and to the End of Times, but the cast of secondary characters was far from interesting for me, the many twists were almost all phoned and I've read better depictions of Mordheim.
Besides, I enjoyed the storyline and the mistery about the Beast in the first part was a real entertaining one.
- black-library fantasy warhammer
Craig Boston
7 reviews
I am a long time Gotrek & Felix fan since I first discovered my first Warhammer novel, Daemon Slayer, back in 2006 while I was deployed to Iraq. From the very beginning I was fascinated and totally captivated by the Gotrek character. But that all ended with this book. This is the first Guymer Gotrek & Felix book that I have read and this book was an absolute choir to read and at no point was I captivated by the story. In fact, the only reason I continued to read the book at all, was out of loyalty and sheer hope that I would learn some new nugget of information about Gotrek. The personality of Gotrek seemed very different and I did not like it. He use to make me laugh with the cynical or maybe derogatory things he said, but not because he was making jokes. And I do not like Guymer's flowery writing style, it clouds the meaning behind his writing and leaves the reader confused as to what is actually going on during a scene. Hopefully, he gets it right with his other Gotrek books, especially since he is writing the End Times ones. I definately would not recommend this book to someone new to the Gotrek series.
Matthew
40 reviews1 follower
Much like Road of Skulls, City of the Damned takes place in the midst of the previously established timeline, rather than moving the story forward. The difference, however, is that City of the Damned has the good sense to take place during the gigantic 20 year block after Giantslayer. The tale this time is that poor Felix is having a very bad day, being drug along as Gotrek chases down some grave robbing Skaven, leading to their being imprisoned by an overzealous Imperial garrison. Things get worse as they make their escape into the Mordheim, the titular City of the Damned. There they are accompanied by a flock of flagellants hoping to meet their salvation rooting out the Chaos cult believed to be operating within the city, which is seemingly tied to the aforementioned grave robbing. From here things start getting weird, with the city itself both helping and hindering our heroes in their quest. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. The shift from Gotrek and Felix doggedly pursuing some beastie like usual into a spooky ghost story made for a nice change of pace. The story also does a fantastic job at making Mordheim feel as creepy as a ghost city destroyed by a comet of wyrdstone should be, with both the city and its denizens oozing with gothic horror. My only minor gripe is that the foundation for The End Times starting with the events of this book felt a bit forced, but again, just a minor complaint that does nothing to detract from everything else.
Jason Ray Carney
Author37 books61 followers
This was the first Gotrek and Felix novel I read after the William King and Nathan Long novels. It is good but different (maybe I'm suffering from familiarity bias). Guymer spends a lot more time on action scenes it seems. About a third of the way through, the spectacle of action overtakes the thread of the plot. The setting, Mordheim, is intriguing and unique, but it is definitely disorienting. I wonder if those readers familiar with the city's lore (fans of the Mordheim game) would feel less confused by the scenario and conflict provided by the setting. One thing I missed in this was the buddy duo Gotrek and Felix dynamic. For long parts of the novel, they are not together. These characters foil eachother, and so it's harder for them to do that when they are participating in seperate subplots. I won't quibble too much. I'm glad to have read this novel and greatly enjoyed it. Guymer is a such talented writer. On the level of the sentence--specifically his use of setting-specific figurative language--he's a poet.
Pete
3 reviews
I feel I must make a confession, dear reader. Despite many years of reading Warhammer fiction I've never read a Gotrek & Felix story before. The closest I've come has been to listen to David Guymer's own audio drama, Curse of the Everliving, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As City of the Damned sits outside the continuity of the main series, it seemed as good a point as any to dive in. During their travels, Dwarf Slayer, Gotrek Gurnison and his human companion, Felix Jaeger, arrive in a village that's been terrorised by a 'beast'. Seeking his doom, as Slayers are wont to do, Gotrek decides to track the beast to its lair in the ruins of a city. It turns out he's not the only one with that idea... The first thing I’ll say is that David’s descriptive language is a joy to read. There’s a richness there that fleshes out all his locations and characters distinctly, and the similes are varied and very colourful. The settings capture the medieval flavour of the Warhammer Fantasy world beautifully and he’s filled them with a plethora of interesting sights, sounds, smells and people. The highlight of this is his creation of the titular city itself, which oozes atmosphere through every ruined building and dark shadow. You get the feeling that there’s some unknown danger around every turn and it makes for very compelling reading. A wonderful setting is, of course, no good without some intriguing characters to populate it, and there’s a fairly large and varied cast, all with their own reasons for being in the city. Gotrek and Felix find themselves in league with a group of half-mad flagellants, a band of mercenaries, and Rudi, the last survivor of a village attacked by the beast. Along with Felix, Rudi is a primary point-of-view character and feels suitably fleshed out. Other than them, only the leaders of the flagellants and mercenaries, Nikolaus Straum and Caul Schlanger, get explored in any real depth which is a little bit of a shame, especially as some of the mercenaries seem to have interesting stories to tell. Arrayed against them are the many and varied denizens of the city, the Damned, and worse. Like the city itself, they’re full of visual character, and David captures the idea of a gribbly swarm of nastiness beautifully. As for our heroes, Felix is very much the focal point. We see the world mainly through his eyes and he definitely feels like a character resigned to getting caught up in perilous situations – only to be expected as the companion of a slayer. Of course this rational human viewpoint is a necessity alongside the fairly single-minded Gotrek, who feels a little too much like a functional character. I imagine he’s quite a challenge to write as not only is he seemingly capable of defeating any foe, he’s also girded in impenetrable plot armour. He is, though, the main source of comic relief and his banter with Felix frequently lifts the tone of the story. The narrative for me was a bit of a mixed bag, though there’s a lot to admire. The tension and atmosphere as we follow our protagonists through the city is excellent – as good as any I’ve read in a Warhammer novel. The city scenes are nicely paced and keep the pages turning quickly. The plot, too, takes what seems to be a fairly straightforward premise and layers it up with several subplots – some of which are very intriguing and elevate the complexity of the plot dramatically. On the downside, this narrative complexity does add to the challenge of following what’s going on, especially in the beast’s point-of-view passages. This is something a reread might help with though as it’s dealt with in an eventual reveal. There are also a lot of perspective shifts from character to character where it isn’t immediately clear who’s been jumped to which did jar a little.. I also had a couple of issues with the overall pacing of the story. The lead-up to them entering the city felt a little laboured, seeming to take a long time to set up the world and the motivations of the characters. The final act, however, almost felt a bit too rushed. Once everything becomes clear the various narrative threads appear to be tied up in very short order. The tension and drama of the fantastic middle act more than makes up for these though. Gotrek & Felix: City of the Damned is a very enjoyable read. It’s full of Warhammer flavour, in both big themes and small details, yet it doesn’t feel forced, which suggests an author who’s very comfortable with the setting. I can’t compare it to any previous Gotrek & Felix novels so I don’t know how well David’s interpretation of the characters will sit with long-standing fans of the series, though as a standalone novel it’s well worth a read. For more of my reviews please visit http://www.fiftyshadesofgeek.org/
- black-library fantasy
Juan
Author0 books6 followers
By far, the worst Gotrek & Felix novel to date; its beginning and end are good enough, but the middle part is mind-crushingly boring. The problem, the way I see it, is that it tries to change the usual formula too much, going from Gotrek & Felix's adventures to a horror novel without a warning. A few minor contradictions hardly helps: Felix's almost nonexistent grief at the dwarf's supposed death, as well as his almost nonexistent relief when he turns out not to be dead, and his rune-carved sword -made specifically to kill dragons- has trouble cutting through some leather straps binding a few characters' bounds. All in all, a stain in our stars' gleaming saga. I hope the next installment fares better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Tomáš Šváb
14 reviews
Ten člověk by už neměl nikdy psát...nikdy!
Michal Botló
21 reviews1 follower
I consider myself a hardcore fan of these two guys. Really. Some time ago, I was relieved that the Gotrek and Felix novels were not finished and continued with the surprisingly good Road of Skulls.
Aaaaaand...I never thought I could get bored by a Gotrek and Felix novel - despite the ups and downs, they were always pretty amusing. But after trying to cope with the endless identical descriptions of marshlands, tons of comparisons (per sentence!!) and dull and useless characters, I exerted all my strength to get as far as to the half before throwing it as far as I could.
The only thing I am not sure of is whether the worst thing about this book is the slow progress of the (quite boring) story, or the amateur style of writing.
Anyways, this is for super-hardcore fans only.
- daydreaming-no-science
Callum Shephard
324 reviews40 followers
Breaking away from the main ongoing saga, City of the Damned puts Gotrek and Felix in a very different place than usual. Traversing through Ostermark, the duo soon find themselves a new enemy for Gotrek to fight and a quest which pits them against the faith-bound inhabitants of the land. However, this familiar territory soon gives way to something much more sinister. Even without butting heads against the local fanatics, someone is desperate to ensure an old memory remains forgotten and the Empire’s old wars are far from truly dead and buried. Something very old and infinitely malevolent lurks among the land, and it may take more than Gotrek’s axe to thwart its ambitions… As you might have guessed, this is a very atypical tale for the Gotrek and Felix series. While the series’ semi-formulaic structure has never been detrimental to its originality or strength of story, this one seems to be breaking away to try something truly different. The lack of real continuity or following on from the main novels may count despite Road of Skulls, but the real way it proves to be interesting is in just how it uses continuity. While it proves to be largely free to follow its own story, the book proves to be heavily connected with many established events which have otherwise been left ignored in history. The very title of the book alludes to one element found here, finally completely tying up the fate of one very interesting setting, and mentions are made of others. Classic ideas and locations which will mean much to older fans but won’t get in the way of this story being enjoyed by new ones. Furthermore, prior to truly going into some very strange and surprising territory we have only truly seen once before in this series, it plays itself out more or less like a traditional tale. What makes it most effective is that this allows the book to play with the readers expectations, while crafting and building the narrative towards some very interesting later events. Yes, saying this may sound like a spoiler but a good ninety percent of the time you’ll not know exactly what is going to be twisted into something else. More often than not you’ll be expecting the twist to come from certain other figures within the book. Speaking of the figures involved, the novel has an especially wide assortment this time. From early encounters among the small hovels to the fanatics who occupy and guard the city, there are quite a large number to keep track of. This does help to give the sense that the book is taking place within a large settlement a little more than some others of their kind, and it also helps to hide just which characters may become important later on. As with many things you are kept guessing and that proves to be a major strength here. The same goes with the villains, but to a much lesser degree as you know who is in control, who is in power and the like but one threat fades away to reveal another is pulling the strings. As is a requirement in all such tales the combat itself is solidly written. While not quite having King’s distinctive flare for the dramatic or Nathan Long’s ability to present sweeping scenes of combat, Guymer does have an obvious talent when it comes to sticking to blunt fact. You are constantly kept aware of the positions of the characters involved and the battle can easily shift from one individual dual to the next without destroying the pacing or utterly crippling the drama, while at the same time retains good descriptive strength where it matters. Unfortunately however, City of the Damned is also hardly without its failings. Foremost among these is the fact that it feels as if the third act crumbles as it is introduced. Rather than proving to be the book’s climax and retaining the satisfyingly bloody conflicts the series is beloved for, far too much of it is broken up with new elements introduced or scenes of occasional exposition. While some are certainly acceptable, others feel as if they could have been dealt with much sooner and the book would have only had a stronger focus because of that. Furthermore, the problem which runs with so many characters is that more than once they begin to feel repetitive and indistinct. Having seemingly abandoned much of the series’ humourous elements as Nathan Long did before him, many characters lack certain elements to them. They certainly have distinct concepts behind them, but all too often it feels that they are driven by that single idea. The flagellant’s personality only goes so far as his preaching for the End Times, the Chaos Champion has little beyond his personal ambition and similar problems plague certain figures. While the series has seen such characters before, there has usually been a way to present them which givens them an added dimension. Lacking that, all too often many seem too dour or one note to be truly notable. Finally, while the combat descriptions and handling of certain quiet scenes, especially a certain one in a pub, work fine the descriptions are lacking at many points. All too often the environments themselves feel far too nebulous and indistinct. This works at first given the nature of the area the heroes initially find themselves in, but the city itself and the extremely unique environment they eventually stumble into are just not conveyed that well. More paragraphs and brief sentences should have been put into building up environments and setting the scene rather than pressing ahead with the characters as the book kept doing here. Is the story bad as a result? Hardly. It still works for the most part, but City of the Damned honestly feels as if it will only work for certain groups of fans. With another re-write or helping shape up certain elements, it could have presented its genuinely great ideas far better than what is found here. It’s not the themes and plot which are the problem so much as some of the methods used to flesh out the book while getting to them. It’s still as Gotrek and Felix book at the end of the day. If you’ve liked the series thus far then give it a look, but otherwise try another tale featuring the characters before getting to this one.
Enrique
7 reviews10 followers
Read
January 5, 2021I liked it. Good story, very enjoyable though it was somewhat different in comparison with the books from the saga so far. Liked the City of Mordheim as a setting and all the winks to the warband game.
Heading into The End Times is a quite grim and dark, it fits into the whole WHF world. The pacing and development of the story is quite different from the usual or I got that feeling, but perhaps due to that I am not weary and looking forward to read the next one, whether normally I have a few weeks-months between books to avoid burn-out due to always same premises which are here as well but I don't know the unfolding had a different feeling that I don't dislike it.
The pace and setting of the story was too much tangled for my taste with too many jumps and the combat description was a little bit lacking.
The writing was complicated and sometimes too extensive in the descriptions, and took me a while to get used to it as a non-native English speaker. I guess this always applies but this time took a lot of pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
D.R. Hurley
Author2 books1 follower
Not bad. Little bit confusing around the middle two-thirds but generally ok. Felix is pretty much the same as ever, but I’m not sure I like Gotrek’s slightly garrulous personality change. Overall, a relatively missable story by all accounts, just happy to have it under my belt so I can move on to the next instalment.
Overscover8
1 review
Frankly I'm worried. I've read thousands of pages regarding these 2 heroes, and enjoyed 90% of it.
But this book has been nothing but a chore to complete, and I find this author has written the final stories of these beloved characters! I am very worried that based off of this book I will be extremely unsatisfied and probably a bit confused by the time I get to Slayer.
Matt Sheridan
2 reviews
A hidden gem, that seems out of place only because fans were waiting for something to move the series on. This is a prequel to many of the books, setting up the over arching storyline and also the final two books set during the End Times.
Eric Poalino
26 reviews
it was alright Definitely a big departure in tone and style from the previous books. There were some really good parts but I felt like the middle of the book was one big slog to get through.
Lee Hamner
9 reviews
It was okay...not as good as the others, but I trudged through it
Kenneth
494 reviews1 follower
Gotrek and Felix has to stopped a daemon from reviving into the real world.
- warhammer
Molly McMann
1 review
Ok Not the best gotten n Felix but if u read one gotta read an all right? Onto the next one
Thomas Creedy
422 reviews36 followers
A jumbled grab bag but some good bits. Waaaay too long.
Bartek
70 reviews12 followers
Mix of my the craziest wfrp sessions with some completely stupid narration.
Good shit
Sean
97 reviews
Good story, but I did get abit lost in it, think it was cause I read it out of order
Deryk Allan
567 reviews3 followers
Another thoroughly enjoyable romp with the unlikely duo, superb.
- action-adventure audio-book fantasy
Aleksejs Miščuks
52 reviews
Worst Gotrek and Felix book to date. Boring and tedious.
Abhinav
Author8 books70 followers
You can read the full review over at my blog: http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014... The Gotrek & Felix novels by both William King and Nathan Long are among the very first Warhammer Fantasy novels I bought back in 2005/2006 when I was getting back into Black Library reading with the Warhammer 40,000 setting. I was already a huge fan of Bill’s Space Wolf series, and making the transition to the fantasy side of things with both Gotrek and Felix was rather easy as it turned out. Even Nathan’s own work was great once I started reading it. But then, eventually, Nathan moved on to other things as Bill had before him, and the tale of the Trollslayer and his rememberer passed into the hands of another new generation of writers. Of these new writers, David Guymer is one of only two writers who have been asked to continue on the adventures of Gotrek Gurnisson and Felix Jaeger. I’ve read both of Josh Reynolds’ novels, Road of Skulls and The Serpent Queen and loved them both. With David however, the transition has not been easy, though I liked the audio drama he did with them last year. City of The Damned is a continuity-free novel like both of Josh’s novels, but it also is set up as a prequel to the more recent release, Kinslayer which is the first part of the Doom of Gotrek storyline and is the penultimate novel in the final ending of Gotrek’s saga. I read it earlier this month and I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. Most importantly for me, City of the Damned lacks much of the humour that was present in the novels by Bill and Josh. I unfortunately don’t remember how it went with Nathan’s own books, but the two stories he did back in 2012 were very fun and enjoyable partly because of the humour. City of The Damned is a very grim read, quite so. It is understandable to a degree since this book is a precursor to the big tales of the End Times. For years, Warhammer Fantasy has been the underdog to Warhammer 40,000 as the latter has only gained in popularity over the years while the former has wavered a fair bit. You look at the type of fiction coming out of Black Library in the last year and a half and the difference becomes even more apparent. This has created a kind of loop that has seen the series stagnate a fair bit, especially when it comes to parent company Games Workshop. But this year, in fact this month, that has begun to change with the launch of the End Times event which seems set to really shake up the Warhammer Fantasy setting in a big way. As such, I totally understand why City of the Damned is written as it is. Sure, it kind of predates End Times by almost a year in publication times, but then again, I doubt that it was written without any knowledge of it since big events like End Times are events that are planned for a long time before going on the production floor. Either way, this is one of my first complaints about the novel, that it is far more serious than other Gotrek & Felix novels have been, especially both of Josh’s novels. The grimdark is in full effect in this novel, and at times it even works when you consider the setting of the story, but usually it just meant that the levity between Gotrek and Felix felt forced and unrealistic, even rote. However, that is also countered by the fact that David’s prose is very descriptive. Sometimes it does get excessive to a degree and that breaks the story immersion, but David definitely knows how to set up a scene in a great way and really describe the different places and characters. That was rewarding in its own way because (ironically enough) it helped create story immersion. You find out how Ostermark is as a place, how the City of the Damned is as a location, and so on.
- 2014-read
Nick
Author3 books21 followers
The worst warhammer fantasy book I read so far. It feel awful to give it but one star but I just can't say it was ok, it just isn't. The reason I love Gotrek and Felix is mainly due to the settings and how unlike the kings, princes, warlords and generals most warhammer fantasy books focus on, you get a image of the world of the common people or a glimpse on sites and scenes that have never gotten the attention they deserved such as the southlands or lost dwarfholds, the border princes and so on. But here both failed. The setting of the city of damnation just feels like a stage background it is stale and uninspiring where it should have filled me with dread. The people were as uninteresting and bland as the background, they are stereotypes of warhammer characters. You get some sigmar fanatics, some flagellants, some peasants, some mercenaries, a corrupted noble, a sorceresses that is somewhat justified for her actions. I have seen it all before and much better. One exception perhaps can be made for the non chaos mutants but they got so little space and character development that it does not matter ( if you are introduced to a bunch of characters you can't be expected to feel that captivated when they sacrifice themselves a few pages later). The few highlights are Gotrek and Felix (off course) but even they feel like they are bored or had enough of the story Gotrek voiced my sentiment perfectly when he said " I grow sick of this place". Yeah you have a known daemon prince in there that has not gotten enough "booktime" as he/she should have, but don't think he/she gets it here either. Add in an unexplained timetravel warp, twists that are so predictable its laughable, a fake death of Gotrek (I should say spoiler alert but come on you know he isn't dead) that only served to get Gotrek out of the way for more Felix solo time who's main occupation seems to be being as confused as the reader on all the random stuff that seems to happen. In conclusion stay away unless you find it very cheap, you are a collector of warhammer novels or are a die-hard Gotrek and Felix fan.
- fantasy
Justin
13 reviews1 follower
I'm sorry but I like the story but I really don't like the writing. Maybe I was spoiled or accustomed to the previous books or maybe I'm just warming up to the new author's style but boy does his style make me snooze. This is actually my 'bedtime' book because I'm guaranteed to be sleeping after 20 minutes of reading this. I mean no hate to the author but I just think his storytelling is like a rambling of an old soothsayer or something. He tries hard to paint a picture but tries too hard and completely loses the attention of the reader (for me at least). I know he tries to give the reader the sense of atmosphere, the feeling in his stories but you don't need to give me ten sentences just to describe a swamp all the way down to how each tree bark have different roughness (I'm exaggerating a bit but that's how he makes me feel while reading it). And that goes on and on until the end. I think he needs to focus his attention to detail to the more important parts of the book. Save his vivid storytelling on the good parts and spare it when describing a horseshoe or how the grass grows. I know the author tries. He even tries those movie like 'scene' changes in his book but more often than not I get lost after those changes and have to backtrack a sentence or two to get it. The author has good intentions but I feel lacked the execution. But the story is great mind you. Amidst all those extra fluff you still find a solid story worthy of Gotrek and Felix.
Delray Beach Public Library
237 reviews25 followers
Gotrek and Felix City of the Damned Gotrek and Felix are on the hunt again, for the mysterious monster simply called “The Beast”. But as they follow its tracks, they will be taken to the Haunted City of the Damned. Now as the search continues in the city, they meet up with others who want to kill the beast. But as they get closer to the center of the city, they find something much worse than any of them could have imagined. Will Gotrek and the Felix manage to defeat the beast and the greater evil? Or will they fail, possibly leading to the Empire’s doom. To discover the ending of this excellent story, pick up a copy today. For more information about the book, visit this site: Booktalk written by Wyatt Rutherford, Reader Advisor since 2012.
By David Guymer
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/D...
- teen-reader-advisors
Daniel McGill
89 reviews9 followers
In this latest continuityless entry (probably happens after OrcSlayer) in the series Felix and Gotrek are drawn into an adventure in a decidedly odd iteration of Mordheim. Some effort was expended to hide the name of the city in text but as you either knew where it was taking place as soon as you read the title or else the reveal was meaningless to you it's hardly a spoiler.
There are some interesting ideas here but they were perhaps a bit big for the author and didn't really fit with previous lore on Mordheim so we're left a bit of a confused mess at times and much of the description was more confusing than illuminating.
This book largely exists just to introduce Be'lakor and the endtimes plot line but we do get some more on the plight of the mutant in the pitiless Empire, which is good, and appropriate to a Felix and Gotrek story.
Michael Dodd
985 reviews77 followers
For the fourteenth novel in the much-loved Gotrek and Felix saga, David Guymer sends the doom-seeking dwarf slayer and his human rememberer to Mordheim, the City of the Damned. Unlike the ‘Nounslayer’ books (the first 12 novels, from Trollslayer to Zombieslayer) this one doesn’t follow on chronologically, so it’s not clear exactly at what point in their careers we’re seeing them, and none of the cast of old friends that pop up throughout the other novels make an appearance (other than a brief mention for one). For the full review visit http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/201...
Maximilian Surjadi
Author4 books6 followers
This is a decent, not too bad warhammer story with an amazing ending. And that's the problem. It's strong point is the build up for the grand ending. If you're hoping a good and classic Gotrek & Felix bromance, naaaaah. It doesn't have a decent Gotrek Felix bromance. I like Guymer for making interesting character like Sharpwit or Queek on Headtaker, but for this novel, I only like Mori. Not that much, but I like her most. Road of Skulls or Headtaker by overall are better than this novel, but if we're talking about the closing. This one is definetely a great one. Just like Bioshock Infinite, you got the whole big "revelation" feeling on the end.
- fantasy warhammer
Gabe Quinn
2 reviews2 followers
It follows the same formula.The only problem is that some of the characters seem like a child is playing with them.I can equate this to someone getting the basics of Gotrek's character and writing a book about that but missing all the smallest parts.This is not entirely bad though I can say that I was indeed entertained for the most part but the characters were portrayed with a what you see is what you get attitude.
- warhammer