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Terrach Chronicles #4
Shadowblood
“The King of High Adventure.” Starlog.In a world of magic and gunpowder, the half-breed Rik must rise from simple soldier to the deadliest assassin the world has ever known.A hungry horde of the walking dead rises to conquer the world. As the forces of darkness over-run the land, the halfbreed Rik must complete his apprenticeship as a Shadowblood assassin under the tutelage of his deadliest enemy and then confront the scheming necromancers of the Dark Brotherhood at the very heart of their empire of evil.The latest thrilling instalment of the Terrarch Chronicles from the bestselling creator of Gotrek and Felix. ABOUT THE SERIESA thousand years ago the world of Gaeia fell to the Terrarchs, cruel and beautiful alien invaders with a deadly secret. Masters of sorcery and intrigue they have ruled humanity with a fist of steel inside a glove of velvet. For a thousand years, ancient demons have slept, waiting for the moment of their return. Now the stars are right. Old and evil gods are wakening. New revolutions are being born. A genocidal war that will destroy civilization sweeps ever closer.Born a Shadowblood, one of a clan of genetically engineered super-assassins created to serve a long dead Dark Lord, the outcast Rik must master his deadly birthright before his own lost kinfolk can kill him. BOOKS IN THE TERRARCH SERIESDeath’s AngelsThe Serpent TowerThe Queen’s AssassinShadowbloodABOUT THE AUTHORWilliam King lives in Prague, Czech Republic with his lovely wife Radka and his two sons Dan and William Karel. He has been a professional author and games developer for almost a quarter of a century. He is the creator of the bestselling Gotrek and Felix series for Black Library and the author of the bestselling Space Wolf books which between them have sold over three quarters of a million copies in English and been translated into 8 languages. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award. His short fiction had appeared in Year’s Best SF and Best of Interzone. He has twice won the Origins Awards For Game Design. His hobbies include role-playing games and MMOs as well as travel.
331 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2008
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86 people want to read
About the author
William King
350 books714 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 8, 2019
Great conclusion to the saga! William King filling the pages with non-stop action, nice plot twists, and tying up all the story threads in satisfying ways. Sure, there are moments when a favorite character has a bit too much luck, exceeds his/her apparent capabilities, or inexplicably has an epiphany on how to overcome insurmountable circumstances, but, hey, these moments are what makes these sort of heroic tales so entertaining in my opinion. What really sets The Terrarch Chronicles apart from many other sword and sorcery tales though is its realistic character development; several of the mains here now numbered among my all-time favorite fantasy heroes/anti-heroes.
January 4, 2018
Do závěrečného dílu série jsem se dlouho nemohla začíst, až začínalo hrozit, že knihu odložím rozečtenou. Ani teď si nejsem úplně jistá, zda jsem mě příběh nakonec pohltil anebo mě více poháněla touha dozvědět se, jak vše dopadne.
Svým způsobem mě těší, jak série dopadla - zlo bylo poraženo (nebo lépe řečeno potlačeno) a naši hrdinové vyšli jako vítězové a to bez větších šrámů. Nechápejte mě špatně, nelibuji si v drastických koncích a ztrátách postav, ale tady všechno šlapalo tak plynule a hladce, že se člověk zdráhá uvěřit. Zatímco je armáda masakrována nezadržitelným přílivem mrtvých, tak se poručíkovi Sardekovi a jeho věrným podaří vyváznout bez větší úhony, v obrovském ležení najít právě svou milenku a s několika dalšími se vydat na cestu, kde je jejich největší komplikací shánění jídla. Posléze zázračně najdou zrovna člověka, který našel lék na mor a je ochoten jim podat pomocnou ruku. Snad jediné čemu jsem byla v jejich dobrodružství ochotna věřit byla závěrečná (nadmíru šťastná) shoda náhod, která jim umožnila přežít. A Rik, hlavní hrdina všech příběhů? Pod mýma očima se měnil v Mary-Sue, která získává vědomosti v řádu hodin, zatímco jiní je museli pilovat desítky let... Ve výčtu dalších šťastných událostí by se dalo pokračovat.
Proč tak vysoké hodnocení, když jsem slovy chvály rozhodně neplýtvala? Jedničkou (a zachránkyní hodnocení) pro mě byla Tamara, která ukázala více odvahy a rozumu než mnoho jiných dohromady. A nakonec - jsem ráda, že naši hrdinové přežili a vypořádali se ze zlem. I když v realitě našeho světa je to trochu neuvěřitelné...
Svým způsobem mě těší, jak série dopadla - zlo bylo poraženo (nebo lépe řečeno potlačeno) a naši hrdinové vyšli jako vítězové a to bez větších šrámů. Nechápejte mě špatně, nelibuji si v drastických koncích a ztrátách postav, ale tady všechno šlapalo tak plynule a hladce, že se člověk zdráhá uvěřit. Zatímco je armáda masakrována nezadržitelným přílivem mrtvých, tak se poručíkovi Sardekovi a jeho věrným podaří vyváznout bez větší úhony, v obrovském ležení najít právě svou milenku a s několika dalšími se vydat na cestu, kde je jejich největší komplikací shánění jídla. Posléze zázračně najdou zrovna člověka, který našel lék na mor a je ochoten jim podat pomocnou ruku. Snad jediné čemu jsem byla v jejich dobrodružství ochotna věřit byla závěrečná (nadmíru šťastná) shoda náhod, která jim umožnila přežít. A Rik, hlavní hrdina všech příběhů? Pod mýma očima se měnil v Mary-Sue, která získává vědomosti v řádu hodin, zatímco jiní je museli pilovat desítky let... Ve výčtu dalších šťastných událostí by se dalo pokračovat.
Proč tak vysoké hodnocení, když jsem slovy chvály rozhodně neplýtvala? Jedničkou (a zachránkyní hodnocení) pro mě byla Tamara, která ukázala více odvahy a rozumu než mnoho jiných dohromady. A nakonec - jsem ráda, že naši hrdinové přežili a vypořádali se ze zlem. I když v realitě našeho světa je to trochu neuvěřitelné...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2017
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
This is the one where everything gets put together. This is the one where Rik puts in all together and becomes what destiny had in store for him. He goes through several trials, meets family he didn't know he had, becomes part of an extended family, almost loses his mind (several times), and discovers and harnesses powers he only dreamed about. A good ending to a very very good series
This is the one where everything gets put together. This is the one where Rik puts in all together and becomes what destiny had in store for him. He goes through several trials, meets family he didn't know he had, becomes part of an extended family, almost loses his mind (several times), and discovers and harnesses powers he only dreamed about. A good ending to a very very good series
September 29, 2018
5 stars. Good ending to a great series
October 22, 2014
I was thinking about writing a wrap-up review for the series, but the gap of time elapsed between my reading of books Three and Four of the Terrarch Chronicles Series is more than a year! Call me distracted but that’s too much time for me. The best I can do is review this book on its own, and try to take a bit of the whole series’ merits into account.
Some mild spoilers ahead…
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Some thoughts about the things I liked: I think I might have said this before but I believe the books should be about Sardec, and NOT about Rik. Sardec’s “evolution” as a likeable character is much better that Rik’s. Sometimes, I suspect Mr. King really wanted to tell Sardec’s story and Rik got in the way. In the final book, this is even more notorious. Tamara is a cool character, too bad it is not developed. The Quan are wickedly cool, and I was left wanting more of those sinister monsters.
Now the bad: Zombies. Yeah, I said it. I didn’t like this whole zombie stuff that permeates the last book. I know we are talking about the possible “end of the world”, but it felt out of place, and took away a lot of the time that could have been invested in a much better villain. Also, the absolutely anticlimactic final confrontation takes away a whole star from the book.
The series was fun, but we are left wanting more. Perhaps Mr. King has decided to continue this series in the future, perhaps not. I believe there is a lot of potential to develop in the Terrarch universe.
I hope we can revisit the setting again. Preferably without Rik this time…
Some mild spoilers ahead…
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Some thoughts about the things I liked: I think I might have said this before but I believe the books should be about Sardec, and NOT about Rik. Sardec’s “evolution” as a likeable character is much better that Rik’s. Sometimes, I suspect Mr. King really wanted to tell Sardec’s story and Rik got in the way. In the final book, this is even more notorious. Tamara is a cool character, too bad it is not developed. The Quan are wickedly cool, and I was left wanting more of those sinister monsters.
Now the bad: Zombies. Yeah, I said it. I didn’t like this whole zombie stuff that permeates the last book. I know we are talking about the possible “end of the world”, but it felt out of place, and took away a lot of the time that could have been invested in a much better villain. Also, the absolutely anticlimactic final confrontation takes away a whole star from the book.
The series was fun, but we are left wanting more. Perhaps Mr. King has decided to continue this series in the future, perhaps not. I believe there is a lot of potential to develop in the Terrarch universe.
I hope we can revisit the setting again. Preferably without Rik this time…
May 14, 2012
Very tense. Lots of zombies and I really dislike zombies(ick). There was a lot of story told from Tamara's point of view, which I liked, she is an interesting character. And Sardec's character continued to grow.
I would have preferred the final victory to be harder for Rik, Tamara and Asea to achieve. It was too easy. I had the sense the author became anxious to finish up and settled for a Hollywood ending (cardboard villain, big explosion).
All that said, I enjoyed this series quite a bit and I'm delighted to have stumbled across it.
I would have preferred the final victory to be harder for Rik, Tamara and Asea to achieve. It was too easy. I had the sense the author became anxious to finish up and settled for a Hollywood ending (cardboard villain, big explosion).
All that said, I enjoyed this series quite a bit and I'm delighted to have stumbled across it.
December 2, 2011
Now with more zombies!
This may be the final book in the series, or there may be more to come, but either way it does bring several plot threads from previous installments to a satisfactory conclusion. Very enjoyable stuff; I could tell that King was having as much fun writing as I was reading.
This may be the final book in the series, or there may be more to come, but either way it does bring several plot threads from previous installments to a satisfactory conclusion. Very enjoyable stuff; I could tell that King was having as much fun writing as I was reading.
November 16, 2012
"I'm a fan of William King, from his Gotrek and Felix series, and the Terrarch Chronicles lived up to what I was looking for from a fantasy series written by King. Fast paced action and adventure with characters that grow and develop with the books.
July 9, 2016
Great book in a great series
This is a fantastic book. It is a wonderful story of 18th century military drama, dark sorcery, and politics. I cannot encourage others to read this book more.
This is a fantastic book. It is a wonderful story of 18th century military drama, dark sorcery, and politics. I cannot encourage others to read this book more.
Want to read
January 22, 2014False
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews