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Gilead's Curse
New fantasy title, continuing the story of High Elf Gilead Lothain
Gilead Lothain returns! From the warrens of the skaven to the streets of Nuln, the shadowfast warrior and his faithful retainer Fithvael find themselves surrounded by evil. Beneath the earth, the dangerous and insane Rat King, its powers amplified by evil magic, plots Gilead’s downfall, while a bloodthirsty vampire count becomes an unlikely ally… and Gilead’s deadliest foe.
Gilead Lothain returns! From the warrens of the skaven to the streets of Nuln, the shadowfast warrior and his faithful retainer Fithvael find themselves surrounded by evil. Beneath the earth, the dangerous and insane Rat King, its powers amplified by evil magic, plots Gilead’s downfall, while a bloodthirsty vampire count becomes an unlikely ally… and Gilead’s deadliest foe.
- GenresFantasy
416 pages, Paperback
Published May 14, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 20, 2024
The first novel is one of my favourite books of all time. This one fails in everything the other one achieved. For years the fans waited for a sequel and then this came out and it was this bad. I never understood the rating of under 3 since the other one was pretty good. First of all the pacing is different, the scope, the epicness, all is gone. In the first 70 pages barely a conversation. Stick for the first one.
October 10, 2015
I have to admit that I was surprised to see how overwhelmingly negative the reviews for Gilead's Curse are on this page. Very surprised. I read Gilead's Curse on a long trip, and was impressed by the scope of the author's imagination in fantasy writing. Dan Abnett is primarily a 40k writer, and his forays into Warhammer Fantasy have been infrequent, but usually good - though much of it is now semi-forgotten - the Malus Darkblade series with Mike Lee being the most enduring. Gilead's Curse is the (long-overdue) sequel to his 2001 novel Gilead's Blood, and, like its predecessor, shares the same sharp, concise prose style and anonymous first-person narrator, which adds to the detached air of the story.
The book, particularly the first part, is rather surreal in tone, evoking a subtly gothic feel that enhances the skaven's claustrophobic, tatterdemalion culture. Don't pick up this book expecting the sort of black-comedy, cowardly, dysfunctional genius skaven that are portrayed in most of their other appearances.
These skaven are an eerie offshoot, controlled by a sort of hive-mind. They are a semi-feral, technologically-backward, mindless horde who live only to serve their king - similar to tyranids, actually. They are the kind of creatures more likely to be encountered in a work by H.P. Lovecraft or Neil Gaiman than the standard skaven. They are pitiable, in an odd, twisted way. However, Gilead's shadowfast ability comes across as a little too overpowering when in battle with them.
It may be a legitimate criticism that the first part of the narrative meanders somewhat, but nevertheless it is full of action, chills and the fascinating metaphysical quest of the Rat King.
The second part is more focused and driven, detailing Gilead's battle with a vampire knight. The themes of loss and fleeting memory in ageing immortals are a major part of this section.
I recommend Gilead's Curse if you're looking for a good dark fantasy and don't mind a little meandering. This has the makings of an unappreciated Black Library classic.
The book, particularly the first part, is rather surreal in tone, evoking a subtly gothic feel that enhances the skaven's claustrophobic, tatterdemalion culture. Don't pick up this book expecting the sort of black-comedy, cowardly, dysfunctional genius skaven that are portrayed in most of their other appearances.
These skaven are an eerie offshoot, controlled by a sort of hive-mind. They are a semi-feral, technologically-backward, mindless horde who live only to serve their king - similar to tyranids, actually. They are the kind of creatures more likely to be encountered in a work by H.P. Lovecraft or Neil Gaiman than the standard skaven. They are pitiable, in an odd, twisted way. However, Gilead's shadowfast ability comes across as a little too overpowering when in battle with them.
It may be a legitimate criticism that the first part of the narrative meanders somewhat, but nevertheless it is full of action, chills and the fascinating metaphysical quest of the Rat King.
The second part is more focused and driven, detailing Gilead's battle with a vampire knight. The themes of loss and fleeting memory in ageing immortals are a major part of this section.
I recommend Gilead's Curse if you're looking for a good dark fantasy and don't mind a little meandering. This has the makings of an unappreciated Black Library classic.
February 28, 2017
More aptly named: Screw You Gilead!
Gilead's Curse had it all, a good plot, some nice settings, characters you could maybe end up liking, instead they jam packed these 416 pages with so many ideas that no wonder it turned into shit for me.
Seriously wanted to like this book, but I couldn't. The characters were bland, stuff just happend out of nowhere, things didnt get explained(unless I missed it completely due to the boring prose)
I'm sorry if I sound a bit negative. Here is a positive tho: I've never in my life read about pissing in the sand and drawing a magical map with added magical sand to create a flood in order to save the day. Well done(seriously tho, WTF!!!).
Rather skip this one folks, sorry.
Gilead's Curse had it all, a good plot, some nice settings, characters you could maybe end up liking, instead they jam packed these 416 pages with so many ideas that no wonder it turned into shit for me.
Seriously wanted to like this book, but I couldn't. The characters were bland, stuff just happend out of nowhere, things didnt get explained(unless I missed it completely due to the boring prose)
I'm sorry if I sound a bit negative. Here is a positive tho: I've never in my life read about pissing in the sand and drawing a magical map with added magical sand to create a flood in order to save the day. Well done(seriously tho, WTF!!!).
Rather skip this one folks, sorry.
March 2, 2015
When I started this, I noticed that the reviews were pretty overwhelmingly poor. I was surprised, because I enjoyed the first book, and Dan Abnett is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately after reading, I tend to agree with the reviews. The first half of the book is a slog, it took me almost 2 weeks to read the first 200 pages. The main antagonists are the skaven, or ratmen. Reading anything from the perspective of the skaven is something I didn't enjoy. They are very simple minded, but those minds are disjointed and continuously jumping between things. Very hard to follow.
The second half of the book is better, but it feels like a completely different story. Different antagonists, different location, different supporting cast. Very weird.
The second half of the book is better, but it feels like a completely different story. Different antagonists, different location, different supporting cast. Very weird.
November 1, 2019
This was really, really bad... as I really loved the first one, I was expecting something more from this. The skaven story was too simple, the vampire was tiresome, the tomb king part was a little interesting in the beginning but that was it, the only nice thing about it was the twist in the end that went well with the "unavoidable death" theme of the whole book, it was a little melodramatic, it wanted to steal something from elric... but overal no... don't bother...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews