Elves: The Omnibus

High Elf Novels #1-3

by Graham McNeill

Defenders of Ulthuan: A story of betrayal and redemption that explores the magical world of the high elves, set against a backdrop of war as the dark elves launch a massive invasion of the elf homeland, Ulthuan.

Sons of Ellyrion: As the island of the elves burns with war, the fate of Ulthuan rests on the shoulders of two brothers who must fight for forgiveness and the chance to defend their homeland.

Guardians of the Forest: A human knight is plunged into a strange, mystic realm when he joins forces with wood elves who are fighting to defend their forest homeland from marauding beastmen.

Genres: Fantasy

640 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2013

About the author

Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.

Reviews

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
First off I finally finished this book. It took me forever to read simply because it was really long and plus I was cought up with other books. I was recommend this book by one of my good reads friends and I thought I would give the book a try. I have never read any Graham McNeill book ever, but I have heard that they are really good, which after reading this book I would have to agree. One thing that I didn't like about this book is was it was really long and I thought it could of been shorten than what it is. I probably won't read this book again simply because it was really long. I would recommend this book to anyone that like to read history kind of books.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

It almost pains my heart to admit, but i really really did not like this trilogy.

Well first of all; it is not a trilogy, it is two books ( defenders of ulthuan and sons of ellyrion) two short stories and then guardians of the forest with a short story. The guardians of the forest has no connection to the first half of this bundle whatsoever. Yes sure it has elves in it, but that is a shallow half baked connection at best. Because of this I am going to review the first two books and the third book seperatly.

Defenders and sons I disliked for many reasons but what it all boils down to is; it did not commit. It is both a story about a love triangle with two brothers and an elven mage they both love which causes tragedy for many. Fair enough but then at the same time the book is telling the story of a huge invasion of the elven lands by the dark elves and their dark king Malekith; two stories held together by the most flimsiest of treads. What was most frustrating is that neither story gets the time and dedication they needed.

the invasion story is barebones at best and seems to have been more concerned with name dropping and showcasing all named characters and heroes of the high elves unit roster then anything else. Finubar, Teclis, Eltharion, Alarielle, Tyrion, Caradryan, Aislinn, Khoril all show up, fight and then they win. I could say spoiler but that is the thing only if you have no idea about what warhammer is will the outcome of the invasion be in any doubt. Any warhammer fan knows that none of these characters is going to die so where is the tension?

the other love triangle plot is, I won't say bad, but is so lackluster. In part because they too felt the need to have the characters meet several of the aforementioned high elves characters, none of which had any real relevance to the plot or story. Another unfortunate thing; the bundle begins with a short story with the two brothers setting up a raid to attack their dark kin and this is by far the best story in the whole bundle. There is tension, fun banter and worldbuilding; all that good stuff. But, because you read this story, the whole first half of defenders of Ulthuan is tedious. Tedious because that first half is dedicated to a mysterious arrival on ulthuan, whose identity is, if you read the short story, obvious immediately. Then there is a whole "what really happened on that expedition" plot but once again, you already know thanks to that short story!! So why have that short story first if the first book is all about the mystery of what really happened!!! It is baffling and wasteful.

I know it is arrogant but I would have done this as following. Dump the whole invasion of ulthuan story and all of the named lore heroes, the two stories just don't work together at all and ruin on-another. just have the two brothers, the love interest and ditch Morathi and her chaos human allies. Yeah I have not talked about that right? Not only is there an invasion you know is going to fail, but also is the evil witch queen of the dark elves up to no good. using the conflict of the love triangle to destabilize all magic in the world for her own powers. Why exactly she needs those chaos humans? I don't know, her son the king is invading the elves at the same time! So did he not support her plans? Are they opposing each other here? Is it a race against the other at stake here? That could have been fun and suspenseful but we don't know, only thing I know is that they have mutually exclusive goals. Concerning Morathi's goals; either you know about the vortex thus you know her plan will fail or you don't know and then this whole end of the world plot comes out of nowhere.

I think I can understand the motivations at play here though. They feared that a smaller story about a love triangle would not attract the fans of the table top game. But they did not commit to either one. Either it could have been a the whole world is at stakes story or a smaller conflict story but it tries to be both and fails on both fronts. What is frustrating is that there was potential here. All throughout the two books there is this element that comes up; how different are the two sides of elves really? Again and again characters talk about it, make observations and act in a way that makes one wonder what really separates both sides besides politics. Which is good and interesting and one of the best sub plots in the book; "the defence of eagle gate" is all about exactly that question; I was dying to have more of this but every time it is brushed off and seemingly dismissed. given what happened in the end times; this is suspenseful foreshadowing that could and should have been expanded upon.

If it had been up to me; the story would have focused on the brothers, the open question of difference between the two kind of elves and no end of the world plot but something smaller; like for instance how about a dark elf corsair lord (like the one whose ships they burned in the opening short story) wants to take revenge on the brothers and what they hold dear; namely the beautiful horses of their homeland Ellyrion. That would have made for a suspenseful story, the outcome of which was unknown. But halass it is not; such a shame really.


As I said; guardians of the forest has nothing to do with the above so here goes. A lot of things that I really disliked in the above has been corrected but this book has flaws of it's own. The story is a mix up of "dances with wolves" an "Arthurian quest" and time travel. A human knight tries to save his wife from the magical forest of the athel loren whose wood elven inhabitants don't appreciate his arrival. About 3 quarters of the book is all about the knight hanging out and a sort of romeo and Juliette story between two elven lovers, then is added a whole other "the forest is in danger story" and a find your own fate story for the knight. So much time is spent on the romeo and juliette story and the knight hanging out in the forest that so little is given to the rest. It is not that I don't like the knight but why is he here? This is once again two stories that are needlessly intermixed with one another and frankly if you want a good wood elves story; stick to the Orion trilogy which is like on a whole other level of quality.

The short stories; the first is good and by far the most fun; the middle one in Tor Yvresse, is fine I guess and the final one with the knight is kinda ruined because in the epilogue of guardians of the forest you learn what his fate is; so forgive me that I am not feeling the suspense in the short story afterwards that supposedly puts him in mortal danger.... On a side note; one thing I can't seem to get my head around; how does the high elves society function? I can understand the dark elves; they use a massive slave population to keep their society going while the wood elves live in a magical forest which ok fine magic but the high elves? I just have a hard time picturing a high elf doing farming or lumber work but how do they get their stuff then?

I can't recommend this bundle at all, it is just bad. Fans of warhammer will find little to like and for non warhammer readers I have a lot of alternative warhammer stuff they should read then this pile of rubbish.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first saw "Elves" and the fact that it was set in the Warhammer universe, it had me interested. I am used to reading the Warhammer 40K books, but had no background with the Warhammer fantasy stories. I am glad I have managed to change that.

Elves is in fact two stories. Each is broken into short novella sized chapters. The first story is simply amazing. It begins with a small story of two Eleven brothers who lead a punitive strike into the heart of the Dark Elf, Druchii, lands in retribution for their father's death at the Druchii. At the end of the battle Eldain, the older brother, leaves his younger brother, Caelir, behind to die at the hands of the enemy. The motivations are a combination of jealousy of his brother's warrior credentials and the fact Caelir also stole Eldain's betrothed.
This leads to the next part of the story where the Druchii invade the Elven lands. Led by Malekith, The Witch King, the Druchii assault on the Elven lands is vast in scope and epic in the telling. From the dynamics of the Caelir and Eldain relationship, to the events playing on on a vast canvas covering a whole continent-the entire story is fast paced and exciting. Still this is not a simple blood and guts tale. It has magic, betrayal, politics and a great background on the Elves and the Druchii. This story told by the two novellas "Defenders of Ulthuan" and "Sons of Ellyrion" is easily a 5 star story by itself. Epic and exciting, the tale copies Game of Thrones in that no character, no matter how major, is safe from death. No spoilers though.

The second story arc "Guardians of the Forest" tells the tale of the Forest Elves, rather than the High Elves. In this tale a human Knight Sir Leofric loses his wife to the spirits of the forest. His search for her results in him becoming the captive of the Forest Elves with whom he creates a bond of friendship by fighting alongside them during an invasion of fell beasts led by a Beastlord. While this story is not as epic as the first one-it is still a damn fine read. The feel of the story is different because these Elves are different. Not to mention the inclusion of a human being change up the story a bit.

Finally, for some unknown reason, there is a short story about Sir Leofric that takes place after the main arc. It is strange because it doesn't have any elves in it. But maybe it is to give an ending to the Sir Leofric tale.

Both these stories combine into a large, but truly wonderful, tome. Fast paced and a fun read-this is a book that will be enjoyed by fantasy fans everywhere. But bear in mind this is a grimdark tale-so don't expect any cute happy endings.

[Cajun Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will have to have patience with this story because the first 150 or so is some what of a almost there drag. However, once the actions starts it's non stop and I do mean will have you on the edge of your seat/chair because you see the firing growing around every turn. It doesn't matter what story your on it's going to have you wanting more and more. All works out in the end for all the characters but you will want to more and not be able to get it sadly. I only wish there was a way to continue because all the stories in the book where left open ended with a continuation in the future hopefully.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf

First two books and accompanying short stories are fantastic. Excellent fight scenes, strong characters, compelling motivations.

Didn't care so much for the wood elf story. Just not my thing. Worth it just for those first two tales though.

[Nathan Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll avoid spoilers, but while the two tales of the High Elves are exciting and engaging, it was the third tale of a Bretonnian knight in Athel Loren that truly piqued my interest.

[Twinksanddilfs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be better suited to being a radio play or visual novel. There's some good solid themes and interesting characters but unfortunately this is overlooked by a lot of waffling throughout the chapters. I only read the first book and have not finished the rest. I will pick it up at some point.

[Rasmus Bertilsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most likely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. It's so intensly written, it has an extremely deep lore considering it's part of the Warhammer-Universe. It does start slow but I think that's good; a slow and steady introduction into the characters is important, and while it can turn out terribly wrong, Graham McNeill not only pulled it off, but made the rest of the books better because of it. While this omnibus includes three books I only read the first two since they're connected, while the third is it's own story.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things were overly detailed but on the story was pretty decent on the whole. Not sure how I feel about the behavior and mannerisms of the Elves but I've always thought in other fantasy books that they're far too friendly with humans and too willing to help them out. Either way the setting was engaging and kept my attention

[Travis Shoemaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of my favorite books. Didn't actually finish it. Not a big fan of every time I open a book I get depressed and annoyed.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is such a well written book but the war scenes drag on and on. It is so dark and depressing. The book could have been so much more