Gateway to Nifleheim

The Harbinger of Doom Saga #1

by Glenn G. Thater

Librarian's note: Alternate cover for ASIN: B00AFORJS2

When mad sorcerers open a gateway to the very pits of hell, releasing demons of darkest nightmare upon the world, only the intrepid knights of House Eotrus stand in their way. Claradon Eotrus takes up the mantle of his noble house to avenge his father and hold back the tide of chaos that threatens to engulf the world and destroy mankind. Claradon recruits Angle Theta and Gabriel Garn, mysterious knights of mystical power to stand with him. Theta and Garn take up their swords one last time against the coming darkness--a darkness from which only one will emerge.

The Harbinger of Doom saga centers around one Lord Angle Theta, an enigmatic warrior of unknown origins and mystical power. No mortal man is his match in battle. No sorcery can contain or confound him. No scholar or sage can outwit him. But for all his skills, he is but one of us: a man, a human, who shares our faults, our dreams, and our ambitions. He boldly strides across the land, fearless, peerless, and cloaked in mystery, all his will bent on righting such wrongs as he deems fit.

Until the day the Gateway opened and turned the world on its head. On that fateful day, Korrgonn came and washed away our dreams. And his infernal realms of Nifleheim set their unholy mark upon our world and claimed it for their own.

Only Theta and his companions see the enemies aligning against us. Only they foresee our end coming--the end of civilization, the end of the world of man. Only they can hope to turn the tide of madness and preserve all that we hold dear.

But no man, not even our greatest hero, can stand against the Lords of Nifleheim and the dark armies at their command. Fiends that infiltrate unseen within our ranks, that tear down our temples and our traditions, that devour us from within, unknown, unheralded, and unopposed until the hour grows far too late.

Through the murk and mist that hangs before our eyes, one man only sees true. One man pierces the veil of magic that blinds us all and marks the world as it truly is, revealing secrets, secrets of Angle Theta, so horrifying as to shatter a man's mind and call into question the very nature of good and evil.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks, Epic Fantasy, Amazon, Dark, Young Adult, Fiction

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 29, 2012

About the author

Sign up for my free Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/vwubH to get periodic emails with special offers and discounts on Glenn G. Thater's books.

For more than twenty-five years, Glenn G. Thater has written works of fiction and historical fiction that focus on the genres of epic fantasy and sword and sorcery. His published works of fiction include the first four volumes of the Harbinger of Doom saga: Gateway to Nifleheim, The Fallen Angle, Knight Eternal, and Dwellers of the Deep; the novella, The Gateway; and the novelette, The Hero and the Fiend.

Mr. Thater holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with concentrations in Astronomy and Religious Studies, and a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering, specializing in Structural Engineering. He has undertaken advanced graduate study in Classical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, and Astrophysics, and is a practicing licensed professional engineer specializing in the multidisciplinary alteration and remediation of buildings, and the forensic investigation of building failures and other disasters.

Mr. Thater has investigated failures and collapses of numerous structures around the United States and internationally. Since 1998, he has served on the American Society of Civil Engineers' Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE), is a member of that Council’s Executive Committee, and is the past Chairman of TCFE's Committee on Practices to Reduce Failures. Mr. Thater is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional and has testified as an expert witness in the field of structural engineering before the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

Mr. Thater is an author of numerous scientific papers, magazine articles, engineering textbook chapters, and countless engineering reports. He has lectured across the United States and internationally on such topics as the World Trade Center collapses, bridge collapses, and on the construction and analysis of the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.

Sign up here for my free Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/vwubH to get periodic emails with special offers and discounts on Glenn G. Thater's books.

BOOKS BY GLENN G. THATER

THE HARBINGER OF DOOM SAGA
GATEWAY TO NIFLEHEIM
THE FALLEN ANGLE
KNIGHT ETERNAL
DWELLERS OF THE DEEP
VOLUME 5+ forthcoming

THE HERO AND THE FIEND
(A novelette set in the Harbinger of Doom universe)

THE GATEWAY
(A novella length version of Gateway to Nifleheim)

HARBINGER OF DOOM
(Combines Gateway to Nifleheim and The Fallen Angle into a single volume)

Reviews

[Jagged · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some people who are all about the little things. All the details. I am not one of them. I am not the kind of person to enjoy 90% detail and little action.
So, this was a rather slow read for me.
There are a lot of details. Yet, ironically, when the details are wanted, there are hardly any.
I would have loved more description when it came to the monsters. I don't think they were done justice because I don't have a complete picture of them. I needed to know what I was supposed be so worried about.

There's not a lot of character development for the interesting characters. The characters I got a real feel for were Ob and the wimp of a wizard, but not Gabriel or Theta. So I didn't have much of an emotional attachment to anyone in the story.

What kept me interested was the plot. And the idea behind what was going on with the portal. And that Theta was not what I thought he would be. I had thought him something else.

The only thing that will keep me reading at this point is that two others are included with this one.

So, though it is not really my thing, I think people who enjoy the Aesir and lots of details would probably enjoy this.

Edit: Aug 6, 2015

I have now finished book 6. And let me say that I am wrong about this not being my thing or that the monsters are not done justice. This book is merely the first stepping stone in an epic journey, focusing more on the adventure than the actual characters, yet still giving you enough to get to know them. It is a fantastic series, and I am happy that I read the next book in the series or I would have missed out on something phenomenal.

[James Sundquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

(This review is also on Amazon.co.uk)

Clearly the author is a fan of classic heroic fantasy--Moorcock, Howard, with maybe some Lovecraft thrown in (I haven't actually read any Lovecraft yet, but some of the prose is as I'd imagine his work, if that makes sense). This is not at all a Bad Thing, and was my primary reason for being excited about the book. It promised some a classic-style heroic tale grounded in Norse mythology, and with an Eternal Champion a la Moorcock to boot.

Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let-down to read. Instead of sparse Moorcockian prose delivering the tale at a good pace, full of twists, turns and tragedy, Thater is verbose to the point of killing the pace. It was more like Goodkind (Bad Thing), and only the determination to get to the end kept me going. Far from the historically-grounded tale I expected, it seems to be set in one of those pseudo-European manga/video game worlds with a few mytho-historical names thrown in, invented by someone with no grip on the source material (it has a prologue claiming historical sources, a device which falls flat when what follows is so far removed from history). The dialogue is over-long, tedious and full of jarringly anachronistic phrases ("Mr Fancy-Pants"?). Descriptions of people and places slow down the action in the wrong places. It's not quite clear who the protagonist is, and the "Geometry Knight" is kept at arms length to maintain his enigma (unlike Moorcock's champions). Maybe the novella version was a bit punchier (i.e. better), because some of this seems a bit tacked-on (from the looks of the reviews on here it doesn't look like it).

STILL, once it did get going, and I'd learned to live with the characters' constant chattering (especially Ob), there were some good bits. The final showdown is still full of relentless, thesaurus-thumbing description, but instead of being used to convey bland background it is put to better use in describing the horrors of the eponymous gateway. Proper heroic fantasy, at long last, and it just about redeems itself.

So basically it suffered from lack of critical editing, like most self-published stuff, which is a shame because I'd actually like to read more of the story but not if it's going to be such a slog.

But hey, at least it's not about a farmboy who learns he has a magical gift and goes to Wizard School to fulfil his destiny!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected. I liked the mystery of the age of the world and the tie to Norse mythology. Some of the modern speaking was annoying but I got past it. Ob was the perfect example of a grumpy skeptic old man. There is the silent hero who doesn't want to waste time explaining every word and he has a bit of mystery when the evil guys call him the traitor. I know, I want to know more about him. I was most disappointed when one character died - the others I didn't mind as much but this character also had that air of mystery and I wanted a few more books to get to know him.

[Asia DeMayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, a little jumbled at times. Overall enjoyable

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book!

[Kevin Potter · Rating 2 out of 5]

As always, Stephan Rudnicki gives us an amazing performance. The only mark against him is a couple of the voices were not consistent.

Okay, first, let's talk about the author's "foreword."
Is there some sort of factual basis to this character (Angle Theta) or is this a fabrication similar to what William Goldman did for The Princess Bride?

I honestly don't know, but I lean toward the latter. Either way, it comes off as gimmicky and disingenuous. If it's true, well that's cool, but it doesn't change the story. And if it isn't, then it's a heavy handed gimmick.

Either way, in my opinion it should have been omitted.

Now, as to the story itself, I have to confess myself disappointed. I knew going into it that I'd be getting something Conan-eske in A Norse setting, so it would be brutal yet heroic and relatively simple.

Had that been what I got, I would have been reasonably happy with it.

Unfortunately, rather than resembling Conan the hero (I hesitate to call him main character or protagonist as he's not actually the focus for that much of the story) is more like superman.

He's brilliant, he's immensely strong, incredibly skilled, possessed of powerful magic, and seems to know things far beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. The stories say he's killed giants, dragons, even gods.

All this has the unfortunate side effect of making him rather boring. He has no weaknesses and no character arc.

Also unfortunate is that we learn about all this not by seeing it but by being told about it.

The other hero, Gabriel, has a similar history. Yet for some reason, everyone else around them scoffs at the reports of Theta's accomplishments while accepting Gabriel's as gospel.

All that aside, my two biggest complaints about the story are so common as to be almost cliche. Unfortunately, they were common of books written in the 80s. It always frustrates me when I read a new book that does these things because it screams loud and clear that either the author learned to write during that period and hasn't kept up with modern standards, or has only read very old books and never bothered to learn about writing techniques and grammar standards at all.

They are,
1) Head-hopping. Bouncing around between the POVs (being inside the heads) of multiple characters within a single scene.

Yes, there is an argument to be made for it being in an omniscient POV, but it doesn't seem that way. We don't consistently see every character's thoughts in each scene and each POV seems to be in the voice of the character rather than on omniscient narrator.

2) Lots and lots of back story. Excessive back story. Most of it completely irrelevant to the story. For example, shortly into the story we have a MASSIVE aside about one character's past love interest who never reciprocated. We hear about how their friendship began, how it progressed, and how it was finally expunged, all in the middle of some fairly interesting things happening, so it completely killed the tension of the plot.

And did that information matter to the story?
No. Not one little bit. The love interest makes no appearance in the story and none of the information given comes into play in any way.

The only thing about the entire aside that means anything at all was learning that for members of the warrior order this character is part of, marriage is frowned upon.

During the first half to two-thirds of the book, I would say (I'm guessing, so don't quote me on this) the story is about 60% back story.

Almost everything we learn about each character is told rather than shown, and their actions in the present largely do not support those things we have been told about them.

There is a surprising amount of cultural detail, but surprisingly little description about the things I would expect it of. We get rather long descriptions of rituals and the like, as well as the appearance of main characters and their weapons and armor, but almost none of any of the monsters until the big ones at the end. I got almost no sense of what most of the creatures are meant to look like.

As expected, the story is very straightforward with no real twists or turns. In the end, it's largely a battle between larger than life heroes and godlike demons.

There is some decent action, but the lack of vivid details of the action makes it read like a summary, which unfortunately takes away almost all the tension and makes it quite dull.

The ending does come off as something of a blending of the Cthulu mythos and Conan the Barbarian, which could have been amazing if the author had pulled it off.

In the end, if you enjoyed the tone and style of the Howard Conan stories but found the action too intense or the back story far too light, this might be a book you would enjoy.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gateway to Nifleheim opens with a group of would-be heroes about to do battle with some unknown dangerous screaming foe. Mighty warriors alone may not be enough to take down this deadly antagonist. Luckily, they have a wizard and a holy man. However, we learn with this first scene that even their powers aren’t enough to get this band of heroes out of harm’s way. It’s dark and suspenseful, getting me hooked right away.

The story then switches to the walled city and castle of House Eotrus. Claradon Eotrus awaits the return of his father, King Aradron. Alas, he may never see him since there is an unknown villain outside the walls in the nearby forest. The howling is driving the dwarves mad since they have extra sensitive hearing. Plenty of candle wax is put to use stopping up ears. Men, dwarves, and gnomes are about to face monsters from Nifleheim and they have no idea what they are in for. Except for the enigmatic warrior Angle Theta and his friend of many years gone Gabriel Garn. Once that six legged horse-like beast crashes through a window, then the rest get an idea of what terrors they face. I really liked that scene, by the way.

Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. And now I will tell you that I love it despite it’s one big flaw – no women. Yep. There are zero female characters in this book. A few of the men sometimes think about their moms or a woman they were romantically interested in but there are no female characters in the book. The Hobbit was the same way and I still love that book. You can love something even if it’s flawed.

This story pulls together these strands of heroes set out on a specific task and yet they may end up saving the world, unknown villain(s) with unknown desires, and these two superheroes that have some tucked away knowledge on what the group faces. The whole story feels like it’s happening in a thunderstorm. It’s gloomy, grey, and constantly has the potential for the application of deadly force. I loved it. I wanted to listen to this book late at night during a rainstorm.

Claradon has to finish growing up fast as a group is assembled to seek out his father’s group of warriors and potentially kill whatever is out there making all that racket. He joined a religious group of knights and this task takes on a spiritual quest feel to it. He wasn’t my favorite character and I would have been OK with him making some big sacrifice to save another.

The dwarf Ob acts as the grumpy older guy and chief counselor to Claradon. I liked his gruff ways tho sometimes he used phrases that would be more at home in an old Western than in this Nordic-inspired monster hunt. Perhaps twice in this book, his odd phrases catapulted out the story as I said, ‘Huh? Why is that phrase there?’ but then I was quickly pulled back in by the tale.

I was most intrigued by Theta since he has this mysterious air to him. He comes from afar when he’s needed most. His old friendship with Gabriel raises an eyebrow or two with Gabriel’s fellow warriors since Gabriel has never mentioned Theta. Then there’s the few scenes involving worship or invoking the blessings of this deity or that. Theta doesn’t really take part and has some enigmatic things to say about the gods. Could he be Odin on walkabout? Perhaps, but I would have to read the rest of the series to find out for sure.

The story winds up with a big fight between the monsters of Nifleheim and this band of warriors. The monsters had this Cthulhu feel to them. Yes, there was at least one tentacled monster. There were also man-like creatures that wielded arcane weapons and magic. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if anyone from this group was going to make out alive. It was edge-of-the-seat action as the fight went on. In the end, I had a satisfying conclusion to this tale while leaving it open for Book 2, which I’m looking forward to.

The narration by Stefan Rudnicki is amazing. He has the perfect voice for this story that is so full of suspense, action, and Save the World theme. He had a softer, more contemplative voice for Claradon while also having a wonderfully gruff, edgy voice for Ob. I liked his confident warrior voice for Theta as well. Once the monsters appear on the scene, Rudnicki had a variety of voices for them as well.

I received a review copy of this book through The Audiobook Reviewer.

[William Justus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gateway to Niflheim is a fun read, but the writing is lazy. There are several mistakes in the book, as well as two examples of plagiarism. He blatantly uses the name “Doriath” from Tolkien and “R’lyeh” from Lovecraft. In my mind, there is little that can excuse such behavior. It appears to me that the book was not proofread, which is unfortunate.

It also bothered me that it is unclear whether this is set on earth or not. The preface says that the events take place in Britain, but there are repeated mentions of dual moons. In addition, the plate armor and chivalric code don’t line up with the Norse religion. Obviously this is a fantasy, but that doesn’t mean anachronisms are impossible. Essentially his setting felt inconsistent.

The plot of the book is enjoyable, as are the action scenes. The characters are fine, except for Angle Theta himself. Besides having a name out of a geometry textbook, Theta’s “too cool to explain myself” attitude is frustrating, and though his mystery is interesting, he just isn’t very likable.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy warhammer fantasy, as the bulky armor, chaos monsters, and over the top powers are very much akin to that lore. My central problem with Gateway to Niflheim was the poor handling of the details. If you can overlook that, the book will be a fun read.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel of the epic fantasy genre, full of strong characters of valour and loyalty to their house on the one hand and the evil of the otherworld on the other! The knights have to fight to save their homes and their keep, but they are not prepared for what they had to face, thus the first group together with their lord are killed outright and there is hardly a trace left of them, but the others have an knight errant and his assistant on their side and he at least seems to know what he is doing. They still lose some of their most valiant comrades and two demons from the deep are loosed on the world through the portal which they managed to open. This first book has a lot of potential for an epic series but I do hope it won't turn out to be a dragged on forever type of series where nothing much other than fighting happens. The gnome Ob is so annoying and rude to Theta angle, he becomes a real pain yet Theta completely ignores him! Claradon Eotrus has lost his father, many friends and people he now feels it is his duty to protect but can such a young knight/priest do what his great father had not manged to do?

[Brenda Paull · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gateway to Nifleheim is a hard book to review. On the one hand, the story was intriguing and the book used a good mix of suspense and action that kept me hooked. While personally I tend to get bored during action sequences, of which there are many, regardless of series, I recognize good action and can see how many would love it. On the other hand, the characters were mainly divided in my head by name only (except for the whiners) and I felt absolutely no interest in their fate. However, the mythological setting is fascinating and, while readers need to have a cursory knowledge of Norse mythology beforehand, it’s easy to follow along and tells you needed obscure bits when you come across them. I think this series has great potential and am slated to read a couple more so I will let you know how it hold up.

[Adam Windsor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a serviceable enough (if rather short in actual content) tale, but it's very much hampered by uneven pacing and some rather incongruous dialogue. Medieval knights should probably not be saying "dagnabbit".

It's also weakened by a severe lack of clarity about who the protagonist really is. Is it Angle Theta, who has a silly name and is apparently Awesome At All Things? Certainly he's the guy with the mysterious background and the magic sword and he gets to be right about everything. Or is it Claradon, who -unlike pretty much anyone else in the book - actually gets some sort of character development? I think a decision one way or the other on who this tale is about would really have helped things gel better.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

I quite enjoyed this one! This appears to be a Norse fantasy which I have never read before so that was nice! The writing is easy-reading and accessible.

There is enough mystery and intrugue to want to read quickly about what's going to happen. The descriptions were good to imagine the fantasy world well. I enjoyed this one a lot, and will try the other books in the series when I have time.

I was quite surprised with the reveal of Theta and Gabriel -- the reveal was completely different from what I thought was going to happen which was a nice surprise.

My one gripe is that during the battle, there was a lot of repetition of "thank the gods" every few paragraph.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh...I usually don't stop reading a book.but after 200 pages.. Plot..king and his men attacked in forest.. His men at castle decide to go look for them.... 200 pages
I wanted to like it ... Started fine.. But author. Needs to learn about pacing , beats, plots, subplots... Structure outlining story. He has done better than me.. I haven't published anything I've written.
So take with grain of salt. Neat idea for an opening .. But the story has to go somewhere.. Wasn't for me.

[Chere Gruver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sword and Sorcery Fantasy!

There were parts of this book I truly enjoyed, and others I did not. I would have preferred to learn more about the society of these people. How magic came to be outlawed except for certain sorcerers allowed to practice, along with warriors who had their own magic. The terror of the monsters and the fog and the noise, that I liked. It was written realistically and, in a way, to make me feel as I were experiencing it myself.

[Bruce Mackenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stilted writing, dialogue that tends more to diatribe and exposition than to communication. An overabundance of detail except in those places where some detail would help. And, OMG, I cringe every time someone uses the word 'dagnabbit', which is often. That said, the storyline is compelling enough that I will brave volume two.

[Peer Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

I very rarely read the same book twice in the same year but this one has so much going on it's easy to accidentally skip something. It may even get read a third time, I thought it that good

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bookwormblues.net/2017/07/...

[Marc Littleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid writing. Love the subject matter. My only real criticism is that the pace is a little slower than I would have liked.

[Mary Good]

I am wondering if this is a subtle spoof of sword and sorcery fantasy. The characters are stereotypical. The names are odd eg. Angle Theta. The hero's mighty curse of Dagnabbit.

[Carol & Russell]

Hard to put down.

[David Hyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Really good

This guy can write. His descriptions put you right there on the scene. Better yet there is no arcane discussion of gaming mechanics to break up the flowl

[Debra Kay Gerik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

The Harbinger of Doom series promises to be more than just another good fantasy. Well written and action packed. Transport yourself to Midgaard and experience wonder!

[J.D. Schechter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sword and sorcery

Norse Germanic knights attacked by the forces of the underworld. Much overblown description and dialogue, little action, fragmented until it comes together

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a different level of fantasy. Definitely darker than most and a bit long winded in some parts but overall a really good story. I look forward to reading more of the stories in the series.

[Kiran Kumili · Rating 2 out of 5]

Volume One of the Harbinger of Doom Series by the author, who is an eminent scholar, scientist, engineering consultant, lecturer and also a forensic investigator. A very good hand on books related to sorcery, black magic, witchcraft, demonology etc which used to trouble kingdoms of ancient world.

Storyline: The House of Eotrus ruling the northern province of the Lomion kingdom is attacked by scary demons from the world of the dead, the Nifleheim. A patrol led by the king of Eotrus, Lord Aradron Eotrus, along with his brave Knights and House wizard, are brutally killed and their bodies mutilated, by these demons which took the forms of strange animals with different ugly shapes and exoskeletons. These fiends, backed by the demon Gods of Nifleheim, plan to enter the human world through a mysterious hole in the Vermion forest near Eotrus province and kill all the mankind to take over the mortal world. The son of Lord Aradron, named Claradon, along with the valiant Knights, Sir Gabriel and Lord Angle Theta (a foreigner who came to the rescue of the Eotrus), lead a second patrol to find out what happened to the first one. They, in the midst of Vermion forest come across a mysterious hole and an ancient temple, which is used as a gateway, by the demons of Nifleheim, to cast a spell on the humans and kill them brutally to capture their soles and convert them into their slaves. Sir Gabriel and Angle Theta fight bravely with all their skills against these ugly, nauseating, scary creatures and prevent them from entering the mortal world, in the nick of moment. In the ferocious tussle with Lord Korrgonn (son of Azathoth, the God of the Dead), Gabriel loses his life. His soul captured by the demon God. Though the patrol of Claradon was successful in driving the demons back to Nifleheim, they vow to avenge the brutal murder of Gabriel and also bring his soul back to human world, from the demonic clutches of Nifleheim.

Positives: A hair raising narration of one of the scariest stories of demons, the dead and the ugly creatures that invade the human and mortal world to capture their souls, through mystical powers and sorcery. Very interesting turn of events and near real life characters highlighted with deadly imagination and creativity. Will form a great video game for the kids if taken on the lighter side. One of the memorable epic fantasy stories. Triggers interest in going for the rest of the books in the series.

Negatives: The question of whether the mortal world can really face the powers of the dead from the other world is still unanswered. The characters like Angle Theta and Sir Gabriel are depicted as mortal heroes without magical powers but said to be just carrying some daggers and swords powered by some ancient witchcraft. Did not appear practical, when it comes to facing the mighty demons of Nifleheim, which were both physically and spiritually described to be much more superior.

My rating is 2.50 out of 5

[Elisabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should make it clear that really isn't the kind of book I usually read and enjoy. I read it as an experiment to try and branch out a bit in my reading. So, the fact that I completely despised this book may just have been personal taste.

It was set in a weird pseudo-Nordic universe. Apparently. The only similarities to Viking culture I noticed were the names of the gods and the setting (I think), not that I'm an expert. I personally didn't find the characters very engaging; Ob and Claradon really irritated me and Angle Theta (what's with that name?) was kept at arm's length. There was too much dialogue about things that didn't interest me, for example, Ob spent about half a chapter describing the architecture of the local church to Angle Theta! I could have done without that. There were a lot of strange, out of context phrases ( mostly courtesy of Ob) like "Mr Fancy Pants" and "it's giving me the creeps", which I felt was a bit careless.

I won't go into too much detail over the plot. It took a long time for the action to appear, and when it did I found that I didn't really care about the outcome. I wasn't invested in the characters at all.

However, this is just my opinion. If you are a big fan of Viking-sequence pulp fiction, then you will probably love this. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Arran · Rating 1 out of 5]

A friend recommended this.. and I'll seriously have to reconsider whether or not to keep him as a friend lol.

I can't recall ever reading a book I liked less. The characters are not only boring and uninspiring, they rarely make sense. I made it 3/4 through before finally waving the white flag.

I can't even say that the flip flopping of the various character's emotional states from one sentence to the next was immersion breaking, at no point choking my way through this book did I ever come close to being immersed in the story.

There's not one character that I found remotely interesting or consistent, with the possible exception of Tanch?

Ob is the physical manifestation of nails on a chalkboard. Ignorant, belligerent, incapable of tact or diplomacy yet somehow has risen to the post of Castellan? For a character who contributes 75% of the dialogue to the book it's odd that he seems to lack a single redeeming or endearing quality.

I don't write many book reviews, but I felt it was my civic duty to warn others away from this pitfall.

I wish it was possible to give less than 1 star.

[Timothy Haas · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I was given a copy of this for review.

The book reads like Beowulf and other hero tales. The mainhero is named Theta, a mysterious hero type and whom says very little in the on going story.

The other hero, Gabriel is of the same as well. Both have little to say, but show the others how to win against extreme odds. The mix of magic, warriors and Daemons made the book well worth reading. This is well written and the style made it very easy for me to "see" the lands, knights and deeply enjoy the battle's.

There are 4 more books to this group, which I am looking forward to reading.

[Derek Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished the first book in the Harbinger of Doom series by Glenn Thater. I rather enjoyed this book. I get that some are disappointed in the anachronistic dialogue, but honestly it didn't bother me much. Also, much of the language was PG, as main, battle-hardened warriors said things like "dagnabbit" and what have you, but to be honest, this story was able to grab and keep my attention despite any such shortcomings. I really liked the battles, as the author does a great job of building suspense and pacing the action well. All in all I like the book and look forward to the rest of the series

[Heather Langston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a great fantasy and a quick read. I remember being surprised when I looked at the percentage and saw I was already three quarters through the book! I did have a bit of trouble with keeping up on who's who with some of the characters but not so much that it detracted from the story. I have to say, my favorite character was Ob. Oh, how he would make me chuckle and smile! Perfect example of an ornery old man! It did have a bit of gore during the action bit that had me wrinkle my nose a time or two. But I do believe I wouldn't mind continuing the series...still some questions I'd like answered!

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.