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Gotrek Gurnisson #1
Realmslayer: Legend of the Doomseeker
A Gotrek Gurnisson Novel
The Slayer returns. Spat out of the Realm of Chaos after an eternity of battle, Gotrek Gurnisson finds himself in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Mortal Realms. With no axe, no oaths, and no Felix, he sets out to find his place in this new universe…
READ IT BECAUSE
This is the novelisation of the Realmslayer audio dramas, spinning yarns of exhilarating adventure that take Gotrek across the realms and introduces him to new companions and enemies.
THE STORY
Gotrek Gurnisson was the greatest monster slayer of the age, who met his doom at the End Times. The heroic Slayer stepped forth into the Realm of Chaos to fight the daemons gnawing at the world's ending and satisfy his death oath, leaving behind his companion Felix Jaeger. Now Gotrek has returned, having outlived the old gods and the Old World. Spat from the ruinous depths with his redemption unfulfilled, he emerges into the Mortal Realms, a strange new world where gods walk the earth and dark forces are ascendant. Nothing is as he remembers. His oaths are dust, and the lands are torn asunder by Chaos. Yet when Gotrek learns of human champions being elevated to immortality for Sigmar’s fight against this darkness, the so-called 'Stormcast Eternals', he knows why fate has brought him into this new age. To find Felix. For only then can he find the peace in death he seeks, but is there more to Gotrek's apotheosis than even he can fathom? Has he truly been chosen by Grimnir, and for what purpose?
The Slayer returns. Spat out of the Realm of Chaos after an eternity of battle, Gotrek Gurnisson finds himself in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Mortal Realms. With no axe, no oaths, and no Felix, he sets out to find his place in this new universe…
READ IT BECAUSE
This is the novelisation of the Realmslayer audio dramas, spinning yarns of exhilarating adventure that take Gotrek across the realms and introduces him to new companions and enemies.
THE STORY
Gotrek Gurnisson was the greatest monster slayer of the age, who met his doom at the End Times. The heroic Slayer stepped forth into the Realm of Chaos to fight the daemons gnawing at the world's ending and satisfy his death oath, leaving behind his companion Felix Jaeger. Now Gotrek has returned, having outlived the old gods and the Old World. Spat from the ruinous depths with his redemption unfulfilled, he emerges into the Mortal Realms, a strange new world where gods walk the earth and dark forces are ascendant. Nothing is as he remembers. His oaths are dust, and the lands are torn asunder by Chaos. Yet when Gotrek learns of human champions being elevated to immortality for Sigmar’s fight against this darkness, the so-called 'Stormcast Eternals', he knows why fate has brought him into this new age. To find Felix. For only then can he find the peace in death he seeks, but is there more to Gotrek's apotheosis than even he can fathom? Has he truly been chosen by Grimnir, and for what purpose?
406 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2023
43 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
David Guymer
172 books175 followersDavid Guymer is a freelance author, PhD in molecular microbiology (which still comes in more handy than you might think), and tabletop warlord based in the Yorkshire East Riding. He has written for Black Library, Marvel, Aconyte Books, Asmodee, Mantic Games, Cubicle 7, Creative Assembly, and Mongoose Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 17, 2024
The author really managed to pull Gotrek from the Old World and make him fit in the madness that are the realms making up AoS. The story is action-packed and gripping, without taking itself too serious. Good read, good character.
December 23, 2024
No está mal pero se me ha hecho largo, sobre todo la segunda parte
October 23, 2024
Enjoyable jaunt through the mortal realms with a legend. I heard the first maybe half on the audio drama version with Brian Blessed which was massively entertaining!
June 26, 2024
Since originally the return of Gotrek was confined to two audio books after which they released the rest of the series in book form, I did not get to read the first two books of the series which are now combined in this bundle.
If I am totally honest, it should be two and a half stars for the first half and 1 star for the second half but the problems I have with the second half are already present. Where to start well how about how much is in this book. We encounter, fyreslayers, stormcast eternals, lizardmen, orks, deepkin, skaven, undead, sigmarite humans, tzeentch cultists, plaguebearers and a plague lord, an old dwarf (Grombrindal?), a dark elf and sylvaneth wood spirits including the everqueen herself...... I mean tone it down a bit? Scenery and enemies switch so fast that I can hardly keep up and after two thirds I was not invested anymore. It is coming in the territory of what I don't like about dnd books, namely that to many different races are all heaped on another and it is the most normal thing to just keep encountering new peoples every streetcorner. Its not that I don't like many fantasy races, but by putting them all together so casually it becomes so tedious, uninspiring and plain boring. It becomes namedroppig rather then really thinking what would make sense, or perhaps I just don't get what age of Sigmar is all about, equally possible off course.
Character wise, I mean Gotrek is still fun but I so sorely wish they had mad him the POV rather then stuck to the old formula of a companion talking about Gotrek. Now, the fyreslayer Broddur is not the worst at it and I could find fun in his presence but why, why does Gotrek allow that dark elf Maleneth to stick around? What is the motivation here? With Broddur there was the aspect of him being a dwarf or duardin and his devotion to Gotrek was genuine, but Gotrek has nothing good to say about Maleneth so why tolerate her presence? Minor characters were okish but what really wrinkled me was the return of a certain enemy of Gotrek, I like said character but here he so forced in, he does not get his time to shine. The return of an old friend likewise felt so hollow, like what does it mean that he found him?
Lastly, plot and setting. Similar to the amount of races, the settings are just following up on each other in such a rapid succession that you care very little about any of them. It is also hard to appreciate things as godbeasts when three of them appear in the book and none are even a minor obstacle, why even have them? Now I liked the first setting of the fyreslayer lodge but we leave it so soon and after that we go through at least 4 different realms which begs me the quesion; how easy is it really to travel between these realms even if some of them are linked to said godbeast? It makes it seem so casual and at this point the problem for me became that your making it in a sort of epic fantasy while still writing as if it is the old brutal sword and sorcery setting. It just doesn't gell, Gotrek is not a good character to push into this new world and he would agree as most of his speech is dedicated to pissing on everything what makes the age of Sigmar different to the old world.
In conclusion, especially the second half really was a chore and a bore to read, I did not care anymore and while the first half had something going for it, it too is burnded by choices made for the character, setting and plot that can not redeem it. I have read two of the following books and there they did learn to stop the whole jumping between realms so casually and refocus the books on a singular plot and type of enemy (like the old gotrek books) but that dark elf keeps sticking around... By the fourth they did give time and space for Gotrek to really interact with his surroundings beyond grumbling how shit everything is (which btw what a weird way to support your new world setting for your franchise) but I still feel that Gotrek should have been put to rest with the old world. You were cheated Gotrek, cheated not by Grimnir but a far more powerful entity, the games workshop company.
If I am totally honest, it should be two and a half stars for the first half and 1 star for the second half but the problems I have with the second half are already present. Where to start well how about how much is in this book. We encounter, fyreslayers, stormcast eternals, lizardmen, orks, deepkin, skaven, undead, sigmarite humans, tzeentch cultists, plaguebearers and a plague lord, an old dwarf (Grombrindal?), a dark elf and sylvaneth wood spirits including the everqueen herself...... I mean tone it down a bit? Scenery and enemies switch so fast that I can hardly keep up and after two thirds I was not invested anymore. It is coming in the territory of what I don't like about dnd books, namely that to many different races are all heaped on another and it is the most normal thing to just keep encountering new peoples every streetcorner. Its not that I don't like many fantasy races, but by putting them all together so casually it becomes so tedious, uninspiring and plain boring. It becomes namedroppig rather then really thinking what would make sense, or perhaps I just don't get what age of Sigmar is all about, equally possible off course.
Character wise, I mean Gotrek is still fun but I so sorely wish they had mad him the POV rather then stuck to the old formula of a companion talking about Gotrek. Now, the fyreslayer Broddur is not the worst at it and I could find fun in his presence but why, why does Gotrek allow that dark elf Maleneth to stick around? What is the motivation here? With Broddur there was the aspect of him being a dwarf or duardin and his devotion to Gotrek was genuine, but Gotrek has nothing good to say about Maleneth so why tolerate her presence? Minor characters were okish but what really wrinkled me was the return of a certain enemy of Gotrek, I like said character but here he so forced in, he does not get his time to shine. The return of an old friend likewise felt so hollow, like what does it mean that he found him?
Lastly, plot and setting. Similar to the amount of races, the settings are just following up on each other in such a rapid succession that you care very little about any of them. It is also hard to appreciate things as godbeasts when three of them appear in the book and none are even a minor obstacle, why even have them? Now I liked the first setting of the fyreslayer lodge but we leave it so soon and after that we go through at least 4 different realms which begs me the quesion; how easy is it really to travel between these realms even if some of them are linked to said godbeast? It makes it seem so casual and at this point the problem for me became that your making it in a sort of epic fantasy while still writing as if it is the old brutal sword and sorcery setting. It just doesn't gell, Gotrek is not a good character to push into this new world and he would agree as most of his speech is dedicated to pissing on everything what makes the age of Sigmar different to the old world.
In conclusion, especially the second half really was a chore and a bore to read, I did not care anymore and while the first half had something going for it, it too is burnded by choices made for the character, setting and plot that can not redeem it. I have read two of the following books and there they did learn to stop the whole jumping between realms so casually and refocus the books on a singular plot and type of enemy (like the old gotrek books) but that dark elf keeps sticking around... By the fourth they did give time and space for Gotrek to really interact with his surroundings beyond grumbling how shit everything is (which btw what a weird way to support your new world setting for your franchise) but I still feel that Gotrek should have been put to rest with the old world. You were cheated Gotrek, cheated not by Grimnir but a far more powerful entity, the games workshop company.
Read
April 7, 2025This is a novel in which ontological identity is constantly in crisis. Multiple Fyreslayers try to tell Gotrek that he's actually Grimnir. Thanquol tries to convince his underlings that they're dumber than him. Maleneth takes nearly an entire book to see Gotrek as anything more than a rune. Gotrek wants the two J's (their names are so similar I am clueless) to be Felix, and is continually let down because they aren't.
I did not enjoy this ... entity (?) ... in audiobook format. It seemed so fun in theory - Brian Blessed! But it just didn't work at all for me. I felt like it was all disconnected and meaningless, and I don't think I made it very far. For whatever reason, reading it in book format was a million times more enjoyable.
I also feel a little stupid now for talking about how Darius Hinks, in the book after this, has Gotrek dallying with the idea that he doesn't need to be a Slayer anymore and could be something more, when that's all spelled out (or at least set up) here.
Maleneth is entertaining here! Holy shit. I loved the mysterious old dwarf who I had to google to find out the identity of (amusingly in a novel full of people constantly trying to tell others who/what they are, nobody gives a shit about this guy wink-nodding constantly about a story untold). I really enjoyed J*****, in Stormcast form.
It was a little frustrating, but felt "right," the way that the goal kept changing every 60 pages or so. We're going to find Felix because he has to be a Stormcast Eternal somewhere (this was my original assumption as to how they'd bring him back, but that seems highly unlikely now); now we're going to find some axes; now we're after a realmgate that'll take us back to the Old World ... I think normally this lack of direction would drive me crazy, but Gotrek was so fun during it all that I didn't mind it.
One of the things I love about at least old school Warhammer fantasy RPG stuff is that they don't give a shit about party balance. In this book, that's certainly the case. At one point Maleneth has to fight a skaven that can wield three daggers at once, and it's making her sweat. Meanwhile, Gotrek is literally killing gods offscreen in this tale because that's how powerful he is now.
It's great, and I am desperate for more.
My favorite moment was
I did not enjoy this ... entity (?) ... in audiobook format. It seemed so fun in theory - Brian Blessed! But it just didn't work at all for me. I felt like it was all disconnected and meaningless, and I don't think I made it very far. For whatever reason, reading it in book format was a million times more enjoyable.
I also feel a little stupid now for talking about how Darius Hinks, in the book after this, has Gotrek dallying with the idea that he doesn't need to be a Slayer anymore and could be something more, when that's all spelled out (or at least set up) here.
Maleneth is entertaining here! Holy shit. I loved the mysterious old dwarf who I had to google to find out the identity of (amusingly in a novel full of people constantly trying to tell others who/what they are, nobody gives a shit about this guy wink-nodding constantly about a story untold). I really enjoyed J*****, in Stormcast form.
It was a little frustrating, but felt "right," the way that the goal kept changing every 60 pages or so. We're going to find Felix because he has to be a Stormcast Eternal somewhere (this was my original assumption as to how they'd bring him back, but that seems highly unlikely now); now we're going to find some axes; now we're after a realmgate that'll take us back to the Old World ... I think normally this lack of direction would drive me crazy, but Gotrek was so fun during it all that I didn't mind it.
One of the things I love about at least old school Warhammer fantasy RPG stuff is that they don't give a shit about party balance. In this book, that's certainly the case. At one point Maleneth has to fight a skaven that can wield three daggers at once, and it's making her sweat. Meanwhile, Gotrek is literally killing gods offscreen in this tale because that's how powerful he is now.
It's great, and I am desperate for more.
My favorite moment was
April 23, 2025
This book was excellent! Gotrek is portrayed well as this hot-headed, boastful dwarf ripped out of time and thrown into a world he doesn’t recognize. He’s a grumpy, thick skulled old dwarf that makes his exploration through this new world and interactions with supporting characters just so much fun and interesting the whole way through the novel. Highly suggest a read!
June 21, 2025
A terrible book. First half is okay but the second is insane: settings, enemies, heroes, personas, everything shifts every 5-10 pages. Gods get killed every 20 pages. Whole realms get crossed every 40 pages. And so on. Very quickly you just stop caring about anything described and start to wonder when will it end.
If everything is a "Godbeast" -- nothing really is.
If everything is a "Godbeast" -- nothing really is.
January 25, 2024
Pokračovanie ságy Gotreka (bez Felixa) v Age of Sigmar svete Warhammera je celkom dôstojná a je zaujímavé sledovať ako Gotrek zapadá do tohoto pre neho neznámeho sveta a vysporiadavá sa z novými prekážkami a hľadá spôsob ako splniť svoje prísahy dané ešte v starom svete...
October 1, 2024
En esta ocasión, las aventuras de Gotrek me han resultado muy amenas. Sobre todo en compañía de un personaje tan sarcástico y divertido como Maleneth.
January 27, 2025
From start to finish an absolute joy of a read. Laugh out loud funny at times and utterly soul-crushing at others.
March 20, 2025
4* for the first arc, but sadly 2* for the second arc of the book. The audio dramas were the same for me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews