Forced to escape his life of debt and debauchery, Bretonnian nobleman Florin d'Artaud tricks his way onto a flotilla headed to the fabled lands of Lustria. Posing as a veteran military commander, Florin's immediate concerns are to get his troops under control and survive the long, dangerous sea voyage. Once they arrive in Lustria steam jungles, the mercenaries find far more than they bargained for and a simple treasure hunt turns into a sinister expedition for forgotten lore. But the ancient guardians of the jungle will not let their secrets be plundered so freely...
There are a lot of novels written set in worlds that were originally created for role-playing games or wargames or computer games and, on the whole, they have a reputation of being generally B-grade. This reputation doesn't really apply to Warhammer novels, whether Warhammer Fantasy, or 40K. I don't know if it's because Games Workshop has a bigger budget to spend on hiring better authors, or if better authors are more interested in the Warhammer setting.
One thing that does set the Warhammer settings apart from most game-related settings, is that they are much darker than most other worlds. While the Warhammer Fantasy world isn't as dark as 40K, this novel is pretty grim in places. For those not familiar with the world setting, Warhammer Fantasy is a dark fantasy version of the early Renaissance world.
Florin, a minor Bretonnian nobleman, has fallen on hard times, and needs to be somewhere that his main creditor isn't. So he and his manservant Lorenzo join a mercenary company heading for the jungles of Lustria, where gold is supposedly just lying around. Needless to say - it's not quite that easy.
What follows is a well-written adventure that is part exploration and part military campaign. The mercenary company is primarily human, with a small contingent of dwarves. The primary non-human foes they have previously faced would be orcs. The creatures that live in the jungles are like nothing they have faced before, and Earl has done a good job of expressing the shock and horror that gradually grows on the humans as they realise what it is they are confronted with. He has also done a good job of giving the enemy alien thought processes.
There are a number of novels that will serve as a good entry point to Warhammer Fantasy, and this is one of them. It is, I believe, the first Florin and Lorenzo novel chronologically, although I don't think it was the first published.
Florin good character love him, the lizardmen are fucking tryhards, didn't like karaveld he was annoying as was lorenzo but less than him, loved van Dalft but unfortune things happened, ORBRANT IS A GOD, this book as the first one in warhammer fantasy does wonders to introduce you to the magic system, kinda, and to introduce the powerhouse that is the lizardmen.
So I’ll start off by saying that I didn’t know what to expect from this book besides seeing my favorite Aztec lizard boys but of lord did it give me so much more. The first entry into Florin and Lorenzo’s journeys really takes its time to introduce you to the two main leads as well as why they end up making the choices that they do. The build up of the journey to this mystical golden city In the jungle on top of the dangers of just getting there will keep you on your toes the entire time. There really is a sense that no one is safe no matter how important they may be. Each of the characters gets battered and bruised as no one makes it through lustria unscathed. I still find it surprising that this was the author’s first Warhammer book but even with that, he did a fantastic job and was damn near perfect when it came to writing each race in lore accurate mannerisms and sayings. 10/10 book. Highly recommend to anyone.
Florin d'Artaud has to skip town, so he talks his way onto a boat by pretending to be an experienced military officer. That boat is part of an expedition to Lustria, Warhammer Fantasy's version of South America. The expedition's mission is simple: explore the jungle, find the gold rumored to be hiding there, and bring that gold home. How hard could it be? Accompanying Florin is his butler Lorenzo, the only person in the expedition that he can trust. Between the two of them, I really had no idea there were interesting Bretonnian characters who weren't knights!
This is one of the 6 books on the USB key in the collector's edition of Total War: Warhammer 2. The expedition is made up of Tileans, Dwarfs, Kislevites, Bretonnians, Marienburgers, a Sigmarite priest, and a celestial mage. Opposing them are the Lizardmen, led by a Slann. (Slann == absurdly powerful magic user)
One thing I missed from The Daemon's Curse is pitched battles. The original game is called "Warhammer Fantasy Battles" and although Daemon's Curse had plenty of fights, they never amounted to more than skirmishes. When the fights were scaled up, it's because one side was hella large and the other was running for their lives. This book has plenty of fights, and more importantly the climactic fight delivers! The absurd speed with which calamity occurs matches the "la la la one more turn la la la" feeling you have when your Total War campaign is going OK, but then suddenly your faction is under attack from 3 cardinal directions and you don't have near enough armies to handle it.
In addition, the depiction of magic is excellent. The disparity between the Light College acolyte's fumbling vs the Slann casually flicking his nose candy is a real treat.
For anyone new to the world of Warhammer Fantasy, this book is an *excellent* intro... and it looks like there are sequels. o_O
I feel bad for the poor lizardmen! They get the absolute worst treatment in Warhammer novels, being dunked on by basically every faction that exists. You look at the cover and see a proud temple guardian standing triumphant over his fallen enemies, but when you read about them in the novel all you see is the lizardmen being constantly beat up by everyone and everything. Lizardmen are the punching bag of the Warhammer fantasy universe, getting obliterated in every novel they appear in without exception.
This book is another such example. Despite being portrayed as cunning, intelligent, powerful, massive in number, etc., so-called "masters of this vast, devouring land [Lustria]," they get curb-stomped at the end by a rag-tag band of half starved brigands. An entire army of hardy, reptilian soldiers plus a massive dinosaur beast and a mage that can basically bend reality with his mind lose to a handful of humans and dwarves that are already in a weakened state. Are you kidding me? This is further proof that even though Warhammer books are based on a table-top game about battling, the battles in them suck.
In my opinion, this book doesn't do justice to the lizardmen. That said, it's not all bad. Some of the scenes are pretty interesting, like when the celestial mage casts down a meteor to fend off a leviathan or when Florin is captured and his mind is probed by the Slann or just whenever the Slann is looking at human behavior from his point of view. Frankly, everything from the lizardmen's perspective was interesting to read, which is why it pains me so much that they'd be done so dirty in the end and why it kills me I can't find a good lizardmen novel to read.
The descriptions of Lustria were also a lot of fun. Robert Earl does a great job of portraying Lustria as a hostile and unforgiving environment teeming with creatures eager to nip at you.
The characters on the other hand felt pretty bland and forgettable, suffering quite a bit from a lack of backstory, and the plot wasn't all that exciting to be honest. All in all, it was an ok novel, or would be if it wasn't for that god-awful ending.
"Você estão prontos?" perguntou, olhos acesos com uma felicidade profana. "Sim, sargento," o soldado murmurou miseravelmente, seus próprios olhos travados nos monstros que avançavam. De alguma forma eles pareciam estar sorrindo. "Eu disse," Orbrant repetiu ameaçadoramente. "vocês estão prontos?" "Sim, sargento," desta vez o soldado afastou o olhar do inimigo o suficiente para olhar para seu oficial. "O quê?" Orbrant vociferou. "Sim," o soldado arriscou vociferar de volta. "Vocês estão prontos?" Orbrant rosnou, dentes à mostra. "Sim," ele berrou. "Vocês estão prontos?" "Sim!" Mais vozes clamaram em resposta à pergunta e Orbrant, parecendo estufcar com uma terrível energia, riu. "Vocês estão prontos?" ele rugiu, erguendo seu martelo de guerra bem alto de modo que os raios de sol refletiam do metal que o constituía, brancos e cegantes como se fosse o estandarte do próprio Sigmar. "Siiiiiiiiiiiim!" os soldados rugiram de volta, o fogo do espírito ardente do clérigo guerreiro saltando entre eles como uma chama pula de um galho seco para o próximo. Os pelos arrepiados na base de suas nucas. Suas costas endireitadas. Suas armas em riste, subitamente parecendo mais leves, e suas faces se abrindo num sorriso sardônico digno da Morte. Orbrant observou-os com um orgulho terrível, notando a presença de seu deus em seus corpos assolados e em suas feias faces. Por tudo que é sagrado, ele pensou, louvado seja Sigmar pela dádiva da guerra. E ele se preparou para o ataque.
(Sigmar's warrior priests... good to cheer battle spirits and children's parties)
I’ve only just started reading this book and I’ve already rolled my eyes thirty times. One thing that, in my view, is a lazy and cheap way to create peculiarity and diversity among characters in a story is to make them all come from wildly different places—like those old jokes that start with “a Frenchman, a German, and an Italian walk into a bar...”. That’s exactly what happens at the very beginning. Three characters—a Bretonnian, an Imperial citizen, and a Tilean—are playing cards in a bar.
But it doesn’t stop there. This lazy trick keeps popping up. Later, Florin, one of the main characters, is thinking about spending his money on good food. He wonders: should I have Imperial sausages, go to that Halfling restaurant, or try some Tilean wine? Apparently, there’s nothing distinctive about Bordeleaux, which is where the story starts.
That’s just ridiculous. Given the setting—something like the late medieval or Renaissance period—you’d expect strong regional identity and local flavour. That was certainly the case in the real world during those times. So the lack of any local character suggests not only a poor grasp of how societies function, but also a serious lack of imagination.
These same flaws are reflected in the characters. The author clearly doesn’t understand people. He can’t create believable psychologies, personalities, or backstories that make characters feel unique without relying on the cheap trick of having them come from far-flung corners of the world. It’s really weak, really poor—and I’m only just getting started.
If you take a bit of Indiana Jones, a pinch of Aliens, and a smidgen of Pirates of the Carribean, you have something that somewhat resembles The Burning Shore. But, while this sounds like an amazing premise, I did find the book to be quite meandering at times. It takes many, many pages to get going, and even when it does, the characters themselves didn't seem overly concerned with the situation they were in and clearly not prepared for. If the characters themselves aren't worried, I guess I find it hard to care that much myself. There were moments that stood, one extended section with a main character captured and tortured, for example, but it was so harrowing that it almost felt like part of a different book all together. Speaking of which, a lot about this book didn't really even need to be a Warhammer novel. You could turn it into a generic Michael Crichton Lost World rip off with relatively few changes here and there, which I imagine is a disappointment for people that wanted more direct insight on Lizardman and Lustria culture. Still, it was fun and rarely boring, but going on the premise alone it feels like it could have been a lot more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A decent read . Sometimes it drags too much and i felt a bit exhausted towards the end. Which is a bad sign for a purely entertainment book. Really, and I mean really dark and grim fantasy, Lovecraftian in some nature descriptions.
Still I had my fun with it, just thought that it could be a shorter book and that would make it more enjoyable.
Reminiscent of the Tarzan or Conan novels of Howard and Burroughs Earls novel takes the reader on an adventure into the jungles of the lizardfolk and doesn't disappoint. Interesting characters set to a classic Warhammer backdrop.
War hammer vacation continues with another Robert Earl Old World tale: this one a swashbuckler features an errant Noble, his servant, a gambling debt, a sea voyage, and adventures in the Lustrian jungle. I enjoyed it even though it dragged in places. Will finish the series eventually.
None of the characters really stood out to me as being particularly memorable, but the story itself was good fun, and I enjoyed the exploration of the Lizardmen - especially when told from their perspective. Would have liked to see a bit more of it!
A great read for fans of Warhammer was interesting seeing the take on the lizardmen, Florin was a great lead character seeing him grow into the role of leader more and more through the story
This is the first book by Robert Earl and the first with Florin and Lorenzo. This book turned out so good that two books were release later, Wild Kingdoms and Savage City. This book is the only oppurtunity to read some fiction in Lustria. Before this there had be no books depicting Lustria. A later book was published but in it was in the Blood Bowl universe. Well this was a year that Black Library tried to explore other places/Situations... This one in Lustria, Gav Thorpe's Slaves to Darkness went to the South with Tomb Kings and Magestorm with Mages. In Warhammer 40k Simon Spurrier wrote Lord Of The Night one of the most appreciated novels along with Double Eagle by Abnett.
Well returning to this book... This book is the first of Florin and Lorenzo as I said before. The book to my knowledge was a bit bigger... I think there was no need for 416 pages for this novel and so I thought some parts were secondary and not needed. But apart that I enjoyed getting to know Florin and specially Lorenzo. First Florin is a noble and Lorenzo is servent but in the novel I think he doesn't act like one but as a equal. Sarcastic always making fun of situations and of people yet getting Florin out of trouble but nevering acting not-peaseant like. He gets all sarcastic with other peers or nobles but not Florin. It's a fatherly, respectly love. I enjoyed it. Florin on the other end begins as a spoiled, irresponsable kid but as the situations demands he turns into a hero-alike. I enjoyed this change.
Now the plot, Florin (a Bretonnian) likes to gamble but when a crime lord tries to earn his dues he and his man-servant flee into a ship that is going on a exploration of the New World called Lustria (the homeplace of lizard-men greatly influenced on the aztects or the mayan civilization. Well it was a great setup and it was nicely executed by the author. Well the crew is a melting pot of inhabitants of the old world such as Bretonnians, Tileans, Kislevites, Marienburgers (Empire) and Dwarves.
Well there are several important characters we get to know such as Colonel van Delft, the Dwarf Thorgrimm, Graznikov (kislev) and one that I hoped that he appeared in later novels Orbrant. He his a warrior priest of Sigmar on a quest to self-finding. Well not to mention one of the most important characters the celestial wizard Kereveld.
Well a voyage for gold turns out to be a expendition funded by the celestial college but that doesn't change anything in the plot. The men still wants gold... In Lustria we get to know the Lizard-men, heavily inspired in some cthullu mythos beings. I thought the parts with Lizards were done great specially Xinthua. (On the great overall the Lizard-Men are not evil as Chaos. They are not corrupted by the taint of chaos but as beings of great age and understanting of magic (very different from the views of humans or elves).
On this book we get to know things that until here were unknown like the constelations of starts above or how many planets does this solar system has. We even get to know more of some beings that inhabited the s eas such as Serpentia Megalothon or the opinions of Bretonnians and Empire against and for Tilean food.
The ending was a bit of rush and the saving of Florin from the hands of the Lizard Men is a bit of... odd and easy. In the end was an interesting book that make me understand a bit more of the warhammer world and the need to read the next books with Florin...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Despite being in most respects a fairly run-of-the-mill fantasy story, in the Warhammer genre, there were many things to like about this book. Robert Earl has a way of making the main characters, that in a lot of respects fall into some clichés, stand out. The fact that Florin plays up to this cliché of being the young, arrogant/narcissistic, roguish noble makes him work rather well, perhaps in the vain of a character like Flashman.
The concept of Florin going on the run from his debts and ending up in the farthest, most inhospitable corner of the world, as far a cry from the luxurious life he's always lead, to sit rather well. It's certainly a character-building experience to blag one's way into a dangerous expedition and lead a bunch of mercenaries when your own field of expertise is being a card-shark.
The adventure if great, the characters are loveable and Earl pulls of an enjoyable look inside the mind of the Lizardmen in the same way Bill King did with the Skaven in his novel Skavenslayer. Inlaid with alien logic and humour, it always makes for interesting reading to see the inside of such a mind.
An enjoyable romp with many laughs, groans and fights galore (some more gentlemanly than others).
I loved this book. It starts with a great classic fantasy romp in a medievalesque city, and becomes a classic tale of journeying into the unknown, upriver, following small clues and discovering a new enemy race, one painful detail at a time. A great introduction to the lizard military and society, and alternative thought processes and sense of time that make them a truly alien race. A great siege set on ancient pyramids in the deep jungle, the "good guys" beset on four sides. Classic plays on human (and dwarven) greed.
EXCELLANT FANTASY- Really fine characters- it might be part of an omnibus- but the writing is top notch- if you love Tolkien- you will like this! Florian is a rascal of a character!!
Florin and Lorenzo, the sane version Don Quixote and Sancho Panza with realistic monsters. Bretonnian reminds me of Empire in Berserk manga, to be honest.