Orcslayer

Gotrek & Felix #8

by Nathan Long

Gotrek & Felix Book 8

Gotrek and Felix delve into the dark places of the world once again to fulfil an ancient oath and help a prince reclaim his realm. But with greenskins around every corner, Gotrek's doom could be at hand.

READ IT BECAUSE
A new era begins for Gotrek & Felix! A long time has passed and the world has changed, but their penchant for getting into trouble certainly hasn't…

THE STORY
Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask…

After twenty years exploring other lands, Gotrek and Felix return to the Old World to find Chaos invaders rampaging through the lands of men, and the mountain-holds of the dwarfs overrun by the foul orcs and goblins. Fulfilling an ancient oath, the pair travel deep beneath the world to help a dwarf prince reclaim his realm from the greenskins. But all is not as it seems, and Gotrek may finally meet him doom in the halls of his ancestors...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Action, Novels, Horror, Science Fiction Fantasy

414 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Nathan Long is a screen and prose writer, with two movies, one Saturday-morning adventure series, and a handful of live-action and animated TV episodes to his name, as well as eleven fantasy novels and several award-winning short stories.

He hails from Pennsylvania, where he grew up, went to school, and played in various punk and rock-a-billy bands, before following his writing dreams to Hollywood - where he now writes novels full time - and still occasionally plays in bands.

His latest novel is Jane Carver of Waar, available March 6th from Night Shade Books. Visit his blog at www.sabrepunk.com.

Reviews

[Marco Baier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now... I actually consider myself a hardcore Gotrek & Felix fan, so when I picked up this book when it came out several years back, I looked at the cover and thought. "Nathan Long? Who the hell is this guy?"

Needless to say, I was highly skeptical and maybe started reading with a hidden desire to not like it because... well, it's not King!

But honestly... I couldn't be more positively surprised. This book blew me away. I burned through it in a couple of days and now, after some years have passed, I read it a second time - and burned through it again in a couple of days! (Which is actually something special for me, since most of my "reading" is done by listening to audiobooks these days.

So here is what you should know:
- Nathan Long's Novels are set about 20 years after those of William King. The characters are older, grittier, and bulging with more badassery. So it's perfectly fine to start your Gotrek and Felix adventures with Orcslayer.
- Nathan Long's writing style is quite different from Mr. King and - call me a heretic - I actually prefer his fast-paced action-oriented approach. There is never a dull moment in this book. Something that from time to time was a problem in King's books when there was too much inner monologue of his heroes - it could get tedious at times. Not so here.
- This is a page-turner. A grim, dark, pageturner.
- In many ways, reading this book was like watching a roided out version of The Hobbit. It. Was. Awesome.

[Jorge Gálvez · Rating 3 out of 5]

En definitiva WarHammer es el tipo de Fantasía Épica que sí me gusta!!!

Una fantasía que no da concesiones, rápida, frenética, brutal.

A pesar de que este libro es la 8va parte de la saga y está escrito por un autor distinto al original, gracias a que está ambientada 20 años después de la última novela, este hecho no resulta incómodo, lo que nos permite adentrarnos en la historia con facilidad. Eso sí, no recomendaría comenzar la saga con este libro, ya que leyendo opiniones y reseñas en internet, me encontré con la opinión casi por consenso de que este volumen es bastante inferior narrativamente a los anteriores.

Aunque el libro está lleno de acción, creo que a veces resulta excesivo este hecho, y llega a parecer que estamos en un videojuego, donde más que ver una historia en concreto, lo que sentimos es que hay una pequeña historia que sirve como excusa para "ir y venir" de un lado a otro, completando misiones, fallando en algunas exploraciones, buscando nuevos caminos y llegando a objetivos secundarios para al final poder llegar hasta el objetivo primario y poder vencer al jefe final, después de pasar por varios "jefes de niveles."

Y para acentuar más el efecto de videojuego, los personajes se la pasan matando orcos a diestra y siniestra desde el primer capítulo hasta casi el final, cuando son reemplazados por esbirros del jefe final y por este mismo.

Algo que me pareció curioso, es que para mí la acción y la matanza de orcos fue excesiva, pero por las reseñas que leí, al parecer este es un libro aburrido para los lectores en comparación a los libros anteriores de la saga, ya que la gente dice que a este libro le falta acción y le sobran descripciones y detalles. Imagino que los lectores de WarHammer han de estar acostumbrados a novelas frenéticas y con mucha acción.

Me quedo con el pendiente de leer algún otro libro dentro de este universo para poder comparar.

Algo que me encantó, y que nunca me había pasado con ningún libro, es que hubo una escena puntual en la que morí de risa, en serio, llevan tan bien un conflicto, que cuando se resuelve, es hilarante. También tiene un par más de escenas divertidas y que te hacen reír, lo cual se agradece.

En definitiva un libro divertido, fácil de digerir como un videojuego de Fantasía, pero quizá no la mejor opción para adentrarse en el Universo de Warhammer o en la historia particular de Gótrek y Félix.

No olviden suscribirse a mi canal de YouTube donde tengo decenas de reseñas más. Les dejo link a uno de mis mejores videos: 10 LIBROS QUE DEBES LEER ANTES DE MORIR:
https://youtu.be/JZt6o1ndmxE

Aquí pueden obtener el libro:
https://amzn.to/38U2tGq

[Dragonfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, I feel changes in writing style after several chapters and after that I've finally found that this was another author. Most of the humor disappeared from the series and the violent, gloomy atmosphere of the end of the world took it place. However, this feeling is actually trademark of Warhammer (both Fantasy and 40k) universe, so from this point of view the book become more canonical, but plot seems to be very strange. It seems that author didn't care about rules of Warhammer universe, since chaos beings can't be overpowered by ancient runic magic (whereas we see proofs against it at the books before). However, it's understandable that first book is always hard (especially, when you have brilliant books before it), so I'm looking forward to read the next book

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathan Long does a great job, excited to continue. This one starts with a 20 year time skip. Very action heavy but some great lore and Dwarf shenanigans.

[Pinky 2.0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

William King was much better, Nathan Long isn't really worth reading.

[Billerskine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like Nathan Long's version of Gotrek and Felix. William King's version is much better.

[Domien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hesitant to pick up Orcslayer since I was such a fan of William King's books and I tend not to like it when a story is taken away from the original author. However, unlike many other reviewers, for at least the first third of the book, I couldn't tell this was not a William King novel. It had everything I liked about the first seven Gotrek & Felix books: the humour, the characters, the comically over-the-top violence, the references to the Warhammer world.

Then there is a middle part, which involves Felix as the only man among a sprawling cast of Dwarves. The Dwarves were extremely... Dwarfish. They were so stubborn, grumbling, hateful of everything non-Dwarfish, proud, greedy and obsessed with their honour to the point of insanity. It was entertaining, but also exhausting and kind of annoying to spend so much time with them and the author certainly did succeed at making us feel exactly like Felix.
This portion of the novel eventually flows into the "main quest": taking back a Dwarven hold. I had been looking forward to this and yet, strangely enough, it turned out to be the part I couldn't enjoy at all.

Now, I'm not quite sure whether it's me or the book, but I just couldn't follow the big action scenes at all, and I felt deaf and blind with a lot of stuff happening around me during these moments. Now, admittedly, this has happened before when I was listening to G&F novels, but the problem was much more persistent this time around. The problem was certainly not the narration, as Jonathan Keeble's performance was again nothing short of brilliant (I truly do think he's the best narrator I've ever listened to), but it's definitely got something to do with the fact that I was listening to an audiobook. It's easier for me to miss something when I'm listening rather than reading, and Nathan Long's action scenes are quite detailed and very long, but he also describes things very quickly, and as a result, it occurred quite often that I just didn't know what was happening AT ALL. And that was extremely frustrating, to the point that I just wanted it all to be over and I was even considering giving up.

But then... The book took a surprising turn towards the end, with a finale that was quite impressive and absolutely gut-wrenching. I had seen other reviews mentioning that this book was much darker and for the first half it didn't feel like that at all, but at the end, yes... It was extremely dark. More so than anything else in this series so far.

So, all in all, what I liked: the beginning and the end and the characterisation of Gotrek, Felix and the other Dwarves.

What I didn't like: the hard to follow action scenes, and my biggest problem with the book: a lack of atmosphere. While it references a lot of things that are "typically Warhammer", it somehow didn't quite feel like Warhammer. There are reasons for some of this that make sense within the storyline (such as the Orcs not behaving like Orcs), but it's more than that. My favourite Gotrek & Felix moments by William King were oozing with the feel of the Old World. You could see the mist and the smoke, smell the burning wood, feel the cold of the rain and the snow... And there was a lot of musing and philosophising in between that somehow added to the atmosphere. In this, it's more like a Hollywood screenplay. Things move fast and furious and it's much more about the action. And while there was some good humour in this, I do have to say that you could tell this was written by an American instead of a Scotsman. There is a distinct feel to humour from the UK that is impossible to replicate. William King had that and that was a big part of what made Gotrek and Felix so special. Nathan Long certainly does his best, but it's just not quite the same. I'm still doubting whether I'll continue with the series after this.

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much darker and bleak in tone than the light hearted, jovial tone of the William King novels. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but on an entirely different level than the prior novels in the series written by King.
I think I prefer the King novels, but Long is a very good writer, and it wasn't a letdown despite the jarring change in tone and attitude.

[Jozua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great first entry of Nathan Long, picking up from William King. It gets a little weird in the end...so it wasn't as perfect of a transition as I wanted it to be.

[Bartek Maciej · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nie spodziewałem się, że inny autor niż King napisze dobrą książkę o Zabójcy ale Zabójca Orków jest jedną z najlepszych w całej sadze.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the last of the Gotrek and Felix series I still had to read and I was surprised by this one.

The story was tense and the plot interesting, the challenges Gotrek faced and his difficulty in overcoming them felt real in context of his wider story. The problem with Gotrek as a character has always been that he had been faced with daemons and dragons way to fast in his story arch. If one can beat a raging blood thirster daemon on one's own, how could a bunch of orcs be any challenge? But Orcslayer really managed to pull it off and for that it gets a lot of praise from me.
Secondly, the story at first felt classic, I won't get into details but as most of the time when people team up with Gotrek and Felix, they often don't last very long but die to serve the purpose of the story. Afterwards there is a big celebration or a ironic twist forcing the couple to depart. In this book however more people died at times unexpectedly then in any gotrek and Felix before and we get several unexpected twists, it felt as if Nathan Long really wanted to give the pair something new and fresh to happen to them and cudoes for him!

However if I do have a critism, it is the timing in the wider story arch. Publishing wise this story came after giantslayer when Gotrek and Felix ended up on Albion to help Teclis stop chaos sorcerers. Orcslayer happens years perhaps even decades after that and we get hints of their travels taking them to the southland, ind and Cathay. Seriously?? I mean orcslayer is great and all but what about these other places? Yeah later on there are short stories in anthologies and one book that takes them to the southland and tomb king Khalida's court, but still what about these other places??
Off course this had nothing to do with Nathan long but with Games workshop marketing, ind, Cathay and Nippon are places mentioned but not to be visited in a book for they don't (or didn't) have any figures to sell. No wonder that the regions that later on still get a few pages to them, are those of which figures existed. The second reason is that is about the time the first invasion of Archeon took place that ended with a huge plot wise failure ending up to it being written out of the canon. Still they needed to have their big characters move in that general direction for sales reasons.
I love that in Elfslayer, which I have already read, Gotrek is super depressed that they missed the big fight that was later on reduced in importance to a oversized scouting and test war.

So yeah orc slayer, unexpected high note in the series

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites in the series. Nathan Long establishes himself as a worthy successor to ur-scribe William King as the series returned (as did our foe-pulping duo) after a long (aha) hiatus. We get tantalizing hints of Gotrek's life before taking the crest. We get some proper dwarven life and causes and supporting characters with actual personalities, plenty of the series' trademark gore-flinging combat as G&F turn a legion of foes into eviscerated paste, and Gotrek's devil-may-care attitude toward hurling himself through the air - all the usual good stuff. We get to watch Gotrek and Felix finally air their grievances with each other after two decades of adventuring. We also get some heavy tragedy, and probably the most original concept for a would-be doom for the red-mohawked dwarf - the Sleeper and its Lovecraftian nastiness (and some hitherto unseen lore from some of the Warhammer world's early history). Most of the things G&F confront are matching power with power, which is a poor thing pitted against Gotrek and his legendary axe. The Sleeper is far more insidious, and generally more creative than even the followers of Tzeentch, who for all their vaunted subtlety usually just resort to elemental attacks or things with tentacles.

I'm surprised GW let Master Long add to its lore like this, though maybe the deal was that it was only going to appear here. Pity - it could have added some cool new wrinkles to the Old World.

Recommended, especially for fans.

[Luke Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read this years ago when I was getting into dark fantasy/Warhammer Fantasy... A lot of people slate the Nathan Long written Gotrek and Felix novels but I rather enjoyed them for the most part: he certainly injected something new into the series...

"Back in the Old World after several years adventuring, the legendary dwarven Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson, sworn to die in glorious battle, and his comrade in arms, Felix Jaeger, sworn to immortalise it in verse, find themselves swept up in the campaign to liberate the dwarven city of Karak Hirn from the Orcs who have conquered it as a favour to a former comrade of Gotrek's. But as the war progresses, it swiftly becomes apparent not all is as it seems... "

This novel really touches deeply on the horror elements of the dark fantasy genre, with some parts creepy enough to do H. P. Lovecraft proud. The battle scenes are epic fare, with plenty of humour, well written characters you get attached to besides the main duo (personal favourites of mine were Narin and Leatherbeard) and overall a good solid takeover in my opinion on Long's part from William King...

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, hardly the best fantasy pulp novel I've read and the well-worn tale has been better-written. I am still giving it 3 rather than 2 stars because the protagonists are Dwarves and it was a fun, fast-paced read. There was some originality in how the dwarves were presented, and the way in which the orcs differed from run-of-the-mill greenskins. I knew that there would be a twist, and guessed the nature of it soon after the descriptions of their odd, un-orclike behavior. Nonetheless I still enjoyed the journey, which is what most fantasy should be about. You don't read it because you don't know what is going to happen, usually.

The ending, though expected, was still grim and dour even by WH standards. Unfortunately, because I read Manslayer before this one, I knew that the actions seemed to have very little effect other than a few grumbles from Gotrek and Felix's consistent navel-gazing.

Summary: I enjoyed G&F more when Bill King wrote it, and hope that he returns to his creation.

[midnightbookreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Action Adventure Fantasy, 8/12 of the series
Join Gotrek on his fantastical aim of a heroic death with Felix's oath of chronicling Gotrek's death.

Within this novel the pair join dwarven forces in their efforts to retake a fallen dwarven hold.

With the transition of authors, the series takes a different tone while years lapse over two decades. At this point Gotrek is upset that he has not died yet, and because of this he questions what battles are even worth his time. Felix wonders what remnants of his former life still exists if he was to return home.

Discussion/Spoilers
I was surprised what controlled the dwarven hold was an elder insect creature that dealt with gods to become more powerful. When Felix is given glimpses of the The Sleeper's past the images that are painted are very similar to those in At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft. It was fun to tie in these themes with a tentacled creature that reminded me of that of the brain of Yogg-Saron from Ulduar.

[James Mcclelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A major change in the story telling compared to the first 7 or so books and small stories. It’s well written fast paced with great story telling and good cliff hangers throughout. Was about to take a break from the series but this was a breath of fresh air and really builds the characters showing a bit more of the mysterious slayers history.

I would recommend this for someone both new to the series or thinking about picking it up again.

[JLozanoNieto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lamentándolo mucho... No son los Gotrek y Félix con los que viví aventuras de adolescente y no tan adolescente. Nathan Long se mantiene fiel al estilo de William King pero no consigue transmitir tanto como él. El libro es entretenido a secas.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as King's books, but still worth your time if you're fans of the series.

[Billisonthewagon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few templates that Warhammer books tend to follow, and the one most tried and true is found in this book:

The heroes meet an initial threat(usually orcs, for some reason) which end up being in service to a much greater threat. Along the way, most of the cast dies in heroic fashion, while the leads continue onto the next story. I've read probably less than 20 Warhammer books so far, and can think of at least 4 instances where this exact plot was used. It's basically 80s slasher meets epic fantasy storytelling. The problem is, while the plot works for some fun straightforward storytelling, there is only so many times you can read this same tale, and I'm kind of reaching my limit. It's exceptionally bad in a Gotrek and Felix novel as the survivors are always going to be guys whose names are in the title. At least in other Warhammer books, the heroes are no names where nearly anyone can die.

So, basically Gotrek and Felix are recruited to help take back some dwarven strongholds that had been ransacked by orcs. The orcs are behaving oddly and out of character, which kind of sets up a whodunit style mystery, but the answer to the question, which only comes in the last 30ish pages, is something basically no one could have guessed. By then, surprise surprise, everything has went to shit, everyone is dead but Gotrek and Felix, and it ends with those 2 killing the big bad and continuing on their way.

I mainly wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved Nathan Long's first Ulrika book, but judging by this book, he just has a knack for vampire fiction. Not to say this book is absolutely bad, it's not, but it's only serviceable and quite predictable, and everyone is going to have their threshold for that type of storytelling.

I am interested in giving AoS Gotrek stories a chance, but I am starting to feel like this line of book is maybe not for me. They are kind of like a ground view of the world of Warhammer and its strange inhabitants, but there are plenty of books like that that are less predictable that the heroes don't always have to survive.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Nathan Long takes over as author of the Gotrek and Felix series, he advances the storyline two decades into the future. Gotrek and Felix are trying to return to the empire as Gotrek continues to seek his elusive doom and Felix continues chronicling his heroic efforts to die. The novel starts on a high note as Gotrek has himself catapulted onto an orc ship so he and his axe can reach the bad guys. Then matters slow down a little so Gotrek and Felix can find their latest quest—helping a former friend recover a dwarven stronghold.

There are two very good things about this novel. The first is an extended look at dwarven grudges—epitomized in the senseless enmity between Gotrek and his former friend. The second is the fascinating force behind the orc invasion of the dwarven stronghold. The clues that things are off—that this isn’t a typical orc attack—grow throughout the novel and the solution to the mystery is both creepy and fitting for the Warhammer universe. My only real complaint about the novel was that it ran a little too long.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not going to lie, I was worried about reading this book. And for good reason.

Reason number one - I don't like Warhammer books revolving around Dwarfs, I read a few and for some reason I just can't get into them. Maybe its because the Dwarf race is just to gruff for me or maybe its because i just find them boring when a book is just about them.

Reason number two - this is the first of the remainder of the Gotrek and Felix books (except the End Times last two books that complete the series) that are written by a different author. The first seven books are written by William King and they were amazing then all of a sudden we get a new author?

Yea I was real worried about this book, but it turns out I shouldn't have. This book was great, it keeps you guessing as to what's going on and who the bad guy is. It manages to keep me interested even though it was about Dwarfs. I just really really enjoyed this book. It did take a while to get used to the new writing style and I had to take a double take when they mentioned that it's been 20 years since the first book! What? Either way it was a great book. 🙌🏻🙏🏻

[Vanteacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventures of Gotrek and Felix continues with a different writer.
I read this faster than the previous books. I lost some sleep. That's a good sign.

The bathwater got cold more than once. This was a smashing adventure and I already have the 9th book queued.

The book is about a dwarf, his magical axe, his rememberer and some serious orc ass kicking. The pace does not let up and I even read this in my lunch break at work.

The filling out of warhammer culture, especially the dwarfs, was fun to read. I always though it was dwarves, but hey. Gotrek got more talking lines in this one than all the previous ones combined.

I liked it. Its satisfying, like a cold beer on a warm day... and then getting your ass kicked after.

Three orc thumbs, an eyeball and an arm up!

[Maximilian Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm very glad that Nathan Long continued this series. The direction he's taking the novels feels very fresh and needed. He's very good in scrapping the stretched parts of the previous novels like the inner monologues and the battles to the essentials whilst also maintaining the uniqueness of the characters. Even better, the characters get some much needed development, especially Gotrek. It's the first time in a series of 8 novels that the character of Gotrek gets fleshed out. We meet an old friend of his prior to his times as a slayer and his views and beliefs are getting challenged. At the end of the book I had the genuine feeling that he had grown as a character in a meaningful way. I'm very excited about the following novels!

[Christopher Dodds · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always Gotrek and Felix novels are so amazingly awesome to read and this book did not disappoint at all. But as with all books they were kind of light hearted amongst all of the action that goes on in each book, but this book was much darker than the others and a lot more tension between Gotrek and Felix. As well as more personal in depth look at Gotrek and his past with the dwarven prince Hamnir and their story which was the focal point of the tension between the two. At some points as well their were moments that the author did an excellent job of making me feel weary like the characters were which was great.

[L.I.T. Tarassenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first of the GOTREK AND FELIX Warhammer novels not written by William King. I can confirm that sadly Nathan Long is not as good as The King. He doesn’t spend forever and forever in indirect thought, which is a plus, but he’s just not as compelling a writer. There were some funny bits that made me laugh but a lot of it was a slog. Also, this book should be called DWARFWALKER instead of Orcslayer because it’s really about dwarfs walking around underground. I am committed to these characters and this series now (and Jonathan Keeble’s narration, which is still outstanding) so I will keep going, but hopefully MANSLAYER and ELFSLAYER we will be better than this one!

[Tomáš Drako · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warhammerská dvojica má za úlohu pomôcť trpasličiemu princovy znova dobiť orkami obsadenú pevnosť. A nebude sakra ľahké.
Po dlhej dobe som sa vrátil naspať k buddy fantasy príbehom. Po Williamovy Kingovy prevzal písanie Nathan Long. U neho som vedel že nebude robiť hanbu svojmu predchodcovi
V tejto knihe som nahliadol do warhammerovskej trpasličej hierarchie. Nie je tak rozdielna od Lotrl. No v detailoch sa líši.
Skrátka, spokojnosť.

[Ronnie Komstedt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long seem to lean more towards the comedic side of Warhammer Fantasy than King did, and while the series have always had some comedy it is a bit ham fisted this time around, having Gotrik starting the book with a Gimli "Toss Me!" bit, and leaning far more heavily on the racial stereotypes of the universe.

All that said i still very much enjoyed the book, and will defenetly be continuing the series

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid entry in the Gotrek & Felix saga. More epic in scope than most titles to date, with a fair (and appreciated) level of complexity. Gotrek speaks more in this book then in all of King's entries in the series combined ... and he's better for it. Still, I can't believe he and Felix have been journeying for 20 years !

[aerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Orcslayer a few years ago and still consider this part of Gotrek and Felix's adventures as the best-written, Dostoyevsky dark philosophy-style novel. Every time I remember Warhammer Fantasy World I remember this story first as a true exemplar. Though the new author changed the style and expression, it was unexpected but really good.

[Peter Bobovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avoiding any spoilers I can say that this is...different. It's not bad, but it's pretty apparent it's not the same author. The plot, while interesting, has a very new way of developing and while this isnt a bad thing, it's not something you expect from Gotrek.