Edit: Looking back now with a bit more distance, I was probably a bit harsh on this one. In retrospect, I do remember quite a bit from the novel that I rather enjoyed. All in all, though, I still think it's the worst book in the series so far. Nevertheless... I'm looking forward to Shamanslayer.
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Oh dear... What happened?
I'm a big fan of the Gotrek and Felix series, and I really enjoyed almost all of William King's novels. In fact, in hindsight, I think I was much too harsh on Beastslayer and Giantslayer in my reviews, since I enjoyed both of those much more than this one.
When William King was replaced by Nathan Long, I was apprehensive at first, but he won me over with Manslayer, which I thought did capture the tone and feel of King's books quite well.
William King showed himself to be a master of balancing the sometimes conflicting qualities of the Warhammer world. His books didn't shy away from the darkness, fully embraced the inherent silliness of it all, and yet managed to be thoughtful, warm and even somewhat introspective at times. He was brilliant at taking a very simple and straightforward concept and turning it into an epic adventure. His best books were, in a way, the most formulaic ones: the ones steeped in a definite atmosphere, moving towards a simple and urgent goal. They had that old sword & sorcery quality.
Nathan Long on the other hand, is a very different writer. He's a good writer in his own right, but his style doesn't click with me as well.
So what are my problems with Elfslayer, and with Long's approach in general?
Well, a lot of it has to do with tone. Of course, readers have varying tastes and preferences, and it doesn't surprise me that some people actually prefer Long's books. Personally, I remain a King man.
Warhammer is of course a 'grimdark' universe, the term itself spawning from 40K. Nevertheless, what made Warhammer Fantasy so cool (originally) is that the property never advertised itself as such. It wasn't trying to sell to you how edgy it was. It was just a dark world, but it was also a huge amount of fun. It never took itself too seriously. Chaos mutations, Nurgle worshippers, all that kind of stuff was ghastly and disgusting but also rather humorous, if approached the right way. Being a UK-based author, William King was able to capture that wry wit of Felix's weary soul facing utter horror on a regular basis and getting quite fed up with it. Here, the grimdark really is grim and dark. It's relentless and oppressive, and just plainly depressing. Where is the humour? The Dark Elves are so vile you just want to take a shower after listening to those scenes -- which would be OK if it didn't keep going and going for so long, to the point that it's no longer entertaining but just icky.
The opening chapters of this book were actually quite great. I loved the interaction between Felix and his father. That was a high point. I loved meeting Max again, as well.
Unfortunately, it's when the real action starts that the book starts to break down, and the entire second half was just a horrible chore for me to get through.
A large portion of this book takes place on a Dark Elf Black Ark, a kind of floating island. Something about this whole part came across as very strange to me. I can't quite say why, but it just didn't feel like Warhammer somehow.
This author is far too obsessed with the mechanics of his action scenes, and nowhere near enough with the atmophere of the environment or the emotions of the events. The action is far, far, far too drawn-out, too complicated, too technical, too confusing, and at the same time, stupidly over the top and cartoonish. If it were a movie, I imagine this as the kind where every fight is filmed with shaky cam and extreme close-ups all the time -- the kind of movie I hate... Whereas William King's action scenes felt a bit more like John Wick, where the stakes are always clear and you can actually see what's going on.
The way Gotrek and Felix escape the most dire situations also becomes too ridiculous to believe. There is an underwater sequence here that really strains all credulity. This sort of thing was already a problem in Long's previous books, but it didn't bother me as much. Here, it began to really pull me out of the story. Especially since, as silly as those scenes are, the actual humour, which is a hallmark of what used to make Gotrek and Felix so good, is just gone here. There's nothing funny in this book, which may actually be its biggest crime.
I'm baffled that this is apprently one of the more beloved Nathan Long contributions of the series, but then again, my favourite King books were Dragonslayer and Vampireslayer, both of which tend to be rated lower. I suppose I have an unpopular taste.
I still don't want to give up on Nathan Long, though. Orcslayer had some very good moments and Manslayer was excellent, so I'm going to give Shamanslayer a chance as well... But not right away.