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Warhammer Chronicles #2
The Rise of Nagash
New omnibus edition of Mike Lee's classic Warhammer fantasy trilogy The Rise of Nagash.
In the fantasy world of Warhammer, magic suffuses the land to such an extent that even the dead can ‘live’ again, and whole empires of undead creatures hold sway in the dark places of the Old World. The vampires in the forests, the ghouls in their tunnels, the tomb kings of the southern deserts - all can trace their dark lineage back to Nagash, the first necromancer and supreme lord of undeath. For it was Nagash, two millennia before the time of Sigmar, who wrested the secrets of life and death from the dark elves, embarking upon a quest for immortality that would spark a war, destroy an empire and unleash a plague of undeath that would blight the Old World until the End Times and beyond.
In the fantasy world of Warhammer, magic suffuses the land to such an extent that even the dead can ‘live’ again, and whole empires of undead creatures hold sway in the dark places of the Old World. The vampires in the forests, the ghouls in their tunnels, the tomb kings of the southern deserts - all can trace their dark lineage back to Nagash, the first necromancer and supreme lord of undeath. For it was Nagash, two millennia before the time of Sigmar, who wrested the secrets of life and death from the dark elves, embarking upon a quest for immortality that would spark a war, destroy an empire and unleash a plague of undeath that would blight the Old World until the End Times and beyond.
960 pages, Paperback
First published December 17, 2012
138 people are currently reading
747 people want to read
About the author
Mike Lee
65 books152 followersMike Lee is an author, scriptwriter and game designer whose most recent credits include Fallen Angels, the latest installment in Black Library Publishing’s best-selling Horus Heresy series, and the dark fantasy epic Nagash the Sorcerer. Along with UK author Dan Abnett, Mike also wrote the five-volume Chronicles of Malus Darkblade, whose signature character has become a cult favorite among fans of Black Library’s Warhammer Fantasy fiction.
In addition to his novels, Mike’s scriptwriting credits include Tom Clancy’s HAWX, a game of near-future jet combat, and Splinter Cell: Conviction, the hit sequel to the popular Splinter Cell franchise published by Ubisoft Entertainment. He has also contributed to more than two dozen pen-and-paper role-playing games and supplements, including the award-winning Vampire: The Masquerade, Adventure!, Vampire: Dark Ages and Hunter: The Reckoning, published by White Wolf Games Studio.
An avid wargamer, history buff and devoted fan of two-fisted pulp adventure, Mike lives with his wife, artist JK Lee, and their family in the United States.
In addition to his novels, Mike’s scriptwriting credits include Tom Clancy’s HAWX, a game of near-future jet combat, and Splinter Cell: Conviction, the hit sequel to the popular Splinter Cell franchise published by Ubisoft Entertainment. He has also contributed to more than two dozen pen-and-paper role-playing games and supplements, including the award-winning Vampire: The Masquerade, Adventure!, Vampire: Dark Ages and Hunter: The Reckoning, published by White Wolf Games Studio.
An avid wargamer, history buff and devoted fan of two-fisted pulp adventure, Mike lives with his wife, artist JK Lee, and their family in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 28, 2019
"Nagash" was truly epic. This hefty magnum opus of Mike Lee's comes in at 957 pages and consists of three books. Allow me to say-it is absolutely worth it. The term epic is quite apropos due to the enormous scope of the story. It is not only vast in scale covering an entire "section" of a Warhammer world over a period of nearly a thousand years, but the cast of characters and their eventual effect on the entire world is palpable. This was a great book!
Nagash the Sorcerer is the first book. It covers the period when Nagash, the eldest son of the King of Kehmri, is Grand Hierophant of the Mortuary Cult. These events are thousands of years before the coming of Sigmar, though Sigmar and Nagash both share the distinction of reaching such levels of power that they achieved apotheosis by effectively becoming gods. Nagash wants to be King, but only the 2nd son becomes King whilst the first is given to the gods. But, when his father dies in war-Nagash comes into possession of three druchii (dark elves) from whom he learns to weave the dark magics of chaos. But he takes those ideas and blends them with his Mortuary Cult training and creates a very potent form of Necromancy. Nagash becomes the God-King of Kehmri, builds the great Black Pyramid of Nagash and launches a war against the rest of Nekhara, using the first "immortals", such as the infamous Arkhan the Black, who were similar to vampires (who do not exist in warhammer yet) but they were closer to liches (this is the basis of the current time Tomb Kings). But the end of the book the gathering of cities defeats Nagash who is assumed destroyed.
The second book is Nagash the Unbroken. It is the story of how Nagash flees into the mountains to regain his strength, where he suborns the barbarians living in the mountains and their clans. He then manages to find a huge mountain of chaos infused warp stone. Nagash becomes to consume the mineral and finds himself becoming something "more" than human (but less as his body begins to decay). But his mountain of warp-stone leads him to conflict with the Skaven who sends an enormous force to fight Nagash. Meanwhile the few of Nagash's disciples who survived spread their knowledge throughout the world. In Lahmia, Arkhan the Black participates in the convoluted events that cause Queen Neferata to become the first Vampire.
The third book Nagash the Immortal has Nagash become a godlike entity, but there is much more here as all the last cities of Nekhara band together to fight the evil of Lahmia and then Nagash. Momentous events happen (sorry too many spoilers) and we not only see the foundation of some of the great vampire clans-Necrarchs (founder- W'Soran); Lhamians (Neferata); Strigoi (Ushoran) Blood Dragons (Abhorash), though I didn't run into Vashanesh (eventually becomes Vlad von Carstein and found of that bloodline) though likely he might show up later on in the timeline. Finally, both Lhamia and Nagash's forces fall to a united front, but this leads to the lands of Nekarah becoming the lands of the dead and the Tomb Kings.
The politics, the warfare, the magic, and the characters make this a stellar addition to the Warhammer fantasy library. One of the best books of this sort I've read in a while and, safe to say, I devoured nearly a thousand pages and wished that there had been some more- from a history of Nagash to the foundations of the Tomb Kings and the vampire clans-all of this set in an ancient Egyptian setting of Nekhara made this one of my favorite of the Warhammer fantasy novels yet. Highly recommended to anyone who likes dark fantasy and a must-read for any Warhammer fantasy fan. Think of it as the biography of Nagash the Immortal.
Nagash the Sorcerer is the first book. It covers the period when Nagash, the eldest son of the King of Kehmri, is Grand Hierophant of the Mortuary Cult. These events are thousands of years before the coming of Sigmar, though Sigmar and Nagash both share the distinction of reaching such levels of power that they achieved apotheosis by effectively becoming gods. Nagash wants to be King, but only the 2nd son becomes King whilst the first is given to the gods. But, when his father dies in war-Nagash comes into possession of three druchii (dark elves) from whom he learns to weave the dark magics of chaos. But he takes those ideas and blends them with his Mortuary Cult training and creates a very potent form of Necromancy. Nagash becomes the God-King of Kehmri, builds the great Black Pyramid of Nagash and launches a war against the rest of Nekhara, using the first "immortals", such as the infamous Arkhan the Black, who were similar to vampires (who do not exist in warhammer yet) but they were closer to liches (this is the basis of the current time Tomb Kings). But the end of the book the gathering of cities defeats Nagash who is assumed destroyed.
The second book is Nagash the Unbroken. It is the story of how Nagash flees into the mountains to regain his strength, where he suborns the barbarians living in the mountains and their clans. He then manages to find a huge mountain of chaos infused warp stone. Nagash becomes to consume the mineral and finds himself becoming something "more" than human (but less as his body begins to decay). But his mountain of warp-stone leads him to conflict with the Skaven who sends an enormous force to fight Nagash. Meanwhile the few of Nagash's disciples who survived spread their knowledge throughout the world. In Lahmia, Arkhan the Black participates in the convoluted events that cause Queen Neferata to become the first Vampire.
The third book Nagash the Immortal has Nagash become a godlike entity, but there is much more here as all the last cities of Nekhara band together to fight the evil of Lahmia and then Nagash. Momentous events happen (sorry too many spoilers) and we not only see the foundation of some of the great vampire clans-Necrarchs (founder- W'Soran); Lhamians (Neferata); Strigoi (Ushoran) Blood Dragons (Abhorash), though I didn't run into Vashanesh (eventually becomes Vlad von Carstein and found of that bloodline) though likely he might show up later on in the timeline. Finally, both Lhamia and Nagash's forces fall to a united front, but this leads to the lands of Nekarah becoming the lands of the dead and the Tomb Kings.
The politics, the warfare, the magic, and the characters make this a stellar addition to the Warhammer fantasy library. One of the best books of this sort I've read in a while and, safe to say, I devoured nearly a thousand pages and wished that there had been some more- from a history of Nagash to the foundations of the Tomb Kings and the vampire clans-all of this set in an ancient Egyptian setting of Nekhara made this one of my favorite of the Warhammer fantasy novels yet. Highly recommended to anyone who likes dark fantasy and a must-read for any Warhammer fantasy fan. Think of it as the biography of Nagash the Immortal.
July 20, 2018
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January 6, 2021
I read this book 6 years ago and when I finished the first part of this book now, 6 years later, I wondered, why did I only give three stars? The first part is an amazing story with both villains and heroes that shine! When I was reading part 2 however, I started to understand why Nick of the past did only give three stars.
In another fantasy setting, Nagash would not be a villain, he would be THE villain. He is the sauron of warhammer and without chaos, he would have been the center figure of all that is evil in this setting. But Sauron would not be able to beat the lovecraftian stargods and entities and likewise in the end times series of warhammer fantasy, Nagash was the last of the forces of order (albeit a twisted perverse interpretation of that concept) to fall, screaming his defiance in the face of the turmoil.
The first book in this bundle, Nagash the sorcerer is a great book and that is because of three factors; first is the unique setting. The rise of Nagash situates the warhammer world in non tabletop region this is the civilization that would bring forth the ghastly tomb kings but these aren’t the tomb kings yet, the result is an egyptianesque society whit priest who do possess the powers that their real world counterparts claimed to have.
Second factor is the characters; Nagash himself reminded me of a twisted version of Jafar from Disney s Aladdin; “genie make me the sultan! Genie I want to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world! Genie make me an all powerful genie!! Nagash’s ambitions follow this pattern perfectly and is that cheesy? Yes but it works for a simple yet believable character arc. Nagash does not start with the goal to become a god but at first only wants to rule in his brother’s stead in stead of the advisory role as a priest he has now. But the fun does not end with Nagash, he might be the star of the show but in fact there was not a single character whom I did not care about. Even characters that had such a minor role such as Raamket still managed to interest me and that all had to do with the third factor.
Pacing; the book is tense and that is primarily because of Nagash, his plans and malevolence is beyond compare but never is it random, never does Nagash come across as a shallow engine of destruction, nagash has a goal and does not care for the price which all those who oppose him and serve him can’t even phantom. All of which builts up to a cataclystic end that still was able to grab me and put me on the edge of my seat even though I knew exactly how it would end. Truly one of if not the best climax in the black library. Thus one can begin to understand my dissapointment with the other two books.
Nagash the unbroken and Nagash immortal never live up to the first book’s standard and although they aren’t bad books, they simply aren’t as good. First problem is that unlike the first book which builds up the climactic battle the second does not built up to anything and the third book has way to many climax. The third book has Nagash invading once more, his horrible spell and curse on the land, his forging of his terrifying magical armor, the war with the skaven and his temporary setback. The second book does not really have an ending, it sort of kinda stops and then the next book just picks it right up after that.
A second thing I really disliked was the time jumps, the first book jumped back and forth roughly 200 years every chapter. One chapter at the start of Nagash ‘s war of conquest and then back to when he was learning the dark magic and plotting against his brother the king. The time jump made sense because 200 years was how long Nagash spent building the black pyramid, one of the most iconic locations in warhammer. In the second and third book however we get nonsensical timejumps, to give a few: Nagash wonders the wastes for 90!! years for he is able to find a mountain he saw in a dream, like dude how??? and it is not that it is that far away? Then Nagash has to fight for over a 100 years to beat the ruling barbaric civilization near his new mountain fortress, again, how, we never get any explanation why he struggled so hard to beat them so why???? But also other characters have weirdly long patience; hey W’soran how long have you been trying to summon the spirit of Nagash? Oh for over 20 years cool I guess, keep it up! Cheeze, I should have left this place 12 years earlier but I guess I will stay here and not raise any questions about it, said prince alcadizzar. And several more of these weird long pauses. The first book had such a brisk pace like trying to grab sand streaming through your fingers while these other books…..
The fact that Nagash has to share the stage with the court of Lahmia and queen neferata as well as the rise of king Alcaddizzar is problematic, this includes the corruption of Lahmia to vampiric rule, their grip on all the land and their sequential fall at the hands of the prince alcaddizzar whose rise to power we follow for quite a bit. The problem is that the series is called Nagash but the second and third book has in fact more to do with Lahmia and everything that involved that court of nocturnal aristocracy than it had to to with the rise of one the most principal forces of darkness in all of warhammer. Again, not that these parts are bad, not at all, quite a few characters are interesting to read and follow along but the first book had such a great built up, Nagash was such a presence that oozed from every page. Here it in essence boils down to two books, two stories told at the same time that have little if nothing to do with each other and both suffer for it.
What it should have been, truly was the second book only talked about Lahmia and the lingering corruption and impact of Nagash’s reign of horror. Queen Neferata is a great character and her unlikely affectionate bond with Arkhan the black is just amazing, for some reason a bond like this ludicrous as it seems, between a vampire queen and a liche wizard was made believable and for that alone the second book deserves praise. I mean there is fan art of these two making out so I am not alone in rooting for these two ehm lovevultures? The second book could have w’soran still trying in vain to summon Nagash his spirit and thus as a reader we are wondering, could he have survived? Then the climax of the book would be the confirmation, yes he is still out there!! bamm the horror returns. The third book then would take us back in time and thus we would see how he survived and was able to get his lost power back. It would allow for so much better pacing, character development and tension then is now the case and do justice to the big events that feel rushed as it is now.
There were only two things I genuinely did not like in the third book, which is the weakest of the three despite the amazing tunnel warfare between Nagash and the skaven empire, Nagash’s lieutenants and prince Alcadizzar. Nagash uses four sub leaders in his war against the skaven, but they are quite bland, especially if one compares them to Arkhan the black, they felt pointless in a series with so many great characters they stood out. For many gods sake, this book managed to make a Skaven warlord seem likable! Then there is Alcadizzar, he is just too perfect to be likable, he is the big hero Nagash supposedly needed as his dark mirror. But he is bland, bland I tell you, only at the very end does he become a bit interesting and by then I barely care anymore. It is a shame because his fate is tragic but I simply was not engaged enough to be really moved at that point by his suffering. It says enough that I cared more about the Skaven at that point then about him.
So rise of Nagash what is there left to say; is it a good read for both warhammer fans and non fans? Yes it is especially the first book is great for everyone. The second and third are still good reads, there is fun to be found here but like a dish whose spices don’t quite mix well, it leaves you with a feeling that it could have been so much more.
In another fantasy setting, Nagash would not be a villain, he would be THE villain. He is the sauron of warhammer and without chaos, he would have been the center figure of all that is evil in this setting. But Sauron would not be able to beat the lovecraftian stargods and entities and likewise in the end times series of warhammer fantasy, Nagash was the last of the forces of order (albeit a twisted perverse interpretation of that concept) to fall, screaming his defiance in the face of the turmoil.
The first book in this bundle, Nagash the sorcerer is a great book and that is because of three factors; first is the unique setting. The rise of Nagash situates the warhammer world in non tabletop region this is the civilization that would bring forth the ghastly tomb kings but these aren’t the tomb kings yet, the result is an egyptianesque society whit priest who do possess the powers that their real world counterparts claimed to have.
Second factor is the characters; Nagash himself reminded me of a twisted version of Jafar from Disney s Aladdin; “genie make me the sultan! Genie I want to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world! Genie make me an all powerful genie!! Nagash’s ambitions follow this pattern perfectly and is that cheesy? Yes but it works for a simple yet believable character arc. Nagash does not start with the goal to become a god but at first only wants to rule in his brother’s stead in stead of the advisory role as a priest he has now. But the fun does not end with Nagash, he might be the star of the show but in fact there was not a single character whom I did not care about. Even characters that had such a minor role such as Raamket still managed to interest me and that all had to do with the third factor.
Pacing; the book is tense and that is primarily because of Nagash, his plans and malevolence is beyond compare but never is it random, never does Nagash come across as a shallow engine of destruction, nagash has a goal and does not care for the price which all those who oppose him and serve him can’t even phantom. All of which builts up to a cataclystic end that still was able to grab me and put me on the edge of my seat even though I knew exactly how it would end. Truly one of if not the best climax in the black library. Thus one can begin to understand my dissapointment with the other two books.
Nagash the unbroken and Nagash immortal never live up to the first book’s standard and although they aren’t bad books, they simply aren’t as good. First problem is that unlike the first book which builds up the climactic battle the second does not built up to anything and the third book has way to many climax. The third book has Nagash invading once more, his horrible spell and curse on the land, his forging of his terrifying magical armor, the war with the skaven and his temporary setback. The second book does not really have an ending, it sort of kinda stops and then the next book just picks it right up after that.
A second thing I really disliked was the time jumps, the first book jumped back and forth roughly 200 years every chapter. One chapter at the start of Nagash ‘s war of conquest and then back to when he was learning the dark magic and plotting against his brother the king. The time jump made sense because 200 years was how long Nagash spent building the black pyramid, one of the most iconic locations in warhammer. In the second and third book however we get nonsensical timejumps, to give a few: Nagash wonders the wastes for 90!! years for he is able to find a mountain he saw in a dream, like dude how??? and it is not that it is that far away? Then Nagash has to fight for over a 100 years to beat the ruling barbaric civilization near his new mountain fortress, again, how, we never get any explanation why he struggled so hard to beat them so why???? But also other characters have weirdly long patience; hey W’soran how long have you been trying to summon the spirit of Nagash? Oh for over 20 years cool I guess, keep it up! Cheeze, I should have left this place 12 years earlier but I guess I will stay here and not raise any questions about it, said prince alcadizzar. And several more of these weird long pauses. The first book had such a brisk pace like trying to grab sand streaming through your fingers while these other books…..
The fact that Nagash has to share the stage with the court of Lahmia and queen neferata as well as the rise of king Alcaddizzar is problematic, this includes the corruption of Lahmia to vampiric rule, their grip on all the land and their sequential fall at the hands of the prince alcaddizzar whose rise to power we follow for quite a bit. The problem is that the series is called Nagash but the second and third book has in fact more to do with Lahmia and everything that involved that court of nocturnal aristocracy than it had to to with the rise of one the most principal forces of darkness in all of warhammer. Again, not that these parts are bad, not at all, quite a few characters are interesting to read and follow along but the first book had such a great built up, Nagash was such a presence that oozed from every page. Here it in essence boils down to two books, two stories told at the same time that have little if nothing to do with each other and both suffer for it.
What it should have been, truly was the second book only talked about Lahmia and the lingering corruption and impact of Nagash’s reign of horror. Queen Neferata is a great character and her unlikely affectionate bond with Arkhan the black is just amazing, for some reason a bond like this ludicrous as it seems, between a vampire queen and a liche wizard was made believable and for that alone the second book deserves praise. I mean there is fan art of these two making out so I am not alone in rooting for these two ehm lovevultures? The second book could have w’soran still trying in vain to summon Nagash his spirit and thus as a reader we are wondering, could he have survived? Then the climax of the book would be the confirmation, yes he is still out there!! bamm the horror returns. The third book then would take us back in time and thus we would see how he survived and was able to get his lost power back. It would allow for so much better pacing, character development and tension then is now the case and do justice to the big events that feel rushed as it is now.
There were only two things I genuinely did not like in the third book, which is the weakest of the three despite the amazing tunnel warfare between Nagash and the skaven empire, Nagash’s lieutenants and prince Alcadizzar. Nagash uses four sub leaders in his war against the skaven, but they are quite bland, especially if one compares them to Arkhan the black, they felt pointless in a series with so many great characters they stood out. For many gods sake, this book managed to make a Skaven warlord seem likable! Then there is Alcadizzar, he is just too perfect to be likable, he is the big hero Nagash supposedly needed as his dark mirror. But he is bland, bland I tell you, only at the very end does he become a bit interesting and by then I barely care anymore. It is a shame because his fate is tragic but I simply was not engaged enough to be really moved at that point by his suffering. It says enough that I cared more about the Skaven at that point then about him.
So rise of Nagash what is there left to say; is it a good read for both warhammer fans and non fans? Yes it is especially the first book is great for everyone. The second and third are still good reads, there is fun to be found here but like a dish whose spices don’t quite mix well, it leaves you with a feeling that it could have been so much more.
July 5, 2015
Hate and Love, such simple concepts but it drives anyone or anything to do the near impossible, but on a fantasy setting, it can create Gods or in this case a God!!
Nagash once a simple hierophant, smitten or in this case lusting for his sister in law, found a way to become something else: a lich , gaining more power from becoming an undead, he was able to even challenge his gods and prevail but alas as in every realm/world/universe, his undoing was a mere mortal, a human with the same greed as his but without love or hate!!!!
Second book, again Nagash sought another way to obtain power to destroy those whom he felt betrayed him and found it in a mystical green stone that fell to their world from the heavens, again he almost succeeded but this time he was held back by an entire army of rats or skaven in this world, negotiating with the rats he was preparing for........
Third book, here we meet another of the characters that makes this world interesting, a queen, Neferata of Lahmia, who at first wanted nothing more but to make her nation the strongest, sensing that it was not
to be also gave in to her love of her nation and hatred against those that would pull her down, and bbecame its first female vampire(just a guess), ruling it and furthering her reach, and then came the last oof the characters who I felt had this 2 basic emotion and made this novel a truly good read Alcadizzar, wwhile still in his mother's womb, receive Neferata's blood and became something else, a
human that brought Neferata's rule down and also succeeded in repulsing Nagash's attack.
In the end Alcadizzar was also brought low by this two basic emotion, love for his family enabled Nagash to completely eradicate everything except him, Alcadizzar's hatred of Nagash was able to do what no one was able to: Stop Nagash completely!!! THE END!??????
Nagash once a simple hierophant, smitten or in this case lusting for his sister in law, found a way to become something else: a lich , gaining more power from becoming an undead, he was able to even challenge his gods and prevail but alas as in every realm/world/universe, his undoing was a mere mortal, a human with the same greed as his but without love or hate!!!!
Second book, again Nagash sought another way to obtain power to destroy those whom he felt betrayed him and found it in a mystical green stone that fell to their world from the heavens, again he almost succeeded but this time he was held back by an entire army of rats or skaven in this world, negotiating with the rats he was preparing for........
Third book, here we meet another of the characters that makes this world interesting, a queen, Neferata of Lahmia, who at first wanted nothing more but to make her nation the strongest, sensing that it was not
to be also gave in to her love of her nation and hatred against those that would pull her down, and bbecame its first female vampire(just a guess), ruling it and furthering her reach, and then came the last oof the characters who I felt had this 2 basic emotion and made this novel a truly good read Alcadizzar, wwhile still in his mother's womb, receive Neferata's blood and became something else, a
human that brought Neferata's rule down and also succeeded in repulsing Nagash's attack.
In the end Alcadizzar was also brought low by this two basic emotion, love for his family enabled Nagash to completely eradicate everything except him, Alcadizzar's hatred of Nagash was able to do what no one was able to: Stop Nagash completely!!! THE END!??????
August 5, 2015
It's hard to write interesting plots from the perspective of the undead, even their most soulful incarnation in the form of vampires, but this was done well. I avoided reading this "End Times" series since this universe is already quite grim-dark and it'd just be even more so, but actually it's pretty fun to watch everything be doomed and the various characters play their part, rail against their fate, or otherwise react to the end. So, I liked this book and I'm curious to read more by this author.
January 5, 2015
Awesome book, with a truly evil villain, Not a single redeeming feature except for his commitment to evil. It was a nice change.
The ending was a bit blunt though in my opinion.
The ending was a bit blunt though in my opinion.
November 8, 2012
This is, as far as I'm aware, the final section in the base tale of the 'time of legends' setting for the Warhammer world along with 'The legend of Sigmar' and 'The Sundering.' All of these as a whole have basically covered the history of a full fantasy setting spanning a countless amount of time. ...Nagash focuses on the named character, god and legend himself, from his beginnings coming into power onwards and the world he lives in on a much larger scale.
The big problem that I found starting off with this omnibus is the sheer amount of information there is to take in, and with the added complexity of such a huge setting running over two separate time lines and panning approximately 600 years makes this very hard to keep up with. Not saying that this is not worth the initial effort, to be fair it could not be more the opposite. A good help in keeping up is also is the note of the time and location of each chapter which is essential information. There is also a very useful guide to the bloodlines of key characters at the back of this book, the time scales are set in a sort of Egyptian 12 year calendar cycle and also knowing that the average lifespan of a human in this time is around 150 years, which lends well to the scale of storytelling and also the idea that this is a long forgotten 'golden age of men' so to speak.
Using a basis in Egyptian historical mythology was very unexpected but has lent a great explanation to make for such a grand setting. There is a lot of reference to deities of every variety imaginable, slave races, and a thoroughly believable hierarchy all firmly set in place and also a long list of changing characters which in any other sort of tale you would expect to dilute what is on offer but in this instance works very much to the advantage of being able to portray Nagash transitioning from a devious, power hungry mortal to the 'Lord of the Undead' that he becomes. The use of races outside of human is done to perfection, earlier use of the lizard men leading well into the show stealing dealings with the 'Skaven' which are so far my favourite part in Warhammer history. The dialogue and pace of events throughout is exceptionally well played out and a pleasure to read to the point where reading through the battle scenes, which were to any standard very well portrayed, became almost a distraction from the real enjoyment of this novel.
I openly confess to being quite the novice when it comes to the Warhammer universe but also a very interested fan and in 'The Rise of Nagash' Mike Lee has taken on a particularly tough challenge and came out of the other side smelling of roses.
The big problem that I found starting off with this omnibus is the sheer amount of information there is to take in, and with the added complexity of such a huge setting running over two separate time lines and panning approximately 600 years makes this very hard to keep up with. Not saying that this is not worth the initial effort, to be fair it could not be more the opposite. A good help in keeping up is also is the note of the time and location of each chapter which is essential information. There is also a very useful guide to the bloodlines of key characters at the back of this book, the time scales are set in a sort of Egyptian 12 year calendar cycle and also knowing that the average lifespan of a human in this time is around 150 years, which lends well to the scale of storytelling and also the idea that this is a long forgotten 'golden age of men' so to speak.
Using a basis in Egyptian historical mythology was very unexpected but has lent a great explanation to make for such a grand setting. There is a lot of reference to deities of every variety imaginable, slave races, and a thoroughly believable hierarchy all firmly set in place and also a long list of changing characters which in any other sort of tale you would expect to dilute what is on offer but in this instance works very much to the advantage of being able to portray Nagash transitioning from a devious, power hungry mortal to the 'Lord of the Undead' that he becomes. The use of races outside of human is done to perfection, earlier use of the lizard men leading well into the show stealing dealings with the 'Skaven' which are so far my favourite part in Warhammer history. The dialogue and pace of events throughout is exceptionally well played out and a pleasure to read to the point where reading through the battle scenes, which were to any standard very well portrayed, became almost a distraction from the real enjoyment of this novel.
I openly confess to being quite the novice when it comes to the Warhammer universe but also a very interested fan and in 'The Rise of Nagash' Mike Lee has taken on a particularly tough challenge and came out of the other side smelling of roses.
December 7, 2013
The collected versions of Nagash the Sorcerer, Nagash the Unbroken and Nagash Immortals, part of the Time of Legends series that flushes out the backstory to the Warhammer world. The Rise of Nagash deals with how the Undead, Necromancy and Vampires came into the world via Nagash a priest of an ancient land who breaks every vow and law to seize power and become "The Undying King".
Let me save you some time. After 1000 pages it comes down to this, Nagash is a prick. He was born a prick, he grew up to become a bigger prick until he reached his goal of being the biggest prick of all. Fans might find some value in it but as an introduction to Warhammer (which it was for me) The Rise of Nagash has too many faults. Nagash is uninteresting, his Lt. Arkhan the Black is a generic scheming henchman in the first novel, has some real depth and poignancy in the second before being offed and than comes back in the third as Nagashs Lt again. The Protagonists of the first book are all dead of old age half way through the second. There replacements first with Queen Neferata than with Alcadizzar don't command any feeling from this reader. Neferata quickly devolves into a scheming bitch with bullshit magic powers that kicked me out of the story (namely as a Vampire she's so seductive that an entire army starts murdering itself for her approval which also breaks the show don't tell rule) and Alcadizzar comes in to late to make much of an impact (the third book). Surprisnglt the only characters (other than Arkhan briefly in the second book) that I found myself invested in where Lord Eekrit and Lord Eshreegar, a Skaven (subterranean Rat-Men) and his right hand that battle Nagash's armies for most of the third book in a straight up evil VS evil fight. There scheming bastards who do evil things and yet I found that I was more invested in Eekrit as a character than anyone else, which is why his disappearance for the last 200 pages was disappointing until he and Eshreegar show up at the end to wrap things up in a neat little package.
I'm going to say unless your already a Warhammer fan give this miss. However if Mike Lee or someone at Black Library decides to write the further adventures of Eekrit and Eshreegar I'd be all over that.
Let me save you some time. After 1000 pages it comes down to this, Nagash is a prick. He was born a prick, he grew up to become a bigger prick until he reached his goal of being the biggest prick of all. Fans might find some value in it but as an introduction to Warhammer (which it was for me) The Rise of Nagash has too many faults. Nagash is uninteresting, his Lt. Arkhan the Black is a generic scheming henchman in the first novel, has some real depth and poignancy in the second before being offed and than comes back in the third as Nagashs Lt again. The Protagonists of the first book are all dead of old age half way through the second. There replacements first with Queen Neferata than with Alcadizzar don't command any feeling from this reader. Neferata quickly devolves into a scheming bitch with bullshit magic powers that kicked me out of the story (namely as a Vampire she's so seductive that an entire army starts murdering itself for her approval which also breaks the show don't tell rule) and Alcadizzar comes in to late to make much of an impact (the third book). Surprisnglt the only characters (other than Arkhan briefly in the second book) that I found myself invested in where Lord Eekrit and Lord Eshreegar, a Skaven (subterranean Rat-Men) and his right hand that battle Nagash's armies for most of the third book in a straight up evil VS evil fight. There scheming bastards who do evil things and yet I found that I was more invested in Eekrit as a character than anyone else, which is why his disappearance for the last 200 pages was disappointing until he and Eshreegar show up at the end to wrap things up in a neat little package.
I'm going to say unless your already a Warhammer fan give this miss. However if Mike Lee or someone at Black Library decides to write the further adventures of Eekrit and Eshreegar I'd be all over that.
July 10, 2013
This is my first entry into the Warhammer universe. Following the life of this particularly evil character is a riveting experience and now I can't wait to learn more about the Warhammer lore.
September 18, 2022
I love both the Warhammer and 40,000 universes, and after finishing the Horus Heresy I purchased this book along with the Vampire Wars and ghouls books not expecting to be disappointed, and I wasn't.
Although the book can jump around a bit it allows exciting bits to shine while others fall into a lull and vice versa, this helps to keep your interest in the valleys between action.
The end of the first book is when things really start to heat up with the political twists and turns beginning.
But damn I got sucked in by the spy twist. All the signs were there, but I suspect the patsy, which is what the author wanted me to think... well played.
I really love a book that is able to fool me like that and I felt the same sting that the king did.
I even had to flip back a few pages to catch all the subtle hints. Its will be one of those 'sixth sense' things, where I'll never be able to read this book the same again.
The second and third books follow a pretty similar line to the first, there is a little bit more political wrangling (although less than I'd like) but the real standout here is the introduction of the Skaven. By far they added the most to the story line.
The only downside is now I've purchased all the Skaven books as well and I'm more inclined to read them than the Vampires continuation. I highly recommend the book if you like fantasy, or the Warhammer games.
Fiction as it really should be, and if you are spoiled for choice this is definitely a go to over lord of the rings, Dune or any of the others. Such a rich world.
Although the book can jump around a bit it allows exciting bits to shine while others fall into a lull and vice versa, this helps to keep your interest in the valleys between action.
The end of the first book is when things really start to heat up with the political twists and turns beginning.
But damn I got sucked in by the spy twist. All the signs were there, but I suspect the patsy, which is what the author wanted me to think... well played.
I really love a book that is able to fool me like that and I felt the same sting that the king did.
I even had to flip back a few pages to catch all the subtle hints. Its will be one of those 'sixth sense' things, where I'll never be able to read this book the same again.
The second and third books follow a pretty similar line to the first, there is a little bit more political wrangling (although less than I'd like) but the real standout here is the introduction of the Skaven. By far they added the most to the story line.
The only downside is now I've purchased all the Skaven books as well and I'm more inclined to read them than the Vampires continuation. I highly recommend the book if you like fantasy, or the Warhammer games.
Fiction as it really should be, and if you are spoiled for choice this is definitely a go to over lord of the rings, Dune or any of the others. Such a rich world.
August 10, 2021
I'm going to call this one quits here, about 80% done with it
The only thing that elevates this from one to two stars is that every once in a while something genuinely interesting would happen. Nagash's rise, Neferata, and Arkhan the Black carried this story. These are compelling/interesting characters.
The rest is dreadful exposition. Battle scenes are ridiculously drawn out and not particularly interesting until the end of the sequence, and that's only for the first book. The more you read, the more boring it gets to read. And by the time Nagash is warring with the Skaven it becomes a joke. I don't remember how many times I read something along the lines of "We almost got beat but we held them off at the last second at great cost. Now we have the advantage and will win the war with this final stroke" only to have the same thing happen again, but it was way too many.
Again, the exposition. Random stuff about Alcadizaar falling in love and killing the girl, exposition about Neferata being sad, exposition about the history of the bandits in the desert. I'm currently reading David Weber's Safehold series, and though his infodumps make Mike Lee's look paltry, I think the main difference lies in technique and originality.
I might try finishing it later just to see what happens to Nagash and Neferata, but at this point it feels like I'm just trying to punish myself every time I open that book.
The only thing that elevates this from one to two stars is that every once in a while something genuinely interesting would happen. Nagash's rise, Neferata, and Arkhan the Black carried this story. These are compelling/interesting characters.
The rest is dreadful exposition. Battle scenes are ridiculously drawn out and not particularly interesting until the end of the sequence, and that's only for the first book. The more you read, the more boring it gets to read. And by the time Nagash is warring with the Skaven it becomes a joke. I don't remember how many times I read something along the lines of "We almost got beat but we held them off at the last second at great cost. Now we have the advantage and will win the war with this final stroke" only to have the same thing happen again, but it was way too many.
Again, the exposition. Random stuff about Alcadizaar falling in love and killing the girl, exposition about Neferata being sad, exposition about the history of the bandits in the desert. I'm currently reading David Weber's Safehold series, and though his infodumps make Mike Lee's look paltry, I think the main difference lies in technique and originality.
I might try finishing it later just to see what happens to Nagash and Neferata, but at this point it feels like I'm just trying to punish myself every time I open that book.
August 10, 2019
This was my first Warhammer book I've ever read, and I'm thankful to Creative Assembly's Total War Warhammer 2 and of course Games Workshop for creating the Tomb Kings, a fantasy version of ancient Egypt and it's many faschinating characters that peaked my interest enough to spend hours reading wikipedia about them, and ultimately buying my first Warhammer Fantasy book.
That said, after several more books I've read from this universe, the Rise of Nagash trilogy is definitely far from being that good. My main issue with it is that the writer very strictly divided all 3 books in two: two different stories far from each other in either time (historically speaking) or space, and these stories collide by the end of each book for a grand finalé. Which is a good concept, but sadly one storyline (essentially half of a book) is a painfully slow, pointless, clearly time filler boring trash in 2 out of 3 books. The story progresses through multiple generations and tells how the Nehekaran culture, a blooming, rich fantasy equivalent of Egypt ends, leaving only bones and dust behind to rise as the Tomb Kings thousands of years later - this is the backstory of a civilization's death.
The first book's two storylines are actually quite interesting: you start off with Nagash waging war on the united armies of Nehekaras various cities, overwhelming them with such raw power and number of undead soldiers, tactics beyond what was thought possible (what good city walls do when the buried inside them become soldiers of your enemy? Suddenly a whole city is caged) before. The next chapter we travel back in time hundreds of years and see Nagash and his family as mere humans, and we follow him on the path of discovering immortality and dark magic, planning and executing a political coup, just to see him rise to power by the last chapter of this story, and by the time you reach this point in the book you've already read all the horrors he has done in the future with all that power, all the terrible wars and losses he brought upon Nehekara. So by the end of the book, we see him rise to power in the past - and see his last stand immediately in the next chapter.
The second book's two storylines are separated in space: one follows a lone wanderer in the desert far away from Nehekara, who's identity I'm not revealing to avoid spoilers. The other one is about Neferata - queen of Lahmia, only in title as she is a pawn and forced lover of the king, her own brother, who is a delusional moron leading Lahmia down on the path of poverty and selling it's power for dirt. Neferata's story is a desperate cry for help of a woman who feels trapped in her own life, unable to do what she belives would be best for her beloved city, finding peace and love only in raising her cousin Khalida as her own. It's a wonderful story about the sorrow of a powerful woman who feels powerless, and her finding a way - and some surpsing allies - to overcome the incompetent but powerful people in a culture where being a woman meant you are second grade citizen at best. I bet feminists would love her story, but the great thing is there is NOTHING that would even remotely feel like a feminist propaganda here, it's very character and personality development arc centralized and not judging of a different culture. But of course, those who pick up this book do so because they are interested in it's characters - meaning even before you pick it up, you are guaranteed aware that Neferata will end up as the first vampire in history unwillingly, and she will become much worse of a horror to her own beloved people, family and love interest than anything else before her. It's a sad, tragic story of her rise and downfall, wonderfully executed with subtle changes of personality over time. Too bad this is only half of book two, equally long as the desert wanderer's story which is the most painfully boring, time consuming filler I've ever had the misfortune to read. All because the writer wouldn't let go of the "one chapter for this story, one for the other" structure. The whole other part is a long explanation and set up of how a big bad guy will end up having another army in the third book, with nobody-cares-about onedimensional sidecharacters and exploring some small tribal culture that doesn't even exist in the Warhammer universe, it was made up so they can get wiped out and become another army of skeletons. Ugh. If I ever re-read this, I'll skip half of the book.
Thankfully the third book is much better again - it connects story elements from all 4 storyline in the previous 2 books, told through the eyes of Alcadizzar, a new main character who is very much loveable and goes through significant personality development from naive boy to wise king, through a lifetime of adventure and being hunted, he'll be the one to finally unite all of Nehekara's city states against the threat that would kill them all, and then turn it's eyes to the rest of the world until it is nothing but a wasteland of death to rule over. Will he be able to put a stop to it? What is the price of it? Knowing what you know already from this review, these questions you may think you know the answer for, but let me tell you, you don't, and you are in for a lot surprises and beautiful endings if you like that not everything is a happy end. The book says farewell to pretty much everyone - but a handful of them manages to get away and survive. But who? This all sounds great, until we have to talk about the other storyline in the book - that is another boring as f_ck war and battle descriptions far away, to keep a certain character busy until the other story develops further and places the right people in the right spot. Problem is the same: both stories are equally long. To add insult to injury, literally both sides grow tired and bored of warring each other, waaay after I did as the reader, and that's the conclusion of it so a key character can finally move on and actually participate in the big finalé, that was definitely worth it to eat myself through those fillers and not put down the book.
The Rise of Nagash trilogy is very divisive for me. It's 3 books, and 6 stories. 3,5 of those stories are great, 2,5 is my reading "career" 's worst filler battle descriptions and sulking alone in the darkness ever. That's 65% great, 35% bad. Which is why the book gets 3 stars from me.
That said, after several more books I've read from this universe, the Rise of Nagash trilogy is definitely far from being that good. My main issue with it is that the writer very strictly divided all 3 books in two: two different stories far from each other in either time (historically speaking) or space, and these stories collide by the end of each book for a grand finalé. Which is a good concept, but sadly one storyline (essentially half of a book) is a painfully slow, pointless, clearly time filler boring trash in 2 out of 3 books. The story progresses through multiple generations and tells how the Nehekaran culture, a blooming, rich fantasy equivalent of Egypt ends, leaving only bones and dust behind to rise as the Tomb Kings thousands of years later - this is the backstory of a civilization's death.
The first book's two storylines are actually quite interesting: you start off with Nagash waging war on the united armies of Nehekaras various cities, overwhelming them with such raw power and number of undead soldiers, tactics beyond what was thought possible (what good city walls do when the buried inside them become soldiers of your enemy? Suddenly a whole city is caged) before. The next chapter we travel back in time hundreds of years and see Nagash and his family as mere humans, and we follow him on the path of discovering immortality and dark magic, planning and executing a political coup, just to see him rise to power by the last chapter of this story, and by the time you reach this point in the book you've already read all the horrors he has done in the future with all that power, all the terrible wars and losses he brought upon Nehekara. So by the end of the book, we see him rise to power in the past - and see his last stand immediately in the next chapter.
The second book's two storylines are separated in space: one follows a lone wanderer in the desert far away from Nehekara, who's identity I'm not revealing to avoid spoilers. The other one is about Neferata - queen of Lahmia, only in title as she is a pawn and forced lover of the king, her own brother, who is a delusional moron leading Lahmia down on the path of poverty and selling it's power for dirt. Neferata's story is a desperate cry for help of a woman who feels trapped in her own life, unable to do what she belives would be best for her beloved city, finding peace and love only in raising her cousin Khalida as her own. It's a wonderful story about the sorrow of a powerful woman who feels powerless, and her finding a way - and some surpsing allies - to overcome the incompetent but powerful people in a culture where being a woman meant you are second grade citizen at best. I bet feminists would love her story, but the great thing is there is NOTHING that would even remotely feel like a feminist propaganda here, it's very character and personality development arc centralized and not judging of a different culture. But of course, those who pick up this book do so because they are interested in it's characters - meaning even before you pick it up, you are guaranteed aware that Neferata will end up as the first vampire in history unwillingly, and she will become much worse of a horror to her own beloved people, family and love interest than anything else before her. It's a sad, tragic story of her rise and downfall, wonderfully executed with subtle changes of personality over time. Too bad this is only half of book two, equally long as the desert wanderer's story which is the most painfully boring, time consuming filler I've ever had the misfortune to read. All because the writer wouldn't let go of the "one chapter for this story, one for the other" structure. The whole other part is a long explanation and set up of how a big bad guy will end up having another army in the third book, with nobody-cares-about onedimensional sidecharacters and exploring some small tribal culture that doesn't even exist in the Warhammer universe, it was made up so they can get wiped out and become another army of skeletons. Ugh. If I ever re-read this, I'll skip half of the book.
Thankfully the third book is much better again - it connects story elements from all 4 storyline in the previous 2 books, told through the eyes of Alcadizzar, a new main character who is very much loveable and goes through significant personality development from naive boy to wise king, through a lifetime of adventure and being hunted, he'll be the one to finally unite all of Nehekara's city states against the threat that would kill them all, and then turn it's eyes to the rest of the world until it is nothing but a wasteland of death to rule over. Will he be able to put a stop to it? What is the price of it? Knowing what you know already from this review, these questions you may think you know the answer for, but let me tell you, you don't, and you are in for a lot surprises and beautiful endings if you like that not everything is a happy end. The book says farewell to pretty much everyone - but a handful of them manages to get away and survive. But who? This all sounds great, until we have to talk about the other storyline in the book - that is another boring as f_ck war and battle descriptions far away, to keep a certain character busy until the other story develops further and places the right people in the right spot. Problem is the same: both stories are equally long. To add insult to injury, literally both sides grow tired and bored of warring each other, waaay after I did as the reader, and that's the conclusion of it so a key character can finally move on and actually participate in the big finalé, that was definitely worth it to eat myself through those fillers and not put down the book.
The Rise of Nagash trilogy is very divisive for me. It's 3 books, and 6 stories. 3,5 of those stories are great, 2,5 is my reading "career" 's worst filler battle descriptions and sulking alone in the darkness ever. That's 65% great, 35% bad. Which is why the book gets 3 stars from me.
March 24, 2020
The true beginning of the cataclysmic ""End Times" where Games Workshop destroyed the beloved Old World prior to introducing the Age of Sigmar.
Any book that deals with the undead attempting to return their own progenitor is going to be nihiilistic in tone and depressing in outlook That is certainly a fair description of this book, which deals with the matter in a rreadable and enjoyable way.
Mike Lee does a good job of making the protagonists entertaining. Mannfred is particularly enjouyable as he schemes and deals with attempts at usurpation. His alliiance of conveinience with the liche Arkhan the Black is the central theme of he book and is carried out well.
On the negative side I have to say that since you know what is going to happen then the battle scenes, no matter how well wiritten lack a real punch. You know the bad guys are going to win so any Elf, Empire or Bretonnian characters are probably only being introduced to be killed in a nasty way. This prevents much chance of buiding empathy with the characters and does eemean the experience in my mind.
All in all, a good start to the story.
Any book that deals with the undead attempting to return their own progenitor is going to be nihiilistic in tone and depressing in outlook That is certainly a fair description of this book, which deals with the matter in a rreadable and enjoyable way.
Mike Lee does a good job of making the protagonists entertaining. Mannfred is particularly enjouyable as he schemes and deals with attempts at usurpation. His alliiance of conveinience with the liche Arkhan the Black is the central theme of he book and is carried out well.
On the negative side I have to say that since you know what is going to happen then the battle scenes, no matter how well wiritten lack a real punch. You know the bad guys are going to win so any Elf, Empire or Bretonnian characters are probably only being introduced to be killed in a nasty way. This prevents much chance of buiding empathy with the characters and does eemean the experience in my mind.
All in all, a good start to the story.
April 3, 2020
One of the worst books from the Black Library I have ever read. I say read, I didnt finish it all, as it was so devoid of fun or interest I just gave up. I don't recall ever giving up on a book I read over a 100 pages off before, normally I will just see it through and consider it an experience. But this was something else. The set up is typical for a lot of Warhammer books, 2 stories going along at the same time. One of them is the worlds most boring battle, in which pages are dedicated to troop formations no one cares about and have so little pay off. The other half is a personal account of the Warhammer necromantic accountant. He lacks any vim or joy in what he does. He is evil man, evil man do evil things, but no joy in evil, simply do. Plenty of better Warhammer novels to choose from, unless you are a die hard fan of the tomb kings and enjoy boring, slow paced, meandering plots which read more like an encyclopedia entry than a story.
January 7, 2024
The first book is amazing 10/10, the second book is interesting but lays the groundwork for things to fall apart later 9/10. The third book is honestly a bit of a mess but by that point you’ve put in so much effort that Stockholm syndrome sets in. I didn’t care about the rats at all and the plot takes place entirely in the last 100 pages. They’re a pretty great hundred pages but it’s distinctly rushed 7/10. I had a lot of fun with this book but I would be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone.
September 15, 2014
The Rise of Nagash, written by Mike Lee, is a three-story big omnibus that concentrates on the formation of Warhammer's greatest and most powerful lich of all times - Nagash. The stories are a tale of 600 years long pursuit of this necromancer's quest for power, vengeance, and unstoppable immortality.
The first book details his earliest, most difficult beginnings, where he faces the entire empire that he was supposed to serve, the ancient Nehekhara. Through cruel cunning and calculation, Nagash, in his home city of Khemri, the grandest of them all, overthrows his royal family and threatens the Empire with unavoidable extinction. In 120+ years, Nagash, enslaves much of the Empire and destroys many cities. With their doom, he also decapitates the sanctimonious link between the Nehekharans and the old gods. With these two deeds, he brings this mighty and proud land to it's knees, bleeding and begging for mercy.
However, Nagash is miraculously defeated, and that is the first book's end. The second book focuses on Nehekhara's restoration after Nagash's dreadful war, mostly led by the city of Lahmia, who becomes the new Khemri of Nehekhara. The royal family leads the entire land in brilliant political and economical schemes, holding the land's balance for the sake of their city's prosperity. The queen, Neferata, who becomes a revolutionary for becoming the first female absolutist, also learns secrets of Nagash's longevity. Betrayed and poisoned by her brother, the king, Neferata is then resurrected as a first vampire of Warhammer,leading her to rule Lahmia and Nehekhara for centuries to come.
On the other side of the story, Nagash survived his destruction, slowly regenerating his strengths and magical powers. Finding a new source of magic in the northern mountains, he dominates the tribes surrounding the new resource, learns of it's potential, and becomes even more powerful and terrible then he was 200 years ago. At the end of the second book, when Neferata is revealed as the first vampire, Nagash begins creating a new home and a base of operations for Nehekhara's destruction, that is still his grand dream.
The third and last volume details the climax of everything - it begins with Nagash creating a large, very powerful army of deathly, undead servants, ready to crush Nehekhara to dust. But he is stopped by a long, 120 years war with the Skaven, who found, through a treachery of Nagash's servant, the resource of Nagash that they use as well. In this campaign, Nagash is numerously almost defeated, but through his own cunning, mercilessness, and calculations, he defeats the Skaven and all the traitors, while enslaving the rat race to trade with him as a means to end the war. When this long ordeal is finished, he finally creates a massive legion with which he wants to destroy his ancient enemies.
The story is again split for Lahmia as well. Neferata, more and more ambitious with each passing year, plans to dominate Nehekhara through vampiric enthralling. Using a prince that looks to be the second greatest king of all, right next to Settra, she almost reaches her goal - until she realizes that her prize is strong enough to resist her spells. Fleeing and escaping the city, Alcadizzar, the new Settra-like ruler, plans to reveal Lahmia's horrible secrets, and so he does with success. It takes a lot of time, more than 80 years of daring tactics and planning, but ultimately, Alcadizzar succeeds, unites the cities of Nehekhara, storms Lahmia, and defeats Neferata. Unfortunately, the vampires escape, but their domination is finally broken.
Nagash however, attacks 40 years later after the victory. In two years, the entire desert land is brought into an ultimate, fateful conflict, in which Alcadizzar emerges victorious - but the victory is short-lived. Knowing that destroying Nagash means his own death, Alcadizzar finally breaks under the spell of his dreams of peace and prosperity, and hides from his fate.
That is used by Nagash when he unleashes a second attack upon Nehekhara, in which he finally decimates the empire. In a heart-wrenching, shocking description, Nagash obliterates the entire land. Every city is destroyed, every piece of this place's culture turned to dust. But with this victory, a very surprising, unsuspecting climax of this omnibus appears - in a form of the lich's horrifying banishment and the saviour's ultimate fall to madness.
This 600 years span of an intriguing story was no easy feat for Mr. Lee, even if he had the fun of writing it. Fortunately, Mike Lee has a writing style that makes this story a brilliant content, filled with surprises, shocks, and revelations that truly stand out in the omnibus. The description of battles and political conflicts is rich and with a chemistry that speaks of logical and almost surgical precision, saving these stories from any inconsistency or flaws. For such a long material, it is very important that such a thing is kept from beginning till the end.
With little grammatical errors, excellent story-telling and expanding the history of Nehekhara, Mike Lee gives us an amazing read, a trilogy that will long be remembered in the minds of fans of the fantasy Warhammer. It's length is it's strength, as well as everything you'd want from such a story - interesting characters, stunning descriptions, and satisfying, even if bitter-sweet climaxes. It is a work worthy of your collection and every penny spent. Definitely recommendable!
The first book details his earliest, most difficult beginnings, where he faces the entire empire that he was supposed to serve, the ancient Nehekhara. Through cruel cunning and calculation, Nagash, in his home city of Khemri, the grandest of them all, overthrows his royal family and threatens the Empire with unavoidable extinction. In 120+ years, Nagash, enslaves much of the Empire and destroys many cities. With their doom, he also decapitates the sanctimonious link between the Nehekharans and the old gods. With these two deeds, he brings this mighty and proud land to it's knees, bleeding and begging for mercy.
However, Nagash is miraculously defeated, and that is the first book's end. The second book focuses on Nehekhara's restoration after Nagash's dreadful war, mostly led by the city of Lahmia, who becomes the new Khemri of Nehekhara. The royal family leads the entire land in brilliant political and economical schemes, holding the land's balance for the sake of their city's prosperity. The queen, Neferata, who becomes a revolutionary for becoming the first female absolutist, also learns secrets of Nagash's longevity. Betrayed and poisoned by her brother, the king, Neferata is then resurrected as a first vampire of Warhammer,leading her to rule Lahmia and Nehekhara for centuries to come.
On the other side of the story, Nagash survived his destruction, slowly regenerating his strengths and magical powers. Finding a new source of magic in the northern mountains, he dominates the tribes surrounding the new resource, learns of it's potential, and becomes even more powerful and terrible then he was 200 years ago. At the end of the second book, when Neferata is revealed as the first vampire, Nagash begins creating a new home and a base of operations for Nehekhara's destruction, that is still his grand dream.
The third and last volume details the climax of everything - it begins with Nagash creating a large, very powerful army of deathly, undead servants, ready to crush Nehekhara to dust. But he is stopped by a long, 120 years war with the Skaven, who found, through a treachery of Nagash's servant, the resource of Nagash that they use as well. In this campaign, Nagash is numerously almost defeated, but through his own cunning, mercilessness, and calculations, he defeats the Skaven and all the traitors, while enslaving the rat race to trade with him as a means to end the war. When this long ordeal is finished, he finally creates a massive legion with which he wants to destroy his ancient enemies.
The story is again split for Lahmia as well. Neferata, more and more ambitious with each passing year, plans to dominate Nehekhara through vampiric enthralling. Using a prince that looks to be the second greatest king of all, right next to Settra, she almost reaches her goal - until she realizes that her prize is strong enough to resist her spells. Fleeing and escaping the city, Alcadizzar, the new Settra-like ruler, plans to reveal Lahmia's horrible secrets, and so he does with success. It takes a lot of time, more than 80 years of daring tactics and planning, but ultimately, Alcadizzar succeeds, unites the cities of Nehekhara, storms Lahmia, and defeats Neferata. Unfortunately, the vampires escape, but their domination is finally broken.
Nagash however, attacks 40 years later after the victory. In two years, the entire desert land is brought into an ultimate, fateful conflict, in which Alcadizzar emerges victorious - but the victory is short-lived. Knowing that destroying Nagash means his own death, Alcadizzar finally breaks under the spell of his dreams of peace and prosperity, and hides from his fate.
That is used by Nagash when he unleashes a second attack upon Nehekhara, in which he finally decimates the empire. In a heart-wrenching, shocking description, Nagash obliterates the entire land. Every city is destroyed, every piece of this place's culture turned to dust. But with this victory, a very surprising, unsuspecting climax of this omnibus appears - in a form of the lich's horrifying banishment and the saviour's ultimate fall to madness.
This 600 years span of an intriguing story was no easy feat for Mr. Lee, even if he had the fun of writing it. Fortunately, Mike Lee has a writing style that makes this story a brilliant content, filled with surprises, shocks, and revelations that truly stand out in the omnibus. The description of battles and political conflicts is rich and with a chemistry that speaks of logical and almost surgical precision, saving these stories from any inconsistency or flaws. For such a long material, it is very important that such a thing is kept from beginning till the end.
With little grammatical errors, excellent story-telling and expanding the history of Nehekhara, Mike Lee gives us an amazing read, a trilogy that will long be remembered in the minds of fans of the fantasy Warhammer. It's length is it's strength, as well as everything you'd want from such a story - interesting characters, stunning descriptions, and satisfying, even if bitter-sweet climaxes. It is a work worthy of your collection and every penny spent. Definitely recommendable!
November 30, 2017
I rather enjoyed this, though must admit that I've always preferred Games Workshop in 'Fantasy Battle' mode rather than '40K'. Not always an 'easy' read, and not exactly a 'happy ending', but what can one expect from the three volume biography of a world's primal Necromancer?
Entertaining enough. Imagine Brian Lumley's 'Vampyre World' with less gratuitous teeth & ass.
Entertaining enough. Imagine Brian Lumley's 'Vampyre World' with less gratuitous teeth & ass.
June 22, 2025
epic and huge tale.
don't let the confusing and all over the place battles of the first half of the first book throw you off.
The second and third books are a lot better and more focused once you get into the story.
don't let the confusing and all over the place battles of the first half of the first book throw you off.
The second and third books are a lot better and more focused once you get into the story.
January 19, 2019
I think the 2nd book in here was the best one. I loved everything about this omnibus ❤
September 15, 2021
One of the best books I ever read.
June 23, 2024
Took me a while to finish this one! Fantastic regardless epic story with high stakes and all the usual fantasy tropes! Really starting to love Mike Lee’s writing style.
February 10, 2025
Overall a very developed story arc. Only reason for 4 stars is that it seemed to get engrossed in details that were unrelated to the overall plot that made it feel tedious at times.
August 4, 2025
3 cześć równie dobra jak druga, całość rewelacyjna
August 5, 2025
A huge waste of time and a pointless sacrifice of trees.
March 25, 2016
A solid 5/5 stars on every novel in this omnibus collection!
Each story was a solid and fun adventure through the ancient world of warhammer, and having Mr. Mike Lee take us on this adventure of war and bloodshed, death and undeath, love and hate, was an absolute joy!
The actual Omnibus is a Monstrous beauty with fantastic artwork and page count to scare off most readers.
I wish it had the Picking the Bones short story in it as an added bonus, but I did love the Dramatis Personae and the bits on Nehekaran culture at the very end there.
Thanks for the wild ride Mike Lee!
Nagash the Sorcerer:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nagash the Unbroken:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nagash Immortal:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Each story was a solid and fun adventure through the ancient world of warhammer, and having Mr. Mike Lee take us on this adventure of war and bloodshed, death and undeath, love and hate, was an absolute joy!
The actual Omnibus is a Monstrous beauty with fantastic artwork and page count to scare off most readers.
I wish it had the Picking the Bones short story in it as an added bonus, but I did love the Dramatis Personae and the bits on Nehekaran culture at the very end there.
Thanks for the wild ride Mike Lee!
Nagash the Sorcerer:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nagash the Unbroken:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nagash Immortal:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 15, 2014
This is a book that started strong, dragged ass in the middle, then finished far too quickly. While a rousing good read I ended up not feeling for any of the characters, even the Messiah figure at the end of the book who was obviously supposed to be the inspirational hero that the reader identified with and felt for. He felt rather flat and emotionless.
Part of this has to do with the timespan of the three books in question. Six hundred years is a long time to tell a story but it also means that jumping around in time so much makes individual events seem less pressing to the overall story. It doesn't help that this is a Warhammer novel that most everyone who reads it already knows how it ends.
Part of this has to do with the timespan of the three books in question. Six hundred years is a long time to tell a story but it also means that jumping around in time so much makes individual events seem less pressing to the overall story. It doesn't help that this is a Warhammer novel that most everyone who reads it already knows how it ends.
October 24, 2020
Esta historia cuenta como el reino de Khemri acabo siendo lo que conocemos ahora. Sí, aunque se llame "el ascenso de Nagash", no va de su historia, aunque se explique.
Se siente como si Nagash fuese el antagonista y no el protagonista. Apenas aparece para mostrar lo malo que es, y sobre todo se muestran las consecuencias de sus órdenes o hechizos.
El libro en sí no está mal. Hay batallas y personajes interesantes, pero no va de Nagash, que encima se le representa como una fuerza de la naturaleza que es maligna porque es maligna, no a una persona que se convierte en algo más.
Lo recomiendo pero con el aviso de que no va de Nagash, sino de Khemri en sí.
Se siente como si Nagash fuese el antagonista y no el protagonista. Apenas aparece para mostrar lo malo que es, y sobre todo se muestran las consecuencias de sus órdenes o hechizos.
El libro en sí no está mal. Hay batallas y personajes interesantes, pero no va de Nagash, que encima se le representa como una fuerza de la naturaleza que es maligna porque es maligna, no a una persona que se convierte en algo más.
Lo recomiendo pero con el aviso de que no va de Nagash, sino de Khemri en sí.
May 30, 2015
Nagash is the anti hero. Really one of the first book where there is never an actual hero in the story. Nagash simply sinks deeper and deeper into his own power going from what some could say was an almost vampiric existence to becoming something not even resembling human in the slightest. The wars depicted are fast and furious, and in grand detail. I have never read something that incorporated so many different aspects of the warhammer setting so fluidly. Very fun read!
May 4, 2024
Very cool to get an in depth look into the beginnings of Nagash and all that occurred in Khemri during that time. I like that the focus of the book was Nagash but not only Nagash. You get a very real since of history and to how Khemri was before Nagash became Nagash. The later chapters on Lahmia and Neferata was good to read as well. Was very well written and I enjoyed reading this book start to finish. I highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of the Khemri and Nagash.
August 23, 2022
La mayor bazofia que he leído en años, casi extingue mi ilusión por leer.
Todo lo soluciona con un Deux Ex machine, "Esque es Nagash y contra todo pronóstico"
"Estaba todo perdido, era su fin, pero era Nagash y..." Tremenda basura, impresionante como son capaces de saltarse todas las partes que pueden interesar a los fans.
Todo lo soluciona con un Deux Ex machine, "Esque es Nagash y contra todo pronóstico"
"Estaba todo perdido, era su fin, pero era Nagash y..." Tremenda basura, impresionante como son capaces de saltarse todas las partes que pueden interesar a los fans.
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