The Great Betrayal

War of Vengeance #1

by Nick Kyme

Thousands of years before the rise of men, the dwarfs and elves are stalwart allies and enjoy a era of unrivalled peace and prosperity. But when dwarf trading caravans are attacked and their merchants slain, the elves are accused of betrayal. Quick to condemn the people of Ulthuan as traitors, the mountain lords nevertheless try to prevent conflict, but the elves' arrogance undoes any chance of reconciliation and war is inevitable. Snorri Halfhand, son of the High King and no particular friend of the elves, is at the vanguard of the war with his cousin Morgrim Blackbeard. At the city of Tor Alessi a vast army stands against the dwarfs. Here Snorri will meet his destiny against the elven King Caledor as the first blow is struck in a conflict that could bring about the fall of two great civilisations.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2012

About the author

Nick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review to come. I swear I'm actually going to type one up this time. :)

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read and showcased the dwarfs of the Warhammer Old World. The main character, Snorri Halfhand, alas, is not that interesting. He is angry and hates elves before he has any reason to, and that's his key feature. The other main character, Morgrim Bargrum, is more interesting. His role was to scold Snorri and give him good advice, which Snorri disregards.

What I hoped for was an opportunity to see how the dwarf and elven societies interacted before their great hatred and war. Unfortunately, that part is a small portion of this. Also, you don't really learn why they grew to hate each other. You get a sense that their hatred might have been engineered, but the elf/dwarf hatred is presented as inevitable. I would have appreciated a more thoughtful exploration of how they came to hate each other. Finishing this novel, you feel like the only explanation was "cultural reasons," which just isn't satisfying. Another problem: there were way too many characters for the length of the novel.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great account of the beginning of the Dwarf and Elf conflict and it origins! :D It shows clearly how things are manipulated but at the same time shows the confusion between the two races as to who is actually at fault and how this has been compounded by sides on both sides contributing to the escalation of events with many of them clearly being supremacists for their respective people while more moderate and even minded people strive to hold the peace together! :D

Characterisation is three-dimensional and you get to see the growing conflict from characters eyes that keeps a different perspective on things going on throughout the book! :D At the same time we get to see guest appearances by may different well known characters throughout and this helps to tie things together into overall chronologies! :D

At the same time their is the feeling of manipulation of events with some events pointing to a wider manipulation of events than is readily apparent to the Dwarfs and Elves that set thing s up for later events and at the same time goes a long way to showing that the stirring up between the two races has more to it than is apparent to the people on both sides! :D

Brilliant and highly recommended! :D

[Luke Nyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Nick Kyme is singularly gifted at writing from the dour and dutiful perspective of the dawi. This is yet another example of a gripping read that not only provides a metric bucketload of fluff for Warhammer fans such as myself, but also weaves a powerful story of conflict and, you guess it, betrayal.

I absolutely LOVE how many offhanded references to events that Warhammer fluff addicts would know about are provided in this book. Just little one-sentence remarks that, if you've read short stories from army books etc. you can immediately attribute a whole portion of Old World history to!

Also, I adore Nick's ability to subtly weave humor into the story without it detracting from the seriousness of what's going on. To name but a couple of non-spoiling examples: the miners' rhythmic work-song, "ho-hai, ho-hai, ho-hai..." and the digging of three tunnels "Thom, Grik and Ari".

Whether you're a veteran Warhammer fan, or just feel like finding out some of the reasoning behind the enmity between the dwarfs and elves; this makes for a bloody good read!

[Gavin Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a Warhammer stalwart and don't claim to have a great knowledge of the history and timeline of the setting, I do love a good fantasy novel and am lucky enough that I get books to review pretty often, so, here it is:
A stunning, detailed look at the history of the Dwarf and Elf races as a part of history in the Warhammer setting and an incredible start to explain why the two most interesting races in fantasy history (as far as I'm concerned) have a deep hatred for eachother. Throughout this novel Kyme has played on several focal points and side plots to create the start of a tale being told on a very grand, combining this with some genuinely epic battle scenes and well placed twists .
With so well written descriptive settings, interaction, and the introduction of essential characters and legends in the form of Snorri Halfhand, Malekith and of course the Elven King Caledor and his sword of equal legend. Kyme has surpassed expectations in the first part of 'the war of vengeance' series.
If you do have an interest in monsters, demons, war, magic or anything that makes fantasy worth reading about then this is possibly your next favourite novel. Now, all I need is a huge axe and a beard long enough to plait.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Damn fine read, and a wonderful addition to the Time of Legends range! I'd wager this to be Nick Kyme's best work(that I've read so far), and man the great war between the Dawi and Elves is starting amazingly! While the novel has tons of action, I really loved that most of it was the terrible diplomacy of trying to avert the war, rather than focusing on the war itself.
The characters were really Damn fun, each one written terrifically well and each grew in a way that felt real, which is an awesome feat for tie in fiction sometimes. The Dawi were awesome, though sometimes a little tough to tell apart on account of all the similar names and holds and whatnot. The Elves were real bastards too though, and you could go from loving Imaldrik to hating the race from one chapter to another. As a would be dwarf myself, the start of the War of the Beard was particularly heartbreaking.
Really good stuff, and I hope that the new Age of Sigmar can get this level of greatness in their fiction.

[David Earle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong opening to one of the darkest tales in the Warhammer World. Looking forward to seeing how the threads woven here will develop.

[Michael Haase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khazukan Kazakit-ha!

Grugni's arse this was a good read, assuming you like dwarves, that is (who doesn't?). The level of detail about them here is pretty astonishing! There are descriptions of the different clans and strongholds, details about the different guilds such as the runesmiths and engineers, different perspectives on their relationship with the elves, an in-depth view of their philosophies and mythology; basically everything you could want from a book about dwarves. Plus there are some great, memorable characters in here as well: Morgrim, the level-headed companion of the short-tempered prince, Snorri Halfhand; Gotrek Starbreaker, the prudent high-king who endeavors to keep the precarious situation of the dwarves from boiling over into full-scale war; Rundin, one of the skarrenawi, the detested dwarves of the hill, pledged in service to a corrupt king, torn between conflicting feelings of loyalty and righteousness; not to mention a whole bunch of others.

With the the level of effort put into world building with the map, the fascinating descriptions, and all the dwarven vocabulary, you get a good and authentic feeling of immersion. Just don't expect much about the elves because it's definitely a dwarf-oriented book (you'd have to be a thagging elgongi to care about that anyways).

Now, I'm not going to lie, there are some glaring issues with the plot (spoilers ahead).

For one thing, the war takes eight years to finally happen. You'd think in all that time the druchii would have thought of something to expedite the conflict, maybe attempt to assassinate a king or something like that. Instead, the thing that launches the war is the killing of a runesmith, who the druchii didn't even know about at the time. It was basically pure coincidence that he happened to be there when they ambushed.

And then after the war happens, the druchii are just chilling, sitting back, not doing anything at all. They don't attempt to kill literally any of the people they said they would, Liandra, Kaitar, no body. They just don't do anything. Kaitar is still hanging around even though they swore they'd kill him.

We also don't learn why they're even there, what the purpose of the war is supposed to be. We know Malekith is behind it but he doesn't make any appearances except in the prologue. Not even the druchii know why they're there.

Another character, Imladrik, also seems to disappear from the story after a certain point, which is sad because I was kind of interested to see what part he'd take in the conflict. As much as I love the dwarves, I was kind of hoping to see more from the elves perspective too. Maybe I'll get that in the next book.

For the most part though, this is a surprisingly solid read. Recommended if you're into dwarves.

[Mike O'brecht · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the world building is good, I found this book slow. It might be that I wasn’t in the reading mood, but it took me almost three months to read. Typically not a good sign.

With that said I want to finish the trilogy, but I think I need to get a break in between books to reset.

[Nessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. It took some time getting used to all the characters and the tone of the story, but I liked reading it

That ending was... Unexpected, but I kind of like it still.

[Leonardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good book about inevitable conflict, but this plot felt more solemn than I expected. A good entry into the backstory volumes.

[Abhinav · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can read the full review over at my blog:

https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...

Note: The War of Vengeance trilogy as it was originally concepted was retooled some time after the release of The Great Betrayal and after Chris Wraight’s companion trilogy from the Elf perspective, War of the Beard, was cancelled. The redefined trilogy is now a joint story from both perspectives.

Shadowhawk reviews the first novel in the new War of Vengeance trilogy for the Time of Legends meta-series.

“This is quite possibly Nick’s best work to date, better than even Nocturne perhaps. The only way to decide might be a novel deathmatch!” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields

I make no secret of the fact that I really enjoy Nick’s work, and that I hold his Tome of Fire trilogy to be some of the best Warhammer 40k fiction put out by Black Library in recent years. My first introduction to his work, the Warhammer Fantasy novel Oathbreaker, was a highly negative experience but most of the other stuff he’s written since then (that I’ve read) has impressed me. With The Great Betrayal, Nick has continued his streak of successes, and I am now a huge fan of the Warhammer variety of Dwarfs. In this novel, he has done a great job in exploring their culture, their society, their history, and their attitudes. Barring some odd stuff here and there, I could not have asked for a better novel to kick-start the long-awaited War of Vengeance trilogy, which is going to be complemented by Chris Wraight’s War of the Beard trilogy, which will tell of the great war between the Dwarfs and the High Elves from the latter’s perspective.

The central drive for this war between two of the elder races of the Warhammer world is that Malekith, formerly a great High Elf prince and now the bitter ruler of the Dark Elves, wants to destroy his former people completely. And to do this, he begins by staging false attacks by the Elves on Dwarf merchantmen, patrols, holds and villages. He uses his extensive knowledge of the Dwarfs and their empire, gained when he first came to their lands ages ago and befriended their then High King, and the result is utter mayhem and confusion. The entire event is one of the greatest tragedies in Warhammer history, a tragedy compounded by ignorance, ego, recklessness, and pride.

Participating in the entire debacle are Dwarfs from all levels of their society. One of the most central characters is Prince Snorri, son of High King Gotrek Starbreaker. The Prince is a man who is always in his father’s shadow, the Dwarf hero who crippled the Orcs and has led his people into a golden age of peace and prosperity. Snorri wants to prove himself as great a warrior as his father, but such a thing is impossible in times of peace, at a time when the Dwarfs are very much at the peak of their power. Initially Snorri seemed to be a mostly average character, but as Malekith’s treachery unfolds through his various agents, he grows into a very complex character. He straddles a very fine line between war and peace, a fulcrum balancing those who want vengeance on the Elves and those who want to prevent an all-out and destructive war that could cripple the Dwarf race for ages. For me, he was at his best when he was compassionate and friendly, whether with his cousin Morgrim or the High Priestess of Valaya, Elmendrin. When Snorri made snap decisions to incite war with the Elves, he was irritating, because I wanted to reach out through the pages and give him a good shake and tell him that he was being manipulated like a fool. Alas, watching the train wreck was a bit of fun too, so I’m not really complaining.

[Dartigeres · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent book but it has a few problems that keep me from giving it a four or five rateing.

One of the discrepancys in the book is the mention of the tower of hoeth, which will not be built for a few thousand years and under the phoenix king Bel-Korhandis.

Another discrepancy is the mists and spells that surround the island, which in the book is attributed to Caledor, but every where else says it was commisoned by Bel-Hathor to stop the Norse from raiding the coast.

The book follows the dwarfs through out 99% of the book with a few mentions into the minds of the elves. There will be other books in this series as this one has not finished the tale. It also has a perchance for jumping about making it at times a confusing and nonconsitant read, because you have to either reread a section or keep moving forward to just figure out what is going on. The lead inns are nearly nonexistant and time tends to jump forward in small to very large incruments.

The prince of the dwarfs is shown as for lack of a better word a spoiled brat and warmonger. He is more interested in himself than the rest of the dwarven race, which is parelled in the opinions and views of the elven phoenix king caledor II. The cousin of the dwarven prince, brother to the elven king, and king of the dwarfs seem to be the only ones who want peace and truelly care for their races.

The war kicks of with the destruction and sacking of the elven city Kor Vanaeth. 50 thousand where there they recived some loses and had Prince Snorri at its head. While this was happening the King of the dwarfs had sent his ambassador to Ulthuan to sue for peace. Word of the city being destroyed reached the phoenix king before the dwarfs got there, which in the end lead to their beards being cut off and the war escalated.

The prince marches on Tor Alessi with 30 thousand troops, their numbers being brought down by the fight at Kor Vanaeth and with hit an run attacks. He lays siege to the city until this father arrives and he takes over the fight. During this time they repair some of the bonds between father and son. The flight last 6 days leaving about 3 thousand dwarfs, before they retreat as a elven fleet draws near.

The story then advances 20 years with the war continueing, weather by chance or design the phoenix king is spoted and the prince take his army out to kill the phoenix king, with the dwarven king getting the news two days after the prince has left. The prince challenges the phoenix king to a dual to settle the debt. The prince loses very quickly and the elves leave. When the dwarven king finds out about this, he swear vengeance upon the elves. The book ends with the runelords saying the princes cousin was the one the profocies spoke of and not the prince and the druchii who had left Athel Maraya looking for Bloodfang.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had just finished the sundering series in which the early history of the elves was masterfully told and it left me wanting more. So when i got my hand on a copy of the great betrayal I was excited to say the least. I was not dissapointed, even more pleased with it then i had hoped. The main reason for this is that story is told from the point of view from the dwarfs not the elves.I assume that after the sundering some decided the anciant dwarf society needed a closer look as well. A great idea since few books give more then a glimp off the dwarfrealms. Yes there are the gotrek and felix series and a few books like Skarsnik and Neferata give you some idea of how the dwarf society looks like, but it wasn't enough for me. So any readers who really want to get a real good image off dwarf life in warhammer check it out!
(this is in my opinion what makes warhammer amazing fantasy, the people are real, they have fears, desires and hope. Best off all: it feals like real efforts are done to build up entities in these books and world, in this book elf supremacism enters the story no kidding)

Now other people who unlike me don't have a fetish for antropology in fantasy books will still find this book exciting. This is one off the few books that a reader (who has some knowledge of warhammer) knows the ending. The dwarfs and elves are going to war no question there. But still I was hoping it wouldn't happen and I occasionally got my hopes up. But the actual ending (no spoiler here, read it yourself) really suprised me.

As any decent warhammer book I as an experienced reader did less then a week to finish a sign for me that it was well written. The switching of scenes was done decently perhaps a bit to many storylines to follow but a small bit of criticism does not lower my appreciation of the book. So great pulp fantasy literature as it should be!

[Goran · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fun book, not amazing read but easy and if you're into dwarves and elves and The Old World, well worth the time. :)

SPOILERS FOLLOW:

I'm finally reading the books on the War of the Beard. I've read lore in army books before and I knew how Druchii tricked the dwarves and High Elf arrogance let it spiral out of control.

Now I'm reading it. And no. This is 10000% dwarf fault. Yes, the Druchii (and other forces) did the ground work. But dwarves took away the shovels from Druchii and just dug and dug and dug.

I get the shaving of ambassadors can be called arrogant, but when put in context - dwarves starting shit despite Asur telling them it was not them, and then the dwarven ambassadors arrive to Court of the Phoenix King and *demand* reparations after being told a dwarf force sacked and destroyed a random Elven city without declaration of war? Like get the hell out of here.

Even better is Gotrek Starbreaker at page 442: "No elgi will be safe from my wrath, for it has been awakened by this perfidious deed!"

Perfidious deed he references was that after 20 years of war, Phoenix King dared to lead an Elven force to fight this war. And the dwarven High Kings highly incompetent son that started this whole war rushed to meet that force, challenged the Phoenix King to a duel, and the Phoenix King had the temerity! The gal! The utter lack of honour to actually win the duel and kill his half-handed dung-brained son. The TREACHERY OF IT.

I used to have low opinion of dwarves, but after reading this book, that opinion is now deeper in the ground than their deepest mines.

[Delray Beach Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Betrayal by Nick Kyme
The War of Vengeance 1

Before the rise of the Empire and the other nations of man two races ruled the earth: The Dwarfs and Elves. The Elves from their island homeland and the Dwarfs from their Mountain holds had an age of peace and prosperity, and were great allies. But a storm is coming, as there are increasing reports of dwarf caravans being attacked, and it seems elves are to blame. As the High King of the dwarfs tries to make peace between the too races, the elves’ arrogance and their treatment of the dwarfs end any chance of peace for some. Snorri Halfhand, son of the High King already leads an army on a march to elven land, against his fathers will. Will the High King of the dwarfs manage to make one final peace attempt? Or will the two great races rage war on one another, leading them to ruin.

To discover what happens pick up a copy today at the nearest bookstore.
For more information about the book, visit this site:
http://www.nickkyme.com/

Reviewed by Wyatt Rutherford, TAB@DBPL Reader Advisor since 2012.

[Oliver Eike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Malekith's plot to throw the Dwarf and Elf nation into a war which he hopes will decimate the both of them so he and his Druchi kin can take over Asur and finally take the title as the Pheonix King.

It takes place in the time of legend, in the time before the Human empire, when the Dwarves and Elves had pushed back much of chaos and its nerfarious minions. In the days of Gotrek Starbreaker and Caledor. The very same Gotrek who's warhammer Sigmar himself is gifted at a later date.

2000 years prior to the war, Malekith was considered friend of the Dwarves and lived amongst them for quite some time, and it is just this knowledge he uses to best spark this war.

The book is quite interesting and it follows canon nicely from what i remember from my days of Warhammer. It keeps things interesting and at times you truly can see the intense arrogance of both elf and dwarf.

As for the book itself it follows Gotrek, Snorri Halfhand (Son of Gotrek), Morrgrim (Cousin of Snorri and Nephew of Gotrek), Imaldrik (Brother of Caledor, the phoenix king), Nadri (Copperfist clan dwarf), Helgan (Engineer sage) and many others which become interesting stories in their own right and many of these are people which will shape the story to come in future books i suspect, but you can already see foreshadowings of many wonders made by these people. It is an interesting book if you like Warhammer.

If not, then it is a interesting fantasy book if nothing else.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my second read of this book.

The core of the book I think is pretty solid. There are some great descriptions of Warhammer Dwarves, the rising tension with the elves. I liked the characters, they are solid, if not too stand out.

However, the book struggles some with pacing issues. I feel like it tries too hard and too long to build and build the tension of "when will this boil over."

The pay off is worth it, but takes a while.

I also feel like the ways the Dark Elves are connected in felt a bit contrived and needless, if you cut their section, and just let the dwarves and elves come to blows on their own, it still works, and is paced better. It felt more as a way to try to get the Dark Elves from the Nagash trilogy into the story.

Overall the story was enjoyable, but felt very much so like half a story.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Workmanlike genre-fic revealing the animosity between dwarfs and elves in the Warhammer world.

Despite some attempts at characterisation the main protagonists fall fairly flat and one dimensional with the exception of the Dark Elf assassins and the dwarven runemasters.

Some good set piece battles but overall an average introduction to the series.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it - absolutely beautiful writing style as always, focuses on the diplomacy (or lack of it) and relationships between characters above all, but gah so frustrating at the end! I have to read more now - didn't know this was a trilogy.

[Christoph Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warhammer: der Krieg zwischen Elfen und Zwergen beginnt
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/the-...

[Alexander Denley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great way to kick off the series. Can't wait for the sequel!

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the writing style and the story.

[Major Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good start to the series; interested to read what Morgrim does next...