Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book

The Sword of Khaine resides upon the Blighted Isle, veiled in mystery and guarded by forces both living and dead. Despite the warnings, Aenarion rides out upon his dragon Indraugnir to seek the prize in order to save his homeland of Ulthuan. The journey is fraught with danger, and Aenarion must confront daemons, spirits and the elemental forces of nature itself if he is to succeed. But in drawing the blade from the Black Anvil, he will unleash the ancient and malevolent force that will tear the elven race apart.

Read it because
The events in this story form the underpinnings of the entire Warhammer mythos. What Aenarion does here changes the face of the world in ways that won't be resolved until the End Times themselves...

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2011

8 people are currently reading
114 people want to read

About the author

Gav Thorpe

377 books576 followers
Gav spent 14 years as a developer for Games Workshop, and started writing novels and short stories in the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 when the Black Library imprint was launched in 1997.

He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.

Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
28 (21%)
4 stars
51 (38%)
3 stars
40 (30%)
2 stars
10 (7%)
1 star
3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Daniel T.
156 reviews42 followers
October 4, 2023
آناریون ملقب به ققنوس شاه، پادشاه الف ها است که سالیان سال با خدایان و فرمانروایان chaos و نیروهای شیطانیشان مبارزه میکند و ناگهان ضربه ای سهمگین با سلاخی شدن خانواده اش به او وارد میشود و تصمیم میگیرد تا شمشیری نفرین شده رو که سالها است در مقبره ای مانده بیرون کشد چه بسا این شمشیر سرنوشت بدی را برای دنیا رقم خواهد زد


این کتاب داستان کوتاه و نوعی پیش‌ درامدی بر دنیای فانتزی وارهمر هست
شخصیت آناریون و مسیری که برای قدرت طی میکنه شبیه به آرتاس از دنیای وارکرفت هست


کتاب کوتاه خوبی بود
دنیای وارهمر دنیای بسیار عظیم با کتاب های متعدد از نویسندگان مختلف و همچنین بازی های ویدیویی است که اگر طرفدار دنیاهای خفن فانتزی هستید این مجموعه رو یک نگاهی بندازید
Profile Image for Dylan Murphy.
592 reviews32 followers
March 25, 2016
Oh man, how I wish that we got 2 trilogies for the Elves during the Time of Legends.
1 Trilogy for Malekith and such as it is now, and another for the glorious war against the Daemons waged by Aenarion!
The story was epic, less action packed than I thought it would be, but what it lacked in action it made up for in displaying Aenarion and his Dragon friend.
The story was great, showing Aenarion's life before the Sword of Khaine, and his quest to retrieve it. Damn good stuff, I really wish they had made more warhammer fantasy audio dramas.... before... you know..... blowing the whole fucking world up.
The Undead voices would have been so good.

Well, either way, I really enjoyed it!
83 reviews
November 12, 2024
Felt rather pointless and boring. Sure, not that bad in presentation, but also nothing special up to the point of being annoying with its background noises.

So, Aenarion is sad about the demons killing his people and family, so he fetches a powerful sword potentially dooming everybody. Maybe there's more to it that I can't fathom with my limited vision, but boring is where I end up on this.
Profile Image for Michael.
442 reviews4 followers
November 21, 2023
I wasn't a fan at first because it didn't feel Warhammer-y enough but as I got into the Tolkienesque, mythic style and realized how early in the Warhammer Fantasy timeline this story comes, I really began to enjoy it immensely.
Profile Image for Twinksanddilfs.
22 reviews
May 15, 2025
The story tells the tale of how Aenarion both saved and doomed his own people. The narration was good and it was much more engaging than other warhammer audiobooks with having several different actors/actresses playing various roles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nyarlathotep.
60 reviews2 followers
March 5, 2019
This novella tells the tale of how Aenarion came to the point he had to draw the Sword of Khaine, God of Murder. Excellent prequel to the Sundering series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Tim.
51 reviews3 followers
February 17, 2012
Like the stories of the Horus Heresy, these prequel-stories are very fun to read/listen to because even though you're familiar with the end result of the story, the way the characters get there is still very interesting.

In this story it is about Aenarion picking up the Sword of Khaine, thereby dooming the elven race in the World of Warhammer Fantasy. We know for a fact he's going to do it, but still the story stays captivating until the very end.

The first part of the story was (to me at least) a bit boring. Too much goody goody heroic warriors against the unending waves of evilness cliche. But after that, when Aenarion starts his quest for the Blade of Khaine, things become interesting.

Even though after the cliche battle there is no fighting whatsoever, it's cool to see how Chaos (with capital C) actively tries to stop the Dooming of the Elves. It makes you realize certain subtleties in the Warhammer Lore, like why the Dark Elves and Chaos are two separate races/armies, or why Khorne and Khaine are by no means alike.

Gav Thorpe does some amazing things with the Elves in the Warhammer World, making them less of wussies, and more of actually complex personalities.
Profile Image for Chris.
402 reviews5 followers
February 11, 2015
This was a VERY short, hence why they call them CHAP books...no not because The Black Library is based in the UK, and this a read for the male persuasion...no, it's due to it really being no longer than a chapter in say, a George R. R. Martin book. However, it was a very enjoyable look into this character. It came with my book the Bloody Hand, which is next on my list. So, hoping this is somewhat continued in there, as it was a great look into the character of Aenarion, and how he was consumed by his need for revenge, and how something like that can have lasting repercussions on your life, and those around you...maybe even your entire race?
Profile Image for Mike.
3 reviews2 followers
April 23, 2012
great audio drama from the warhammer universe
Profile Image for Patt.
201 reviews
January 25, 2013
Elves are a bit boring at times except of course for Aenarion, Teclis, Malekith and Malus Darkblade.
Profile Image for Alexander Draganov.
Author 30 books154 followers
March 9, 2014
Wonderful short story from the world of Warhammer, which sounded like a tale from "The Silmarillion". As much as I enjoyed the works of Dan Abnett, Gav Thorpe is the true master of the Black Library.
Profile Image for Haroen Tmimi.
18 reviews
July 20, 2023
Not my favorite. The short story of Aenarion was pretty cool, but I don't like the author's word choices. It was a great story, though.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.