Во Владении Смерти, Шаише, Двойные города Западный Предел и Восточный Дол балансируют на грани уничтожения. Каждое поколение войска нежити под предводительством леди Олиндер поднимаются из гробниц, чтобы убивать обитателей городов. Век за веком Двойные города дорогой ценой сокрушают ночных охотников, долго залечивая раны после яростных сражений. Наконец чародеи древнего Бельвегродского маяка смогли прочесть пророчество, дарующее шанс разрушить это проклятие. Герою Яхангиру суждено возглавить поход против мортарха Скорби и освободить свой народ от ее мстительных набегов раз и навсегда. Но справится ли Яхангир с ожидающим его суровым испытанием? Устоит ли смертная отвага перед неумирающей злобой Госпожи Печалей?
Lady Of Sorrows by C L Werner literally dragged me by the hair through hidden thorns of thousands of roses. A beautiful cover and an intriguing title drew me into this Age of Sigmar title when I normally only dabble in the Old World literature. I expected heroes and adventure and ghouls and horror and victory. But I warn anyon who dares turn their eyes towards this title, it is a wolf in sheeps clothing. It will kep you excited and bound to the edge of your seat before tearing away chunk after chunk from that precious light of hope. As dramatic as that sounds, I absolutely loved this book. It was much darker than a lot of books I have read recently, and definitely kept me wanting more. I gave it a solid 4.5/5 stars with just some of the writing feeling a little overloaded and dragging a bit. I also think it is a difficult read for those with no knowledge of the Warhammer univerese (and I'm lucky my partner has been forcing me to play the Total War version of the game as well as constantly telling me the lore).
It’s a hard book to rate. It reads a lot like a Dungeons and Dragons story where the main plot is a 2/5, but the characters and the side quests are a solid 5/5.
Hardback is a beautiful book. Artwork is stunning. Excellent production. Well done Warhammer. Story is well written.Characters are relatable and provoke disgust, empathy or interest. Not what I expected, however an enjoyable read and being set in shyish horror is all round. Has many different aspects that should appeal to Warhammer horror fans.
My first AoS novel in ages, Lady of Sorrows is fantastic. Full of twists, it had me gripped throughout and the ending was magnifiscent. Recommend to any Age of Sigmar or fantasy fan :)
Really nicely written with twist and turns that keep you on your toes. A really great look into the lives of different cultures in the mortal realms and their interaction aswell as a great portrayal of the lady of sorrows herself.
Solidly ok. There's some enjoyable moments that often get overlooked in the greater edifice such as the imperialist attitude of Azihyme and the realm of light, the hubris of calling lands stolen from native gods "reclaimed" and that general interpersonal tension of being in what is essentially a new and dangerous world. The problem is that its sometimes very paint by numbers and that actual setting that the characerts are fighting for feel so very far away and disconnected. The Twin Towns is a cool idea but my only sympathy towards it is just not wanting to see innocent people suffer. Likewise, I liked the idea of some of the characters but they aren't that deep. They're very archetypical but I like those archetypes. All in all, I'd say you should pick up this book but only if you're already a fan of the sereis and have read all the Josh Reynald Nagash books.
That was a really fine adventure read. Werner knows how to write! A band of adventurers set forth to put down an ancient evil. That’s great straightforward classic fantasy; then the clever twist at the end.
Honestly, I gave up on this by chapter 9 (of 14). I could not latch onto any of the characters and I was expecting to see more Nighthaunt interaction based on the title. Nothing against the writing itself, I think other people will get more out of it but this just was not for me.
I really loved this book. One thing about CL Werner is he really gets the dark tone of Warhammer, and it shines in this book. It's a simple quest tale about a group of survivors going on what is basically a suicide mission to stop a curse that has befallen their town. Every 100 years the Lady of Sorrows amasses her forces and attacks the twin towns of Westreach and Eastdale. A hero is found that is destined to stop the curse and save the towns from endless torment. Long story short: stuff goes very wrong, and only a few survivors are left, who carry on the mission despite all odds being stacked against them.
There are some pretty decent and unexpected twists. The cast isn't super likeable, but that seems to be what the book is going for. They are constantly paranoid of one another, and find themselves in disaster after disaster. It's not super surprising to find the mission was doomed from the start.
Warhammer like to sometimes slide into horror territory, and for me, this is probably the book that did it best so far. There is a palpable air of doom over the entire plot and there are some absolutely gruesome and unexpected deaths here(one involving slug creatures, in particular.) It is quite a short book, but it doesn't feel like any time or space is wasted, and it was a well paced story.
One other thing, the Lady of Sorrows herself is a pretty cool villain with a fun design and powers. It sucks that major changes rarely seem to happen in Warhammer fiction. You can't really expect the minor heroes to beat such an important figure in the Age of Sigmar lore in one 280 page book, which maybe sucks some of the tension out, but overall it was a fun, pulpy book and kind of a good barometer for what an above average Warhammer book should be: fast, gruesome, bleak, and fun.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I almost went with 3 stars but I enjoyed the book too much. C. L. Werner is an excellent writer, technically speaking. The sentences flow superbly and the vocabulary is perfectly balanced. However, the message being conveyed feels clunky at times, especially when describing scenery. I often had a hard time imagining the characters’ surroundings, which was distracting. This happened multiple times in the book and is probably my biggest complaint (still not very big). Regarding environmental descriptions. I think the author had an idea in his mind, and just didn’t fully flesh it out on paper. (I haven’t seen anyone else mention this so maybe it’s just me.)
Characters were pretty interesting. I’m going to echo another reviewer that they were mostly archetypal but fun archetypes. There is a purpose for this though, with the way the story plays out, so I wasn’t bothered by it in the end. The characters also had enough foibles to keep my interest.
Final and smallest comment would be descriptions of the nighthaunts. Not many different types were mentioned. They needed more love! I am holding out that someday bladegheists and dreadscythes will get a mention in the Black Library.
Overall smooth and moderately compelling read that I’m glad I stuck with. Werner is a great author, and just has some minor areas of improvement for future BL entries.
The story itself is familiar in that its a quest sort of like the ordeal Sam and Frodo undertook. The sense of journeying across a vast distance was well done, and the different settings were unique and thoughtfully depicted.
Getting to the point where the story actually seems to begin does take some time, though. The book opens with a battle, and there is the meeting at the town where the expedition is selected and the the quest assigned, but its not until the bridge scene that the story seems to get going. It takes us 80 pages to get there, but I was so interested in the abrupt change I find this forgivable. After they escape the lair of the beast (least-spoiler-way I could say it) everything moves at a breakneck pace.
Overall, its one of the better warhammer plots I've read. The strongest part of the story was the character interactions, and these only got better as the party approached the end of their quest. I recommend this book, and the name of Werner is now strong enough for me that I will pick up anything with his name on it and give it a go.
Mild spoilers ahead. Lady of Sorrows tells the story of two towns under frequent attacks from an army of ghosts. An army sets off to break the curse, and the story follows this group.
Very solid fantasy book with a theme focused on ghosts, which is very hard to pull off. But this book does it pretty well. The story is good, with good progression and obstacles for the characters and a great ending. However, the characters are pretty shallow and, at the start of the book, extremely hard to keep track of. Even near the end I found it hard to keep track of them. Some characters have very thick plot armor for no reason, and some events throughout the book ended up not really matter in the end. Overall it was a pretty decent book. Read it if you're into the Warhammer universe and like Nighthaunts, otherwise you can comfortably skip it. 3 stars.
A tale of a hard journey full of dread and desperation. Throughout this book, there are both clear and hidden dangers that reach out and sometimes grasp a character or two to their doom. There is no plot armour. The characters do what they can to overcome prejudices against one another as they quest together to break a curse, but some do not overcome them, and that leads to tension, despite the victories they win together on their journey.
It reads like a typical fantasy quest story. The main plot is decent enough to make the adventure enjoyable and the characters lack any depth or development; each one of them just fills a defined role.
But despite that nor the story, characters or twist are memorable, you will have a good time reading it, especially if you are interested in the Age of Sigmar setting.
This book was great and absolutely confirmed that I chose a great Warhammer army to paint and play 👌🏻
It was like WH’s own version of Lord of the Rings, with a group of people from different backgrounds traveling to defeat a great evil. A concept which I really liked.
It was tragic, devastating and the ending had a great twist. It all fit into the Nighthaunt aesthetic perfectly.
It was nice to become more familiar with the lore of the Nighthaunt and get a better sense of their place in the Age of Sigmar setting. Unfortunately, beyond the atmospheric worldbuilding, the story itself felt like it had little to no real substance. It didn’t leave much of an impact once finished.
The master of the bittersweet pill strikes again delivering a somewhat grey-area ragtag party, as is his speciality, into the jaws of destruction with his perfect blend of the macabre and virtuous.