A Dynasty of Monsters

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

by David Annandale

A Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel

War makes for strange alliances – and so it is for the free city of the Colonnade, which must turn to the Mother of Nightmares and her dynasty of monsters to defend themselves against the hordes of Chaos…

READ IT BECAUSE
Get an insight into one of the newest threats to the Mortal Realms – the monstrous vampire queen Lauka Vai and her dynasty of terrifying, bloodthirsty killers.

THE STORY
The Colonnade, a free city held aloft by gargantuan pillars and crowned with a spire of diamonds, is the jewel of Ghur, obsessed with purity in a realm of bestial savagery. But now, it faces annihilation at the hands of an unstoppable beastherd. In a desperate gamble, Councillor Atella Reigehren requests the aid of a being anathema to the Colonnade. She seeks Lauka Vai, the Mother of Nightmares, and her dynasty of monsters, the Avengorii. The crucible of war has thrown these factions together, but can they put their differences aside to face this common foe, or will the clash of purity and monstrosity be their undoing?

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Vampires, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published May 22, 2021

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how you write Warhammer stories.

This was one of the most brutal and lyrical stories I have ever read. The ending is worthy of a Poe and a Gemmell. The Avengori vampires led by their monstrous mother prove their fearsome legend when dealing with beast men of Chaos, Sigmar’s Stormcast Eternals, and the armies of man. The story is evenly paced, the characters relatable, and the scale of the action is epic.

This is how you write Warhammer stories.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read. This is only my second Age Of Sigmar novel, and while not as well versed in the lore as I am when it comes to the 30K/40K line, I found it a much more enthralling and easier to follow without constantly asking "What?" than I had with Dominion. There are the occasional bits that read like pitches for models, but that comes with just about any Black Library book. The story itself is exceptional, at times defying what one might consider normal plot threads, and the penultimate chapters are rightfully frustrating as you watch politicians and their cronies maneuvering towards the outcome.

The vampires aren't sexy, not with those bodies, though I still found myself slightly rooting for a love story to blossom between a human and one. Ultimately I don't think you could call it a happy ending, but maybe? It'd be open for debate. Looking forward to reading some more of Annandale's work in the future.

[Meredith Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly a fun read! It's a Warhammer story, so it's going to be dark and gory no matter what, but it's got an odd little twist of being a monster romance. Not just, like, the warrior of the Colonnade (a city of purity), being drawn to one of the Vengorian Lords, but it's more about her romantic draw towards monstrosity. Though it's that first one too! There's even a ball scene so they can dance together!

It's a bit predictable in places (like ah, yeah, the bard whose pride got injured will keep riling people up against the alliance no matter how much of a bad idea it is) but not in a bad way; it feels just, to some extent, things are inevitable and it's more about seeing HOW it happens than what happens. I really feel like it did everything it meant to do, and ended up a solid read.

[Elizabeth Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left wanting more

This is my first foray into Gravelord lore and I loved this one- good story and characters, I'd love to read a while bunch of novels on this dynasty. Well worth a read!

[Jozua · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read about the Avengorii (Vampire faction) who are open to an alliance with the Colonnade (city of humans) to stop the Beast horde that is coming down on them.

What an amazing, fast and gory book!

More of this please!

[Jordan Capasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read one Warhammer book this year, make it this. It’s dreadful (not in a bad way, like a horror kind of way), exciting, and simply brilliant

[Mark Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3* book with a 5* ending.

It missed a few key moments that would have really driven its main theme home. It also really takes me out of a story when one of the characters explicitly screams the theme in another person’s face, but that’s just me.

There was also a lot of repetition in descriptions or restating character motivations. I think that Kavak had his past summarised and notarised at least five times throughout this story, as if I somehow might have forgotten in the past sixty pages.

A haunting book that needed a few more monster hunters poking around to clear out some of the cobwebs lurking in this story.

[Fredrik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool setting - a city symbolically and literally holding itself above the shifting landscape on giant stone pillars - and premise - how far will you bend your ideals to avert destruction? - and a strong conclusion, but clunky dialogue and flat character drama made reading a this a slog for too much of the story.

2,5 stars.

[Luke Costin · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF after 9 chapters. Setup and scenario was ok but I didn't care a jot for any of the characters

[Jeff Millard · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun read but not a good read. Felt kinda bare bones in terms of plot and character development, but I never expect much from Warhammer books so I still had a good time reading.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book...blew my mind.

Lauka Vai can step on me and I'll thank her for it.

I was expecting this to be the thing I need for this autumn season and this blew all my expectations out of the water. It was dark, it had the vampires in them who were monsters but were the most human out of all of them, and it also shows how someone who believes so hard in their city becomes a zealot to do whatever they can to keep the so-called "monsters" out of their city, to protect the people who can't fight at all but want to protect them.

I was mad, nodded at some parts, gasped at some parts, and also went "daaaamnnnn" in my mind as I read this. I learned about the Avengorii and how Lauka Vai makes sure they don't succumb to their bloodlust as they help the people of the Colonnade fight the beastmen and their people. The only that that irritated me throughout this book was the fact that the bard was the villain this whole time, and no one knew about it, only his brother did. I did like that in the end, he got his just desserts, and I also like how the councilor tried to save her city, just tried. But after learning the whole truth about her city, and how pure they wanted to be and betraying the Avengorii and Lauka Vai, that's when she just snapped and killed almost everyone that she thought she called friend and family, and also that Vash fellow was just so annoying. I'm glad he got his as well.

My favorite character has to be Kavak. He reminded me a bit of Alucard from Castlevania, but at the same time, he saw the evil going on in his old city and wanted to save them, but then he saw that his brother, his own flesh and blood, was doing all of this...well he wanted nothing else to do with him. I also loved Lauka Vai and how majestic and elegant she was. She didn't even bat an eye at the people looking at her because she was different. She was the perfect commander to lead her Avengorii and her Vengorian Lords to war. That was so good and fun to see and I want to know more about Lauka Vai and the Avengorii in more books.

[Adam Nicol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fantasy side of Warhammer has a long and varied history of brutal, mud soaked horror built deep into it’s genes. As Age of Sigmar’s novels continue to build upon the still-quite-new Mortal Realms, we find that the writers are reaching back to earlier eras of Warhammer and updating those grim and dirty feelings for a modern audience. A Dynasty Of Monsters continues this trend by recreating Beauty in the Beast by way of Poe for AoS in the most Warhammer way possible*.

And it is fantastic.

The Soulblight Gravelords are given their first novel by long time Black Library author David Annandale, who decides the very best way to explore the Vampires of the Mortal Realms is to dig deep into the most monstrous strain of their kind, that of the Avengorii , creating a true fear and horror of these centaur-bat-vampires that connects to the most primal part of the human brain, releasing a unsettling sensation that never truly goes away, even as the Avengorii become more centred on the stage of the story and we come to understand a lot of the philosophy and drives of the Dynasty. Luka Vai moves in and out of the tale, leading her children into a political agreement with the humans of The Colonnade, a multi-level city that brings half remembered memories of Battle Angel Alita. Vai herself is a dark figure that represents the absolute antithesis of the order of Sigmar’s Cities, reflecting the illusion of civilization and society, bringing out the monstrous in the Free Peoples. This may be the best work that Annadale has produced, from a collection of well-above average tales, being something of a perfect subject matter that truly suits his horror tendencies.

Read the full review: https://www.thefluffenhammer.com/arti...

[Kyle Harrivel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. The character development is excellent and the story is decent, if not a hit predictable. Annandale is very good at describing the environments and appearance of characters, and I believe this is what really made this book great. The image he paints of the city, the countryside, battles, and other locations really gives the reader a great idea of what he is trying to convey in his writing.

The story follows a bard that happens to learn of an impending threat to his home city. From there the story shifts to following several different characters as the attack draws closer and the culminating events are predictable in the end, but still very entertaining. The novel involves the warhammer fantasy race of beast men as the main big bad. But also introduced me to the unfamiliar Age of Sigmar race, the avengorri (like vampire/dragon hybrids) I very much liked how they were described and their overall traits and abilities. As someone not to familiar with age of Sigmar I think they are a pretty neat faction.

The two main characters go through some pretty heavy development in such a short story and I found this refreshing.

If you want some good age of Sigmar undead faction reading this is a good one to pick up. I can even think someone whose not familiar with warhammer at all but likes vampire stories, might enjoy this one as well.

[Peter Buckmaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grateful to this book for pulling me out of a reading slump. I hadn't been able to read anything for a couple of months, was sick end of the year, in bed on Jan 1st, picked this up and read it in a couple of days.
It has all you want from a Warhammer book: monsters in abundance (vargheists, terrorgheists, beastmen, chimera), monsters of a more human nature, a bloodbath of a battle, twisting loyalties and an ending that you may feel ambiguous about (in that you might wonder if it's the ending you want or the ending the characters deserve).
One of its strengths is also its weakness, which is the length. It was the perfect length for me at this moment in time, but afterwards I felt it was too short. No complaints though, really, as there are of course a lot of books set in this world.
David Annadale is an author I trust now after having read this, House of Night & Chan and Wicked & Damned.
And what a creation Lauka Vai is!

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, man. Annandale has always been a solid writer in my estimation, but this one knocks it out of the friggin park. Using Warhammer to tell a blistering satire about the Great Replacement Theory is just genius, AND the characters are interesting in their own right and go through some fairly extreme arcs, and the narrator (I listened to the audio book version) is quite strong.

I just - I keep telling people about this book, I found that so awesome. He even worked in the whole, like, Democrats don't reproduce on their own anymore so they have to use these 'others' to take their place (though it's flipped here, b/c the 'others' are barren immigrant vampires). I wonder, does the mainly British audience reading this even get what's going on here? If Annandale does, I assume they must, and it's just us Yankees who are so stupidly geocentric.

Anyway, I'll let other reviews speak to the plot. I'll just say, omg, very timely and very good.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story where every virtue becomes a vice. It's the bitter ironies that compel me, and this tale had them in profound supply.

The would be saviors of the city. The defenders that fought on the walls, more concerned with saving lives than saving face. One became a monster to save those walls, the other became a monster to spite them. Yet both sacrificed everything for its protection.

Falling is a quiet thing. Subtle. Far more significant is the realization you've already fallen.

And the hero of the city. The one who claimed kinship with his fellow but kept one eye on the next level. He got so used to looking up that anything else felt like looking down.

The Colonnade was rendered in brilliant detail, potent symbolism worked into every brick and mirror.

The monsters are out there. But they are also us.

[EtherKnight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you find your motto in life to be life "sucks"? Did you watch Interview with a Vampire and think, "yes yes but what if they were more bestial?" Are you currently googling "How to find my blood type?". Then A Dynasty of Monsters might be your next read.

Set in the Mortal Realms, this one follows the Avengorii Dynasty, vampires who’ve gone all-in on the “beast within” lifestyle. Forget the elegant nobles sipping blood from crystal goblets, who needs that stuff anyway, these ones are fighting to hold onto what’s left of their humanity while their monstrous urges threaten to take over.

David Annandale brings a grim, moody atmosphere with just enough horror to make the battles hit hard. It’s not a happy story at all, but if you like tragedy, monsters, and a touch of doomed nobility, this one delivers.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I can bang through an AoS novel in a day-or-two but this one I savored, chapter by chapter: it was exquisite. David Annandale previously mastered the art of the courtly vampire novel with his Neferata series; now he tackles the monstrosity of the vampire with the Avengorii and the results are delicious; singing with intrigue and grotesquerie. The Colonnade is a fascinating, fully developed City Of Sigmar that serves as setting but also as metaphor & allegory beyond what a gaming tie-in novel should possess (I actually chewed over the implications of it’s depiction frequently throughout) and being an AoS novel, yes, there’s a battle and it’s a brilliant one between the Avengorii, the Colonnade Freeguild & Stormcast, and a massive Beastherd (ticked all my army boxes).

[Michael Dodd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annandale's best Black Library book to date in my view, and a perfect subject matter that ideally suits his horror tendencies. Tells a clever, deeply satisfying story built around a couple of brilliant characters, while exploring the brutal reality of life in Ghur in a way I haven't seen before, and couldn't have imagine before reading this. The combination of Annandale's style, the setting of Ghur, the nature of the Avengorii and the world building around the Collonade and its people all comes together to offer a bleak, insightful examination of what it means to be monstrous, on the surface and beneath.

[Kyle T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really fell in love with the world building in this novel. The concept of the Above and Beneath halves of this city suspended above the land of Ghur was really fun and well thought out. Annandale spends a considerable amount of time letting you live within it and introducing you to it's varied citizens. The Avengorii (the vampire monsters) are engaging as well and are more than single sided characters. Their interactions with the different humans when outside of combat showed the similarities between the two groups that the humans would've never admitted to.

Highly recommend this book if you like high fantasy

[Elodie Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up on a whim using an audible credit, and was absolutely blown away. This book is a thorough exploration of class, fascism, how opportunistic nationalists co-opt the struggles of the working class to turn them to hatred of the other rather than their true oppressors, with some of the best observed characters I've read in years, whose humanity makes their monstrousness all the more compelling. Just an incredible piece of fiction, even beyond its place in a fascinating setting

[Brandon Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first foray into Age of Sigmar novels and I have to say it was an enjoyable read. Lauka Vai while not the main character is endlessly fascinating. I really hope we get more from the Mother of Nightmares. Also the story between Kavak and Atella was very well done. I was rooting for them the whole way. This isn’t a complex story, but it is a good one. Glad to have read it.

[Kenastion Drogen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I finished the book and it SLAPS! It's VERY MONSTER LOVER CODED! It might be short but thw story is a delight to read and has a great ending. It's amazing to see the bonding between the two main characters be very grimdark but also wholesome and they both get to have revenge on their shitty family.

(Would sell my soul to vamp taur mommy to also be a vamp taur and have her be my new mom)

[Ahmad Othman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book by all accounts. A gripping premise that’s well built upon. No dull moment. A lot of philosophical and political themes and ideas are always present. With engaging characters though they may not be the true protagonists of the story but the setting itself. It left me wanting more

[Yips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth a read. My best Age of Sigmar novel so far (much better than Dominion).

The pace kept me reading.
Characters are iconic.
Fight scenes are epic!

I expected slightly more on Lauka Vai though.

5/5! Hope they are more well-written AoS novels out there.

[Matthew Hipsher · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an AOS book, it's phenomenal. As a vampire book, it's breathtakingly original. The pull of family born to vs made, the allure of the grotesque and the peace that comes with eternity are all explored and done so well.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I wronged a vampire queen by showing up late for a battle just to see her wallowing in rivers of blood....I AM NOT ATTACKING....I AM ON HER SIDE....YOU'RE ALL COOKED I'M GOING TEAM VAMPY.

This was great, so intense, and blood soaked with a tragic undertone of what happens when hatred wins.

[Barthel Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/I8uvt8Yqw9w

[Kara Rowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool and scary

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro into AOS lore. Easier going than Soul Wars. Makes me want a soulblight army.