Soulslayer

Gotrek Gurnisson #4

by Darius Hinks

A Gotrek Gurnisson Novel

Gotrek marches to war alongside his newfound kin, the Fyreslayers. Yet the Slayer's soul burns brightly enough to spark the interest of the Idoneth Deepkin...

READ IT BECAUSE
Gotrek’s relationship with Maleneth and the Fyreslayers, and his unease with the unfamiliar Mortal Realms, make for a ripping yarn. Toss in his capacity for grievous violence, and an aelven enemy upon which to mete it, and you’ve got a recipe for a worthy entry in this classic series.

THE STORY
Gotrek Gurnisson is the greatest Slayer of the age. He is a furious relic of a dead world, a sworn enemy of Chaos and a stranger in the Mortal Realms. Now, reborn and hungry for vengeance, he crosses the war-torn lands of Chamon armed with new oaths, pitting himself against the forces of evil.

Accompanied by the lethal aelven assassin Maleneth Witchblade, Gotrek marches to war with the Fyreslayers of the Grymm Peak Mountains, revelling in his newfound sense of purpose. The fire in the Slayer's soul has not gone unnoticed, however. Far beneath the sea, the Idoneth Deepkin are stirring, summoning an ancient power from the abyss – and their sights are set on Gotrek!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Humor

296 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2022

About the author

Darius Hinks is an author, writing primarily in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He was born in Birmingham, England, in 1972. He works and lives in Nottinghamshire. Hinks' first novel, Warrior Priest, won the David Gemmel Morningstar award.

Reviews

[Aleksandr Motsjonov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha ha. I've listened this book first. I didn't realized it was third. Loved it!! Not sure if going through two previous ones will be a pleasure, now when I know how it's all ends.

[Darren K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read most of the Gotrek stories, and all of the AoS ones thus far, Soulslayer turned out to be a surprise. These stories tend to be standard hack and slash, albeit enjoyable hack and slash. What sets Soulslayer apart is that Gotrek gets character development. He is still the Slayer you have come to love, but now he's questioning his place in this new world. He's figuring out where he stands, and time and time again you find him stopping for a moment and realizing he can't keep doing things like he used to.

As for the story itself, it was an enjoyable romp full of Fyreslayers and Idoneth. You have the political intrigue of the sea dwelling courts and the brash craziness that the dwarves always bring. The actual plot itself was probably the weakest one yet in the AoS series, but the characters introduced were great. I wouldn't mind seeing several of these characters appear again in the future.

Speaking of the future, the book sets a turning point for the series. Much changes by the end, and it'll be interesting to see what direction they take Gotrek next.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I don't expect much from it, the book series keeps surprising me (I've only read the modern Gotrek novellas, mind you). Yes it's pulp, it's mindless fun, but even then, the pacing of the story keeps you wanting more, and when Gotrek uses his loss to achieve more, it uh... It hits somewhere deep inside.

And then it's back to solving problems with violence. 👍

[midnightbookreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy
This novel just stepped back into what the Gotrek series is supposed to be, stumbling into success.
Simple, but it honors the purpose of traditions, but at the same time questions them.
Also, this novel is just super hack-and-slash fun,

[Steve Looney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant end to Hinks gotrek trilogy!

[Matthew Wake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third instalment of the Gotrek Gurnisson series set in the mortal realms delivers an exciting, energetic and at times funny story. Continuing on from where Gitslayer left off, Gotrek seeks to find a new path and purpose.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Gotrek’s Journey in Soulslayer. The author has been fantastic in his world building and setting up conflict, and this book was no exception! I’ve had my disagreements with how he had written Gotrek as a hero in his previous books, but that has very much improved with this novel! There’s plenty of heroic moments, and each page kept me hooked and looking forward to where the adventure was taking him next! This was a very fun read, and I look forward to Getrek’s next adventure.

[Alyssa R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not realize this was the last book of the series honestly and I wish I started from the beginning because, even just randomly jumping in, this story was AMAZING! So well done, I’m now getting into age of sigmar and thought I would get bored with world-building exposition honestly, but I couldn’t stop reading this. I love Gotrek and Maleneth as a duo, really well done and also had genuinely funny moments.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was skeptical about Gotrek's adventures in the Age of Sigmar but Hinks embracing the loony designs and monsters has sold me. It's hard to bring something new to a series that's almost two dozen books at this point, but there's still some great set pieces and fun side characters. A comfort fantasy read at this point.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was something about the start that I didn't like and nearly stopped reading, but not much further into the book it became enjoyable for me. I really liked the exploration of the setting and didn't see the ending coming. I recommend this book if you are interested in the Warhammer world.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5 stars. I believe this is the best in the series so far. The story took me by surprise and I didn't see the plot twist coming. A very good book. I look forward to reading the next adventure of Gotrek Gurnisson.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the best Gotrek story in the last few years.

[Tomas Tidén · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotrek is best! Only downside is Age of Sigmar.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotrek and his new companion fights against aelfs on a mission to raise a god.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than a lot of other warhammer books and allows gotrek even more development as a character in his own right, worth a read if you're a fan of the new series.

[Alexandre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading these out of order in between gotrek And Felix is very very confusing.

[Alex Van De Wiele · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent Gotrek book with more emotional punch than most warhammer novels. The gotrek story is progressed in a good way, with Gotrek finally deciding to help people. The Idoneth were done well on the whole, although there were some errors in their portrayl (notably how all the akhelians and isharann are treated like regular fantasy nobles and their relationships with namarti are ignored). The Fyreslayers were presented well, and the combat scenes were all standard great gotrek fare. Overall a fun read for anyone interested in fyreslayers or idoneth, or gotrek fans in general.

[CJ Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good enough read, still plenty of 'axe porn', but it comes to a horrendous rushed ending, I suspect due to administrative fiat on other authors taking over the series.

A single asinine twist renders the entire court intrigue subplot pointless, and in a way that makes no sense no less. Maleneth was jarringly and unceremoniously put on a bus because Games Workshop won't let different authors write the same companion for Gotrek in Age of Sigmar.

Gotrek also spends a good chunk of the book powered down, even though he's at his least interesting when he is. After two and a half novels by Darius Hinks, I'd expected that he could give us an interesting look at this unstoppable character actually meeting with a challenge, but it doesn't come to much.

So why did I still like it? Because Hinks is still doing good work, where he's allowed to. Foes nominally on the cosmic good side are still suitably horrific, and there's plenty of squick, though not near as effective as Gitslayer, the peak of the Hinks trilogy. Also, because I know Maleneth is getting her own book, which may become its own series, and boy does she deserve it.