The Enemy Within

Warhammer

by Richard Lee Byers

The practice of magic is strictly controlled in the Empire, and rogue mages are ruthlessly hunted down by the witch hunters. An Imperial wizard is blackmailed into infiltrating a vile Chaos cult - if doesn't, he will be denounced as a heretic. Can he complete his assignment without being corrupted, and can he trust his tormentor to honour his part of the bargain?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

253 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2007

About the author

A resident of the Tampa Bay area, Richard spends much of his leisure time fencing, playing poker, shooting pool and is a frequent guest at Florida science-fiction conventions. His current projects include new novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe and the eBook post-apocalyptic superhero series The Impostor.

Reviews

[Des]

My first foray into the Warhammer universe, bought on a whim at our local game shop when I discovered their veeery tiny little bookshelf. It's not awful, but it isn't good. Writing was fairly neat, fast-paced, not too full of flourish or unnecessary language. Story itself was thin, with cheap twists and intrigue thrown in to motivate the reader. Characters were awful and unlikable from the start. The women in this - the two that there are - are god awful stereotypes, the "caring mom" older woman and the timid sex worker. Between the abuse and the constant referring to Jarla purely as her occupation, rather than an actual human being, I think Byers needs to reevaluate the role of women in his fiction.

Not sure exactly what else I expected out of a Warhammer novel, but yikes.

[Paulo "paper books only"]

This book deals with Wizards, Witch Hunters and Chaos Cultists (from the Father o Lies). I like the way Byers dealt with the plot and characters. He portrayed the evil doers humanly with good characterestics and vice-versa. Everything is grey. There is white and black but grey is the colour that engulfs us all.

The ending deals with fate and I am not saying much more but these book made me think and I like that. Fate exists? Or life is just a random turn of events.

[Andrew Jamieson]

Taking as inspiration old campaign books from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Byers has crafted a desperate tale of a compromised hero, going undercover in a chaos cult in a bid to win his freedom from a malicious witch hunter. Byers really captures the grotty, grimy world of Warhammer in superb street-level detail, and the plot is full of twists, surprises and false steps. Taking the best bits of the RPG and fusing them with great characters, this is one of the defining works of the Warhammer Fantasy range. I've read it at least three times since I first got it on its release.

[Jim Thompson]

This is terrible and wonderful at the same time. I give it four stars, not because it's good, but because it's exactly what it's supposed to be: silly, sloppy, pulpy fantasy set in the Warhammer world. Woo-hoo!

[Peter Rybarczyk]

Yet another Warhammer Fantasy book I've read in the last few months.
In my personal opinion is much worse than The Witch Hunter trilogy but still worth reading if you like this pulpy grim climate of Warhammer fantasy world.
Both the story and characters are written really well, we have a few nice plot twists and some depth in the motivations of the different characters. Also, what's worth mentioning is the fact that the entire world is much more grey than in other Warhammer stories. There is no good Empire and bad Chaos, all are grey, chaos cultists feel love and can be thoughtful to each other, witch hunters have a weak will, etc. They are not might heroes of their times, they all are just humans with all pros and cons of that.
So, in summary, the worth of reading once if you like grim and dark world of Warhammer fantasy.

[Roger L]

Starts off slow but the 2nd half of the book was full of action.

[Michael T Bradley]

Almost certainly Byers' best book. He really shines in the WHF world, and I'm sad he didn't do more (especially as this book ends in a ... "to be continued next episode!" fashion).

A lot of double crosses and twists and surprises, and it's one of those tales where our intrepid hero keeps getting dragged into further mindscrews and manipulations. With a dash of Tzeentch for good measure.

Ridiculously fun and a quick read.

[Jack Volante]

WOW! What a crackin' read. This was a wonderfully written story that engaged me from beginning to end. As soon as I finished the book, I searched online to see if there was a sequel, but alas, no such luck.
A great story in the classic old world of Warhammer Fantasy. I really felt the struggles of the main character, as he walks a narrow line between damnation and... part salvation.

I couldn't recommend this book more if you're a fan of Warhammer/Tzeentch/Witch Hunters.