A City in the wilderness...Chaos at the gates...A killer on the loose...A retired warrior takes up the sword once more...Collected for the first time in one volume, this great value omnibus contains both of Graham McNeill's epic fantasy novels The Ambassador and Ursun's Teeth. A darkness creeps over the Old World. Everything is tainted with despair and decay. Fear and superstition rule the lives of the faceless masses, and in the shadows, the foul gods of Chaos gibber and shriek, dreaming of the day when all living things bow to them. With his military career coming to an end, General Kasper von Velten thinks he's been put out to pasture when his new assignment as an ambassador to the distant frozen land of Kislev comes through. However, with the unspeakable hordes of Chaos at the walls and a brutal killer at loose in the city, it looks like this may not be the quiet retirement that he expected. Kaspar must use all his skills as a warrior and a statesman to survive.
Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.
Typical McNeill fare, poor characterizations saved by well-done action sequences. Knee-jerk, abrupt ending. Especially since I have little desire or motivation to move on to Book 2.
A Warhammer Novel, but with a twist. Not only takes it place in the "russian" country of Warhammer named Kislev, but also is the main plot catching a murderer...
Very good read , interesting characters , just wish that there had been more exploring of Kislev and the backgrounds to some of the characters But don't let that stop you reading it
As an omnibus, it's a decent stint into the Warhammer fantasy universe and has all the hooks a good fantasy novel should. Overall impending doom in an ancient land, intrigues found in any metropolitan city and seat of power, and more personal matters of lust, attraction, and the right love at the wrong time can keep the reader going, but it is the second book in the collection that outstripped the first. Paced well with detailed writing, its faults are transparent foreshadowing and a few points I think most readers would want to know more about, but are only sketched into the major plot. I think the tale could be appreciated more if its canvas were simply bigger.