'Warrior Priest' - Darius Hinks (Black Library)

I'm really not planning on doing this too often but work is already gearing up to be a bit of a nightmare this week, and there's only so much of me to go round, so it's time for another re-cycled review. In order to play the 'Re-Cycle Review' card though, three conditions have to be met...

• Work has to be eating into the rest of the day (a condition that is never too hard to meet at the moment...)
• It has to be a book that I've actually read recently (I'm not going to mine my old blog for reviews, that kind of takes away the whole point of this blog...)
• I've got to feel the same about the book as I did when I last picked it up (otherwise, why am I not writing a new review instead?)

Darius Hinks' 'Warrior Priest' satisfies the last two conditions and work is going to be a nightmare today so... here we are :o) I get to make a little time back and you get a blog post, fair trade and all that ;o) If you really want to know how I introduced blog posts back in 2010, the full review can be found Here. For everyone else, here goes...

From the massed ranks of the Empire’s armies, few stand out more than the warrior priests of Sigmar; crushing all who stand before them with the righteous fury of their god and a dirty great big warhammer in mailed fist. When all else fails, these brave men will be the last to fall against the heretics, monsters and daemons that threaten mankind.

Jakob Wolff is one such warrior and his latest quest will prove to be the darkest road that he has trodden. His own brother has been tainted by the Ruinous Powers and Jakob must track him down before the raw power of Chaos itself can be unleashed once again on an Empire still reeling from its last major war. Can Jakob kill his own brother though? His faith in Sigmar is about to be tested like never before...

‘Warrior Priest’ isn’t without its faults but is nevertheless a book that demands to be read. If you’re a long time fan of the setting or a fan of epic fantasy looking for something new to read, I think you’re pretty much guaranteed a good read here. Yet to begin with, it really didn’t look like it was going to be that way...

Jakob Wolff may not be a major player in this world (unlike men such as Ludwig Schwarzhelm and Kurt Helborg) but it’s clear from the outset that Hinks has a character on his hands that men are wary of (having heard tales of his piety and fury on the battlefield). Why then, did Hinks feel the need to keep making the point about how tough Wolff is? The first few chapters basically involve Wolff facing down various foes in ways that may show us what a tough guy he is but don’t actually do a lot for the story itself. It’s more like a number of short stories tacked together and the end effect is like a video game where the character has to defeat the ‘end of level boss’ before he can continue. There’s no denying that there are some powerful moments to be had here, some of what Wolff has to face down is pretty intense, but I just didn’t quite get the connection to the story itself. This approach led me to feel that the story wasn’t advancing at all and this led to my having issues with its pace...

I’m glad I stuck with it though as things picked up immeasurably.

Once Hinks gets into his stride, the reader has a story on his hands that delivers on all fronts in a manner that’s nothing short of superb. If Jakob Wolff is called upon to defend the Empire in future books then I’ll be picking them up.

I’m still not entirely au fait with all things Warhammer but even I couldn’t escape from the feeling that Darius Hinks comes across like he knows the Old World inside out and has been writing in it forever.
War is an integral part of the Old World and a facet upon which the whole identity of the setting hinges. If it was any less unrelenting then the setting just wouldn’t work! Hinks knows this deep down and ‘Warrior Priest’ is all the more bleak for this knowledge. Yes, Hinks does write an amazing battle sequence (he really does, you should check it out) but he also knows that the influence of war spreads far beyond the battlefield and he uses this approach to give us a vision of war that is all encompassing rather than confined to the clash of armies.
Villagers and townspeople are faced with starvation as they dare not venture beyond their walls. Blind Lords sit and wait for death in ruined castles after the battle has left them behind. The land itself is blighted and not likely to recover. Even in cities far from the battlefields of the north, life is geared towards war in one way or another and Hinks nails the associated mixture of world weariness and war fuelled adrenaline with an intensity that’s bang on target.

Not only does the reader get such a gorgeously rendered vision but there’s also a story (early stutters aside) running alongside it that complements it almost perfectly. Central to all of this is the character of Jakob Wolff, a man torn between his faith and his family. Hinks delves deep into Wolff’s psyche and spares no detail into the mental torture that Wolff’s past mistakes inflict on him on a daily basis. When Wolff lets fly in the heat of battle, you can almost feel his relief at being able to get away from his other problems and take it out on someone else.
Wolff’s mission is by no means straight forward and there are plenty of twists to keep things fresh and interesting. I loved the way it all came together right at the very end with everything thrown into sharp new relief once the villain’s plans are finally made clear. It was a burst of impetus, at just the right time, which kept me reading right through to the gripping conclusion.

‘Warrior Priest’ starts off on the wrong foot but persistence on the part of the reader will be greatly rewarded with a tale that stirs the blood. I’m looking forward to reading more from Darius Hinks.

And so I did ;o) Have a read of my reviews for 'Dominion', 'Ghoulslayer' and 'Warqueen'.