‘Runefang’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

The fate of Wissenland lies in the balance when a mighty Undead horde lays waste to the state. As the Imperial troops are pushed remorselessly back, the count and his advisors come up with a desperate plan - to find the missing Solland runefang, for with this legendary weapon they will surely win the day. Baron von Rabwald and a small force of men head into the mountains to seek the sword, but can they find it, let alone get back in time?

Because zombies don’t just shamble about in the ruins of modern day America… The undead may have arrived in fantasy fiction via a slightly different route (those pesky necromancers…) but they were in books long before George Romero surrounded a farmhouse with zombies and set the cameras rolling. And I’m more than cool with that. Reading fantasy & horror books, and watching horror movies, are three of my favourite things; zombies count for the fourth so it’s great when all those things bump into one another 😊I know that I can count on Black Library books (old and new) for some zombie action and that is more than half the reason that I picked up ‘Runefang’ and gave it a shot. I took a little break to read ‘The Beast of Grey Gardens’ (more zombies!), on Sunday, and then it was back into ‘Runefang’, last night, to finish off a book that ended on the same note that it had struck throughout.. Bloody entertaining, with no little emphasis on the word ‘bloody’…

Zombies are great all the time but for me, especially so in fantasy fiction. Seriously, point enough of them at something and then sit back and watch them overwhelm even the mightiest hero through sheer weight of numbers. Werner is very good at this here, adopting a ‘more is more approach’ that makes for some suitably epic battles that Werner builds up to by engulfing us in the sheer creeping terror of an army of the undead. For the ‘detail oriented’ reading, I should point out that it’s not just zombies, we’re also talking animated skeletons, banshees and at least two particularly nasty wights. I’m here for the zombies though 😉 But anyway, the battles are an amazing spectacle offset by some sneaky humour. Turns out that an undead army on the march will only be able to follow the same route it took all those thousands of years ago; a bit of good fortune for those cities built a little more recently.

All good so far then but… There’s only so much you can do with the undead. Like I said, point them at something and watch them kill/eat it. Werner is well aware of this potential pitfall and opts to concentrate the bulk of his tale on how the living handle the undead onslaught. And it’s a move that he makes with some aplomb with a cast of characters who may not be likeable but are certainly engaging. And if that wasn’t enough, they are at each other’s throats in a twisting turning cycle of intrigue that gathered me up almost without my noticing. ‘Runefang’ is so easy to get into but do pause before getting too invested in anyone. True to the ‘Old World Aesthetic’, no-one is safe, Morr (Death to you and I) is pretty indiscriminate in who he decides to take…

‘Runefang’ may not have much to say (other than maybe that the Dead and the Living are just not meant to mix) but it’s one hell of an adventure and just far to easy to get into. And that’s exactly what I’ve needed, over the last few days, so… Well played ‘Runefang’, well played…