‘Blightslayer’ – Richard Strachan (Black Library)

It’s taken me a little while to get to this book; not the fault of the book at all, more my habit of stacking books in large piles and then completely forgetting what book is where… I’d like to say that I’ll beat this habit but, no, that’s not happening :o(

Anyway… I got there in the end, last week was a little bit of a nightmare and weeks like that are always the best time to read more of the adventures of Gotrek Gurnisson so… let me tell you about the time when Gotrek went up against Nurgle’s most pestilent followers.

Gotrek Gurnisson, the legendary Slayer, picks up a new accomplice – and faces a truly grotesque challenge in the disease-ridden spawn of the Plague God himself.

Deep in the wilds of Ghyran, a former warrior priest preaches for humanity to reject the gods. The sole survivor of a massacred Dawnbringer Crusade, Amara Fidellus believes that Sigmar has betrayed her. But when she faces execution for such blasphemy, it’s only the intervention of a drunken, taciturn and incredibly violent duardin that saves her life. Now bound to Gotrek Gurnisson by this life-debt, Amara finds herself caught up in his quest for revenge. But as they become aware of a sorcerous threat building on the far Rocanian Coast, Gotrek and Amara must put aside their own needs for vengeance to confront a terrible danger that could plunge all of Ghyran into Chaos, and see a deadly aspect of Nurgle’s Garden manifest in the Mortal Realms.

Gotrek Gurnisson has always been a little bit of an enigma to me. Is he the best at what he does or is he in fact the worst? A Slayer that cannot find the honourable death that he craves… And then we have Nurgle, possibly my favourite of the Warhammer Chaos gods, just because him and his followers are so happy in their work, even though they’re literally falling apart on the page. Add two of my favourite things together and what have you got…? Well, you have ‘Blightslayer’, a tale that thoroughly entertained me, just when I needed it.

‘Blightslayer’ isn’t without a pretty big problem though, although to be fair, it’s a problem that I think probably all the Gotrek books have to one degree or another. Gotrek is just far too good (or not) at what he does; you know that he’ll still be standing at the end of the book so… How do you keep the plot interesting in the meantime?

Well, Strachan tackles this issue on two fronts and hits each target with some ease. The most obvious approach is to set Gotrek against enemies that will give him a proper fight and Cholerax’s Knights of the Underswamp provide our hero with a nice warm up for the main event. The outcome may not be in doubt but the knights are strong enough to give us a fight that’s worth following and that’s all I’m really after in a Gotrek book.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, Strachan ups the ante significantly and gives us a finale for the ages with the arrival of the Grandson. Again, the outcome may not be in doubt but Strachan does just enough to make you think that, maybe, it just might be this time. It’s brilliant and just what I picked the book up for.

The more subtle approach that Strachan employs though is just as compelling though and bodes well for future Gotrek books, if Strachan decides to write them. Gotrek may well be invulnerable but his human companions certainly aren’t and that is where the fun lies, watching Amara and Odger fight to survive in the company of a dwarf who not only attracts trouble but actively seeks it out as well. There is enough about Gotrek here to make him far more than a weapon to just point at the latest ‘big bad’ but it’s the human element of the tale that not only casts Gotrek in the light that is needed but also makes you think a little more about this world and what is needed to survive in it. I’m thinking of Amara in particular, struggling to find a balance between trusting her god and, finally, being able to trust in herself to be able to do his will on the battlefield. There’s an inner struggle here that matches anything else, in this book, and a timely reminder that you don’t have to be a ‘Gotrek’ in order to be a hero.

‘Blightslayer’ was quite the read then and I’m glad that I picked it up (and didn’t leave it for another day). Now I need to go back and finally read ‘Soulslayer’ in order to fill in some gaps in Gotrek’s journey. And I’ll leave you with a little piece of advice, don’t do what I did and skip ‘Soulslayer’, you’re going to get hit with a pretty big spoiler if you do...