‘Konrad’ – David Ferring (Games Workshop)


Page Count: 228 Pages

When I’m not buying more books (look, its been a rotten month and a bit…), I’m trying to work my way through the books that have been on my shelves for, well… Long enough that I’d completely forgotten how they ended up on said shelves in the first place.

‘Konrad’ was definitely one of those books but it could have been worse; it was only sat on the shelf for around three years (give or take a little bit) before I finally got round to picking it up. And… It wasn’t bad but I’ve definitely read better ‘Warhammer Fantasy’ novels. And I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a bit of a victim of the approach it chose to take. Let me see if I can explain…

His past lost...His future uncertain...Konrad must face his destiny alone. Orphaned at an early age, Konrad's tempestuous life is further upheaved when his adoptive village is destroyed by the vile bestial servants of Chaos, leaving him cast adrift in a world of danger and adventure. Alone and hunted, the fierce young warrior sets off in search of the truth of his ancestry and the mysterious forces that seem to have a hand in his destiny.

It took me bloody ages to work my way through this book and it’s only just over a couple of hundred pages long. So, what happened…?

I think the bottom line is that if you start off with a character with no family, or past, and place him in a village that he never strays too far from (until he has to) then almost by default, you’re making the plot do a lot of heavy lifting. I found this to be doubly true when it became clear that Konrad is not a particularly engaging character (well, he wasn’t for me) and that’s a problem when there’s nothing else to invest in, at least in those early stages. And there isn’t a lot of plot to start off with because the whole point is Konrad finding those answers and driving things forward. It’s the most frustrating vicious circle.

To be fair though, things do get a lot more interesting when Konrad is forced into the outside world and has to make sense of it all. We’re still not getting much of a feel for Konrad himself but at least he’s doing something and things are happening to him. A little bit of action, and a glimpse at the wider Old World, makes up for an awful lot even if Konrad can come across as a little ‘too good to be true’ sometimes. I can’t help but wonder though if that’s part of the point, I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

‘Konrad’ isn’t a bad book then but reading it felt like far more work than it should have been, for what it was. I’ve got the next two books, waiting to be read, but I’ll be honest, I’m not in a mad hurry to read them right away. We’ll see what happens :o)

Comments

  1. Bookstooge9 April 2025 at 10:16

    I tried a couple of the Warhammer books. I understood why the line eventually folded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graeme10 April 2025 at 00:41

      The line is definitely a mixed bag but there is some gold to be found if you go digging; just wasn't really there with 'Konrad'. The 'Gotrek and Felix' books are always good fun if you ever go back ;o)

      Delete

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