A ‘Did Not Finish’… ‘Honour of the Grave’ – Robin D. Laws (Black Library)

 


It doesn’t happen often but, it happens. As much as I want to finish everything I read, it doesn’t happen every time. Well, most of the time it does but every so often…

And I’ll tell you what happens even less often. You can normally count on me finishing a book if it’s a ‘Black Library’ book. This time round though… Here we are.

As the Empire’s mighty armies clash against the rampaging hordes of evil, they leave in their wake the detritus of war, including the dead and the dying. Resourceful Angelika Fleischer ekes a living by looting the bloody battlefields, searching for the trinkets and gold carried by soldiers of all sides. But an encounter with the mysterious Kopf brothers leaves Angelika desperate to discover the dark truth behind their quest to find their missing brother before the sweeping tide of battle overtakes them all.

What I love about the Warhammer Fantasy books set in the Old World is that you really feel like you’re there. The best writers here, get that setting and are able to take you there, right in the middle of the forests and cities, with the dangers that lurk in them. Robin D. Laws didn’t manage to do that for me, a brief mention of Averland and Blackfire Pass was nowhere near enough to really immerse me in the setting and without that, Fleischer’s tale wasn’t enough (on its own) to engage, And it really didn’t help that the cover artist had a bit of a thing for Milla Jovovich. The reason I read Fantasy is to get away from the real world, not be reminded of it ;o)

If there was any sense of urgency to the plot, I probably could have made allowances and kept going with it but… Laws seems very happy to take his own sweet time and I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to wait for things to pick up (especially when the ingredients were there for it to all kick off right from the start.

That’s just me though, long time fans of the Old World may well get a lot more out of ‘Honour of the Dead’ than I did (and I won’t lie, I’ll be pretty jealous if they do, I love the Old World...)

Comments

  1. Bookstooge27 March 2026 at 06:33

    That's too bad. Laws did a decent job when editor King in Yellow or Cthulhu anthologies.

    ReplyDelete

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