Lord Samper's 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...

  Page Count: 42 Pages I’ve had a good run, finishing full length novels, but I think it’s time to take a little breather and make this week all about short stories instead. I’m pushed for time at the moment, and I have plenty of anthologies to choose from. Lets see where the journey takes me. Well, the first stop is pretty obvious, not only because you’ve already read the title but also because ‘Warhammer’ has become a real ‘go to’ for me these days, the Old World most of all. I’ve travelled a fair way through the Old World but I’ve never made it to the outskirts of Mordheim, let alone behind its walls. That changed last night though with a tale of friendships lost and found, a horde of rat-men and possibly the best dog ever… Captain Heinrich Gogol is a man on a mission, a mission that will take him into the cursed heart of Mordheim to locate the Heart of Sigmar. The only problem is that the Skaven already have the Heart and they’re not interested in giving it up. And who is the m...

  Page Count: 244 Pages (give or take a page or two, I read it in the ‘First Omnibus’ and my maths is never entirely trustworthy) I went through a phase of collecting the ‘Gotrek and Felix’ novels, a few years ago, and then, true to form, I popped a large number of them on the shelf and never picked them up. I can tell you’re surprised ;o) Well, Christmas is looming, and that is traditionally the time of relatively easy-going comfort reads, so I thought I’d dig out those books and add them into what currently passes for my TBR pile (lets just say that it’s in a constant state of flux…) I’ll read the first three in order, I have the ‘First Omnibus’ edition, and after that, it will go by the books that I was able to collect. Lets see how it goes :o) On that note, lets talk a little about ‘Trollslayer’… Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between and depends entirely upon who you ask… Afte...

Page Count: 320 Pages I actually read this book some months ago (and I’ve only just found it again, under a pile of bills...) so you’re going to be hard pressed to get much more than quick thoughts and general impressions here. For completeness sake though (and the fact that I’m nowhere near finishing any of the other books that I’ve got on the go…), I’m going to give it a shot ;o) Here goes... In the savage Old World, dark powers gather around the ancient mountain top city of Middenheim, the City of the White Wolf. Only the noble Templar Knights of Ulric and a few unlikely allies stand to defend her against the insidious servants of Death. I ended up really enjoying ‘Hammers of Ulric’ but damn, the book really made me work for it in the early stages. What we’re looking at here is a collection of shorter tales that gradually tie together; by the end of the book and you realise that you’ve actually just been reading one complete book the whole time. I like that approach and it’s not oft...

Page Count: 245 pages (well, more like 244 and a half) I have to go looking for them now but there are still a few books, lurking here and there, that I read while I was taking a take from the blog last year. And while I’ve got a few books on the go and haven’t finished any of them, finding a book like ‘The Ambassador’ really gives me a little breathing space ;o) It’s a short read so lets not hang around this paragraph too long. Lets get to it… In the Icy Northern Wastes, a mighty army of darkness prepares to sweep southward and lay waste to the civilized lands of the Empire. In this dangerous time, retired Imperial general Kaspar von Velten is sent to Kislev as ambassador to the court of Tsarina Katarin. Unused ot the power struggles and politics at court, Kaspar is forced to use all the skills and resources at his command to in order to survive in this cold and hostile land. As winter draws in, can Kaspar re-forge the fragile alliance between the Empire and Kislev and prepare its tro...

I’ve been itching for a chance to get into ‘Tales of the Old World’ (look at that cover and tell me you wouldn’t feel the same…) and I finally got the chance last night. Now I’ve cracked the book open, you can expect to see more posts covering the short stories within but, that’s for another time. Right now… I had no idea where to kick things off but the great thing about anthologies is that you don’t necessarily have to start at the beginning. I mean, you can but I generally tend to go with whatever catches my eye and this time round, it was the deliciously ambiguous sounding ‘Hatred’. There’s a lot of scope for that in the Old World, whether it’s on the battlefield or elsewhere so I thought I’d give it a go and see where it took me…  Murder has been committed, in the sleepy village of Kurtbad, the killer still lives and they might just be a mutant… A witch hunter is called but when the threat of Chaos meets the evil in men, anyone in Kurtbad could be guilty… ‘Hatred’ is a ...