Gotrek & Felix: The Third Omnibus [Paperback]

I've really enjoyed the Gotrex and Felix books by William King and was hesitant to buy this when I saw that a new author (Nathan Long) had taken over the series. He has stuck fairly close to the Felix character but has not done so with Gotrex in his first novel of the trilogy Orcslayer. (Giantslayer by Willam King is excellent. I give it five stars). Gotrex is definately not the character you get from the previous books. Not sure what Long is aiming at in Orcslayer but Gotrex is not nearly as tough under Long's pen as he was under King's. Long is also inconsistant at times. For example he has Gotrex recovering from being shot and falling off a cliff in five days but he can't recover from digging for two hours and stays exhausted forever. Long plays extensively on Gotrex exhaustion instead of the power and toughness that King created. Long's Gotrex is not even close to tough enough to kill the Giant, the Daemon or even the Skaven that King created. Long's first book is a major step down from King. Long also completely rewrote the Dwarves as self-centered, greedy and intolerant which is the complete opposite of King's impression of the race. Overall Orcslayer had some good action but was too far off the world that King had created for me to really enjoy the book.

Long does redeem himself somewhat with Manslayer. He get's a lot closer to Gotrex strength and recuperative powers. He also gives some tantalizing hints to Felix not aging in his past twenty years even though he's had a tough time with Gotrex. Overall a much better effort than Orcslayer. My only knock is the cliffhanger ending. I hate authors who will not wrap up the story and leave us hanging. (Spoiler: There is no reason to have Felix blackout with the Gotrex's reliable drifting past in ashes.) This was a great story more true to King's world but ruined by not wrapping things up. Makes me hesitant to continue buying the series. Long has taken away one of the things I liked most. He does not wrap up the episod but has been caught-up in the "leave them hanging" with the never ending story syndrom. Leaves me ticked off and not so interested in pursuing the series any longer. I have not read but have seen reviews that say that the next book is even more of a cliffhanger. If true shame on Nathan Long and please wrap things up like King did. It's one of the things that made the series differnt from so many others. A series where we as fans actually get resolution instead of being dissatisfied because the story never ends (ex:Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time(suddenly another trilogy with a new author); George R.R. Martin who can't get around to writing the next Fire and Ice book even though he has written several others and has been teasing fans for years.)

Overall these are good stories. Not pleased with Long's first effort(Orcslayer) but he does better with Manslayer. Detest the cliffhanger ending of Manslayer. Give Giantslayer*****'s; Orcslayer***'s and Manslayer****'s Overall****'s

I have to admit that I didn't read this entire omnibus. I actually stopped reading about twenty or thirty pages into Orcslayer (the second novel), which I will explain below.

As for the first novel, Giantslayer, which is written by original author King... it is pretty good. At the very least, it expands the Warhammer universe appropriately and has a few very epic and interesting scenarios. Unfortunately, it did seem like King was getting a bit bored with the series considering that some of the prose and dialog used throughout the novel is incredibly repetitive (even more so than in his other novels). Based on Giantslayer's ending, I think King either knew for sure that he wasn't going to continue the series himself or he at least had plans to change thing up quite a bit in regard to the setting and supporting characters.

Orcslayer is, of course, the first novel in the series written by a different author (Nathan Long). I have no reason to think Long is a poor writer in his own way, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that he doesn't stay faithful to the Gotrek & Felix characters or Warhammer universe (which very much contradicts his statements in the book's forward). Instead of explaining this in full detail, something that can be found in other reviews of Long's Gotrek & Felix novels, I'll offer an analogy: reading King's Giantslayer and then diving directly into Long's Orcslayer is like watching the DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and then immediately switching to a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys made for TV movie starring Kevin Sorbo. I'll let you figure out what I mean by that.

I plan to return to this series and attempt to continue with Long's novels after I've let this omnibus sit on my shelf for a few months. I'm hoping that some time spent away from the series will allow me to look past the way Long changes Gotrek into a cartoon character and leaps backward with Felix's development as a character.

I was leery of someone other that Mr. King penning Felix or, even worse, Gotrek the Taciturn Tank. Although the tales do read differently, they're still more than worth reading. I will say that by the end, the plot had more of an action-adventure movie feel to it, rather than grim heroic epic, but it was still a page-turner.