Warhammer: Blood for the Blood God

by C.L. Werner

published in 2008

Setting/Plot: In the frozen expanses of the Chaos Wastes, several Barbarian tribes descended from the Legendary King Teiyogtei wage constant war with each other. When the Skulltaker, an avatar of Khorne (The Blood God) and a warrior of hideous strenght, appears and slays one of the chieftains the others must rally their men to defend their lands against this armored terror, but their deep seated hatred for each other makes this nearly impossible, even in the face of annihilation.

Hutga Khagan, leader of the Tsavag tribe, knows the severity of the situation after his son, Dorgo Foecrusher, sees the Skulltaker slay the chieftain of a rival tribe. The cheiftain then strikes an uneasy alliance with the deceitful and sorcerous Sul tribe whose leader, Enek Zjarr, sends his apprentice to accompany Dorgo to the heart of a realm of madness in order to reach a demonic forge in a place called The Black Altar. They think to reforge King Teiyogtei's sword that had been used to slay the Skulltaker ages prior and save their people from certain death.

Recommendation: If, like me, you aren't particularly a fan of hopeful high fantasy that constantly features good vs evil and prefer more unapologetically grim and violent dark fantasy, this is a great story. The Skulltaker steals most of the scenes he appears in, cutting through everthing thrown at him (Giants, demons , Ancient swamp creatures) like a force of nature in his one man campaign to kill the tribal leaders. Reading about the barbarians being hunted by this menace was almost like watching a slasher movie insofar that it wasn't so much as "If" the Skulltaker was going to get them as it was "when and how".

CL Werner's style is very detailed, and while this helps in scenes of setting, this sometimes drags down a few of the fight scenes which, I felt, could have benefitted from fewer words than they were given. My only other major complaint was that Dorgo, whose put into the role of the protagonist, could have been better developed. I certainly didn't like him as much as his father or Togmol, one of his companions in the journey to the Black Altar. This shortcoming was made up for by a GREAT ending, though.

Certainly, this isn't a book I'd recommend to every fan of fantasy (that saying goes for pretty much anything Warhammer-related, though), but I enjoyed it quite a bit.