Even for gaming fiction this is poor. The book has way too many characters, all of whom are poorly detailed – enough so I had a hard time keeping them all straight.
The basic plot is straight forward enough – it centers around defending a town from invading beastman. Unfortunately, the author left in too much extraneous material which add nothing to the plot which further undermines the already weak focus. To make matters worse, plot elements are introduced and them simply abandoned. I have to agree with the other reviewer – needs better editing.
The book’s only redeeming feature is the combat scenes (what saved it from 1 star). Unfortunately, you have to plow through pages of meaningless activity to get there.
Only for die-hard Warhammer fans.
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I read a lot of these books because I play the game, but I’m also an avid reader of all kinds of books. I don’t expect the writer to be Tolstoy, it’s fantasy for godssake. I read the first book “Sacred Flesh” and it was a fair enough story to GM an exciting adventure, regardless of the fact that the main character is one dimensional and the rest of the characters were a mish mash of confusion. This second book on the otherhand I didn’t get halfway through before I put it aside because I lost all reason to care whether the main character lived or died. The action is alright if you can keep track of what’s happening. Even the sex scenes are pretty shallow. I think the writing just could have been better. I wouldn’t recommend this book. Actually, I’m going to go pull my book mark out of it, I need it and I don’t care to mark where I left off.
This is a good story about a thief named Angelika Fleschier who gets tricked into joining an Imperial Commander and his men seek out Chaos warbands in the hills. very action packed and could be some good game scenarios pitting Empire troops versus Chaos Marauders
This is a straight forward no nonsense Warhammer story. It’s a short quick read (sometimes you just need a break from huge tomes). It’s focused on a small group of characters in a small area. If you want a long saga this isn’t it. Perhaps it is a little plot lite, but I enjoyed the characters and found the book to be a pleasure. If you’re looking for an in depth exploration of the Warhammer world look elsewhere, but if you’re looking for a good read this is just fine.
This, like all Black Library warhammer books is hack writing. Some do it better than others, but to argue for literary merit is like saying that a smash-up derby lacks elegence. File the last interview under ‘NSS’, for “No s**t Sherlock”.
Anyway, Justin’s strengths are a solid focus on small events in a small town, some good characterization of the important people to the story, nice little period details, and exciting battle scenes. This is an enjoyable little tale and good ‘beach reading’.
If you want great literature, look elsewhere. If you’re into Warhammer, you’ll enjoy this book about a unit of Empire halberdiers fighting to protect the small town in which they live.
Even for gaming fiction this is poor. The book has way too many characters, all of whom are poorly detailed – enough so I had a hard time keeping them all straight.
The basic plot is straight forward enough – it centers around defending a town from invading beastman. Unfortunately, the author left in too much extraneous material which add nothing to the plot which further undermines the already weak focus. To make matters worse, plot elements are introduced and them simply abandoned. I have to agree with the other reviewer – needs better editing.
The book’s only redeeming feature is the combat scenes (what saved it from 1 star). Unfortunately, you have to plow through pages of meaningless activity to get there.
Only for die-hard Warhammer fans.
The Good:
It’s only 243 pages long.
The Bad:
It feels like 1000 pages long.
Forged in battle is in dire need for editor and Justin Hunter is in dire need for a basic writing course. Did no one ever tell him of the Show & Tell principle?
Dialogs – I don’t think you can get more uninspiring and inane.
Characters – Tons of stereotyped totally flat characters. I had to flip again and again to the back up the book, just to remind myself of the main protagonist’s name. Imagine that he was so well developed, rounded and inspiring, that I can’t even remember his name. I swear that it never happened to me before.
Inflated Text, no proportion –
One sample out of thousands:
p.53 “Sigmund shook his head, stood up and moved to the doorway.”
No kidding why didn’t you write: “Sigmund shook his head to the left, then to the right, then he put his left leg forward, then his right leg followed, then his left again…
This is the 21st century, not the Victorian age.
Instead of writing:
The phone rang, Sigmud ran over to the phone, sat on a stool beside it, picked up the phone and said “Hello?”.
It’s enough to say:
The phone rang.
“Hello?” Sigmund said.
Maybe the author had a quota of words to fill?
I can keep up, telling howe Justine cuts his story into extremly short scenes resulting in something that resembles a long tiring stutter, or I can point out how chewed his plot is.
But why bother?
This book has already taken too much of my time. Don’t bother picking it up even if you’re a Warhammer fan.
In my reviews of Warhammer novels, I usually differentiate between the elements important to the gamer and the purely novelistic elements that would interest non-gamers. This technique will not work for Valnir’s Bane, the first of the Black Heart novels, because it is a pure novel. In other words, the plot is the thing.
Don’t get me wrong,the gamer can read it and find an abundance of Warhammer Fantasy elements but that is not its raison d’etre. Its purpose, I think, is to be a fast paced Hollywood style story.
In fact, as I was reading it, I kept imagining Indiana Jones racing through and under the Middle Mountains. The plotting reminded me of the saturday morning serials I saw as a kid.
But his many movie allusions are not only to serials. He seems steeped in movie grammar. I will point out just a few. Reiner Hetzau’s duel with a dissident member of his outlaw gang reminded me of the scene in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” where Butch duels for control of the Hole in the Wall Gang. The scene where the characters fall into a river and tumble over a waterfall-a time honored plot device-reminded me of similar scenes in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Undefeated,” and Michael Mann’s “The Last of the Mohicans”. Tolkien even uses it to good effect in “The Hobbit.” And, of course, the author acknowledges the similarities between the novel and “The Dirty Dozen.”
Ultimately, these allusions do not detract from the novel, although they do make it a different kind of Warhammer novel.
In conclusion, it is obvious the author spent a lot of time plotting the novel. Even the individual chapters complied with the Aristotlean plot formula. He created suspense at the beginning and carried it successfully to the end. The battle scenes were believable and Nathan Long, most particularly, has a penchant for writing horror scenes. His prose is flawless and his pacing relentless.
This novel was chalk full of non stop action.
Despite being packed with nothing but action and being
a short novel, it manages some very good insight into the
cast of characters. I found the novel to be a very easy read
and finished it in one reading.
The other review has already stated anything else i
might have said except that I did find one
character to be very unbelievable.
The Novitiate Knight, Erich was just too stupid to be believable.
The writer could have built some kind of realistic motivations
that might have explained the character a bit better as he
did with the rest of the cast.
On the whole, a very satisfying read. Would definately purchase
any sequel even though i don’t tend to buy Warhammer fantasy
novels except for the Gotrek and Felix line.
I purchased this novel to fill my order for
super express shipping. That and the storyline sppealed to me.
Like some of the other reviews have said, the book is a cliche.
Men slated to die given a chance to carry out a mission for their freedom. Sounds pretty straightforward? Very “Dirty Dozen”ish? It is. But it isn’t. The characters are thrust into a situation that seems way out of their league, but they perserve and push on against relentless foes and very large odds indeed.
It definately breaks the cliche in places. After reading many, many Black Library offerings from C.L. Werner, Dan Abnett, Ben Counter, William King, and a plethora of others, I think that for his first offering, Nathan Long does a wonderful job of capturing the gritty elements of the dark world of Warhammer fantasy.
The story definately kept my attention from the beginning, as the main character Reiner, a man of noble birth but apparently of low-rank; sits in his cell contemplating which cellmates would make for the best partners in escape, to some of the more climactic battle scenes near the end of the story, I think it’s an excellent ride.
The characters besides Reiner all seem to work well in my mind. The ruthless and bloodthirsty Knight, the pair of villanous pikemen, the cowardly savant Artilleryman, the downtrodden Engineer, the malicious Barber-Surgeon, the plucky young archer and the unfortunate Tilean Rogue, all seem to come together well as their mismatched personalities lead to some interesting dialogues and exchanges throughout the story
There are some nice turns and twists and I definately look forward to seeing more of Mr. Long’s work.
It has something to offer to the first time reader and the hardened Black Library gurus alike. Give it a shot.
I have read 98% of the offerings from the BL and have to say this is the worst novel yet. Usually they manage to print only the best of the short stories submitted but this novel misses the mark. The author fails to capture any of the atmosphere of the gothic world of Warhammer. All the ingredients are there but I couldn’t help feeling I was reading a screen play. If this is the first novel from either Warhammer or warhammer 40k you read, please don’t get turned off. Try William king or Dan Abnett as examples of the best this genre has to offer.
Valnir’s Bane begins with a bang, lets neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night keep it from delivering nonstop gore and colliding bodies and objects, and then ends in a whirl. And I have to face it, I love this sort of thing. I’ll read it over and over again — if it’s done well. Nathan Long does it well. He hauls out all the old adventure plot devices and characters without shame, polishes them up, and then proceeds to warp, muddy and hack them to bits. Bring it on!