A Book Review or Two

First up is the Red Duke by C.L. Werner 
      
     The Red Duke is the latest novel in the Warhammer Heroes series that gives a detailed incite into iconic characters of the Warhammer universe.  The book starts of with a troubadour in the slums of Bretonia meeting a vampire who claims to be and tells him the story of the Red Duke.  Each chapter has a section that tells the back story of the Red Duke in an italicized font, which might lead some readers to not break from one timeline or the other easily.  That then switches over to the current story which is still in a different time, and since some of the names are the same it can get hard to keep track of, which this could have been done on purpose to demonstrate the madness of the Red Duke. 

     Over all the book is very well written, but there is very little character development on certain side characters.  While I liked the book overall, it did not stack up to some of the other seminal C.L. Werner books like Palace of the Plague God and Blood for the Blood God.  Which the two books I just mentioned are glorious works that demonstrate the fickle nature of chaos and brutal nature of the Warhammer world, while developing some great characters.  (If you can mange to get a hold of these books get them as they a now out of print)

      So I think I will give the book a 7.5 out of 10.

Next is The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeil

     The Outcast Dead is the seventeenth book in the Horus Heresy series.  This book follows the trials of an astropath name Kai Zulane.  It starts with him returning to his old life to relearn the ways of being an astropath, but it then turns over to him running for his life after a prophecy of the future is implanted in his head against his will.  The book has some great insights into the characters of Rogal Dorn and the Emperor, whom are very minor characters, which the latter only appears in the dreams of Kai.  The Space Marines that show up in the later half of the book have some great character, and I would love to know more about them but they shuffle of the mortal coil by the end of the book.  The main idea of the book is that some secrets are best left secret.

      This is a great addition to the Horus Heresy series, while not dealing with the main plot line of the heresy.  Except for a few typos the book is very well written, with some great character development.  Which leads to one getting a little attached and/or sympathetic to some of the characters.  It also leaves just enough questions at the end of the book for one to want more, but not angry these things were left unanswered.

     So this book gets a 8.5 out of 10.