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eleven_hummingbird's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
As an End Times novel, this book is good, but having read and loved the Malus Darkblade series, I was disappointed with his treatment here. This is very much an End Times novel more than it is a Malus Darkblade sequel.
As a grim dark, sword and sorcery adventure, this book has all the violence, deceit, treachery, and tragedy of the dark elves that we love and it's great. If this is all you're here for, have fun. It's good.
Onto my bickering.
Spoilers below for this novel and the Malus Darkblade series.
First off, the romance. Here, Malus is in a relationship with one of his female retainers. This is a break of character. In the main series, Malus, like most elves, is likely bisexual. Some people read him as gay. Personally, I read him as aromantic, bi or asexual. The sudden jump to a strictly heterosexual relationship is not only jarring, but really depreciates the arc of at least one major character from the main series. There's certainly multiple ways to read Malus' romantic interests and the longer I reflect on this book the more I can see his aromantic nature coming through and can, perhaps, conjure nuance by reading between the lines, but, at least on first read, I did not care for how Deathblade addresses this.
I haven't yet encountered him in other novels I've read, so perhaps this is just how he is, but oh my word Tyrion's dialogue is genuinely garbage, absolutely terrible. He has one decent speech at the end, but everything else he has to say is just bad. The Caledorians are written well, as are most of the dark elves. I liked Silar, Malekith, Tullaris, and Drusala. Prince Iktheon is awesome, I love the dialogue between him and Malus. Unfortunately, Tyrion is hardly middle-grade.
The ending is rather hollow. Why do Silar and Tullaris get more narrative attention at their deaths than Malus? Just, how insulting.
This is really indicative of the whole novel; it lacks any personal narrative of Malus. Narratives that were so important to the main series, namely the on-going question of what is self and what is one willing to do for it, really engaging themes that built such personality in the protagonist, are not built upon here. Shame.
There are quite a few editing errors in the last third of the book. Simple misspellings, repeated words, etc.
In sum, if you want a really fun Warhammer novel, this is great, if shallow. It checks most all the boxes for dark elves, but simply lacks the personal narratives found in the protagonist's main series, going so far as to ignore key themes and belittle major characters, not excluding the protagonist himself. Despite all these, I rather enjoyed it.
As a grim dark, sword and sorcery adventure, this book has all the violence, deceit, treachery, and tragedy of the dark elves that we love and it's great. If this is all you're here for, have fun. It's good.
Onto my bickering.
Spoilers below for this novel and the Malus Darkblade series.
First off, the romance. Here, Malus is in a relationship with one of his female retainers. This is a break of character. In the main series, Malus, like most elves, is likely bisexual. Some people read him as gay. Personally, I read him as aromantic, bi or asexual. The sudden jump to a strictly heterosexual relationship is not only jarring, but really depreciates the arc of at least one major character from the main series. There's certainly multiple ways to read Malus' romantic interests and the longer I reflect on this book the more I can see his aromantic nature coming through and can, perhaps, conjure nuance by reading between the lines, but, at least on first read, I did not care for how Deathblade addresses this.
I haven't yet encountered him in other novels I've read, so perhaps this is just how he is, but oh my word Tyrion's dialogue is genuinely garbage, absolutely terrible. He has one decent speech at the end, but everything else he has to say is just bad. The Caledorians are written well, as are most of the dark elves. I liked Silar, Malekith, Tullaris, and Drusala. Prince Iktheon is awesome, I love the dialogue between him and Malus. Unfortunately, Tyrion is hardly middle-grade.
The ending is rather hollow. Why do Silar and Tullaris get more narrative attention at their deaths than Malus? Just, how insulting.
This is really indicative of the whole novel; it lacks any personal narrative of Malus. Narratives that were so important to the main series, namely the on-going question of what is self and what is one willing to do for it, really engaging themes that built such personality in the protagonist, are not built upon here. Shame.
There are quite a few editing errors in the last third of the book. Simple misspellings, repeated words, etc.
In sum, if you want a really fun Warhammer novel, this is great, if shallow. It checks most all the boxes for dark elves, but simply lacks the personal narratives found in the protagonist's main series, going so far as to ignore key themes and belittle major characters, not excluding the protagonist himself. Despite all these, I rather enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
cwebb's review
4.0
Auch dunkle Helden wie Malus Darkblade verdienen einen würdigen Abtritt innerhalb der End Times Serie. "Deathblade - A Tale of Malus Darkblade" erzählt uns, wie Malus auf Geheiss des Königs Malekith einen Teil der Dunkelelfen-Armee nach Ulthuan führt. Doch was bezweckt Malekith? Und was macht Drusala an seiner Seite? Und wie wird sich Malus seinem inneren Dämon stellen?
C.L. Werner ist wohl einer der besten Autoren aus der Black Library Brigade. Ich habe die Malus Darkblade Bücher nicht gelesen, aber in Deathblade habe ich alles an Hintergrundinformationen bekommen. Es gibt warhammer-typisch grosse Schlachten, Einzelkämpfe; Dunkelelfen-typisch Mord und Intrigen. Alles drin, alles dran, und den Leser wird es freuen.
C.L. Werner ist wohl einer der besten Autoren aus der Black Library Brigade. Ich habe die Malus Darkblade Bücher nicht gelesen, aber in Deathblade habe ich alles an Hintergrundinformationen bekommen. Es gibt warhammer-typisch grosse Schlachten, Einzelkämpfe; Dunkelelfen-typisch Mord und Intrigen. Alles drin, alles dran, und den Leser wird es freuen.
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