Reviews

Silver Nails by Kim Newman, Jack Yeovil

wannabekingpin's review

3.0

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About the Book: Lots of strange things, creatures, monsters, roam this world. From cursed to afflicted, from blessed to gifted. Genevieve, with her long, enduring vampire life, gets to watch it all, passing by, with the most unusual characters occasionally entering her space. After all, if gruesome murders by a trained to kill bird keeps happening all through a city, does it even really happen if she’s not there to witness it?…

My Opinion: Bandits whose heist went awry, some kind of Wild Hunt with whom people, closing their doors for the night, merely live, ignoring the war noises coming from the outside, and so on. Each tale was pretty good, but kept getting gradually worse. Slowly starting to lack in atmosphere, more solid scene building, or provide ideas of interest. The last one ending up the worst, and once again I wonder if Genevieve, being author’s favorite, is simply thus so very underdeveloped that she ends up ruining good tales with the Mary Sue Gaze.

dilly_bar's review

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

arthurbdd's review against another edition

2.0

Drops the ball, in part because it's trying to keep the whole Vampire Genevieve conceit going when the setting had largely diverged from any interpretation where that would work. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/the-reading-canary-the-vampire-genevieve/

bobreturns's review against another edition

4.0

I could go back to this world again and again. It isn't really the Warhammer World of the game, with it's eternal miserable darkness, but instead that of WFRP - grimey and medieval but with a hell of a lot of fun humour in it. Yeovil/Newman never takes his settings or work too seriously, and that's a pleasant change from the traditional grimdark of the Warhammer World. I'd cheerily read more Genevieve novels, alas they'll never exist now.

glace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the final dedicated novel of Genevieve in the Warhammer Fantasy setting by Kim Newman a.k.a. Jack Yeovil. A short story collection with references to previous works, that each are entertaining stories in their own right, finalised with a story to act as a last chapter to Genevieve's adventures, at least since it's publication. I appreciate Newman's style to humanise and tastefully describe the vices that are part of humanity, and how some should be taken more seriously than others. No one is perfect, and those that explicitly profess to be so should be beheld with a cynical view. Newman also knows how to write a good mystery, my attention was grasped tightly more than once when threads of possibility were explored. I'm very likely to explore his other Genevieve series "Anno Dracula" as a consequence to appreciating this. A series set in an entirely different setting, but with a character homologue of Genevieve, with the same name. No complaints from me as I want more of this character, but appreciate the ending of her story in this setting.

manthespace's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mayastone's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This collection feels the most like a Warhammer book. 

Red Thirst:

Genevieve is quite heavily featured. A morality crusade with a sinister reality behind it. It was painful to read about the burning of works of art and artists. I think the young Detlef seen here is the same Detlef of later years, his mother must be proud. Genevieve almost gets married. 3/5 

No Gold in the Grey Mountains:

The only relation to Genevieve is that the main vampire is her grandmother in blood, making Genevieve her grand-get, from the line of Lahmia. 

A bandit group attacks a couch, they don’t find the money they are seeking, instead they find a wealthy young girl. They decide to kidnap her and hold her for ransom. They keep her in the ruins of castle Drachenfels and that is their second mistake. 4/5 

The Ignorant Armies:

This story ties in to “Beasts in Velvet.” The only link to Genevieve is Vukotich from the first story, now much older. He is travelling with a young baron, on a quest to save the baron’s younger brother, from the band of chaos creatures who slaughtered the rest of their family. The story shows how innocent blood can cleanse the taint of chaos. Also, there is a place where chaos hordes battle from sun down to sun up. 4.5/5 

The Warhawk: “ 

It was as his father had told him, so many years ago. Thirteen must die by one bird, and that bird's master would be free of the ground. But there were other rules. 

The first sacrifice must be a child. 

The fifth a woman of the aristocracy. 

The tenth a man of authority. 

The twelfth a slayer of innocent men. 

And the thirteenth, Belle's head rubbed against his black leather glove. Kleindeinst was out there, coming closer 

The thirteenth must come to the sacrifice of their own accord.” 

Gotrek and Felix make a brief appearance. Genevieve makes an even briefer appearance and has nothing to do with the story. A man tries to build a Device so that he can fly and be with his birds. 4/5 

The Ibby the Fish Factor:

The temple of Morr has a new leader and thanks to Clause 17, vampires and all manner of undead are no longer allowed amongst the living. Genevieve, her grand-mama Lady Melissa and Detlef, set out to stop the vampire hunts before another undead war is started. This story has ties to the first story in “Genevieve Undead.” 3.5/5 

Overall Score: 4/5