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A review by theotherallie
Space Wolf: The First Omnibus by William King
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I'm going to preface by saying that I am definitely not the target audience for this series but I want other readers to go in more informed than I did. I read this book on the recommendation of a friend and while I enjoyed some of it, I mostly only stuck with it to humor him. I liked the story progression, action, humor, and lore, but there were a lot of things that irked me while reading this.
The first is that even though the action is fast pased and described in genuinely awesome detail, the battles themselves started to feel repetitive. No spoilers but they usually progress the same way each time but on an increasing scale.
Second, the female characters are static at best and mostly serve as would-be romantic interests. I understand that this series is about Space Wolves who are inherently all men (which is dumb but who am I to argue with WarHammer lore) and therefore there naturally wouldn't be much opportunity for female characters but we only get 2 that are named across 3 books. One of whom the MMC has sex with and is then taken as a prisoner by a rival tribe and never seen again, and the other is meant to be a badass warrior and magic user but faints anytime she uses her power (which doesn't work on our MMC because of course it doesn't).
And lastly, it doesn't feel like there's anything at stake because the MMC is overpowered and each book is a flashback to his past so we know he survives everything that is about to happen. Overall, the book is cool, it's space viking sort-of-werewolves fighting orcs and mutants with plenty of action, gore, and humor to keep your attention and the lore/worldbuilding is incredibly solid but if you're not part of the target demographic you might have a hard time enjoying it to its fullest.
Tldr: Good lore, fighting, humor, and worldbuilding. Repetitive battles, bad female characters, and the stakes don't feel important.
The first is that even though the action is fast pased and described in genuinely awesome detail, the battles themselves started to feel repetitive. No spoilers but they usually progress the same way each time but on an increasing scale.
Second, the female characters are static at best and mostly serve as would-be romantic interests. I understand that this series is about Space Wolves who are inherently all men (which is dumb but who am I to argue with WarHammer lore) and therefore there naturally wouldn't be much opportunity for female characters but we only get 2 that are named across 3 books. One of whom the MMC has sex with and is then taken as a prisoner by a rival tribe and never seen again, and the other is meant to be a badass warrior and magic user but faints anytime she uses her power (which doesn't work on our MMC because of course it doesn't).
And lastly, it doesn't feel like there's anything at stake because the MMC is overpowered and each book is a flashback to his past so we know he survives everything that is about to happen. Overall, the book is cool, it's space viking sort-of-werewolves fighting orcs and mutants with plenty of action, gore, and humor to keep your attention and the lore/worldbuilding is incredibly solid but if you're not part of the target demographic you might have a hard time enjoying it to its fullest.
Tldr: Good lore, fighting, humor, and worldbuilding. Repetitive battles, bad female characters, and the stakes don't feel important.