[Drax]

i was determined to hate this book before i read it, but it being warhammer's 'Flagship' series, i couldn't ignore it.

by the end of the book i loved it! and by the way, Manslayer is going well at the moment.

Nathan Long is a decent writer as far as i am concerned, and he did what Bill King should never have allowed to be required - he reigned in the characters!

you see, the Bill King books got too carried away. in the first story of Trollslayer, Gotrek was an accomplished fighter and Felix Jeager was an almost reasonable brawler - by Giantslayer, it might as well have been 'Grungni and Sigmar vs The Universe'! put simply, he allowed the two to become flawless - there was no situation they couldn't handle, no Horde of enemy they couldn't slay to the man. they also became 2 dimensional

what Nathan Long is now trying to do is to 'humanise' them again - give them character flaws and define their limits - something that those that read the originals may not thank him for!

Felix is now very aware that he is not as strong or as flippant as when he met Gotrek and that the world is moving on without him and he is missing so much, he is also starting to realise that Gotrek isn't as invincible as he appeared - Gotrek's weakness isn't so much a phyisical deficiency but rather a psychological one - he isn't afraid to step up to the mark, but he is afraid of never acheiving his doom (something that becomes more and more obvious), he is also blindsided by his past and those that he trusted he finds he may not be able to and those that he didn't, perhaps he could have. in short, Gotrek is increasingly unable to hide his past away, and that worries him

don't forget that Bill King also wrote the Ragnar series, and although they are nice easy reads, they have no substance which 'Lee Lightner' is now trying hard to rectify.

i hope this gives you a different perspective on the book, i know that although first time round i loved the King books, these days i will take Long over King any day!