Honour of the Grave

Rating:
Summary: Engaging page turner! Not a cookie-cutter fantasy novel
Review: I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre and I actually purchased this book to give to someone who's running a Warhammer game -- I've enjoyed everything else I've read by the author. Out of curiosity I started reading Honour of the Grave and I had trouble putting it down. It's one of the most engaging novels I've read in quite some time.

It's not a cookie cutter fantasy novel -- the "heroes" are a corpse robber and a deserter who largely live by the corpse robber's wits-- and it focuses on well-drawn characters. It also isn't overrun with elements of the fantastic, although it does contain them, but it isn't -about- them. It's all about the characters.

I've ordered the other Warhammer book the author has written and I'm looking forward to it enthusiastically!

Rating:
Summary: Could have been proffread (sarcasm)
Review: Since I own most of the Black Library's pubs, I can say that most are fun, light reads. They aren't Shakespeare, but who would call that fun and light? This was not an easy read, and would have benefitted from someone giving it a quick once over. I am worried that the Black Library is going through the same editorial funk that TSR did, which brought us some truly bad AD&D books in the 90s.
The basic premise of the book is good, and I could find nothing wrong with a battlefield looting heroine. But there are parts where the heroine does something exceptionally unexpected, rather unreasonable, and sometimes impossible. Explanations for these acts are not often given, making for a difficult read. For instance, when a muscle-bound halfling attacks her with an axe, swinging it down from over his head, she leapfrogs over him as a dodge. Que?
On another occasion, she, and her bodyguard flee a group they are helping. Several pages later, the reader, somewhat confused, learns that the heroine decided that she would profit from them more if she worked alone. By this time, the reader has written her off as mentally disturbed, and doesn't care for her excuse. A little internal monologue would go a long way.
Other times, a long paragraph is used to describe the clothes of a particularly dashing character, leading to the character's intrinsic lack of dash.
All in all, the book did help me go to sleep a few times. Also, the view of battles as something other than gallant pursuits is refreshing to a game based story of battles of careless attrition. Battlefields are ruthlessly described, and commoners and peasants displaced by seige are more than just a backdrop. This could have been a better story, but for lack of an editor, it wasn't. It is however, a great book if you want to describe battlefield carnage in a roleplaying game. Try Konrad, Gotrek and Felix (anything with Slayer in the book's title), or Genevieve for a real taste of the Warhammer World.