The Wine Of Dreams

Rating:
Summary: Black Librarys high water mark
Review: Brian Craig distinguishes himself by exploring the deeper aspects of the Warhammer worlds. While there is battle and bloodshed the theme and overall significance of the story does not revolve and get overwhelmed by it. This is not like the other Black Library tales: here are your characters and traits-this is their goal-they fight while trying to reach goal-final battle-end. The Wine of Dreams is all about character development and what happens to these characters n throughout a series of trials and tribulations. The nature of evil and corruption are explored in great detail and provide a great amount of contrast to the typical Warhammer sense of good and evil. I also could'nt help but compare the Wine of Dreams to the soul liquer in The Eye of Terror novel. And I see this book as a Warhammer fantasy version of the Eye of Terror.

Rating:
Summary: A great WHF novel
Review: I loved Craig's (Brian Craig is a pen name, btw) Orfeo trilogy, which he wrote for Games Workshop around 10 years ago. Set in the Warhammer Fantasy world, which is the basis for Games Workshop's popular Warhammer miniatures game, those books brought the world of Warhammer alive.

The Wine of Dreams carries on Craig's tradition of excellence. The main character is a young wine merchant, named Reinmar, who is bored with life in his sleepy river town and craves adventure. Adventure arrives on his doorstep in the form of a relative he didn't know he had, a relative who is being chased by an influential witch hunter. It turns out that his family had once been the main distributor of a banned wine, known as dark wine, or wine of dreams. The witch hunter is trying to stamp out the trade in this illicit substance once and for all, while some of Reinmar's relatives and other shadowy figures are trying to revive it.

Craig plays up the usual Warhammer themes of intrigue, conspiracy and horror. Reinmar never knows for certain who is on his side -- he isn't even sure whose side he himself is on! As he learns the secrets behind the wine of dreams, he is faced with having to make hard choices, while being tempted by the power promised by the dark gods of Chaos. In the Warhammer world, the good guys aren't always nice people, and the witch hunter is no exception to this rule. If Reinmar saves his soul by turning his back on Chaos, he may lose his life as a pawn of the witch hunter.

If you like the Warhammer setting, or you are looking for a novel which blends fantasy with horror, and adds a touch of conspiracy and intrigue, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

(I also reviewed this book for rpg.net, and a longer review can be found there.)