More Skaven Stories!

THANQUOL'S DOOM by C.L. Werner is a brilliant way to tie together the storylines from the previous two novels.You have Jeremias Scrivner, the human sorcerer from the first novel, and Lord Tlaco, the mage-priest Slann from the second novel, planning a combined effort to "fix the Great Math" by getting rid of a "miscalculation" by the name of Grey Seer Thanquol.

Thanquol, always involved in some Skaven controversy, is forced into yet another political conspiracy between clans, the inventive Skyre clan and the muscle clan Mors, by Seerlord Kritislisk, which includes a war with the Dwarves of Karak Angkul. Everything goes wrong for the Grey Seer. Everything. I had no way of predicting what was going to happen from one chapter to the next.

The POV switches between the skavens and the dwarves, but this time the alternating narration worked much better than in Temple of the Serpent because both views were describing the same point in the timeline. When you leave the Skavens' perspective to read the Dwarves' perspective, you are returned almost to the exact moment you leave the Skavens' POV, so you are never left to wonder what happened to either group while you were reading about the other.

Despite his obvious negative traits, Werner has done an excellent job developing Thanquol as the ultimate antagonistic character. I haven't enjoyed a bad guy this much, since Darth Vader. Thanquol's Doom provides a lot of insight into the Grey Seer's twisted way of thinking, as well as showing how powerful he has become since the first two novels. Unfortunately, Thanquol has been so preoccupied with the intrigue of Skavendom, he completely overlooks how many other races perceive him as a very dangerous threat.

This was definitely my favorite of the three Thanquol & Boneripper adventures. Even the rat-ogre bodyguard has changed over the course of the series!


While I've reread the first three novels more than once, this is the first time I've read the short story, MIND-STEALER. Classic Thanquol over-thinking, thanks to his inflated opinion of himself, but I still love this character! This time, the Grey Seer attacks a human caravan, triggering a battle between villagers and outsiders, only to find himself fighting a powerful witch.

The ending is a bit of a surprise, and little abrupt. I'm wondering if this story might be referenced in The Black Plague trilogy...

As always,
AstraDaemon

SKAVENS IN THE LAIR!!

Not sure if I'll get any pushback for including Warhammer in my month of horror, but I am a huge fan of the Skaven, and I felt the man-sized rat-like creatures deserved to be included among my monster roster.

GREY SEER by C.L. Werner is something I first read about ten years ago, after I had already been introduced to the Gotrek & Felix series. Thanquol is a recurring enemy of theirs, along with his rat-ogre bodyguard, Boneripper. He is also a Grey Seer, a natural-born wizard, aided by Warpstone, which is dark magic in solid form (humans call it Wyrdstone). Unrefined is far more dangerous than refined, and Thanquol is absolutely addicted to the stuff.

Grey Seer Thanquol is forced to retrieve the Wormstone (a toxic version of Warpstone) by the Council of Thirteen. He's made many enemies among the Skaven clans, mostly due to dirty politics (and a certain dwarf screwing up his past plans), so the Council considers Thanquol to be disposable.

The narration switches views between the skavens and humans, and it's easy to follow. I personally prefer the scenes with the skavens. The smugglers who find the Wormstone seem so boring compared to Thanquol and his adept, Kratch. While the mysterious Dark Master, playing the skavens and humans against each other, is interesting, very little is revealed about him. Thanquol and Boneripper are completely awesome characters, even if they are technically the "bad guys."

TEMPLE OF THE SERPENT is the second book in the Thanquol & Boneripper series. The Grey Seer is called before the Council to explain to the Lords of Decay what happened in the first book. TOTS actually begins with a prologue from the POV of an ancient creature named Lord Talco, who studies the Great Math of the Old Ones, and views the xa'cota (the rat fractals) as corrupted algorithms. A bit difficult to follow, but necessary to illustrate how different the lizard race is from the Skaven or humans.

Readers will learn more about the different Skavens clans, as well as their ongoing political scheming. As a result of the chaos around him, Thanquol has to deal with a mountain of problems just to stay alive. Of course, there is always a human factor within these stories, and, when the three races converge in the City of Quetza, the battles are superb.

Werner does such a great job describing the surroundings and the jungle's other inhabitants, I felt the suffering of the characters as if I were there with them. You don't even have to be a Warhammer fan to enjoy this Skaven series!

As always,
AstraDaemon