Sword of Vengeance

Warhammer Heroes #3

by Chris Wraight

Averland is aflame. An army of cultists rises in the corrupted city of Averheim. The Theogonist Volkmar marches towards the city in a race to snuff out the rebellion before it grows too widespread to defeat. Schwarzhelm races to return to the site of his recent battles, as does the spy Pieter Verstohlen, evading assassins while trying to discover the truth of the conspiracy that drew him away. But none of these holds the key. Out in the wilderness is Kurt Helborg, Grand Marshal of the Reiksguard. Only he has the indomitable strength of will to hold together the province in its hour of need. Only he can rally the terrified citizens of Averland to resist the infernal powers that beset them.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

518 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2011

About the author

Chris Wraight is a British author of fantasy and science fiction.

His first novel was published in 2008; since then, he has published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy and Stargate:Atlantis universes, and has upcoming titles in the Warhammer 40K setting.

He is based in the south-west of England.

Reviews

[Michael Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the short two book series. I must say however that Ludwig Schwarzhelm is one of the least likeable heroes I've read. It works though, because he gets the job done and the book is also filled with other, more palatable characters. Aside from that, the book is filled with Chaos doing bad Chaos things, Orcs being jerks, intrigue, treachery, and the Empire just trying to hold on. Quite a few good battle scenes, and I think it bodes well for Warhammer Heroes series in general.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sword of Vengeance is the second book in a duology of Warhammer fantasy featuring two heroes of the Empire; Ludwig Schwarzhelm and Kurt Helborg. While the first book (Sword of Justice) was mostly about Ludwig, the second installment told its story from multiple POV characters. In this book, Helborg was given a lot of screen time. Although Helborg was meant to be a main character in this book but I don't find him very interesting. This book also introduced Volkmar, he is a new character and he played a pivotal role in the story. Volkmar is much more interesting than Helborg but he is not a likable character. On the other hand, Schwarzhelm is still a major player in this book and he is by far the most likable and intriguing character. Even though I only liked one out of three protagonists but I think they are very well written. These characters are meant to be "heroes" of the empire, yet while they were formidable but they also have flaws and they make mistakes. These depictions make their characters feel less like caricatures and more realistic.

The story in Sword of Vengeance is fast paced and engrossing. The story has many unexpected moments. The battle scenes were very well written but I think they were too long. As a result some battle scenes were more exhausting than thrilling. However this is the only flaw in the book and overall Sword of Vengeance delivered a satisfying conclusion to this duology.

[Jakurt Guthorst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part one was translated into german language.
This second part was not. But i liked the first book so
I tried to read this book and it worked well.
Warhammer books are not very hard to read, which is good.
But I failed to decipher the code at the end of the book, so
I asked the almighty internet and found an interesing text which the author wrote:

https://chriswraight.wordpress.com/20...

I am still failing, lol.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good ending to the 2 books, brings in a number of high level characters with full arcs which where entertaining and gripping.

[Stefan Koepeknie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I would rather see Averland turned into a blasted waste than see it harbor a second front against the enemy." Lots of Slaanesh in this one. (including the demented process of a mortal ascending to a Daemon Prince)

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the adventure (and conspiracy) begun in "Sword of Justice". Wraight certainly pulls out some showstopper moments, and trots out some of the biggest names in the Empire, including Volkmar the Grim and Emperor Karl-Franz himself. I particularly was intrigued by the characters he drew up for Volkmar's retinue - of *course* he has a confessor, and Efraim Roll is exactly what you think he would be.

The characterization of Volkmar and Kurt Helborg seem accurate, though Helborg's aristocratic chauvinism makes him a bit unpleasant to modern eyes, even if it's likely bang on. Volkmar's is a bit more surprising, though he's been through quite a bit and certainly gets his moment of clarity later.

Rufus Leitdorf (and the long shadow of his father Marius) are interesting to watch, and it was cool to see Wraight take the infamous Leitdorf madness to it's source.

This is as much Schwarzhelm's book as anyone's, and it's good to see his head clear and to see him turn his relentless determination toward humility and redemption. He was easily my favorite character, but you probably already knew that.

Prepare yourself for a seriously harrowing finale - the final clash for the soul of Averheim is searing stuff, with a high price indeed. Wraight takes his time with it, and like all the best stories, you wonder how the heroes can prevail against such seemingly invincible evil.

Recommended for fans of the Empire and paladins in general. Not for kids.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

a decent book with all the elements that make a good empire novel, the faith in sigmar, the unity of mankind as an ideal, the fight to the end and the continuation of the struggle despite the sense of pointlessness to the endless wars. However the book suffers greatly from it's structure causing it to be not as pleasing to read as other empire novels I have read. The problem I refer to is the quick changing of setting and characters, after 2 to 4 pages the scene is changed to be changed again as quickly. this would not be such a problem were it not that it also follows numerous characters most of which are located in a completely different setting. The problem solves itself by the arrival of all characters at the site of the great final battle. I can understand at some level, the author probably wanted to create a sort of chaotic feeling which exists in the world and how events far away can create a new event. But I feel like this might have worked if he had used less characters to follow or had allowed more pages before a change of setting. Still it was a decent book and very amusing to read and as always it is the desperate fight for survival that is the backbone of empire novels and this author was able to create one as it should be.

[Gerald Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is typical of a Black Library novel . A ton of action and swordplay, gory violence, and incredible evil. The author's style was at times confusing, but very descriptive. I enjoy this type of book. I should have read the first book, um....first.