What do you think?
Rate this book
Archaon: Lord of Chaos
Archaon - the former templar of Sigmar now dedicated to the Ruinous Powers - continues his quest to claim the six great treasures of Chaos and bring death to the world as the Everchosen of the gods. As he travels the world - from the southern Chaos Wastes to the verdant lands of Bretonnia - Archaon faces unimaginable perils and devastating betrayals. And all the while, Be'lakor, the first daemon prince, plots and awaits his chance to destroy the would-be Everchosen and claim his mantle as Lord of Chaos and harbinger of the End Times.
Archaon really knows how to put on a show. And that show is the End Times. He's got killer weapons and an attitude to match. Astride the steed of the apocalypse, and at the head of the army to end all armies, it's no wonder that he's the ultimate Warhammer villain.
Read it because
This is where Archaon truly becomes the ultimate Warhammer villain. As he faces the darkness within himself and the forces that seek to shape his destiny, Archaon's struggle provides as compelling a portrait of a Chaos champion as has ever been written.
- GenresFantasy
355 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 20, 2015
25 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Rob Sanders
114 books86 followersRob Sanders is the author of twelve novels, as well as numerous anthologised short stories, novellas, audio dramas, computer games and comics. His fiction has won national writing competitions, been featured on the BBC and appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. His poetry has been short listed in national contests. He lives off the beaten track in the small city of Lincoln, UK.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 11, 2016
Gr. Sadly this continued the pattern of the latter half of the first book. Basically this could have been called Archaon: Gets More Stuff. The basic plot is: Archaon is in some horrible place, finds out how to approach some horrible daemon with something he needs to become the Lord of Chaos, fights a long and ridiculous battle, then finally gets it. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I saw that the last few chapters, at least, had "normal" time stamps again, so I thought perhaps it would be a mirror of the first book, and this time the ending would have some pathos and interesting stuff happen. Not really. There is, at least, something done with the Giselle subplot, though honestly by that point anything Sanders did with her would've felt anticlimactic.
There's ONE chapter that's repeated multiple times, like so many in the first book were. I thought that was fun, the way it's nearly hidden in here.
Essentially I guess it's up to the End Times series to really do anything from here on out with Archaon. So frustrating because the first half or so of the first one was so damn good.
I saw that the last few chapters, at least, had "normal" time stamps again, so I thought perhaps it would be a mirror of the first book, and this time the ending would have some pathos and interesting stuff happen. Not really. There is, at least, something done with the Giselle subplot, though honestly by that point anything Sanders did with her would've felt anticlimactic.
There's ONE chapter that's repeated multiple times, like so many in the first book were. I thought that was fun, the way it's nearly hidden in here.
Essentially I guess it's up to the End Times series to really do anything from here on out with Archaon. So frustrating because the first half or so of the first one was so damn good.
January 18, 2018
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Much like its counterpart Warhammer 40,000, the setting of Warhammer Fantasy Battles has always predicted a certain chaotic “end point”. The northern lands of the world of Warhammer Fantasy have always existed at a certain “ten minutes to midnight” level where a world-destroying event will occur and everything will be gone. The End Times series chronicled much of this event from many different perspectives as various fan-favourite characters were brought together into a battle-fest to bring about the end of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. And it all truly began with Rob Sanders Archaon duology where he charted the rise of the Chaos Lord Archaon to become the harbinger of this end.
Archaon: Lord of Chaos is the second book in the duology, a fact I did not realize until I was a few pages into the novel, and by then it was a little too late to take a pause and pick up Everchosen of Chaos instead. However, it proved to be an interesting book nonetheless and Rob Sanders was always on point bringing the various domains of Chaos to life like never before. The story meanders too much and feels like a travelogue checklist rather than the odyssey it is supposed to be, but in the end, it sets up some neat story threads for what came later.
To be fully honest, I did not enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped. I’m a big fan of Rob Sanders’ work, thanks in a large part because of his Space Marine Battles novel The Legion of The Damned, and I expected something similar out of this novel. The reality is a lot different than the expectation however, and not in a good way.
Perhaps my biggest problem with the novel was that it was overly descriptive. Rob is usually a master of such things, but in Archaon: Lord of Chaos he went too far and a lot of scenes felt really dragged out because Rob was describing the minutiae in detail. Combine that with complicated mini-plots which get thrown at you by the dozen, it just makes for a less-than-satisfying reading experience. In many ways, the novel is about how Archaon moves from Place A to Place B to Place C, taking down one challenge after another, seemingly without any consequences. I know that Archaon will become the fourth Everchosen of Chaos and bring a true end to the world, but I wanted that journey to be something truly grand, and the novel didn’t deliver.
It could be that having not read Everchosen of Chaos I might be lacking certain nuances and what not, but I think it goes a little beyond that too. There is simply too much material for Rob to cover, and what we get is a massive tome that crams everything together and marginalizes what would otherwise be epic quests worthy of a novel of their own. There’s no real sense of urgency or time either since Archaon simply moves from one Chaos domain to another and decades seem to pass in the meanwhile, especially in the second half of the novel.
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Much like its counterpart Warhammer 40,000, the setting of Warhammer Fantasy Battles has always predicted a certain chaotic “end point”. The northern lands of the world of Warhammer Fantasy have always existed at a certain “ten minutes to midnight” level where a world-destroying event will occur and everything will be gone. The End Times series chronicled much of this event from many different perspectives as various fan-favourite characters were brought together into a battle-fest to bring about the end of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. And it all truly began with Rob Sanders Archaon duology where he charted the rise of the Chaos Lord Archaon to become the harbinger of this end.
Archaon: Lord of Chaos is the second book in the duology, a fact I did not realize until I was a few pages into the novel, and by then it was a little too late to take a pause and pick up Everchosen of Chaos instead. However, it proved to be an interesting book nonetheless and Rob Sanders was always on point bringing the various domains of Chaos to life like never before. The story meanders too much and feels like a travelogue checklist rather than the odyssey it is supposed to be, but in the end, it sets up some neat story threads for what came later.
To be fully honest, I did not enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped. I’m a big fan of Rob Sanders’ work, thanks in a large part because of his Space Marine Battles novel The Legion of The Damned, and I expected something similar out of this novel. The reality is a lot different than the expectation however, and not in a good way.
Perhaps my biggest problem with the novel was that it was overly descriptive. Rob is usually a master of such things, but in Archaon: Lord of Chaos he went too far and a lot of scenes felt really dragged out because Rob was describing the minutiae in detail. Combine that with complicated mini-plots which get thrown at you by the dozen, it just makes for a less-than-satisfying reading experience. In many ways, the novel is about how Archaon moves from Place A to Place B to Place C, taking down one challenge after another, seemingly without any consequences. I know that Archaon will become the fourth Everchosen of Chaos and bring a true end to the world, but I wanted that journey to be something truly grand, and the novel didn’t deliver.
It could be that having not read Everchosen of Chaos I might be lacking certain nuances and what not, but I think it goes a little beyond that too. There is simply too much material for Rob to cover, and what we get is a massive tome that crams everything together and marginalizes what would otherwise be epic quests worthy of a novel of their own. There’s no real sense of urgency or time either since Archaon simply moves from one Chaos domain to another and decades seem to pass in the meanwhile, especially in the second half of the novel.
May 1, 2015
Picks up from where Arhcaon: Everchosen left off. This unfortunately is not all good. The End Times series books where usually way too vague and lacked detailed descriptions of characters, events and "effects". The Archaon series takes the opposite approach but takes it to the other extreme. You'll end up reading severeal pages in a row about how confusing the environment is, or what a certain daemon looks like. Unfortunately one can't explain things like smells, or physical appearances to detail with text no matter how good writer you are and by trying Sanders ends up just writing a lot text about the smallest of things. This slows the pace of the book to a crawl at times. Also what I didn't like about was the lack of plots and how many of the few plot twists felt like deus ex machinas especially as at these moments Sanders chose to use very few words to explain the situation / the reasoning why / how the outcome was what it was.
January 26, 2020
CAUTION HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
I really wanted to enjoy these two books, I mean I own all 5 end times novels plus the two Doom of Gotrek Gurnison novels and Deathblade which are loose tie ins (or so I've heard) but before I read any of them I wanted to read up on this guy Archaon, you know the guy who's name has been popping up in a few Warhammer novels here and there.
I wanted to read up about how a templar becomes the Warhammer equivalent of the anit Christ. And don't get me wrong we do get that, just not in the best way possible. If you loved the second half of the first book then you will love this one it's just a whole lot of over explanations and very little character dialog. At one time I was actually falling asleep reading and found myself asking "do I really want to finish this, is it worth it"? If this book wasn't about how Archaon became Archaon, if it wasn't about a key figure in the end times novels I wouldn't have bothered.
Don't get me wrong there where some really good parts to this book, they just were to few and far between to make this a great book. I've never read anything by Rob Sanders before and I'm kind of in a do I don't I situation. The dialogue between characters is just brilliant, the way they interact and their personalities really makes this book. But the over the top descriptions of things that just don't need it, the fact that over 3/4 of this book had no dialogue between characters makes wonder if anything else has written is the same.
The Good Stuff
- as I've said where this book really shines is the dialogue between characters when they interact, Sanders just nails it every time.
- Sanders explains the backstory of Be'lkor the first demon prince and this is the first time in a Warhammer that I've read where they explain what the demon princes are so that was a good bit of knowledge, and they explain a little of his past.
- That dam twist with Gisele. I NEVER saw that coming and was glad that they made something of her character, I was always wondering what he was going to do with her.
The Bad Stuff
- As I and many other Good Reads reviews have said this book just goes way over the top on the descriptions of stuff that just don't need to be that long.
- The fact the 3/4 of this book where mainly filler is kind of a joke.
- Gorst, there someone said it. This poor bastard follows Archaon around from the very beginning and literally through hell and back only to get his head chopped of at the end? I'm a little pissed that he didn't have something more to do with the story, nothing outlandish but just something. Maybe even a explanation as to why he keeps following him? Just closure dude.
I gave these two books 3 out of 5 stars and that's me being generous, in the first book its because the first half was amazing and with this one its because the dialogue when it happened deserved it, honestly this books fall under the category of "it has something to do with some important books therefore you should probably read it but beware" category.
Maybe on my re read one day I'll like it more?🤷♂️🙌🏻🙏🏻
I really wanted to enjoy these two books, I mean I own all 5 end times novels plus the two Doom of Gotrek Gurnison novels and Deathblade which are loose tie ins (or so I've heard) but before I read any of them I wanted to read up on this guy Archaon, you know the guy who's name has been popping up in a few Warhammer novels here and there.
I wanted to read up about how a templar becomes the Warhammer equivalent of the anit Christ. And don't get me wrong we do get that, just not in the best way possible. If you loved the second half of the first book then you will love this one it's just a whole lot of over explanations and very little character dialog. At one time I was actually falling asleep reading and found myself asking "do I really want to finish this, is it worth it"? If this book wasn't about how Archaon became Archaon, if it wasn't about a key figure in the end times novels I wouldn't have bothered.
Don't get me wrong there where some really good parts to this book, they just were to few and far between to make this a great book. I've never read anything by Rob Sanders before and I'm kind of in a do I don't I situation. The dialogue between characters is just brilliant, the way they interact and their personalities really makes this book. But the over the top descriptions of things that just don't need it, the fact that over 3/4 of this book had no dialogue between characters makes wonder if anything else has written is the same.
The Good Stuff
- as I've said where this book really shines is the dialogue between characters when they interact, Sanders just nails it every time.
- Sanders explains the backstory of Be'lkor the first demon prince and this is the first time in a Warhammer that I've read where they explain what the demon princes are so that was a good bit of knowledge, and they explain a little of his past.
- That dam twist with Gisele. I NEVER saw that coming and was glad that they made something of her character, I was always wondering what he was going to do with her.
The Bad Stuff
- As I and many other Good Reads reviews have said this book just goes way over the top on the descriptions of stuff that just don't need to be that long.
- The fact the 3/4 of this book where mainly filler is kind of a joke.
- Gorst, there someone said it. This poor bastard follows Archaon around from the very beginning and literally through hell and back only to get his head chopped of at the end? I'm a little pissed that he didn't have something more to do with the story, nothing outlandish but just something. Maybe even a explanation as to why he keeps following him? Just closure dude.
I gave these two books 3 out of 5 stars and that's me being generous, in the first book its because the first half was amazing and with this one its because the dialogue when it happened deserved it, honestly this books fall under the category of "it has something to do with some important books therefore you should probably read it but beware" category.
Maybe on my re read one day I'll like it more?🤷♂️🙌🏻🙏🏻
June 21, 2021
Well I finally got through them. The 2 book Archaon series was a bit of a slog at times. Found book 2 to be more suited to my tastes though. Enjoyed the descriptions of the various "hell" like landscapes. Felt the flow moved along much better, and wasn't as laborious like the last half of the first book was. I think his battles/fights are written fairly well too.
October 6, 2022
Archaon
A lot of battles. So it can drone on.
If you're not interested in the everchosen then all that is of interest are the fragmentary maxims of freedom, ruin and destiny emanating from the story. Else it's just ramblings of characters that are names doomed to live a destiny written by mortals that made words believe they were gods.
A lot of battles. So it can drone on.
If you're not interested in the everchosen then all that is of interest are the fragmentary maxims of freedom, ruin and destiny emanating from the story. Else it's just ramblings of characters that are names doomed to live a destiny written by mortals that made words believe they were gods.
April 25, 2023
More chaos, blood and gore.
A very good second book, eventhough it was as predictable as the first one I still loved the ride.
Never knew Archaon was a Disney Prince...
A very good second book, eventhough it was as predictable as the first one I still loved the ride.
Never knew Archaon was a Disney Prince...
May 16, 2022
It's a bleak read of a bleak character. A tragic and ominous tale. In the end, it's hard to know whether to hate Achaon or pity him.
May 22, 2025
It literally ends with a high fantasy version of Naruto vs Sasuke this book kicks ass.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2016
Sanders has undertaken a huge project with this book, and it shows. A continuation of the first Archaon book, this one is just as much as a slog as the first.
There are points throughout this book where you can seem to tell when Sanders was either running out of ideas or was just tired of writing. Often there are sections where the story feels repetitive or drawn out, but thankfully they are far and few in this novel. Still, he does an amazing job tackling this project and the story itself is very entertaining and at points extremely captivating. Sanders' combat scenes are masterfully done, and within this novel there are a few epic battles that still captivate my mind.
But the crown of this novel is near the end, a final betrayal that has been building in both books and is mind blowing in just how effective and shattering it is. It caught me by surprise and I have nothing but admiration for Sanders and the fact that he has been playing this out through so many pages.
In the end, Archaon: Lord of Chaos was a fun read that I powered through with far greater speed than Archaon: Everchosen. The story is more interesting with none of the back and forth time switching that Everchosen had, which helps the story along. If you went through the first book, this one is well worth your time.
There are points throughout this book where you can seem to tell when Sanders was either running out of ideas or was just tired of writing. Often there are sections where the story feels repetitive or drawn out, but thankfully they are far and few in this novel. Still, he does an amazing job tackling this project and the story itself is very entertaining and at points extremely captivating. Sanders' combat scenes are masterfully done, and within this novel there are a few epic battles that still captivate my mind.
But the crown of this novel is near the end, a final betrayal that has been building in both books and is mind blowing in just how effective and shattering it is. It caught me by surprise and I have nothing but admiration for Sanders and the fact that he has been playing this out through so many pages.
In the end, Archaon: Lord of Chaos was a fun read that I powered through with far greater speed than Archaon: Everchosen. The story is more interesting with none of the back and forth time switching that Everchosen had, which helps the story along. If you went through the first book, this one is well worth your time.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews