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Warhammer Fantasy
Gotrek & Felix: The Third Omnibus
A Gotrek & Felix Omnibus
The fan-favourite heroes return for three more novel-length adventures plus a host of shorter tales taking them from mist-shrouded Albion to the far south and beyond.
READ IT BECAUSE
In this omnibus, the torch is passed! Original series writer William King takes his final bow with Gotrek and Nathan Long takes over, changing the focus of the series and embarking on all-new adventures!
DESCRIPTION
Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers?
The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask...
Escaping from a horde of enemies, Gotrek and Felix stumble into a network of ancient magical tunnels and emerge on the mist-shrouded isle of Albion, where old foes are hatching a deadly plan. In the far south, the Slayer aids a dwarf prince against the orcs and goblins who have seized his hold. And when they meet their old friend, the dwarf engineer Malakai Makaisson, the heroes uncover a sinister plot to sabotage a dwarf airship and aid the forces of Chaos in their war with the Empire.
CONTENTS
Giantslayer by William King
Redhand’s Daughter by William King
Orcslayer by Nathan Long
Manslayer by Nathan Long
The Oberwald Ripper by L J Goulding
Red Snow by Nathan Long
Last Orders by Andy Smillie
The fan-favourite heroes return for three more novel-length adventures plus a host of shorter tales taking them from mist-shrouded Albion to the far south and beyond.
READ IT BECAUSE
In this omnibus, the torch is passed! Original series writer William King takes his final bow with Gotrek and Nathan Long takes over, changing the focus of the series and embarking on all-new adventures!
DESCRIPTION
Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers?
The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask...
Escaping from a horde of enemies, Gotrek and Felix stumble into a network of ancient magical tunnels and emerge on the mist-shrouded isle of Albion, where old foes are hatching a deadly plan. In the far south, the Slayer aids a dwarf prince against the orcs and goblins who have seized his hold. And when they meet their old friend, the dwarf engineer Malakai Makaisson, the heroes uncover a sinister plot to sabotage a dwarf airship and aid the forces of Chaos in their war with the Empire.
CONTENTS
Giantslayer by William King
Redhand’s Daughter by William King
Orcslayer by Nathan Long
Manslayer by Nathan Long
The Oberwald Ripper by L J Goulding
Red Snow by Nathan Long
Last Orders by Andy Smillie
832 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2009
165 people are currently reading
545 people want to read
About the author
William King
350 books714 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 15, 2018
The third omnibus is as usual comprised of three books and this time an extra short story. William King had abandoned the project and Nathan long had taken over. The narrative and the stories are not so different between the two writers although Long’s is stiffer although he retains all the clichés of the previous books.
After dark Sylvania land of the bloodsuckers, the heroes travel through extra-dimensional roads to Albion land of eternal mists and powers. For another time they face overwhelming enemies and near unstoppable terrors but they survive leaving havoc and gore behind. Teclis the elven archmage is a guest star in the first book although I didn’t really like him as a character. Then there is a short adventure on a treasure island indifferent and weak. The second book comes twenty years after the timeline and bring the heroes back in the olde world after many adventures they had (and we never found out) in exotic places. Under mountain dwarven holds and orcs hordes the heroes help old friends and kill countless enemies. Felix continues to whine after having killed thousands of foes and is still reluctant and afraid as the first time. I realize that an author needs to give his characters flaws but I think this goes too much and that Felix hasn’t developed much over the years. Nevertheless, another problem solved and the heroes continue to Nuln after so many years. There cultists mutants and worse try to destroy the city but they fail because of our heroes of course. Killing mayhem and more massacre is for another time top priority and Gotrek proves another time that he possesses nearly countless hit points as he sustains and survives damage that would kill an army. The book is slightly worse than the first two but it is still an enjoyable light reading if you want eight hundred pages of relentless adventure in the fantasy world of Warhammer meeting new places and creatures.
After dark Sylvania land of the bloodsuckers, the heroes travel through extra-dimensional roads to Albion land of eternal mists and powers. For another time they face overwhelming enemies and near unstoppable terrors but they survive leaving havoc and gore behind. Teclis the elven archmage is a guest star in the first book although I didn’t really like him as a character. Then there is a short adventure on a treasure island indifferent and weak. The second book comes twenty years after the timeline and bring the heroes back in the olde world after many adventures they had (and we never found out) in exotic places. Under mountain dwarven holds and orcs hordes the heroes help old friends and kill countless enemies. Felix continues to whine after having killed thousands of foes and is still reluctant and afraid as the first time. I realize that an author needs to give his characters flaws but I think this goes too much and that Felix hasn’t developed much over the years. Nevertheless, another problem solved and the heroes continue to Nuln after so many years. There cultists mutants and worse try to destroy the city but they fail because of our heroes of course. Killing mayhem and more massacre is for another time top priority and Gotrek proves another time that he possesses nearly countless hit points as he sustains and survives damage that would kill an army. The book is slightly worse than the first two but it is still an enjoyable light reading if you want eight hundred pages of relentless adventure in the fantasy world of Warhammer meeting new places and creatures.
September 3, 2019
The third omnibus is once again a joy to read. The world becomes more fleshed out and new adventures keep coming at a fast pace. With three more stories, and a couple of short ones, the tales of Gotrek & Felix seem never to come to an end. This is a good thing, because the stories remain enjoyable and many parts of the Warhammer world are still left to be explored.
Unfortunately this also presents some problems. Some of the stories begin to feel like they are a bit of the same old formula. Go to an area where there are problems, hunt down the big bad, and Gotrek gains a couple of scars but fully heals by the time the next story begins. The ante gets upped at the end of the last story though, but once the next short story starts the formula remains the same.
Still, there is some new lore that hasn't been discussed in the Warhammer world before which create some interesting points. The horror found underneath the Dwarven cities may have some implications for the larger world, and the stories are definetely working towards a grand finale.
While I look forwards to reading some more of the stories, I do hope that the stories may find some closure soon, and that Gotrek can finally find the doom he so desperately seeks.
Unfortunately this also presents some problems. Some of the stories begin to feel like they are a bit of the same old formula. Go to an area where there are problems, hunt down the big bad, and Gotrek gains a couple of scars but fully heals by the time the next story begins. The ante gets upped at the end of the last story though, but once the next short story starts the formula remains the same.
Still, there is some new lore that hasn't been discussed in the Warhammer world before which create some interesting points. The horror found underneath the Dwarven cities may have some implications for the larger world, and the stories are definetely working towards a grand finale.
While I look forwards to reading some more of the stories, I do hope that the stories may find some closure soon, and that Gotrek can finally find the doom he so desperately seeks.
September 25, 2011
Gotrek and Felix was an epic series full of adventure and excitement. William King did an absolutely wonderful job writing these and should have finished the series off. Nathan Long just doesn't seem to be on the same level, none the less it is a recommended read.
December 1, 2021
Giantslayer - 4/5
Loved the insight into the Old Ones, the Slann, Albion, and Teclis. The novel does get bogged down in the middle, and the pacing is pretty weird - William King has a habit of using 200 pages to build up, and then using 10 for the entire climax/resolution. The titular giant makes an appearance for about 2 pages. If you're a big WH lore fan it's definitely worth reading, but be ready for a bit of a slog.
Redhand's Daughter - 4/5
Orcslayer - 3/5
A jarring departure in tone from the previous books, which I suppose should be expected given that this marks the point when Wiliam King stepped away from G&F and other Black Library authors took over, but there are some really strange and obvious errors here that should have been caught by an editor. Things like forgetting that Gotrek only has one eye ("Gotrek closed his eyes and then opened them again"), the Chaos-corrupted orcs being invulnerable to Gotrek's anti-Chaos starmetal axe, obvious typos (viscous instead of vicious), Felix suddenly being in his late-40s/early-50s but still swashbuckling like a young man, Felix's enchanted dragon-sword that largely makes him immune to fear being gone and replaced by a regular blade, and the list goes on. The pacing is also way off - frankly, the entire first half of the book could have been chopped out, and you'd still have the exact same story.
If you can ignore the weird retcons and extreme change in tone compared to the previous novels, and if you don't mind slogging through the first half of the story, things do pick up in the second half of the book and the story becomes very interesting. That's really the saving grace here that makes this worth reading and brings it up to a 3/5, otherwise I'd say to just skip this novel entirely.
This would have been a decent Warhammer Fantasy novella with different protagonists, but probably should not have been a Gotrek & Felix novel.
Manslayer - 3/5
Loved the insight into the Old Ones, the Slann, Albion, and Teclis. The novel does get bogged down in the middle, and the pacing is pretty weird - William King has a habit of using 200 pages to build up, and then using 10 for the entire climax/resolution. The titular giant makes an appearance for about 2 pages. If you're a big WH lore fan it's definitely worth reading, but be ready for a bit of a slog.
Redhand's Daughter - 4/5
Orcslayer - 3/5
A jarring departure in tone from the previous books, which I suppose should be expected given that this marks the point when Wiliam King stepped away from G&F and other Black Library authors took over, but there are some really strange and obvious errors here that should have been caught by an editor. Things like forgetting that Gotrek only has one eye ("Gotrek closed his eyes and then opened them again"), the Chaos-corrupted orcs being invulnerable to Gotrek's anti-Chaos starmetal axe, obvious typos (viscous instead of vicious), Felix suddenly being in his late-40s/early-50s but still swashbuckling like a young man, Felix's enchanted dragon-sword that largely makes him immune to fear being gone and replaced by a regular blade, and the list goes on. The pacing is also way off - frankly, the entire first half of the book could have been chopped out, and you'd still have the exact same story.
If you can ignore the weird retcons and extreme change in tone compared to the previous novels, and if you don't mind slogging through the first half of the story, things do pick up in the second half of the book and the story becomes very interesting. That's really the saving grace here that makes this worth reading and brings it up to a 3/5, otherwise I'd say to just skip this novel entirely.
This would have been a decent Warhammer Fantasy novella with different protagonists, but probably should not have been a Gotrek & Felix novel.
Manslayer - 3/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2022
Great adventure stories. Giantslayer, Redhands Daughter, Orcslayer & Manslayer. All great yarns. Gotrek and Felix go through hell and extreme close death from one story to the next. The amount of cuts, gashes, concussions, and giant blisters they get would be horrific and take years to recover from. But certainly the stories holds you and you can't figure how they are going to survive and win this monster. The sad thing is they never seem to get a break. No one, even their own people like them or recognise what they have saved their people from?!
February 8, 2022
Fantasía de aventuras clasica, con su toque de humor y de grimdark. A pesar de los errores en la edición del libro, no puedo hacer otra cosa que darle 5 estrellas, me lo paso demasiado bien leyendo estos libros. Gotrek y Félix son grandes personajes que juntos a los que les rodean crecen y mejoran constantemente.
October 24, 2019
I love Warhammer so I am totally biased. If you like these characters you'll like these books.
May 28, 2020
The story keeps getting stranger and better!
April 9, 2022
Orcslayer was a very good, original plot, especially for a Warhammer book. I think I like this one the most of all the omnibuses so far.
February 4, 2023
Not groundbreaking, but still fun.
See title. This is the sugary breakfast cereal of books. Calling it gourmet would be a stretch, but sometimes a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch just hits the spot.
See title. This is the sugary breakfast cereal of books. Calling it gourmet would be a stretch, but sometimes a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch just hits the spot.
February 10, 2017
The axe and sword didn’t lose their edge
Three novels plus a bunch of short stories compose this third omnibus. William King takes his parting bow in Giantslayer and the following short story Redhand’s daughter, leaving the deed-recording task to Nathan Long, debuting here with two novels: Orcslayer and Manslayer. Following Vampyreslayer , the tales of the honour-bound Dwarf and the Human sword-fighter poet acquire a grimmer taste, with a pinch of old-age resignation as the unstoppable duo trudge through demon-filled magic pathways, monster-haunted treasure islands, dwarf mines invaded by mentally controlled orcs, and the city of Nuln teeming with conspiracies. Closing the volume, some more short stories by other authors eager to tackling the Warhammer legends. An authentic quaffing feast!
Three novels plus a bunch of short stories compose this third omnibus. William King takes his parting bow in Giantslayer and the following short story Redhand’s daughter, leaving the deed-recording task to Nathan Long, debuting here with two novels: Orcslayer and Manslayer. Following Vampyreslayer , the tales of the honour-bound Dwarf and the Human sword-fighter poet acquire a grimmer taste, with a pinch of old-age resignation as the unstoppable duo trudge through demon-filled magic pathways, monster-haunted treasure islands, dwarf mines invaded by mentally controlled orcs, and the city of Nuln teeming with conspiracies. Closing the volume, some more short stories by other authors eager to tackling the Warhammer legends. An authentic quaffing feast!
February 4, 2010
The third omnibus sees Nathan Long take over the writing of Gotrek and Felix from William King.
My first impression of Long was that he is a slightly darker writer than King. Gotrek's death oath seemed to be looked at from a thoughtful angle, really exploring what it means to him and in a wider context. The writing also felt more serious and gritty - injuries sustained in fights affected them more and on a couple of occassions Gotrek's injuries were bad enough to almost kill him. Overall, I enjoyed this darker tone and think it suits the Slayer and his Rememberer.
However, it was evident in the first of Long's two novels that he was still finding his way with the characters. Gotrek was softer than usual - he complimented Felix and showed a concern for him that hadn't really been seen before. But by the second novel he was back to his usual surly self.
My first impression of Long was that he is a slightly darker writer than King. Gotrek's death oath seemed to be looked at from a thoughtful angle, really exploring what it means to him and in a wider context. The writing also felt more serious and gritty - injuries sustained in fights affected them more and on a couple of occassions Gotrek's injuries were bad enough to almost kill him. Overall, I enjoyed this darker tone and think it suits the Slayer and his Rememberer.
However, it was evident in the first of Long's two novels that he was still finding his way with the characters. Gotrek was softer than usual - he complimented Felix and showed a concern for him that hadn't really been seen before. But by the second novel he was back to his usual surly self.
August 9, 2010
In a world that makes MiddleEarth seem like a visit with Pollyanna and Little Lord Fauntleroy,the doom seeking dwarf warrior Gotrek, and his human biographer- battle brother Felix, journey across the lands of a Late Medieval/Renaissance pseudo Holy Roman Empire and beyond, encountering some of the nastiest and brutal killers, monsters, demons,and other sword wielding,talon using soul sucking horrors to walk
in Sword & Sorcery. Grim and bloody but well written tales of non Keebler Elves, vicious orcs who make the LOTR brand seem like Iago in comparison,
magic, and tougher than tough dwarfs. Snow White wouldn't be thinking about a prince, if the hard drinking, hard charging, killer Gotrek took a time out!
in Sword & Sorcery. Grim and bloody but well written tales of non Keebler Elves, vicious orcs who make the LOTR brand seem like Iago in comparison,
magic, and tougher than tough dwarfs. Snow White wouldn't be thinking about a prince, if the hard drinking, hard charging, killer Gotrek took a time out!
November 15, 2011
Wow! What a mixed bag and I'm not just talking about the stories themselves but within the stories there were some sections that seriously dragged and there were some sections that I swore the writers were channeling Gemmel. Tha action scenes are still not as fluid as Salvatore's (is anyone's) but they got better. As you read any story you always wonder about how ccan the writer sell the idea of a title character dying and I was actually on the edge of my seat for the last battle. I look forward to reading more Gotrek and Felix. They make good travelling comapnions on the bus.
August 17, 2010
Although I am not a fan of William Kings writing, by the seventh G&F book I've grown used to it and started to enjoy the stories more.
Reading the eighth book (Nathan Longs first book) in the series was therefore a rude awakening, I really did not like it but as I read on it was evident that Nathan Long is a much better writer.
Reading the eighth book (Nathan Longs first book) in the series was therefore a rude awakening, I really did not like it but as I read on it was evident that Nathan Long is a much better writer.
July 3, 2015
Some enjoyable stories in this omnibus, though as with all the other omnibus editions, I thought the William King tales to be the best. I particularly liked the Giantslayer story with the wizard elf, as this gave a different angle to the book, and gave some interesting background to the world the inhabit.
March 15, 2015
Nathan Long shows his penchant for great dialogue as he shows as that Dwarves are not just short furry humans but a distinctly different race with its own unique desires and motivations. Gotrek and Felix are the ultimate Buddy adventure duo, not to be missed.
January 24, 2011
I stopped after finishing Giantslayer. It was a very fun read. King knows how to capture the essence of Warhammer fantasy.
July 8, 2011
A nice fantasy story
November 23, 2011
Entretenidas de leer por lo cafre que es el enano :P
July 15, 2013
Gotrek und Felix machen sich weiterhin wenig Freunde dafür umso mehr Feinde: http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/gotr...
June 5, 2013
I gave Nathan Long a fair shot, and I just don't like his writing style. That being said the first book in this anthology by William King is still a ton of fun, but the last two are stilted at best.
July 20, 2023
loved it.
October 28, 2016
Loved it, a great 3rd batch of books and every story is action filled
April 4, 2017
That was a wild ride, reading three massive tales about the exploits of Gotrek & Felix that promised to be fun & enthralling to read. From the mist shrouded land of Albion to the heart of the Empire the action, comedy, and thrills didn't let up with some of the best moments in the whole series taking place (most notably the escape from Nuln) with well done scenes and returning characters or well-known ones from the wider world such as Teclis. Can't wait to continue the tales of Gotrek & Felix as I come across them.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews