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Angelika Fleischer #3
Liar's Peak
Battlefield looter Angelika Fleischer and her companion Franziskus follow the path of war north, only to get recruited by a troop of Empire soldiers who are hunting Chaos forces in the Black Mountains. But a case of mistaken identity leads to a massive military blunder. Should they own up to their error, or just hope it is not discovered?
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 13, 2005
103 people want to read
About the author
Robin D. Laws
147 books195 followersWriter and game designer Robin D. Laws brought you such roleplaying games as Ashen Stars, The Esoterrorists, The Dying Earth, Heroquest and Feng Shui. He is the author of seven novels, most recently The Worldwound Gambit from Paizo. For Robin's much-praised works of gaming history and analysis, see Hamlet's Hit Points, Robin's Laws of Game Mastering and 40 Years of Gen Con.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 2, 2018
Overall: a fun conclusion to the Angelika Fleischman trilogy of books. (The preceding books are "Honour of the Grave" and "Sacred Flesh.")
In this book, Angelika has decided to get out of the corpse-robbing game in Chapter 1. Since there's a whole book after that, obviously things don't go as planned.
The book assumes some familiarity with the protagonists, Angelika and Franziskus. Since it's the third book in a trilogy, I will assume the same. You could start with this book, but you'd miss out on some of the character dynamics.
I read through this in just a few days. I enjoyed the setting - once again, working through a wilderness with many obstacles and threats. Robin Laws managed with each book of the series to hit some distinctly "Warhammer" notes, keeping the tone a bit more grim and miserable than the average fantasy novel. This one is no exception; there's a brief encounter with some Chaos influence that works perfectly for that. There's a chapter involving dwarves that was even better for that and was my favorite chapter in the book.
Angelika and Franziskus are pretty iconic characters and the reader knows them pretty well by this point. The titular liar and some soldiers get a lot of development in the plot and actually drive most of it. Without getting into spoilers, one of the things that kept me turning pages was wanting to see what happened to said liar.
There's exploration of the mountainous wilds, scheming, a very little bit of corpse-looting, and some great fight scenes. The fight scenes are mostly short and brutal, which helps keep them grounded in a larger conflict. Both humor and foreshadowing are used to good effect, keeping things from getting too gloomy. I would have liked a little more conclusive ending, but the actual ending is very true to the characters.
This is a bit of an odd review to write, because I imagine you have some idea if you'd like the book already. Like Warhammer (or just grim fantasy) novels about regular people caught between the clashing armies? This is a great example. Did you read and enjoy the other two books in the Angelika Fleischman trilogy? Then I can't imagine that you wouldn't like this one, though it is distinct from the first two plot-wise. (I really loved the structure of book 2, but I found it easier to keep track of characters in this one.)
Overall? I liked it a lot. It was a great book to read on a sick day while listening to fantasy music and drinking tea.
In this book, Angelika has decided to get out of the corpse-robbing game in Chapter 1. Since there's a whole book after that, obviously things don't go as planned.
The book assumes some familiarity with the protagonists, Angelika and Franziskus. Since it's the third book in a trilogy, I will assume the same. You could start with this book, but you'd miss out on some of the character dynamics.
I read through this in just a few days. I enjoyed the setting - once again, working through a wilderness with many obstacles and threats. Robin Laws managed with each book of the series to hit some distinctly "Warhammer" notes, keeping the tone a bit more grim and miserable than the average fantasy novel. This one is no exception; there's a brief encounter with some Chaos influence that works perfectly for that. There's a chapter involving dwarves that was even better for that and was my favorite chapter in the book.
Angelika and Franziskus are pretty iconic characters and the reader knows them pretty well by this point. The titular liar and some soldiers get a lot of development in the plot and actually drive most of it. Without getting into spoilers, one of the things that kept me turning pages was wanting to see what happened to said liar.
There's exploration of the mountainous wilds, scheming, a very little bit of corpse-looting, and some great fight scenes. The fight scenes are mostly short and brutal, which helps keep them grounded in a larger conflict. Both humor and foreshadowing are used to good effect, keeping things from getting too gloomy. I would have liked a little more conclusive ending, but the actual ending is very true to the characters.
This is a bit of an odd review to write, because I imagine you have some idea if you'd like the book already. Like Warhammer (or just grim fantasy) novels about regular people caught between the clashing armies? This is a great example. Did you read and enjoy the other two books in the Angelika Fleischman trilogy? Then I can't imagine that you wouldn't like this one, though it is distinct from the first two plot-wise. (I really loved the structure of book 2, but I found it easier to keep track of characters in this one.)
Overall? I liked it a lot. It was a great book to read on a sick day while listening to fantasy music and drinking tea.
November 13, 2017
A decent way to end a trilogy that left me wanting. No cliffhangers, but an open-to-interpretation closure for the main protagonist in a world where Chaos has grown a bit smarter and more daring. The beauty of this tale is in its battle scenes. They happen in real time, if that explains it, with little foreshadowing that catches the reader completely off guard. It's a small thrill I think war and fantasy fans can appreciate.
June 1, 2024
Read this years ago but absolutely loved it. Looking to pick up this and the first two books at some point to properly read through the trilogy.
September 4, 2025
The ending was a bit rushed, but it's a great closure of the trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews