A reading update, and friends make it worthwhile
I have finished reading the second Gotrek & Felix Omnibus, a while ago actually. Initially I had planned on moving on to The Ghost King, the third book in the Forgotten Realms Transitions trilogy, which I had received as a Christmas gift from my sister. However, since it has been a while since I read book two, The Pirate King, I figured it wouldn't be any harm to move on to the third Gotrek & Felix Omnibus and save The Ghost King for when I was done.
I've already finished the first novel in the omnibus, Giantslayer, and moved on to Orcslayer which is where Nathan Long had picked up the series. I have to say, even though I'm not even halfway through it, the difference between William King's writing and Nathan Long's is noticeable. I can't complain about the difference though, as I'm finding that I actually seem to prefer Nathan Long's style. You see, I'm very much weaned on fantasy fiction by starting out with much of the initial Dragonlance novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, then moving on to Forgotten Realms when I had consumed most of what was available in the Dragonlance "universe". I found that I preferred Forgotten Realms, particularly R. A. Salvatore's writing style, and stuck with it never looking back. While my love for the Forgotten Realms and Dungeons & Dragons in general has kept me waiting with baited breath for new novels to be released, I have ventured over to the Black Library to seek literary sustenance in their Warhammer Fantasy offerings (Warhammer 40k has never really caught my interest).
I started with Oathbreaker, given my love of all things Dwarf, then moved on to Defenders of Ulthuan which I had actually bought for my wife. I also got Nagash the Sorceror because of the imminent release of the Land of the Dead live expansion for WAR, but found parts of it quite dry and tough to get through. Ultimately I moved on to Gotrek & Felix and haven't read any other Warhammer novel since picking up the first Omnibus (or any other novel save The Infernal City). The novels were exciting and enjoyable in their own right, but all along something felt a little bit "off" about them. Up until now, having moved on to the novels written by Nathan Long, I know what it is. Repetition. William King, while a good writer, has a penchant for being very repetitious in his descriptions, particularly in how Felix feels about situations. Honestly, there's only so many times I can read about how nauseous and scared he feels before a battle, or how unsure he is of his relationship with Ulrika prior to her "transformation". I understand wanting to keep the reader apprised of the situation, but when you read basically the same thing about Felix and Ulrika and how they are ambivalent, unsure, torn about how they feel about each other in one or two chapters... well that just gets a bit old.
So far, I have not seen such in Orcslayer from Nathan Long. As well, his writing style seems more in line with what I am used to, especially from R. A. Salvatore. While I did like the first seven novels in the Gotrek & Felix series, I have a feeling I'll enjoy the rest with them under the pen of Nathan Long.
Speaking of Warhammer, patch 1.3.4 hit the other day bringing with it a complete change to the scenarios available as well as new RvR weapons obtained with currency earned through scenarios (and to a lesser extent Open RvR). At first I was extremely annoyed to the point of doing nothing but grumbling in guild chat, having logged in and seeing virtually NO Open RvR occurring, just scenarios. I played two; lost the first one pretty badly, then won the second one but not by much (it was actually a pretty fun, even fight). I logged off completely outraged with what Mythic had done to their game.
Last night, Lannerea and I logged in figuring we'd give it a go together. We ended up joining Miercoles and Zaccai and honestly, we had a blast. Sure, we won every scenario we entered, but that's not even the reason since I have a feeling I would have had fun even if we consistently lost. It was just the fact that we weren't alone in a sea of PuGs. We had people to joke with and talk to in vent (the "dick buff" comments in Vent were bloody hilarious) and that made all the difference.
Sure, we won't be getting enough currency to buy even our Conqueror weapons any time soon, but the renown we gained was phenomenal (one scoreboard showed Lannerea earning over 11,000 renown!) and the fun we had with our guildmates was priceless.
~MikeR.
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