Nathan Long (1)

Giantlsayer - at this point you really feel that King is coasting now. Is there a direction, or are we starting with the title and working back from there. The reappearance of some naughty chaos wizards who have turned into regular baddies gives the illusion of continuity. But they have just cropped up to cackle from behind a cloak before disappearing again, no idea why or how they got there. Teclis gets a nice run out, though he is conveniently saved from noble sacrifice at the end by a show more humble Scots-flavoured tribesman. Interestingly, some of what went on in this book foreshadowed the End Times event that did for the Warhammer world. Our poor Scots noble self-sacrifice could only hold back the tides of chaos for a decade, notes Teclis, and then he'll have to come back and fix it again. Was the End Times all because Teclis didn't go back again? And if we consider that Bill King's final Gotrek book ends with a Mhairie-Siu dying so that the rest of the world could carry on, perhaps we can infer that the End Times could have been avoided had Bill been allowed to carry on writing Gotrek ad infinitum. 2.5 stars

Orcslayer - Nathan Long's first outing as the writer of G&S is a great start. He packs more characterisation into Gotrek in one book than King did in seven (six? idk). The spooky possessed orcs make a nice difference, the dwarfs are great, presenting Gotrek through a pre-Slayer acquaintaince is a good move, Long gets the tone exactly right for Felix, and the Big Bad is horrible and Very Nasty Indeed. 4 stars

Manslayer - This one is great too, more fine Gotrek characterisation and some backstory, a vampire civil war, cultists everywhere, and a battle with a huge demon made of cannons on the back of a flying ship. 4 stars! show less

In this fable about the dynamics of social inequality you see characters grow, rot, harden, and come to terms with how fluid their positions can be if they are willing to make the tougher choices. The pacing problems from the last two books have all but disappeared and what is left is a much more focused and human story. Sure, some lingering annoyances like introducing creatures through vague metaphor still remain. "Laaks" What the hell are those? (My best guess is a rodent of some kind.) show more Still, coming from someone with an interest in understanding the ninth world with only the novellas as a guide, this is far and away the most accessible of the three. show less

Interesting. Very much in Burroughs style - enough to make me want to read some John Carter, to see just how close it is. Slightly uneven - Jane keeps obsessing about sex and her looks in a way that's very much male gaze, then she snaps back and feels like a woman again (I'm thinking particularly of the time in the gladiator stable, when she thinks how she misses cuddling). The characters are a bit sketchy, though they fill out a bit - become more than a collection of quirks - by the last show more few chapters. And one thing that's _very_ like John Carter - Jane spends the whole book working on getting home (with lots of side-quests on the way). At the end, she finally realizes she'd rather stay - for adventure and love and a better life than she has on Earth - at which point she's shanghaied back to Earth! Which, just like John Carter, sets up for the sequel - which is out, and which I want to read. I don't think Jane will ever be a favorite, but worth reading and likely worth rereading. show less

haha... what a pleasant surprise! I haven't read Burrough's book, of which, apparently, this story is reminiscent. I don't know that I will now either - I really like the female main character and am pretty sure that if there was a male character acting and talking the way Jane does, it would drive me nuts. Sexism and women as objects is much more acceptable when it is turned on its head. Jane being the way she is mocks all those stories where the woman is there just to be rescued and as a show more sexual prize.

And the story is funny! Of course the setting and characters are a little on the thin side...but it is a pulp sci-fi story after all.

It was a bit formulaic in the plotting: character goes to A, does X, then to B and does Y, etc... but the humor and the freshness of Jane's non-feminine and yet still female attitudes more than made up for any sense of writing 101. There was just a tiny bit of moralizing - mostly to do with gender stereotypes - which was more entertaining than lecture-y. I bought the next book too. show less