The first Gotrek and Felix omnibus [Archive] - Astronomican

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Drakdylon

23-09-2009, 08:34 PM

Who else here thought it was really funky?

I mean, it was repetitive, had a lot of little typos, and some of the parts with the Skaven just got plain annoying at times. (Though generally the Skaven parts were pretty funny. :rolleyes: )

I dunno, I mean, I just didn't like Felix all that much as a character, although Gotrek was cool.

LorenzoLupo

23-09-2009, 08:46 PM

I've read the whole series now,
and imo Felix definitely grows on you as a character.
Personally I really liked The Second Omnibus.

Drakdylon

24-09-2009, 04:02 AM

Yah, well, in pretty much every story, it follows the same general outline.

Gotrek and Felix are, for some unfortunate reason, ousted from their previous place of residence.
Gotrek and Felix travel to new, exciting place of residence.
Gotrek and Felix meet and beat band of ragtag mutants while en route to new place of residence.
Gotrek and Felix reach new place of residence, go to tavern, drink beer.
Gotrek and Felix get drunk.
Felix whines and feels sorry for himself.
Felix gets into fight.
Gotrek saves Felix's butt.
Felix meets attractive young woman.
Gotrek and Felix hear about dangerous monster or ancient curse or lost treasure.
Felix you-know-whats with aforementioned attractive young woman.
Monster (or potentially its lackeys) attacks place of residence, wreaks havoc.
Gotrek and Felix slay lackeys of monster.
Gotrek and Felix hunt down monster.
Gotrek fights monster.
Felix reflects upon how hopeless their chances of survival are, while fighting remaining lackeys of monster.
Gotrek, predictably, kills monster (and every time, you're expected to be surprised by his victory...)
Felix, through whatever unfortunate circumstances, is separated from attractive young woman.
Felix broods and whines (also alternatively goes into a berserk rage).
Gotrek and Felix are kicked out of place of residence, for some reason or another.
Story ends.

Okay, so maybe this is exaggerating it a little, but you gotta admit, most of the stories in the first omnibus follow this general plotline...

It's not that they weren't fun to read or anything, just, kinda repetitive...

I might buy the second omnibus though, because I do kinda want to find out what happens next.

Nomad

24-09-2009, 12:44 PM

How many times can a Skaven "have to control his gland before he squirts the musk of fear?"
How many thumbs can a dwarf slice before he decides his axe is sharp?

This whole collection is shoddy, poorly written, formulaic and trite. Just like the rest of the Black Library stuff I have read. To say it is repetitive is to understate the situation, kinda like saying the Pacific Ocean is a mere drop of water...

LorenzoLupo

24-09-2009, 08:58 PM

The whole musk of fear and running the thumb along the axe stuff, it never goes away throughout the whole series ahaha.
But little things like that don't really seem to bother me,
personally I find them an enjoyable read, my favorite is the book Daemonslayer.

Drakdylon

24-09-2009, 09:22 PM

Daemonslayer was the best of them, I think. (Except for the Von Deihl storyline, with the Wolf Riders.)

And yah, the "musk of fear" thing got pretty darn annoying... Along with the descriptions of Gotrek's jingling nose-chain. "The golden chain strung between his ear and his nose tinkled lightly." What kind of description is that for a Slayer's nosechain! "Tinkled lightly!" It makes it sound like his nosechain is a chihuahua taking a leak on someone's shoe...

LorenzoLupo

25-09-2009, 01:57 AM

Yee' I loved Malakai Makaisson's character, he's my favorite G&F character. Him and Teclis, even though Teclis only had one appearance.

Ahah yea I agree the wording on alot of things is just off sometimes.

Nomad

25-09-2009, 10:44 AM

Malakai Makaisson was the most annoying appearance ever to make it into print. Here's a book full of Germanic names etc and suddenly a Dwarf pops out of nowhere with a thick Scottish brogue. What the hell were the author's not thinking with that one? Must of been a big night on some funny mushrooms the night that lot was thought up.

Inquisitor023

25-09-2009, 03:19 PM

Nomad

25-09-2009, 03:24 PM

I haven't read it, but I think he must have went with the sterotype. Dwarfs=Beards, Booze and a Scottish accent/manner.

That would be fine. Except he's the only one. Lonely stereotype...

LorenzoLupo

26-09-2009, 07:06 AM

Well it wasn't out of the blue though,
they did explain that he was from a small tribe in the mountains,
kind of like a highlander kind of thing.
So it wasn't COMPLETELY random.

Faileas

26-09-2009, 09:21 AM

I found them...aye a bit on the samey side (most likely the worst of the BL books i've read, though ive not read that many) but as a pick up and just read without thinking book, it was alright, and had some bits that made me chuckle and enjoy. I liked the Felix Char more than the dwarf. Anyhow I ordered the second set.....so will see what this one like....

by the by, best BL book I read was 'Beasts in Green Velvet', it had the most story and seemed more about the story than the world if you know what I mean?

Nomad

26-09-2009, 11:23 AM

Well it wasn't out of the blue though,
they did explain that he was from a small tribe in the mountains,
kind of like a highlander kind of thing.
So it wasn't COMPLETELY random.

That, my friend, is what they call an excuse. If you have to justify why a character is as he is = failed characterisation. That in turn = failed character. That in turn = poor authorship...

Not completely random, completely FAIL...

Faileas

26-09-2009, 11:59 AM

That, my friend, is what they call an excuse. If you have to justify why a character is as he is = failed characterisation. That in turn = failed character. That in turn = poor authorship...

Not completely random, completely FAIL...

Oh we could get into the nature nurture debate here....is a person the character they are because of who they are or are there external reasons to justify why he is that way!

Or it could just be.....lets make this Dwarf Scottish sounding, it will make him more comical!
In defense though, Dwarfs have been separated and spread pretty thin, so they could have different accents....I didn't think the accent had a negative feel to the book, but then again as I said I wasn't taking the the book that serious *smiles* I was reading along side another at the time.

Nomad

26-09-2009, 12:18 PM

Maybe it's just me. Having read the majority of great fantasy and sci-fi authors/series maybe I just expect too much from a published book. As a writer, I would use a pseudonym if I wrote that standard. My name would go nowhere near it...

Inquisitor023

26-09-2009, 05:37 PM

[INSERT GENERIC TITLE]

By:

Nomad Man-would-write-this O'Hara.

Nomad

26-09-2009, 05:42 PM

Is Insert Generic Title another Black Library publication? What's it like? Any Good?

Inquisitor023

26-09-2009, 05:57 PM

Is Insert Generic Title another Black Library publication? What's it like? Any Good?

Like most other BL books....

Depends on your point of view.

Drakdylon

26-09-2009, 07:52 PM

Well, William King certainly doesn't hold a candle to Dan Abnett (who generally does okay, minus a few stupid plot-armor dealies here and there). I found Gotrek and Felix to be somewhat enjoyable, a good distraction from whatever else I'm supposed to be doing at the time, but really I'd much rather read Eisenhorn or a good Graham McNeill novel.

Then again, some of the fight scenes in the last book of the Omnibus were okay, but in general I though it was really pretty low quality. Something of a harlequin, really...

NoPoet

04-11-2009, 09:37 PM

I read one Gotrek novel and hated every moment of it. King's style seems to be "load as many words as possible into a shotgun and blast the page".

I also hated his first Space Wolf novel, although I admit there were moments of brilliance in that.

Brennon

09-11-2009, 10:12 PM

Nomad

09-11-2009, 10:37 PM

I think both King and Long do an excellent job with the Gotrek & Felix novels. They have crafted two amazingly well thought out characters, possibly one of the best male heroes in Felix actually throughout not just warhammer novels but general fantasy ones as well.
.

If you think Felix is one of the best fantasy characters, I would suggest you expand your reading. He is pretty flat and just keeps repeating the same things. Wander into situation, meet girl, fall into bed with said girl, get into a battle, let Gotrek extract him from battle whilst wondering how he can run away without breaking oath. Rinse, repeat.

Gideon_Not_Ravenor

13-11-2009, 04:28 PM

The books by Aaron Rosenberg in the WHFB genre called the "Daemon Gates Trilogy" were much more entertaining than the tripe I found in the first omnibus. I'm glad I won the G&F omnibus as a prize.

The plot is essentially that of which Drakydon Pointed out, with a little bit of variation in how it occurs. Plus the characters seem to be:

"Silly Manling!"
"He's strange but he's so brilliant!"

On the debate of dwarven culture. It's too stereotyped. Far too much focus was put into Alaric The Mad. Then it looks too alien in context to the rest of the book.

I found it rather dull and too much of a strict structure and not fluid enough. It's good to have a little structure but it was too structured. It's literature for goodness sake not calculus...

Brennon

14-11-2009, 11:07 AM

Meh, I still think its a very good 'warhammer' read none the less. And yah, I do read a lot of fantasy novels, and I still think Felix is one of the best of them.

Nomad

14-11-2009, 11:09 AM

What else have you read? I ask out of interest, nothing to do with Felix, of whom I have already expressed my opinion.

I love fantasy and have read a heap...

Brennon

14-11-2009, 12:09 PM

Nomad

14-11-2009, 12:39 PM

Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever (The whole lot)
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Discworld
Malus Darkblade
Mathias Thulman: Witch Hunter
Dragonlance Chronicles
Gotrek & Felix
The Mage Ascension series of books (cant remember proper title)
Forgotten Realms books (Drizzt stuff)
Tales of Pern (Dragonriders etc)

Off the top of my head anyway...

Some fairly heavy stuff there. The chronicles of Thomas Covenant are pretty tough going, even if they are awesome. The One Tree in particular drags on whilst they are aboard the ship. Did you read The Mirror of Her Dreams by Donaldson? They are a much better read.

With the number of games workshop and D&D stuff, I can see why you like Felix,but I think Tanis and even Tasslehof were better developed characters.

If you will take my suggestions:
Belgariad - David Eddings
Magician series:- Raymond Feist
The Demon & Shannara series:- Terry Brooks
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn:- Tad Williams
Sword of Truth:- Terry Goodkind
The Drenai Series:- David Gemmel
Dragon Prince etal - Melanie Rawn
Deverry series - Katherine Kerr
Elric ro the other Etarnal Heroes - Michael Moorcock

These will get you well started into the magical world that is Fantasy...

Aeth

15-11-2009, 02:23 PM

Sword of Truth:- Terry Goodkind

What did you make of the The Legend of the Seeker TV series then?

Nomad

15-11-2009, 02:33 PM

What did you make of the The Legend of the Seeker TV series then?

Never heard of it. Is it based on the SoT novels? Wow, must be long...

Faileas

15-11-2009, 07:18 PM

Aye it was only 'based on the novel' though, in the fact it had a seeker, confessor and High wizard!...... not really sure how 'ture it was to the story to be honest. Not a bad series however very very cheesy *grins*

As for Gortex, halfway through the second set, its not too bad, very similar to the others but a easy read and quite fun.

However there no gemmell (*wipes a tear away*)

Brennon

16-11-2009, 12:36 PM

Thats the good thing about G&F, its a good quick read with the kind of action that you get from a battle report. Man...love G&F lol

Nomad

16-11-2009, 12:41 PM

Aye it was only 'based on the novel' though, in the fact it had a seeker, confessor and High wizard!...... not really sure how 'ture it was to the story to be honest. Not a bad series however very very cheesy *grins*

However there no gemmell (*wipes a tear away*)

I'll have to check and see if I can get the DVD of the seeker series, sounds interesting. Read the books. Richard is the seeker, Kahlan the confessor and Zac the high Wizard. Sound about right?

F&G are definitely no Gemmel, however there is no Gemmel, following his death a couple of years ago:( Waylander, now there was a really cool character.