Hello ferocious hobby consumers! Dr. D is back with another big block of words to delight your bright growing minds!

And now we are doing BOOK REVIEWS!

With the release of The Old World from Games Workshop (GW), I knew I was going to be cursed with the pull from the world that was. I have said in so many different places, like Arachne: An Infinity Podcast, that Warhammer Fantasy is what got me started in this whole miniatures gaming world and it was going to have to take a SERIOUSLY bad release to make me not want to come back.

It was a forgone conclusion honestly…….

Well, GW decided to put out a new novel for the new(ish) setting since it is technically different than the timeline that was being used when I was just a wee little baby. With the current timeline being set some 200ish years before the old timeline that eventually leads into the End Times it opens up tons of new narrative hooks that can be explored through Black Library novels. It is just like one of my Japanese animes.

My opinion of Black Library is that most of the books that come out of it are fine. I wouldn’t say that they write anything that is going to change how you think about literature or the philosophy of your own life, but you can get a couple hours of fictional characters living in fiction countries using fictional magic swords that you can use for your big pretend games of The Old World, nerd.

At least I know I will.

So with that said I shall present the FIRST book that was released by Games Workshop that sets up some big narrative features of the “new” timeline.

I will take about the premise, talk some non-spoilers, and then talk about some of the juicy details after a spoiler warning.

Lords of the Lance

Ok, let’s set the scene. Lords of the Lance is written by Black Library veteran Graham McNeil and published by Black Library. The book takes place in the new “current day” of The Old World in the year 2276ish. The story takes place from about 2-3 characters that are joined together in a quest to rescue the Baron’s kidnapped knight-son in the land of the dead also known as Khemri. (Eat your heart out Tomb King players.) This results in them going on a fun whacky adventure of slowly being murdered by the undead and learning more about themselves as they face the horrors of the world with low thread count bed sheets outside of the more civilized areas of the Old World.

First, you see the cover of the book, unless you have x-ray vision and then all I have to say is neat. I adore the front art with its wonderful use of blue on a desert background. It is very well done and just really invokes the setting. Anyone that knows me will know that I am always a sucker for knights. I always especially enjoy front covers when you can clearly tell who each character is after you read the book. It shows that the descriptions were solid and actually imaginable. The hardback book itself is excellent quality and I admit that I actually am very happy that I bought a physical copy of the book. People who enjoy physical books will enjoy having this on a shelf and hidden from their loved ones.

So, the question on everyone’s mind is should I buy the book? Honestly, it’s actually a complicated answer that I will get into more in the spoilers part of the review. I will put it this way, while I was reading the book I would very frequently lose track of time and not want to put it down because I was having fun being back in the world that was. Overall. I think the story was very basic, but it was exactly what it needed to be. The simple story allowed the characters the room to breathe and focus on the stuff that mattered. People that the reader could relate to as the world around them falls apart. It was a perfect little simple ride into the new setting and I am excited for more. .

Unfortunately, the story had some issues. I would be having a fun little ride on the merry-go-round of the story and then a homeless man would jump over the gate and walk up to me while I was having fun and when I open my mouth to scream he would cough in my mouth before running off. I wouldn’t say its the most unpleasant thing, but its not exactly my favorite. It happens a few different times in the story for a few different lore reasons. And then 3 times in the book he specifically came up to me while I was riding and punched me right in the throat before he took off again.

WHY DO I KEEP GETTING ON THE MERRY-GO-ROUND WHEN THIS KEEPS HAPPENING. WHY DOES MY TOWN HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH SICK HOMELESS PEOPLE COUGHING IN MY MOUTH!!!

Well because the story was fun and I enjoyed it.

TLDR: I would recommend you buy the book and give it a read. I really enjoyed it and I think most of the hobo assault things only happened to me because I am a hardcore Bretonnian player. If you enjoy Black Library Novels, this one will scratch the itch and leave your relatively pleased. I wouldn’t call it a flawed gem precisely, but I did enjoy reading it when I had time.

RATINGS

Amazon Rating 5/5

Never give a book less than a 4/5 review on amazon unless you want that person to never find work again. Amazon’s star system is very bunk and doesn’t make sense. Authors survive off of their Amazon reviews so it would take a SERIOUSLY bad book for me to even give these things a 4.

Personal Rating 3/5

This is probably where most Black Library books sit with a few exceptions. The stories are fine and it is usually just simple stories with some in-universe spice that allow you to see how the rules of the table top get translated into novel form.

If you would like to support the network I would even recommend you buy the book through this link or the blue texts I have used in the article. It will directly help us out and tell me that you would like more reviews like this one in the future. If you would like to help us even more and are interested in playing the game itself. Please buy your books and models thorugh our links since it REALLY helps us make more articles like this one and create all of the other random things we make throughout the network.

Bretonnian Force, Bretonnian Journal, Tomb King Force, Tomb King Journal

Know that we love you!

Alright read ahead if you want to know the deeper thoughts.

Spoiler Zone

Hobo Cough Moments!

Ok, so lets just get this out of the way. It seemed to me that Graham McNeil might have been rushing to get this book out because he made a couple errors that show he either didn’t care about the lore he was writing about, or a few BIG mistakes somehow got through editing. If you take a look at other reviews for this book it is inevitable that you are going to see a review or a thousand that talks about the seemingly unneeded inclusivity of this book when it comes to people with disabilities, women, and people of color.

Honestly I am pretty optimistic about it, but it needs to be mentioned since I think it might be something that is going to stick around in future Old World books. Lets just get it out of the way.

I believe a lot of this issue comes from the thinking that people want their fictional settings to be grounded by the rules of reality, and I will say that I get that. I am the type of person that gets a little annoyed when an actor portrays a famous comic book character, but can’t be asked to dye their hair the right colors or is genderswapped for seemingly little pay off. I have to say that I have feet in both camps when it comes to sticking with established lore and how they should respect the things people loved beforehand and how the company needs to handle these things to be viable commercially. I also get that the times-are-a-changing and things like lack of representation and gender conformities are things that companies need to keep in mind so that they can sell books and keep making products for the masses.

Overall it doesn’t upset me, but it does rip me out of the setting briefly as I have to comprehend this as the new norm. It really does not matter in the long run in my opinion. My only advice is just don’t think about it since it pretty much never matters for the plot and a plot is the purpose of reading a book. It’s a fantasy world and fantasy things are going to happen. Lets go into a little more detail to just go over how much it doesn’t really matter.

• Alisende is ebony skinned and historically should not be because Bretonnia is fantasy France. If someone was ebony skinned it would be surprising that they would be in Quenelles since it is very landlocked. Other than characters commenting on how pretty she is, it never makes any kind of impact. Really does not matter in the slightest.
• Knights being female. Historically inaccurate and even in the lore Repansse de Lyonesse is supposed to be an exception to the rule that knights are males. In a fantasy world where a tree could potentially wake up and smash your army to death while whistling Led Zepplin’s The Ocean I would assume having every single hand on deck is potentially very useful. History has examples of female military units and female warriors so is not THAT much of a reach in the Warhammer Fantasy world. Personally, I think the female characters are well written and actually help make the story more interesting so again it did not really perturb me once I got used to them being there.
• Pegasus Knights using bows. So this is a lore thing in regards to the rules laid down by many years of Warhammer Fantasy. Bretonnian Knights are not allowed to use bows since they are a weapon used by cowards and criminals. Big oversight in my opinion and it makes it seem like Graham doesn’t know the source material. Conventionally, shooting a bow from the air where people can not hit you back does make sense, so take it for what it is.
• Varo says he serves Louen Leoncoeur multiple times in the story. This wouldn’t be a huge issue if the character was even alive yet. The king in the current setting is named Louen Orc-Slayer, and I had to make sure a couple times that it is not the same guy. Grail Knights live to be very old, but that is even pushing it. This was probably the biggest gut punch to me since it makes it seem like, again, Graham was rushing the book out the door and he did not read any source material for the FIRST BOOK IN THE NEW TIMELINE. My rational brain tells me it was obviously a mistake since the names are very similar, but that is a very hard slipup. It has come to my attention that this error was fixed in the audio book version before that even got taken down because of other mistakes. So oppsie I guess?

I might have missed other stuff, but these were the things that stuck out to me. Again, none of these things really change much in regards to the enjoyment I had of the book. Stuff like the inclusivity works much easier in things like Age of Sigmar since they can just kinda make it up as they go since its their own IP and it doesn’t have decades of lore set in very hard stone. The only thing I can think of is a couple of these things show poor respect for the previous things that people loved.

So take or leave it on those topics. I figured I should bring them up since looking this book up is going to bring that out.

The Characters

I admit that I actually enjoyed almost all of the characters. I figure I will go over some of my favorites so this post doesn’t become too burdensome to read.

Varo: He is the main character for most of the story and I have to admit I really came to like him very early on in the story, He is just a guy trying to prove he is worth his salt and cursed with the task of an administrative role when he would rather be out lancing orcs and ladies…..if ya know what I mean Fryman. He has a pretty great character arc where he actually overcomes his issues with Alisende and becomes a better person because of it. I will include my favorite part of the book in a picture below this one, but it really hit me.

I think the entire him being the secret love child thing between the Baron and the Duke was very undercooked and not used well. If I had to take a guess, this could potentially be used for some kind of sequel since the book ends so abruptly on a beach in Tilea. I guess it being the main driving point of plot since it made the Duke owe the Baron a favor was sort of important, but it just does not have any satisfactory conclusion.

Sigurd: What a great character for this book. He has a literal handicap with his inability to hear that he does his best to overcome. He even has his own little arc where he comes to some resolution about his dad’s acceptance. I think his little relationship with Severine was a nice addition even though I was feeling like it sort of young adult book-esque at the beginning. Overall, I loved when he was involved and I am glad he was used the way he was.

Plot Thoughts
Overall I think the story was fine for a warhammer book. I can appreciate that it was simple and focused more on the characters than it did the grand over-reaching warhammer plot since these books are much more enjoyable to read in my opinion. If you don’t know what I mean read a comic book or watch a blockbuster movie these days where every single story has to end WITH SOME EVIL GOO THAT WILL DESTROY THE WORLD UNLESS OUR PERFECT HERO…..like it just gets exhausting. What isn’t exhausting is watching a man slowly sweat to death in a desert filled with the undead while simping for a girl that got stolen by a mystical glowy lady that lives in a lake that left him heart-broken for a decade.

Stuff the whole family can relate with.

I think that the Evotarum guy actually being a Lich in disguise was actually a very well implemented plot point and did not see it coming. I would have liked to see the whole dynamic between Baron Lothar and Duke Carrard explored more, but I assume that they were running out of space for this book and had to start cutting parts of the planned story. The cuck plot was so underdeveloped that it should have just been cut entirely. They argue like twice in the whole book and it is made to seem like they are at each other’s throats the entire time they are alive. Maybe it is happening off page, but it isn’t very compelling when they could have just been friends and happy to be around each other before they got killed in a dark tomb…….also off page.

The description in the book of when they are looking at Khemri and how it is described is a highlight of the book as well. Getting to hear about the Black Pyramid of Nagash from the viewpoint of someone who has no idea who or what a Nagas is, is actually kind of neat. It really puts into perspective the monumental amount of history that exists in the old Warhammer world. Actually getting to be part of the timeline when the city is waking up is actually very neat since this entire plotline leads to Settra waking up and the exact point where The Old World rulebook is set since he is a playable character in the Tomb King Arcane Journal.

The journey back is really where the story gets cooking since it drops the facade of many of the characters that were not fully fleshed out and we get to focus on the main cast of characters like Varo and Karolina. They keep the band together and they get to go to a few of the iconic locations that have existed in the Warhammer Universe at a different point in time. The Marshes of Madness were an especially delightful highlight since it alludes to a greater evil lurking in the actual ruins of Mourkain. It is left up to your imagination of would could possibly be taking place in the ruined empire of Nagash worshipers. It would make sense that it is still ruled by a descendent of the great vampire Ushoran, but it was fun to ponder what might be going on in the new timeline.

Then the party run away from a giant and eventually bump into a massive Tomb King army that was just running along behind them. It really REALLY reminded my of this scene. You feel the story coming to an end with the usual boss fight thing that these stories end in. It’s a pretty well written scene since it has the emotional impact of Varo getting Sir Leodegar’s sword before he gets into a fight with the man himself. When Varo gets on Xiphos, Sir Leodegar’s horse, and uses the sword I had a bad feeling in my gut that the lady herself would show up and just make him a grail knight and totally skip the questing part of the lore. It seemed to me that Graham McNeil wasn’t always paying attention to the lore from some of the things listed above so I was expecting another hobo cough moment. That would have been a huge background faux pax, but, thankfully, it did not happen.

The plot point of pulling the Orc army out so that they could steal a boat was another very well thought out idea and really helped keep Bastien involved in the story even after he fell onto the ground real hard. I have mixed feelings on the ending, but I have a feeling that this story was planned to receive some kind of sequel. Black Library like to have some kind of mainline book that sort of goes along with the story beats of new editions of their games so it seems very likely that was the idea. Due to the very divisive nature of the reception of this book I wonder if anything is going to change in that regard, but we shall see. The ending of the story being them jumping out of a sinking ship and then sitting on a beach while looking at the coming evil of Settra just didn’t exactly fill my tummy with satisfaction. It felt very much like some kind of cliff-hanger ending.

I assume Varo will become a questing knight and then go to more iconic locations in the Warhammer setting while he finds some way to stop Settra from conquering the Border Princes and getting to noble Bretonnia. I think this could be a really cool storyline since it leads directly into the war of the Border Princes that the current The Old World BRB seems to want to focus on lore-wise. I admit I am excited for a squel for this aspect alone and the book would have to be very bad for me to not enjoy more time in the comforting embrace of The Old World.

And if that isn’t a perfect encapsulating review of how I feel about the book then I do not know what is.

This is the part where I leave you dear reader. I hope this review helped you decide if you wanted to give this book a shot. Please buy the book from this link if you want to directly help us out, and listen to the networks new Warhammer Old World Podcast, Beards, Ears, and Skulls. I am even in one of the episodes and hope to help them out as much as possible.

Of course you can always find me on EVERY episode of Arachne: An Infinity Podcast where we talk about all kinds of stuff that I hope everyone can enjoy. NOT just Infinity players. If you would like to support the network and ME specifically, please sign up to the Patreon at the Digital Nomad tier since it helps me afford the things I want to review or replace broken stuff that always loves to shows its ugly head.

Keep it popping guys and I hope to do some more book reviews in the future!