Publisher: Black Library (Paperback – 12 June 2005)

Series: Warhammer Fantasy

Length: 250 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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For this week’s Throwback Thursday I am doing a double feature.  In addition to my review of the awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel Lords of the Night by Simon Spurrier, I am also doing a quick review of the classic Warhammer Fantasy novel, Grudge Bearer by Gav Thorpe.

I have a lot of love for all forms of Warhammer fiction across the various genres, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the intense and elaborate adventures that took place in the Warhammer Fantasy realm.  Before its destruction, the Warhammer Fantasy universe featured a raft of epic novels and stories, most of which tied into the gaming events surrounding the various campaigns or model releases.  While I haven’t read nearly as much Warhammer Fantasy books in recent years as Warhammer 40,000 fiction, there are still some amazing books there, including the Gotrek and Felix books by William King (Trollslayer, Skavenslayer, Daemonslayer, Dragonslayer, Beastslayer, Vampireslayer and Giantslayer), Van Horstmann by Ben Counter, Runefang by C. L. Werner and Broken Honour by Rober Earl.

All of these fantasy books have been very impressive, and I am always keen to check out more from this awesome setting.  As such, I eagerly read the second-hand copy of Grudge Bearer by Gav Thorpe earlier this year.  Thorpe has been one of the main authors of Warhammer fiction over the years, with books across the various sub-series.  I know him from his outstanding Warhammer 40,000 Last Chancers novels, which followed a doomed group of convicts sent to complete a suicide mission.  The first two books in this series, 13^th Legion and Kill Team, were so much fun, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the Last Chancers books.  Grudge Bearer was the first Warhammer Fantasy novel of his I have read and it proved to be an excellent book that focussed on some of the most entertaining and determined figures in the Warhammer Fantasy canon, the dwarfs.

Plot Synopsis:

When his father dies, Barundin, prince of Zhufbar, becomes king of that realm and lord of one of the mightiest outposts of the ancient and powerful dwarf empire. Over the centuries that follow, he sets out to right many of the wrongs done to his people, fulfilling ancient grudges and bringing death to his foes as he wages war against his father’s killers, and strives to protect Zhufbar from the dark forces of Chaos.

Grudge Bearer ended up being quite a fun and quick paced read that I had a wonderful time getting through.  As the somewhat sparse plot synopsis above indicates, Grudge Bearer follows Barundin, a prince who becomes king of Zhufbar, a dwarf stronghold after his father’s death in battle.  Due to the betrayal of a local human lord whose cowardice resulted in his father’s death, Barundin swears a grudge against the man who betrayed him and becomes determined to get appropriate vengeance.  However, before he can marshal enough of his forces and resources to lead an army into an assault on the lord’s castle, he needs to get his realm in order.

As such the book turns into a series of short stories, which cover different periods of Barundin’s reign and the events that lead up to him attempting to settle his grudge.  While the first two chapters deal with the events that result in Barundin becoming king, each of the following chapters is essentially a connected short story, that see the protagonist and his forces go up against a series of different traditional Dwarf enemies, including the forces of Chaos, the skaven and goblins, as well as deal with other issues, such as an overly-inventive dwarf engineer and Barundin’s attempts to get married.  Each of these stories are pretty intriguing in their own right, giving some fantastic insights into the dwarfs as a race, and they come together to tell an intriguing and action-packed overarching story.  Most of these stories result in a pretty typical hack-and-slash battle, and Thorpe has a good eye for action, producing intense and bloody scenes throughout Grudge Bearer.  Some of the stories within this book are really cool, and I especially loved the eventual resolution of the grudge against the treacherous human lord and his family, especially as it proves just how ridiculously determined the dwarfs can be.  I did think the overall end of Grudge Bearer was a little sudden, especially as it could resulted in one more fantastic battle, but this ended up being a pretty strong and easy to read piece of Warhammer Fantasy fiction.

Now I do have to get a little cynical in that while Grudge Bearer is good, it was a marketing tool to help boost sales for the 6^th edition of the Dwarfs Warhammer Army book that also came out in 2005.  I actually recall reading a few extracts from Grudge Bearer that appeared in White Dwarf, so I had a couple of early moments ruined for me.  Still, Grudge Bearer was a pretty fun book to read, and Thorpe clearly had fun exploring the lore and diving into what makes the dwarfs tick, both in combat and in real life.  The compelling focus on the dwarven grudge was particularly fun, and it was interesting to see how much their desire for vengeance ruled their lives.  It also covers several quite a substantial period of Warhammer Fantasy history due to the long lives of the dwarf protagonists, and it was very entertaining to see them watch their human neighbours go through major historical events while the dwarfs constantly remain the same.  There was even a tie-in to the Storms of Chaos campaign that happened in the game the year before, so there is a lot going on for established fans.  At the same time, Grudge Bearer serves as a pretty good starting point for those readers unfamiliar with either the dwarfs or the Warhammer Fantasy setting and it makes for a great introductory novel.

One thing that I was a little disappointed by in Grudge Bearer is that we didn’t get to see more of the legendary White Dwarf character.  The White Dwarf had a pretty major role at the start of the book, and there are even some hints to his origin at the start, but after this initial appearance we never see him again, which I think was a bit of a waste.  It would have been cool to see him come back a few times to offer advice or help in battle, possibly while providing more clues to who he really is.  I know this is a pretty minor complaint which doesn’t dramatically impact my enjoyment of Grudge Bearer, but it was something that bothered me as I was reading as a wasted opportunity.

Overall, Grudge Bearer was a fun action and lore packed novel that managed to fit in several fantastic and exciting shorter stories.  Containing one of the best and compact examinations of the always entertaining dwarf faction you will likely see in a Warhammer Fantasy novel, Grudge Bearer is well worth checking out, especially if you were a fan of the tabletop game and its lore back in the day.

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