Tag: Grots

Da Red Gobbo Collection by Mike Brooks, Denny Flowers and Rhuairidh James

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer5 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 16 November 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 11 hours and 10 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Prepare for da revolution with this collection of brilliant Warhammer 40,000 stories from three top authors, with Da Red Gobbo Collection.

Gosh this has been a great year for Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and the fun is still continuing as one of the best releases of this year just dropped with Da Red Gobbo Collection, which features five brilliant stories from awesome authors Mike Brooks, Denny Flowers and Rhuairidh James.  Featuring three novellas and two short stories, Da Red Gobbo Collection focuses on the always entertaining ork faction from Warhammer 40,000 fiction, whose brutal, hooligan-inspired mindset always leads to comedic and outrageous reads.

However, rather than your typical ork novel, the stories in this anthology collection are focused on the ork sub-species known as grots, who are the 40K equivalent of the goblins from the Warhammer Fantasy universe.  Small, cunning and cowardly, the grots, also known as gretchin, work as slaves, cannon fodder and scapegoats (scape-grots??) to the bigger orks, generally getting kicked around by their ork masters even if they do the right thing.  However, not all grots are content to live under ork oppression, and some even have the courage to fight back thanks to the legendary figure known as Da Red Gobbo.

Da Red Gobbo is a mysterious figure in the grot mythology, who arises whenever the orks push their smaller cousins too far.  Able to put aside the typical grot amnesty and selfishness, Da Red Gobbo is an icon for revolution and revolt against the orkish oppression.  But who is Da Red Gobbo?  Are they really a legendary figure going from ork warband to ork warband spreading the word of freedom, or can any grot put on the cape, hat and goggles and inspire his fellows?  Whatever the truth may be, Da Red Gobbo is here to bring a crumping, and nobody, be they human, Chaos worshipper or even the mightiest of orks, will underestimate the grots again.

I had a blast with Da Red Gobbo Collection, especially as I was able to enjoy all five stories on audiobook for the first time.  Brooks, Flowers and James have all produced exceptional stories focused on the hilarious figure of the Red Gobbo, and I like their intriguing alternative takes on this unlikely revolutionary and his origin.  Thanks to the inherent humour of the ork faction, this was a particularly entertaining and comedic novel, and I frankly laughed my way through the various stories, especially as the three excellent authors created some particularly inventive reads.

The first story in Da Red Gobbo Collection was Da Gobbo’s Revenge by Mike Brooks, which was one of the longer novellas in the collection.  Brooks is an outstanding author, and I have read quite a few of his Warhammer 40,000 books recently, including The Lion: Son the Forest and Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives.  Da Gobbo’s Revenge was a particularly entertaining read, which is set parallel to Brook’s previous ork-focused novels, such as Warboss, Brutal Kunnin and Da Big Dakka, which have also featured fun narratives of grot revolution and rebellion.

Da Gobbo’s Revenge is a more compact narrative that follows the unlikely hero, Fingwit.  The leader of small band of grots that follow a crazed ork mek, Fingwit and his comrades find themselves in deep trouble when their boss forces them to participate in a deadly boarding action aboard an Imperial war vessel.  When the mek dies in front of them, Fingwit attempts to lead his fellow grots to complete their boss’s final mission, only to encounter human soldiers, running firefights, and dissent from amongst his fellow grots.  However, it’s the actions of an ork taskmaster that finally drives Fingwit over the edge, and he decides that the only way to survive is to become something legendary.

Da Gobbo’s Revenge is a very entertaining and fast-paced novella that provides an interesting initial look into the grot mindset while throwing them into a frenetic adventure.  Brooks hits this story with the clever and comedic style he has utilised for his other ork-focused books, and you can really appreciate his clear love for this faction, as well as his attention to detail around them.  The only story in this book told exclusively through the eyes of a grot, Da Gobbo’s Revenge fully showcases their sneakiness, their shrewd cunning, and their desire to outdo each other, and the result is hilarious, especially as they manage to outsmart various bigger opponents who completely underestimate them.  This over-the-top adventure, while very fun, takes on a more thoughtful manner towards the end once Fingwit decides to take on the mantle of the Red Gobbo to save his friends.  Seeing the previously self-obsessed Fingwit become more concerned with the fate of his fellow grots helps to hammer home the significance of the Red Gobbo to these lowly creatures, especially as he inspires them to do something truly special and unselfish.  This ending is surprisingly powerful and poignant, especially for an ork/grot focussed Warhammer 40,000 story, and Da Gobbo’s Revenge was a very strong story that serves as the perfect introduction to Da Red Gobbo Collection.

Following hot on the heels of this first excellent entry is the brilliant novella, Da Gobbo’s Demise by Denny Flowers.  Da Gobbo’s Demise was another awesome read that I was particularly keen to check out, mainly because I am a massive fan of Flowers at the moment.  One of the best rising stars of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, Flowers has deeply impressed me with his books Fire Made Flesh, Outgunned, and the outstanding 2024 release Above and Beyond.  Da Gobbo’s Demise was the first of Flowers’s novellas I have had the pleasure of reading, and I was very excited to check out his take on a non-human character, the result of which was extremely entertaining and fantastically fun.

Da Gobbo’s Demise follows a small herd of grots who find themselves alone and in trouble when their taskmaster, Runtherd Killaskun, is suddenly killed, and they are left without any ork supervision.  This proves particularly problematic for Killaskun’s right-hand grot, Redsnot, as he knows that his fellow grots will be looking to even the score against him for enforcing Killaskun’s orders.  However, the grots soon find themselves in deeper trouble when they are surrounded by a horde of Chaos cultists determined to kill them and take the church they are hiding in.  Determined to survive, Redsnot seeks to take advantage of the situation and be the leader the grots need.  However, his genius plan is ruined by the surprise appearance of Da Red Gobbo, hero of all grot-kind.  But Redsnot isn’t going to be upstaged by anyone, even if the Red Gobbo trying to save his life.  But luckily even legends are susceptible to a knife in the back.

This was another particularly fun and awesome novella that really showcase Flowers’ ability to write a clever, funny and very cynical story that I could not get enough off.  I honestly really enjoyed where Flowers took the story, especially as it ended up being a Home Alone-inspired siege, where the hilariously cruel grots hold off a bunch of incompetent cultists by any means necessary.  The constant bickering and dissent on both sides of the conflict was just great, and there are some very amusing moments as the grots use their natural cunning to outsmart their opponent.  The entire story moves quickly, and I found myself constantly laughing due to the outrageous antics of everyone involved.

Flowers makes Da Gobbo’s Demise’s story even more entertaining and funny through amazing use of multiple character perspectives, as in addition to showing events through Redsnot’s eyes, the author also features the viewpoint of the Chaos cultists besieging them, including a traitor commissar hoping for glory under his new gods.  There are some brilliant contrasts between the bickering grots and the disorganised cultists, especially when it comes to their different leaders.  While the chaos cultists are controlled by fear, and their leader becomes more and more demented the more failure he encounters, the usually contentious grots become surprisingly well organised thanks to the appearance of Da Red Gobbo, who resolves most of their petty arguments and turns them into an effective team.  I especially enjoyed the way in which Da Red Gobbo manages to effectively undermine and outsmart Redsnot at every turn, especially as it leads to yet another compelling bit of character growth for the main protagonist as he learns to fight for something bigger than himself.  The resulting story turns into a wonderfully bloody mess of over-the-top characters and outrageous antics, and I laughed my way through it.  Another outstanding outing from Flowers that perfectly expanded on the opening momentum of Da Gobbo’s Revenge and ensured that readers are firmly enthralled by Da Red Gobbo Collection as this point in the book.

The next entry in Da Red Gobbo Collection is the short story Da Wrong Type of Green, also by Denny Flowers.  A quick and exciting read, Da Wrong Type of Green is a direct prequel to Da Gobbo’s Demise that, shows the events immediately leading up to the novella’s opening scene.  Featuring the exact same style and most of the same characters, Da Wrong Type of Green gives some fun additional context to Da Gobbo’s Demise that I rather enjoyed seeing, especially as I had such a brilliant time with Flower’s longer novella.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the protagonist’s relationship with their former ork leader, Runtherd Killaskun, which really enhanced some of the themes of freedom and revolution that Flowers featured in novella.  While the inclusion of this story does feel a tad unnecessary, especially as you don’t really need to read it to appreciate Da Gobbo’s Demise, it was an interesting story, and one that you can get through very quickly.

Following these two stories by Flowers, readers are then led to the book’s third novella, the amusing and outrageous entry, Da Gobbo Rides Again, by Rhuairidh James.  James, who has previously written several interesting Warhammer 40,000 short stories, honestly produces one of the best entries in Da Red Gobbo Collection, and I was really blown away by his intriguing and original take on the focal character, especially as he examines the revolution and the relationship between orks and grots in a very different manner.

Da Gobbo Rides Again follows the ork painboy Stimma, who arrives back to camp only to discover something strange happening to his warband’s grots.  Rather than being their usual sneaky selves, the grots have all become exceedingly compliant and helpful, completely throwing off the usual anarchic rhythms of the ork encampment.  Ordered by his warboss to fix the problem, Stimma and his grot assistant, Goggulz, try to shake the grots out of their malaise and back to their previous sly and murderous mentality.  They soon determine that the only way to inspire the grots is to give them a Red Gobbo to stir them up.  However, with no Red Gobbo to hand, Stimma decides to create one, but first he needs to understand what the Red Gobbo is and how he comes into being.  But the further he dives into the mysteries of the Red Gobbo, the closer he comes to the truth, and not even an ork as ruthless as Stimma is prepared for what he finds.

This was such a brilliant entry from James, and I loved the elaborate and very memorable story he comes up with.  I love how he decided to tell the story through the eyes of an ork master, rather than another grot, which allows for a unique new perspective in the tale of Da Red Gobbo.  The central story focusing on the dispirited grots was very clever, and James’s concept of compliant grots being more dangerous to the orks than rebellious ones was a fun take.  The resulting story of Stimma’s attempt to create his own Red Gobbo is both hilarious and philosophical in nature, and you must love the ork mentality when it comes to grots and their so-called heroes.  This attempt at science also leads the protagonist to various ork experts, and while this is mostly a novella about grots, the fun and in-depth dive into the oddboyz, those orks with special skills such as meks and weirdboyz, proves to be really amusing and detailed.  I especially loved Jame’s take on the painboyz, the orks’ highly experimental medics, especially as it results in some hilarious discussions about ‘medicine’.

However, the thing that I loved most about Da Gobbo Rides Again is the main twist of the story.  Thanks in part to having read the other novellas first, you can easily see where Stimma’s plan is going to go, even if the orks cannot due to their blind spot when it comes to their smaller cousins.  As such, you get to watch in joy as James openly works to bring this twist to fruition bit by bit, and it is very satisfying when it all comes together.  This fantastic buildup works extremely well amongst the general chaos of the ork camp, while the fun relationship that builds between Stimma and Goggulz makes it even more delicious.  Throw in some very interesting sequences that explore the unusual past of the orks and their relationship to grot-kind, as well as a great scene that brings together Da Gobbo Rides Again with the other novellas in this collection, and this was an impressive entry that I could not get enough of.  I honestly cannot emphasise enough just how amazing Da Gobbo Rides Again was, and I hope we get a full-length novel from James at some point in the future as I know I will deeply enjoy it.

The final entry within Da Red Gobbo Collection is The Instigator.  Also written by James, The Instigator is a prequel to Da Gobbo Rides Again which was originally released in the White Dwarf magazine.  This story tells of the first time a young Stimma encountered a Red Gobbo, when he accompanies an ork raiding party when it attempts to board a spaceship.  However, nothing goes to plan, especially when the orks find an unexpected enemy hidden within the ship, led by an unlikely commander.  This story does a great job of showcasing events that were hinted at within Da Gobbo Rides Again and presenting them in a very different way than Stimma remembers them, especially as events were a little more desperate than he cares to admit.  James amps up the tension in this short but sweet story, which shows just how scary grots can be for orks, while also providing a fantastic opponent for the plot.  The Instigator proves to be a great follow-up for Da Gobbo Rides Again, and I really enjoyed seeing the seeds for Stimma’s later idea around Da Red Gobbo be planted.

This ended up being a very awesome overall collection of Warhammer 40,000 stories, and I love the impressive and relentlessly comedic tales that these excellent authors came up with.  I loved how the three main novellas perfectly complemented each other, building on the work of the preceding stories, while also standing on their own feet.  Brooks, Flowers and James really had fun when it came to these stories, and I love how you get some unique takes on the orks and the grots, although the general ork humour does carry through very well for all of them.  I also deeply enjoyed how each author showcased a different aspect of the Red Gobbo character, and the three separate incarnations of the Red Gobbo you witness paints a fascinating picture of this unique being in the Warhammer canon.  All three authors really outdid themselves in how they brought this figure to life, and their amazing stories were a true joy to read.

Unsurprisingly, I chose to listen to Da Red Gobbo Collection on audiobook, a format which always deeply enhances Warhammer fiction, especially as the crazy characters, unlikely scenarios and dark settings really pop when read out loud.  Warhammer 40,000 audiobooks that feature the orks are always particularly awesome, as the outrageous aliens are so damn entertaining especially when you get a great narrator voicing them.  As such, I was very keen to listen to Da Red Gobbo Collection, especially as it provided the first audiobook adaptations of several existing short stories and novellas, which ensured a whole new way to appreciate these clever tales.  I was also excited because British actor Harry Myers was attached to narrate Da Red Gobbo Collection.  A very talented narrator who has brought some of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 books to life, including The Wraithbone Phoenix and Day of Ascension, Myers has a fantastically entertaining voice that really fits some of the outrageous figures in this universe.  Myers particularly excels at voice ork characters (he previously narrated Warboss and Da Big Dakka by Mike Brooks), and his voice perfectly fits the rough and crude orks in so many entertaining ways.  He also does a great job of capturing the smaller and cowardly grots, and you really get a great sense of their scared, weaselly and backstabbing ways through his narration.  I also loved how each character comes out in this audiobook, and I was very impressed that Myers featured variety with his voice work, providing the various grots different voices, even when he moved on to a new story.  This was such an epic listen, and I really cannot recommend Da Red Gobbo Collection on audiobook enough.  Coming in with a runtime of just over 11 hours, this is a slightly long but very easy audiobook to power through, and there is honestly no better way to enjoy Da Red Gobbo Collection than by listening to it in this format.

Da Red Gobbo Collection was an exceptional Warhammer 40,000 book that I had so much damn fun getting through.  Thanks to the outstanding team of Mike Brooks, Denny Flowers and Rhuairidh James, you are gifted with some very impressive stories that prove to be exceedingly addictive.  Insanely addictive and extremely hilarious, Da Red Gobbo Collection will bring a smile to any Warhammer fan, and even new readers will be able to have an amazing time with it.  As such, I must give this collection a full five-star rating, as each author delivered something very special that came together perfectly.

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Warhammer 40,000: Warboss by Mike Brooks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer28 Comments

Warhammer 40,000 - Warboss Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 25 March 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 8 hours and 48 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for the ultimate battle for control as several feuding ork bosses fight to become the new leader of the Waaagh! in this amazing and highly entertaining Warhammer 40,000 novel, Warboss by Mike Brooks.

2023 has been a big Warhammer 40,000 fiction year for me as I have been having an absolute blast reading all manner of cool novels from across the franchise (make sure to check out my recently released list about my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels).  However, while I have read a ton of Warhammer books this year, I have not had the opportunity to read any 2023 Warhammer releases.  Well, I am on my way to rectify that by looking at the recently released Warboss by awesome author Mike Brooks, who also wrote the 2022 novel Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom.  Brooks did an outstanding job with this fantastic new book, and I had so much damn fun with Warboss and its highly entertaining and hilarious story.

In the far future of the 41st millennium, there are few things are more destructive or unstoppable than an ork warband on a rampage.  One of the most effective bands currently killing its way through the galaxy is that of Warboss Gazrot Goresnappa whose Waaagh! has conquered the once mighty human fortress world of Aranua.  After several decisive and bloody victories, the Waaagh! celebrates in front of the planet’s remaining bastion, the massive Davidia Hive.  All it will take is one final assault to totally defeat the humans on Aranua so Warboss Goresnappa can strip their resources and lead his boyz to bigger and better fights out in the stars.

However, before Goresnappa can achieve his great victory, an unfortunate accident sees him very, very dead under the giant decapitated head of a Gargant war machine.  With their leader squashed, the Waaagh! now has an opening for Warboss, and several ambitious orks from across the no-longer united clans step forward to fight for the job.  However, before the usual brawl for leadership can begin, a prophecy from the clan’s resident weirdboy, Old Morgrub, reveals that the ork gods have something very special in store for the Waaagh! and its next leader.  A mysterious gate lies underneath the human city that could transport the Waaagh! to fights anywhere in the galaxy, and whichever boss finds it first will be the new Warboss.

Forced to obey the words of the gods, the bosses engage in their own elaborate plans to breach the Hive City and claim the gate.  But which boss can triumph over the others?  Will it be the brutal Goff Big Boss Mag Dedfist, the suicidally fast Speedboss of the Evil Sunz, Zagnob Thundaskuzz, the sneaky and cunning leader of the Blood Axes, Da Genrul, or could it even be the leader of the grot uprising, the self-proclaimed prophet of Gork and Mork, Snaggi Littetoof?  All four believe that they are the only ones capable of leading the Waaagh! and they will fight tooth and nail to become Warboss.  But to succeed they’ll need to not only overcome all their rivals but the human defenders of the Hive City and an Aeldari army waiting in the depths to defend their gate.  May the best ork win!

Oh dear, oh dear, what a damn funny book.  Honestly, any Warhammer 40,000 novel that focuses on the orks is bound to be comedy gold, but Warboss is one of the better ones I have had the pleasure of reading.  Author Mike Brooks does a wonderful job of telling a tight and amazingly fun story that perfectly showcases the orks in all their green skinned glory.  I had so much fun with this book and I managed to power through Warboss in very short order.

This proved to be a pretty fast-paced and impressive story, and it’s one that I was able to have a blast listening to as it unfolded.  Primarily focusing on the various ork characters that are part of Waaagh! Goresnappa, Warboss starts off with a sudden game changer for the protagonists as the infamous Warboss Goresnappa is killed off in hilarious fashion thanks to a group of argumentative grots and the falling head of a massive war machine.  This leads several of the remaining ork bosses throwing their hats into the ring to become the Warboss, and all hell follows as a result.  Tasked with finding a hidden Aeldari gate under the human city, each of the ork bosses implements their own plans to get into the city first, whether that be through blowing down the walls, infiltrating from below, or driving around the city at high speeds, hoping for the best.  Brooks breaks the story up around the main three contenders nicely, and you soon get a good idea of their different, but very orkish strategies.  However, the story is made even more enjoyable thanks to some of the alternate perspectives that emerge.  This includes the ambitious grot Snaggi Littletoof who, after accidently killing Warboss Goresnappa, attempts his own grot uprising and tries to find the gate to gain his cause legitimacy.  Several human characters are also shown, often to add some interesting contrast to the orks, and it is fun to see their attempted counterattacks, which often leads to disaster.  This makes for an excellent first two-thirds of the book and Brooks does a great job of showcasing both the protagonists and the ork nation as a whole while also setting up a very entertaining story.

Unsurprisingly, the orks make it into the city and everyone starts arriving at the gate at the same time, often in comedic or unexpected ways.  This leads to a very fast-paced final third as everyone starts fighting everyone else to become Warboss, facing off against humans, Aeldari, and every rival faction of the Waaagh!.  Brooks showcases this final big battle in some excellent ways, and you get really drawn into the crazy carnage that follows thanks to the well-written and exciting action scenes.  The use of multiple perspectives was pretty useful here, and I liked how the author showed the same massive battle again and again, each time from the point of view of another character.  This added more detail to the brawl each time, as well as some amusing alternate opinions of events from some very different characters.  Brooks throws in some excellent twists and turns here and you are never quite certain who is going to come out on top in the battle for supremacy.  The eventual fate of every major character is pretty fantastic and really fits the storylines that have been building up throughout the book.  I personally came away from Warboss extremely satisfied and I loved all the cool developments and totally insane moments that occurred.  Overall, this was a very impressive standalone Warhammer 40,000 narrative and it is very hard not come away loving this story thanks to the awesome humour and all the fantastic, over-the-top interactions that occurred.

All fans of Warhammer fiction know that ork focused novels are some of the funniest novels out there, due to the way that they focus on the over-the-top antics of this beloved faction.  Some good examples of previous Warhammer books that strongly featured orks include Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! by Nate Crowley (one of my favourite books of 2022) and Catachan Devil by Justin Woolley, and I think that Warboss is up there with these fantastic reads.  This outstanding book really dove into the humour as you watched the crude and eternally underestimated orks battle it out amongst each other and the other factions, often coming up with insane and funny solutions to all the deadly problems they encounter.  There honestly wasn’t a single chapter where I wasn’t laughing at some of the crazy stuff that just occurred, and Brooks had a real talent for writing from the ork perspective.  There was some great consistency in the way that the ork characters acted and thought throughout Warboss and every chapter focussed on them saw the characters using similar lingo, slang and descriptions of the other races in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  As such, you get a great appreciation for the ork mindset and it was great to see the ork perspective on all the book’s over-the-top moments.

One of the things that I felt set Warboss aside from some other Warhammer 40,000 novels featuring orks is that Brooks didn’t fall into the trap of portraying them simply as funny simpletons.  Instead, Brooks shows that the orks are quite smart and complex in their way, it just that their culture, in comparison to humans or Aeldari, has more of a focus on violence and straightforwardness than the other races in the galaxy.  This is backed up by scene after scene of the orks utilising their skills, technology and cunning to win various encounters against seemingly smarter or more organised opponents, and it is always quite fun to see the orks looking down on their opponents for making mistakes that they wouldn’t do.  While this love of extreme violence is mostly played for fun, Brook’s also tries to show the darker side of it, as the orks are pretty damn brutal in how they deal with the humans and Aeldari they encountered.  I loved the great contrast between the ork and human characters that Brooks added into Warboss, as the humans were always so arrogant and condescending towards the orks’ intelligence, even when they were beating them.  This complete lack of understanding by most of the human characters really enhanced the various ork chapters, especially those that showed the orks managing to understand and outthink their human opponents, and I really appreciated this fantastic deeper dive into ork mindset and society.  I did think that Brooks might have made the orks slightly too overpowered in Warboss, as they manage to take on quite a few major enemies with relative ease, but this always added some fun to the story and it was interesting to see the full potential of the orks.

This deep dive into the orks is further cemented thanks to the several outstanding character arcs that Brooks set up throughout Warboss, particularly around the four main characters fighting for control of the Waaagh! in their own way.  The three ork characters Mag Dedfist, Zagnob Thundaskuzz and Genrul Uzbrag (Da Genrul), are in some ways quite similar, in that they have several similar racial tendencies towards violence or leadership.  However, each of them represents a different clan, and so they have different battle tendencies which really helps to highlight the different factions within ork society.  Mag Dedfist is a Goff, and so he relies more on classic violence and explosions to achieve his goals in the most direct ways possible.  Zagnob is an Evil Sun boss who has dedicated himself to the Kult of Speed and believes in riding the fastest vehicle he can find right towards the enemy.  The most entertaining of these is probably Da Genrul, a member of the Blood Axe clan who admire human martial ability and utilise their own take on tactics, discipline and stealth to achieve their goals, often outsmarting the humans they are aping.

I was also a big fan of the character of Snaggi Littletoof, a grot with ideas of grandeur who attempts to start a grot uprising against their cruel ork masters.  The grots (also known as gretchins, essentially goblins from classic fantasy), smaller cousins of the orks who are used as slave labour and cannon fodder, aren’t particularly well featured in most Warhammer 40,000 fiction, so I had fun with a whole character arc around them in Warboss.  Snaggi and his band of rebellious grots (Da GrotWaaagh!), are a very entertaining inclusion, and I liked the revolutionary storyline that Brooks set around them that provided both humour and an interesting look at typical grot life.  It was so much fun to see Snaggi inspiring his followers to go against their nature and rebel, especially as the orks had no idea what they heck they were doing.  Thanks to Brook’s use of Mag, Zagnob, Da Genrul and Snaggi, you get a great understanding of each of their specific faction and the author did a particularly good job of featuring each of them equally.  Indeed, thanks to the appearance of several different ork characters in a supporting role, you get a pretty good idea of nearly every major ork clan, faction and designation, and even those readers completely unfamiliar with orks can come away from this book knowing most of the key things you need to know about them.

These ork and grot protagonists are well backed up by several entertainingly arrogant human characters who honestly make the orks seem reasonable and likeable in comparison.  The best is easily Captain Armenisu Varrow, who is held prisoner by Da Genrul as his pet and tactical advisor.  Varrow goes through so much hell in this book, but is so deliciously haughty while he does so that you really can’t feel sorry for him.  Despite his ironclad belief in his own intelligence, Varrow is outsmarted time and time again, and it is just great to see him cower his way through events while still thinking he is the smart one.  His story arc is very entertaining and I loved how very dark it gets, especially at the end.  The rest of the humans are also great in their own ways, even if they are only featured for a short amount of time, and their ongoing false remarks about the abilities of the orks in the face of the carnage they are laying down always made me chuckle.  An overall great group of characters who help to turn this amazing story into something truly special.

I checked out Warboss on audiobook, which honestly is becoming my go-to format for all things Warhammer.  This proved to be another excellent decision as the Warboss audiobook was a ball of absolute fun that I had a brilliant time listening to.  Coming in with a runtime of under nine hours, this is a pretty easy audiobook to power through quickly and I managed it in a few, hilarious sessions.  The outstanding, comedy laden story really works well in the audiobook format and so many of the great jokes come across that much better when you listen to them.  It definitely helped that they brought in established Warhammer narrator Harry Myers to voice this book as he did a spectacular job here.  I have deeply enjoyed Myers in several recent Warhammer audiobooks, including The Wraithbone Phoenix by Alec Worley (one of my favourite audiobooks of 2022) and Day of Ascension by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and he has another amazing performance in Warboss.  His voice is just perfect for all the alien characters featured within this novel, and the various gruff tones of the orks and high-pitched squeals of the grots are very spot on.  In addition, several of the human characters are shown in all their arrogant finery throughout the audiobook and you really appreciate just how stupid they are through this medium.  Each character is expertly showcased to the reader through Myers’ voice, and I loved every line he read out as a result.  I also deeply enjoyed how well his narration worked to convey all the fantastic jokes loaded throughout the production, including that hilarious bit involving the ork characters failing to know the chapter numbers.  This was a such a great audiobook to listen to and I cannot recommend this format enough for Warboss as you are guaranteed to have an exceptional time listening to it.

Mike Brooks continues to impress me as an outstanding author of Warhammer fiction with his amazing novel Warboss.  A comedy heavy novel that perfectly showcases the always fun orks, Warboss is pure entertainment from start to finish that both established fans of the franchise and new readers can easily enjoy.  Brooks has a clear appreciation for this faction which really shines through in his storytelling, and I loved his great take on everything orkish.  One of the funniest and enjoyable releases of 2023 so far, this is essential reading for all interest in hilarious Warhammer fiction, and I am very glad I checked it out.

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