30. 1989 (Mar.) - Warhammer Fantasy - Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman) - Drachenfels (Warhammer Fantasy #1)

 

Series: Vampire Genevieve, 1.

The first novel to ever come out in the Warhammer setting, set in their Fantasy universe, is also one of the first novels by renowned novelist, film connoisseur and vampire enthusiast Kim Newman, who would later be better known for his Anno Dracula novel series (which is still ongoing) as well as being a staple on horror DVD and Blu-Ray special features as an ubiquitous talking head.

For the first novel for a medieval miniature game this is an amazingly entertaining, fun and innovative novel. Influenced by Dracula but also influencing the later Anno Dracula novels, the story tells of a playwright/actor, Detlef, who is hired by an important noble to retell the story of the killing of the wizard Drachenfels years ago. As the play starts being produced the story of the fiction and that of the real events start mixing together as those involved in the death of Drachenfels are brought together. 

Divided into acts and with a memorable cast, particularly the Vampire Genevieve who would take centre role in further novels in this and other universes, the book is, in good Newman tradition, full of references to other tales, movies and events, this is also a one off story, completely self-contained and really satisfying by itself. This is not always the case in these kinds of novelizations, so that's refreshing. A definite recommendation if you are a fan of the Anno Dracula series particularly, but generally if you like a good vampire novel. 

TL;DR: 8/10

29. 1989 (Feb.) - Forgotten Realms (D&D) - Douglas Niles - Darkwell (Forgotten Realms #8)

 

Series: The Moonshae Trilogy 3

The conclusion to the ok, but frankly underwhelming Moonshae trilogy, particularly when compared to other Forgotten Realms series coming out at the same time, like the Icewind Dale trilogy which introduced us to Drizzt or even the Azure Bonds and Spellfire first  volumes that had already come out, this is another Forgotten Realms book centred about the threat to the Moonshae Islands posed by the dark god Bhaal. 

It suffers from a lot of the problems of badly planned out conclusions to series, particularly trying to do too much and tying everything up with a convenient bow, without it feeling really earned. Lot's of good and bad guys to kill off in quick successions, intercalated with long battle sequences which are often dull.

The upside of that convenient plot fixing is that at least by the end of the book we have the story done and dusted, the evil guys are banished and the good guys get married and live happily ever after (or do they?). There will be eventual continuations to this story, obviously, but can't say I'm looking forward to them. As a final note, if you read this, I strongly advise you stay away from the Audiobook, worst narrator ever, can't pronounce half the words, not only the fantasy ones but even regular English words like gas (pronounces "gazze" and "gazzes") or brethren (pronounces "breath ren"). This is a professional reader on Audible, just read the book, if you must, dump the audio version. 

TL;DR: 4/10