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Now I don't normally do book reviews and as we all know people have different tastes in books so what I will say is that I liked it a lot honestly I do feel that the stormcasts need more stories like the audio drama and this novel. Why you may ask? It shows us that the stormcasts are still human at their core they had families, they had friends and children. Yet all of that is gone or perhaps their descendants are still there and their suffering under the yoke of chaos. What this book does it goes into how it could effect a stormcast or their thoughts on their missing family and loved ones and what happens when they get reforged. What happens to those memories what does it cost a stormcast to keep fighting?

With everyone else save the followers of nagash, seraphon and stormcast they have one shot in their life one chance to make things right or defeat the enemy in front of them yet many stormcasts believed they have gained a second chance just to realize how costly this second chance was and each death it becomes more costly and eventually they are no longer the person they were before. Still I am going to say one thing the kislev fans may be quite happy with this book the amount of references to it is pretty interesting.

Examples



example 2


Overall I have to say Gav Thorpe delivered a nice novel to us I hope he does more plus I do recommend the book. Since the book shows us the difference between a space marine and a stormcast quite clearly, well that's it, that's what I thought about it.

That first spoiler.. 0_0

Nice to hear your review, gotta pick that novel up when I get the chance.

Yeah Gav drops a few references to the world that was here and there. One stormcast when he was human built his house out of some of the bricks from the world that was, don't know how he got his hands on those.

Important to understand: the world that was is not the old world. The world that was is the world as it was after the time of myth before chaos overran the world.

The world that was is thousands of years after the old world we know was destroyed.

auticus wrote:
Important to understand: the world that was is not the old world. The world that was is the world as it was after the time of myth before chaos overran the world.

The world that was is thousands of years after the old world we know was destroyed.

Hmmm going by all the novels I have read when they speak of the world that was they speak of it as the old world they even make direct references that it was the old world by some of its references. Gav thorpe even states the old world is the world that was and that there will be some references in his book. They call the age of myth the age of myth that's it, they don't call it the world that was. Plus the realms are not a "world" so to speak the old world WAS a world each of the realms could be considered a world in itself so the title the world that was would not fit the realms since its intended as a singular title.

Plus gav's words if you still don't believe me.

"I also had a minor goal to make some subtle links back to the old Warhammer World. Nothing overt, just some references and nods to the background of the World That Was. I hope veteran Warhammer fans will be able to spot them and work out where they come from."

Every reference I've read talks about the world that was as the world before the age of chaos, which was a couple thousand years in the past where cities etc once stood and then chaos tore them down to begin their age... meaning the age before chaos was still not on the old world.

In fact there are several direct passages that talk of "the world that was" and discuss city names that were cities that never existed in the old world.

So who knows. For my money, that isn't the old world though.

Might be two separate references. External to the context of the story (ie to us as hobbyists) the wtw is the old world. Within the context of the novels, the wtw could be as auticus describes, the characters notion of their own world's history. Both uses can be correct, if unnecessarily confusing.

auticus wrote:
Every reference I've read talks about the world that was as the world before the age of chaos, which was a couple thousand years in the past where cities etc once stood and then chaos tore them down to begin their age... meaning the age before chaos was still not on the old world.

In fact there are several direct passages that talk of "the world that was" and discuss city names that were cities that never existed in the old world.

So who knows. For my money, that isn't the old world though.

Really? In all the books and battle tomes I have read they refer to that time as the age of myth and not the world that was. Whenever they talk about the old world they say the world that was. For example sigmar, In a novel stormcasts say that there are legends that sigmar used to be a man from the world that was and there was a necromancer in another novel who said he came from the world that was FAAAAR beyond his apprentice's time plus nagash has a strange habit of reviving several people who used to live in the old world. Perhaps a shard of sylvania was saved during the last moments?

Hell sigmar got a hold of the old world's core and dragged it around with him for awhile.

Yeah the "world-that-was" has meant the Old World in 100% of the references I have seen. In fact I would be interested when the phrase was used to talk about anything other than the Old World.

 Bottle wrote:
Yeah the "world-that-was" has meant the Old World in 100% of the references I have seen. In fact I would be interested when the phrase was used to talk about anything other than the Old World.

Indeed in all the AOS novels I have listened to and read they refer to the old world as the world-that-was and the time before the age of chaos when all the gods were united as the age of myth. Gav even notes that the old world is the world that was and I clearly saw the references to the old world in his novel.

Then the old world certainly had a lot of new cities and kingdoms that none of us have ever heard of before that were extremely important because they are mentioned in the "world that was" several times over, particularly when they flashback to a stormcast's past.

I haven't yet read Warbeast or listened to the audios, but since we're all not citing sources and going off vague recollection:

My impression is also that "World-that-Was" refers to the old world, and age of myth, or time before chaos, refers to the eight realms before chaos won everywhere.

It was also my impression that World That Was meant the Old World. In the starter book though, they refer to it as World Before Time.

Here's a description from an old WD:

"They were the End Times. The world-that-was is gone. The Age of Myth is passed. The Mortal Realms endure an Age of Chaos and yet hope remains… That’s right, at long last, White Dwarf 75 arrives to usher in the Age of Sigmar. And how else could we celebrate but with the complete rules for Warhammer Age of Sigmar free in the magazine!"

Longstrider wrote:
I haven't yet read Warbeast or listened to the audios, but since we're all not citing sources and going off vague recollection:

My impression is also that "World-that-Was" refers to the old world, and age of myth, or time before chaos, refers to the eight realms before chaos won everywhere.

Pretty much in all the realm gate war novels I have read those are the terms they used to refer to each age of time. Auticus is the first person I have seen anyone calling the age of myth the world that was.

Gav talks a little about Warbeast, how he crafted it and his much-discussed author notes after the Beast Arises book in my interview with him today, if you or anyone is interested.

link - http://traffic.libsyn.com/combatphase/Ep_137_-_TBA3-_The_Emperor_Expects_wGav_Thorpe.mp3
Or iTunes
We talk news, hobby and games played. Then author Gav Thorpe joins us again for our continuing series coverage of The Beast Arises for his book 3: The Emperor Expects. He go through where the story is at this point and Gav shares some insight to the series's beginnings and where we are headed. Naturally, we have Gav tease us with what's coming up for Horus Heresy, 40K, and Age of Sigmar.

Twitter @dennishamster
Gav on Facebook
www.gavthorpe.co.uk
This book and all of the others mentioned are available as hardback, ebook and in some cases audio books on www.blacklibrary.com

Enjoy!

Oh i'm not calling the age of myth the world that was either. It seemed to me the age of myth comes after the destruction of the old world we knew.

I'm saying that they reference "the world that was" a lot, and then assign kingdom names and cities etc in the "world that was" that never existed in the old world.

 shinros wrote:

example 2

Spoiler:

Arkas warbeast one of the main stormcast characters bears a piece of the essence of Ursun the kislev patron god after his reforging.

At any rate, I liked this novel as well (though then I am a bit of a sucker for GW's fluff). The only Realmgate Wars novel I did not like so far was Hammers of Sigmar, the third one. I like how Warbeast showed first hand that despite the domination of chaos there are still free peoples hidden away. Going along with mentions across various books of orcs, ogres, dwarfs, and aelfs as well as 'shadowkin' we seem to have a pretty good presence of various factions throughout the realms.

Indeed, which is why I can't wait for AoS to be fully explored when all the new factions and background lore finally comes out!

Baron Klatz wrote:
Indeed, which is why I can't wait for AoS to be fully explored when all the new factions and background lore finally comes out!

Taking their sweet time about it.

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:

Baron Klatz wrote:
Indeed, which is why I can't wait for AoS to be fully explored when all the new factions and background lore finally comes out!

Taking their sweet time about it.

Really? AoS is not even one year old and we had more story development than in 15 years of 40k haha.

 Haechi wrote:

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:

Baron Klatz wrote:
Indeed, which is why I can't wait for AoS to be fully explored when all the new factions and background lore finally comes out!

Taking their sweet time about it.

Really? AoS is not even one year old and we had more story development than in 15 years of 40k haha.

Depends on how you define 'story development'. More plot moving forward? Maybe, if you ignore all the ancillary stuff (of course, you toss a lot of AoS stuff out of the window if you ignore Black Library, and Gaunt's Ghosts alone has more 'story progress' than Age of Sigmar). More in-depth background, detailed setting, and interesting hooks? Of course not, because it's a not-yet-year-old product with a design philosophy that doesn't focus on details versus a decades-old one with (in my opinion, I'm sure some people will disagree) far more care and thought put into it.

No I'm talking about the actual storyline progressing. New characters getting the spotlight, some dying for good, and plot twist. The War of the Realms is not a fixed set, and the story could be anywhere in a year from now. Both Archaon and Sigmar could died for all we know.


Question about this book: Is there mention of any Chaos forces? Who are the Orruks fighting?

Chaos features prominently, a smattering of surface tribes that are ultimately beholden to the more powerful pestilens presence below. Orcs are mentioned in thoughts and conversation but only as side notes, they don't actually appear directly.