Thanks to Black Library for a copy of the novel.
Gotrek’s back! And so is David Guymer.
I didn’t hide the fact that I wasn’t too keen on Blightslayer, the last Gotrek Gurnisson novel. I was delighted to discover that Gotrek and Amara had parted ways before Verminslayer, and was hopeful that Guymer, who was responsible for bringing Gotrek into the Mortal Realms in the first place with Realmslayer, might be able to get the series back on track.
The story finds Gotrek in the sewers of Greywater Fastness, the cannon-toting, tree-clearing, Sylvaneth-pissing-off, industrial City of Sigmar, located in Ghyran. I believe this makes three out of six books in the series that Gotrek shows a fondness for hanging out in sewers.
Gotrek has joined in with a group of underjacks, patrolling the sewars for ghouls, mutants and anyone else up to no good. On this occasion it is his old foe, the followers of the Great Horned Rat, that he is looking for. I say ‘looking for’, he’s actually passed out, drunk, in a cart being pulled along by other people who are looking for them.
He is joined by Elsworn, an ambitious young Freeguild Cavalier hoping to make her name and crawl up the ranks. She is investigating the disappearance of some items that were stolen from a warehouse during the night. When the underjacks pick up the scent of Skaven activity in the sewers, they begin to investigate and are soon attacked by a ratling-cannon-wielding rat-mutant-monstrosity. They eventually work together to put it down, with Gotrek laying the killing blow.
Elsworn is outraged that Gotrek would steal the kill that was rightfully hers. This could have been the path to her next promotion. She challenges Gotrek to a duel to restore her honour. Gotrek accepts, but insists they delay it. They’ve got a rat infestation to deal with first. The two then go on to uncover a Skaven plot unfurling beneath their very feet and spearhead the battle to put and end to it.
At first, I’ve got to say, I was a little nervous. I really enjoyed the character journey Gotrek went on in the first four of his AOS books, from chasing bullshit, meaningless quests (punch a god, find an axe, talk to a dead guy) through to finding something of a realistic and meaningful purpose (kick the duardin back into shape and fix the Realms.) One of my biggest gripes with Blightslayer was that this development in Gotrek’s character was ignored, and he was back to yet some other meaningless expedition without explanation.
With this in mind, I was worried with the opening of Verminslayer. Why was the greatest hero in the Mortal Realms now cleaning sewers for a living? Was this just going to be another story that disregarded the character arc Gotrek had been on so far? Only two novels ago he was going to restore the duardin empires and change the Realms, and now he’s waist deep in shit, hunting small fry? It made no sense. Until it did.
I should have trusted Guymer, because midway through the book we get to see something of Gotrek’s soul, and the reason why he has found himself drunk in the sewers of Greywater Fastness, and the reason why his realms-saving mission had stalled. It suddenly all made sense, and I was face to face again with the Gotrek I’d been so invested in through previous books.
It turns out that this is the book I wanted after Soulslayer. The story of a Gotrek who is aimless and lost without his companion. It’s really nicely done. Guymer knows the character really well and writes him perfectly!
I do have one problem with this book, but it can’t really be blamed on the book itself. A lot of Gotrek’s emotional motivations are wrapped up in his parting of ways with Amara, his previous companion from Blightslayer. If you read my review of the Gotrek series so far, you’ll know that I didn’t really connect with her as a character, and felt the relationship between the two didn’t ring true. So, to see Gotrek still hurting from her departure in this book was a little like enjoying watching Andor whilst knowing that Jar Jar Binks still exists somewhere in the same galaxy.
Still, the emotion and the reaction Gotrek feels for Amara is exactly what I was hoping the last book would have afforded Malaneth. Indeed, if the book had just switched the names around, it would have been perfect!
I absolutely loved being in Greywater Fastness. It’s such a great setting for a story, and Guymer captures it really well, even if I did spend most of the story in its sewers. The brazen irresponsibility of ‘progress’ comes into sharp focus. Greywater is the ammo basket of Sigmar’s war efforts, producing vast amounts of machinery and weaponry to keep the battle stocked. Its walls are lined with the most powerful and devastating cannons known to the Realms and it pumps out a continuous spew of noxious gas from its countless factories.
Around the city, despite being situated in the verdant and teeming land of Ghyran, is a desolate and dead landscape. In other sources, this is due to the constant shelling of enemies that come to close with Greywater’s considerable arsenal, but in Verminslayer it is put down to the city pumping out a steady stream of toxic industrial run-off into the city’s surrounds. It’s a nice touch, considering it is the Skaven we are facing in this book. Skaven territories are famous for being unlivable and toxic because of their relentless experimentation and industry, and here we here of Greywater Fastness being none to different. This brings the ire of the Sylvaneth, which is referenced a few times through the book, and shows us the fragility of the Order alliance.
Whilst the Sylvaneth long to destroy Greywater, it is the Skaven on this occasion that bring destruction upon the city. In particular, two twin brothers Sprarrk and Blastritt. The runts of their litter, the brothers have stayed close through thick and thin, bucking the Skaven tradition of back-stabbing and betrayal. They trust each other unswervingly (until they don’t – which isn’t a spoiler, it’s just Skaven nature.) We also get to finally see the answer to the question, what would a Clans Skryre Verminlord look like?
They’re great characters, exhibiting all of the unhinged, paranoid genius you would want from Skaven villains, and their plan is as nuts as you’d expect a Skaven plot to be. It also requires a lot of resources, such as the ones located in Greywater Fastness above them, which they try to syphon off without being noticed. It isn’t until Gotrek and Elsworn stumble across their activities in the sewers that things start going wrong for them.
In recent portrayals of Skaven, such as Skaventide by Gary Kloster, we see the ratmen taking on a more sinister and horrifying aspect, but in Verminslayer we see classic Skaven. Whilst I loved the reimagining/AOSification of Skaven that came with 4th edition, cementing the faction more into the AOS setting, rather than being just a hang-over from the old world as they were before, I am also glad that we do still get to see the over-the-top, almost cartoonish Skaven. Being Clans Skryer, there are plenty of ridiculous and terrifying inventions, as well as catastrophic misfires. Lots of backstabbing and betrayal too.
As far as story goes, it’s exactly what you want from a Gotrek story. I don’t want lots of convoluted threads and twists. I want a good honest adventure story, with lots of fighting, and that’s exactly what I get from Verminslayer.
Other than fighting, drinking and swearing, there are three central things I want in my Gotrek stories. Firstly, good world building. You want Gotrek to take you to different parts of the realms, fleshing out the locations and their inhabitants. Verminslayer gives me a great insight into both Greywater Fastness and Clans Skryre culture (holding them up, side by side, in a way that isn’t entirely flattering to the Cities of Sigmar!)
Secondly, I want something that takes the character of Gotrek forward. Another tick. I finished the book feeling like I knew Gotrek a little better. I’m sure it can’t be easy for a writer to work with shouty-stompy-angry-dwarf-guy, and not just make him a two-dimensional caricature, but Guymer teases out some really interesting aspects of the character that leaves me wanting to read even more stories about him.
Finally, I want a good companion. They don’t have to match up to Malaneth, that was such a great dynamic that I’m not sure can be matched, but at this point I would simply settle for believable. Does Elsworn fulfill that roll? I’m going for yes.
She’s certainly a lot more subtle as a character than Malaneth, and Gotrek novels aren’t exactly known for subtlety. There’s no obvious source of tension between them, as there was with Malaneth, and no obvious source of agreement, as with Amara, but it does make perfect sense that they end up thrown together. Elsworn wants her duel with Gotrek, and he refuses to give it to her until she’s ready. This might be the initial reason for Elsworn sticking with Gotrek, but there’s clearly something deeper going on. The two clearly develop a bond, trust and respect for each other.
There is also the interesting dynamic that one wants to make her name, whilst the other wants to redeem his; one doesn’t really care what others think of him, yet often develops a following everywhere he goes, whilst the other tries desperately to get noticed but remains, largely, anonymous. I’m genuinely interested to find out where the pair go from here, and how their worldviews and ambitions will square with one another as they travel the realms together. I’m also keen to find out if they ever will get their duel.
This brings me on to the final thing I want to say about the book, Gotrek’s not really even the main character. Elsworn is. Whilst the other books are very much told from the perspectives of the companions, the companions are obsessed with Gotrek and everything they say, do and think revolves around him. In this book, however, it can often feel as if Gotrek is the sidekick.
I actually really like that. Elsworn is driven, and full of her own self-interest. Of course she’s not going to regard some drunkard duardin sewer cleaner as the protagonist of her own story. It fits the character perfectly. In future books (and I hope she’s in future books) will she come to share Trachos’ and Malaneth’s views of Gotrek? How will she react when she comes to discover that she is actually second fiddle? To write a Gotrek book in this way was a really interesting and brave choice from Guymer.
Verminslayer showed a different way of telling Gotrek’s story. It definitely felt like the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. In the same way Realmslayer laid down some important foundations which were built on over the course of the next three books, Verminslayer is a great starting place for a new arc of Gotrek storytelling.
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