"A city in the wilderness...
Chaos at the Gates...
A killer on the loose...
A retired warrior takes up the sword once more..."
Despite the semi-cheesy description in the back of the book I decided to take up this book. Well how can I refuse when it was given to everyone in their swag bag for attending Adepticon, I can't very well refuse a gift when I see one. I should admit that I have never read anything that GW put out when it comes to fantasy novels, I usually content myself by reading Gaunt's Ghosts novels written by Dan Abnett.
Moving on though plot of the book is that a retired general was chosen an ambassador to the frozen steppes of Kislev (think Russia and you are more or less there) in the days before a large barbarian force threatens to wage war on the empire and all it's allies. All the while the main character named Kaspar Van Velten finds allies, enemies and lovers in this new land trying desperately to gain the respect of the people.
While all this is happening a coalition of evil forces are plotting to throw the city into disarray by a string of horrendous murders. Biding their time to unleash an ancient evil that will ravage the cities of Kislev and help the invading barbarian armies to conquer the empire.
Onto the book it was actually quite well written and easy to understand even if you are not acquainted with the way GW portrays fantasy. Though some parts may seem painfully obvious I think the reason why the author did this was to show how emotion can blind someone to the truth. Whether or not that was his real intention I have no idea, but that is what I gained from reading the book and I thought it was a nice touch.
Seeing as I did not pay for the book I couldn't tell you that I would pick it off the shelf (i'm more of a sci-fi/historical fiction junkie myself) but now that I am familiar with his work I think that I will try and read some more fantasy novels by this author. I particularly found the way he described the warping touch of Chaos to be fascinating in this book and I am sure to pick up another to see if his work is consistent!
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