Book Review // Neferata: Blood of Nagash by Josh Reynolds
Today, I am stepping back from sci-fi novels and into the realm of fantasy. I’m still playing safe with the setting and jumping into the Games Workshop Warhammer franchise, a setting now destroyed for their Age of Sigmar game (not counting the failed relaunch yet). So let us jump into a time of legend and return to where Vampires, orcs and dwarves roamed a land now lost.
Title: Neferata: Blood of Nagash
Author: Josh Reynolds
Publisher: Black Library
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 416
Buy the Kindle edition here: Amazon link where I get paid! Thanks if you use it.
Commercial Fluff: Neferata is a queen without a kingdom. Lahmia has fallen, her vampire children have scattered and she is reduced to draining blood from the beasts of the mountains. After a chance encounter with a party of dwarfs, she sets her sights on a capital for her new empire – the stronghold of Silver Pinnacle. She calls her allies to battle – but can she truly trust Ushoran, Lord of Masks, and his bestial Strigoi vampires?
Review
This was a hard book to read, in my opinion. The two parallel running timelines throughout the story were annoying and a real pain to keep track of. Jumping back and forth felt pointless and led to a confusing way of telling the story. I would have preferred a more straightforward timeline. Even going as far as separating the book into two parts, with the first half set in the distant past and then the main storyline. I found the past story arc setting more enjoyable, but with all the hopping around, it is hard to know whether I enjoyed it. But it is not all doom. One of the few standout sections of the book was the siege of the dwarven stronghold. It felt like the author had always been heading to this point of the story, and you start to feel his writing come to life (he must be a dwarf fan at heart). I wish more focus had been given to this novel aspect.
Overall, I think he was the wrong author for this tale (sorry, Josh - your Fabius Bile stories are still amazing!). If the story had been about the dwarves' point of view, we may have had a fantastic tale. Instead, it's more meh and lacklustre. Maybe the brief wasn’t clear, maybe they rushed two short stories into one novel, maybe it was doomed from the start. Either way I would skip it unless you are a Neferata fan.
Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts below.
