The Return of Nagash by Joshua Reynolds

The Return of Nagash Reviews

• 
  Abhinav

  You can read the full review over at my blog:
  
  
  http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014...
  
  The End Times have begun for Warhammer Fantasy. The hordes of Chaos are pouring in from the North even as vast armies of Daemons lay siege to Ulthuan and the Skaven rise up from the Under-Empire to claim dominance on the surface world. Bretonnia and the Empire face enemies of their own and heroes and villains rise up as well, only to fall before each other. It is a dark time indeed for Warhammer Fantasy, made all the darker by the fact that the greatest villain of the ages, Nagash himself has returned to challenge everyone everywhere. The Return of Nagash is the tale of how the necromantic liche is resurrected and what part the Von Carstein vampires play in that.
  
  In the age when the Nehekharan Empire was still strong and vibrant in the Southlands, Nagash rose to power as the greatest sorcerer of his times, and he eventually went on to become the grandfather of all vampires everywhere. He clashed with heroes like Sigmar of the Empire, who eventually went on to become a God to its people, and his is a name considered one of the foulest by all the good people of the Old World. His is a legacy that cannot be forgotten, and that is exactly what Josh Reynolds builds upon in this novel. Through the eyes of the liche Arkhan the Black and Mannfred von Carstein, we see how the End Times are changing the world, and get a hint of the role that Nagash is going to play in it, not to mention the immense challenges that must be overcome for his return to become an undisputed reality.
  
  When I first heard about the End Times, I wasn’t sure what to make of all the news that was filtering out of Games Workshop. Warhammer Fantasy is a setting that has suffered, terribly so in my opinion, from a lack of attention through Games Workshop’s publishing arm Black Library. One need only look at last year’s Advent Calendar or the schedule of releases for the last eighteen months. Fantasy releases have been few and far in between, feeding the perception that Fantasy just doesn’t sell that well and so the content is to be more moderated than for either Warhammer 40,000 or the Horus Heresy.
  
  Which is why The Return of Nagash and Gotrek & Felix: Kinslayer are such important novels. For a setting that has been locked in a harsh status quo for years, things are finally changing. There are fortunes made and lost equally in the End Times and at the forefront of it all is Nagash, the greatest necromancer and sorcerer the Old World has ever seen. Nagash himself doesn’t make an appearance until the very last few pages, since the bulk of the narrative is from the point of view of his right hand man, the “nice guy” liche Arkhan the Black, and one of Nagash’s distant sorcerous progency, Mannfred von Carstein, the Vampire Lord of Sylvania.
  
  There are many other characters we meet along the way, even get to see the story unfold from the perspectives of many of them, but the ultimate driving force in the novel are Arkhan and Mannfred. The reason is because with the advent of the End Times, Arkhan thinks that the time to resurrect Nagash is at hand finally, and Mannfred agrees, but he wants to bring forth Nagash to serve his own ends. They are both ambitious in their own way and the novel charts their ambitions and their foibles and their weaknesses and their strengths.
  
  Given the large number of characters present in this novel, things could easily have gotten sidetracked, but that’s not the case thankfully. Even when we have characters making an appearance for a brief scene or two or three, they feel relevant to the plot because there is a genuine progression of the story with each character. Sometimes the novel can feel a bit disunited because it kind of amounts to Arkhan and Mannfred going to different places to collect artifacts necessary to resurrect Nagash, but Josh pulls off the execution and makes it all worth it in the end.
  
  Nagash’s role as a supervillain of the Warhammer Fantasy world is undisputed. He is such a major threat in fact that even the Ruinous Powers want to stop Arkhan and Mannfred from resurrecting the Great Necromancer. That alone should tell you something and convey the import of the ritual. He is unto a god by himself and has contended against other gods. The way that it filters down into the novel with the characters involved is that the forces of Chaos do everything they can to stop Arkhan and Mannfred. They send armies of Beastmen and manipulate equally the Dwarfs and the forces of the Empire to content against both these mortal villains.
• 
  Lee Broderick

  As mentioned in some of my other reviews, I'm enjoying the concept of the End Times. I also think, if even half the rumours turn out to be true, that it's an incredibly brave move on behalf of the publishers. Games Workshop have spent thirty years building a world which is teetering on the brink of apocalypse. War and horror are a part of daily life, giving the world a far darker feel than, for example, Dungeons and Dragons, even if it is also laced with childish humour.
  
  You could argue, not unreasonably, that such a setting is necessary for a war game. Now though, it's being re-written in the biggest way possible - that apocalypse the world was on the brink of has arrived and these books describe it. Watching a world I grew up with die and its heroes and races fulfil or fail their purported destinies has an undoubted appeal.
  
  The writing here though is pretty bad.
  Joshua Reynolds is to be applauded for keeping it simple and avoiding the trap of over-writing but he almost seems to veer too far the other way. It's like the prose of an earnest, enthusiastic fanboy. It's saved from being completely unreadable only by the relentless pace - the reader's barely given time to dwell on the text's inadequacies as we're bowled along to the next event.
  
  One for the fans then, or, as in my case, the lapsed fans. The plot's neatly summarised, like a scientific paper, in the title... On to the Nagash campaign book.
• 
  Tarl

  As far as the end time novels go, this one was not too bad.
  Reynolds does an interesting job writing about the various forces that are battling where the undead are involved. His mix of characters are interesting and as he shifts the pov from one to another, it keeps things interesting.
  
  Unfortunately though, because of this jumping, it runs into issues at points. For example, you see Manfred's prisoners in the opening pages of the book. A fair bit is given over to who they are, what's happened, and Manfred's interactions with them. But then, as the book goes on, very little to no more information occurs with them. We see them briefly at the climax and that's it. All in all, it made for it to feel like padding rather than actual substance.
  
  This treatment carries over to a lot of the side characters as well, where some of them deserved full novels themselves, yet were given only a glancing treatment as things carried on. I think the entire story could have done well without all the pov jumping, but in the end, it's still a good book regardless.
  
  Reynolds has done a good job writing something that is a fairly epic event in the Warhammer universe. He manages to tie his numerous characters together and manages to keep the story moving forward with tons of action. Beyond the pov jumping, I rather enjoyed how everything played out, and look forward to seeing how this book ties into the other ones.
• 
  Thomas Pattinson

  An entertaining enough read, Reynolds slaughters his way through Warhammer characters like it's a Game of Thrones novel. Though I had hoped that Nagash would feature more in a book called 'The Return of Nagash'. Still, worth a look.
• 
  Alexander Draganov

  With the End Times series Warhammer has broke their own records for awesomeness. The book needed some time to build momentum, but once it got it, "Return of Nagas" became an epic, more powerful than a tidal wave, till the very, bitter end.
• 
  Robert Bridgewater

  Fun start to the End Times. Wish some heroes had more of an impact that displayed why they are in fact heroes. But overall it was entertaining.
• 
  I Am Deceased 👻

  CAUTION HERE MAY BE SPOILERS
  
  What can I say about this book?! I loved every page! I am a huge Warhammer fan and when I first heard that they were ending the series to start another series (Age of Sigmar) I was very interested. This is the first of 5 books excluding the tie ins. This book blew my mind, even though Nagash didn't turn up in it until the last few pages but I expected that going into it. In the first 50 pages I knew that this book was going to be more of a prequel to the events of the 4 remaining books, more of a "here is everyone and everything" it gears you up for the next 4 books while still doing a great job of telling its own story.
  
  The Good Stuff
  
  - As is said this book does a good job of explaining whats happening to other soon to be important character in the next books, it mentions the Elves and Druchi, the Dwarfs and the Rat men so and so forth. Ita great because it takes care of the "who is this and why do I care" that you get at the start of every book, this one does a good job of fleshing them out and where they are on the game board of these 5 books.
  
  - The story it's telling is just awesome, everybody wants Nagash back but everybody wants it under their terms. Its great to see Arkhan the Black again seeing as how the last time I read about him was in the Nagash Time Of Legends book. Its great to see that he hasn't changed much, if anything he seems to have a sense of humour which is nice.
  
  - Ahh Manfred. One of my favourite Vampires is back and out to steal Nagash's power. Like that is possible 🤪 as Arkhan said himself Nagash doesn't just use people he corrupts them, over time he scoops out their soul and everything that makes them them and he leaves them as nothing but an empty shell ready for himself to fill.
  
  - Vlad Von Carstien is back!
  
  - Nagash is back! But you only get to see him at the last 5 pages but as I said, I knew that as soon as I read the first 50 pages, the book is mostly a by the by Warhammer novel involving vampires and necromancers. Full of treachery and deciect and you can't help but root for one side to be victorious. A great novel.
  
  The Bad Stuff
  
  - Absolutely nothing. Loved it.
  
  I can not wait to read the next one, this novel has put the End Times on a serieous good start, I was worried about this series. I mean how do you end over 20 years of novels? Well, we shall see. Great novel just great! 🙌🏻🙏🏻
• 
  A.J Ito

  ¡No, tío, NO!
  
  El libro es muy bueno y su trama es genial, pero es que el autor se va demasiado por las ramas. Entiendo que es necesario mencionar la postura de los enanos, de los elfos y de los humanos para no saber de donde han salido en un momento dado, pero es que lo que me ha dejado colérico son dos cosas.
  
  1- Me habría encantado ver la dinámica entre Arkhan y Mannfred, pero es que apenas se les ve interactuando.
  
  2- Esto no es a malas, pero no me importa lo que le está pasando a los enanos y a las otras razas. Enterarme un poco me parece bien, pero es que hay muchas páginas dedicadas a lo que están haciendo, y mientras tanto, yo estaba tentado a saltármelas para saber qué pasaba con Arrkhan, o con Mannfred.
  
  Todo hay que decirlo, las tres páginas en las que sale Nagash son BRUTALES.
• 
  Victor Ward

  The book starts off pretty rocky, with it being a conintual series of chapters about how group after group gets the random idea to go beat up on the undead kingdom nearby. Like many books designed to portray an over-designed battle by a game company who 'wanted to include everyone' There are a massive number of side characters and factions that need to be chewed through so the book can get on with the business of actually telling a story. That story itself is pretty good, the characters are pretty complex for a bunch of villans and thier interactions are enjoyable. There aren't any real plot twists but the core story is still pretty good. I just wish there wasn't all this 'And look the dwarves were there too - let me give you a couple dozen pages about them. And elves - more elves - they were there too so let me finda couple dozen more pages...etc.'
• 
  Bigo May

  Un relato épico sobre los acontecimientos que provocaron la resurrección de Nagash, el Gran Nigromante, en el inicio de El Fin de los Tiempos, la trágica historia que acabó con la destrucción del mundo original de Warhammer.
  
  El relato está muy centrado en los hechos de los personajes, en especial en el vampiro Mannfred y el nigromante Arkhan, con pinceladas también de otros personajes relevantes como el alto elfo Eltharion y el enano Ungrim Puñohierro.
  
  Aunque a veces tiene descripciones tediosas y repetitivas, en general es una lectura amena para los amantes de Warhammer Fantasy.
• 
  Kevin Collett

  This is my second attempt to read this book. The first time, a couple of years ago, ended with me not being able to get into it and giving up after a couple of chapters. The holiday sunshine must have made the difference as I found it very easy to get into but the story (not the writing!) is pretty bleak.
  
  Without giving away spoilers, pretty much everything is horrible in the world and so we follow two bad guys trying to make it worse.
  
  Can’t wait sit up get home so I can start on Book 2 in the series.
• 
  Rob

  I’d put off reading the End Times novels as I was weary about not knowing the characters from old Warhammer Fantasy. But as soon as I started the well written story dragged me in. I knew the names and all was forgotten. I will get though these quite quickly now I think.
  This is the tale of Arkhan and Manfredd attempting to bring Nagash back into the Old World. They are up agains men, Dwarves, Elves and the rampaging hordes of Beastmen. Who will come out on top?
• 
  Frederick Finch

  As an avid fan of Warhammer, I was exceptionally excited to finally put my hands on this series. Nagash begins strong, with great character development and bringing that desperate, gloomy, misgiving atmosphere of the whole setting. I collected the miniatures (Chaos! Slaanesh preferably), played the tabletop wargames, read novels, and this one gives just about the right feeling as being inside, as living the storyline myself.
  Great work of fantasy!
• 
  Christopher Napier

  Picked this up on 2 for 1. Disappointing, but I think that's more the fault of the End Times arc than anything of Reynolds doing, as I've read nice tight stories by them.
  
  It's too long, has too many moving parts to care much about any of them, lingers in one point and then leaps across the map and it feels like it's all a bit inevitable and lacking drama.
  
  Definately just one for WHFB completists.
• 
  Andrew Alvis

  I originally started reading this as an ebook but then I was struggling, so I swapped to the audio that I downloaded from Audible and though I feel a bit dirty for doing that, it certainly helped me work my way through the book 😅
  
  I think Jonathan Keeble gave a better account as the many named heroes of the Old World of Warhammer than my own imagination could manage 😆
  His Arkhan the Bkack was the most prominent by far, twinned with his nefarious Heinrich Kemmler voice.
  
  Nagash must rise!
• 
  Йордан

  4 stars, based on the fact that it's a very good Warhammer book, but if you are unfamiliar with the universe and the players in it you might be more than confused. Still, this is one of the best things to come out of GWs End Times - shakes the status quo, and gives you interesting characters. Oh, and Mannfred is an a** - guess some things never change (although Mr. Reynolds does his best to make him somewhat likable, which is quite the Sisyphean task and he gets a star for trying)
• 
  Patt

  Was probably the okayest of the end times series always good to see Nagash but where the fuck is W'soran or Abhorash or Ushoran???
  And FYI Mannfred Von Carstein is not a bumbling idiot like portrayed in this boom he is patient and calculating.
  But the end times is as we have seen a crock of shit so game on I suppose.
• 
  Sandra

  Me cuesta poner solo dos estrellas a esta novela. El concepto en sí me gusta mucho y esperaba muchísimo de ella. Pero la excesiva cantidad de tramas y la lentitud con la que se desarrollan los hechos ha hecho que se me hiciera muy difícil de leer. Echo en falta mucho más de Manfredd y Arkham y, por supuesto, un poco más de Nagash.
• 
  Cameron

  Probably a good book for someone with an undead Warhammer army, but otherwise not impressive. Nearly every single character having some treacherous scheme for world domination made for a pretty boring cast.
• 
  Peter Bobovsky

  Well written summary of the beginning of the end. Lots of death included. Pun intended.
• 
  Blockfinni

  Great
  
  I couldn’t put the book down. Huge fan! And I can’t wait to get started on the next book. Amazing
• 
  Jaime

  Very slow
• 
  Josef Lindell

  Har du läst mer eller mindre allt som The Black Library pumpat ut under de senaste decennierna och därför känner till alla bikaraktärer redan i förväg kan du nog få ut en del av denna avslutning på legenden om Nagash. Men för de allra flesta skulle jag inte rekommendera denna bok, i alla fall inte om du vill läsa om Nagash.
  
  Betyg: 1/5
  
  En längre recension finns på min blogg:
  
  
  http://jlfantasy.se/Blogg/2017/07/23/...
• 
  Stuart

  'The enemy of my enemy is my friend – well distrustful git in this case'
  
  For the last few decades I’ve read Warhammer fantasy, seeing characters built up, villains fall and heroes arise. Characters that have been lovingly raised by the publisher are now in for a ride that is turning into a Game of Thrones-esque killing fields! The Time of Legends series aloud for the series to grow, we got to love characters from both sides of the scale. With The End Times the Old World is changing, the title of the series gives the ethos of something epic coming – yep it’s the end of the world as we know it! Chaos warbands from the north lay siege and in some cases obliterating parts of the Empire, Bretania (chivalric knights) and the Wood Elves home. From the east Ulthuan is besieged, Tyrion and his High Elf chums are embattled in a losing fight. From the south come hordes of Skaven (ratman), Orcs and Goblins follow in their wake. Stuck in the middle are both good and bad folks – some still fighting for their own goals and other’s just fighting to survive.
  
  The worst of the worst is the centre of the story (abit only towards the end of the story), the original Necromancer, the baddest of the bad, the father of vampires, the bane of Sigmar, Nagash (eeek scary). The core of the story is about Arkhan (disciple and pawn of Nagash’s) and Mannfred Von Carstein’s attempts to resurrect this lovely chap. Arkhan the Black Hand was a fantastic character from Mike Lee’s Time of Legends series, someone who is witty, likeable and detested by myself when reading through that trilogy. Mannfred, a vampire, one of the firstto rise was originally from an old series which was written back in the 90s (ironically named The Von Carstein series) – slightly mad and undeniably maniacal, he wishes to bring back Nagash for his own deluded power. He believes he can control the undead prophet. Oh dear. From the beginning we get hints at what is unravelling in the world, not to mention some of the challenges both main characters face.
  
  There’s really three stories going on here (interwoven with many side characters), that being Mannfred’s paranoia over his past (he killed his father, Vlad) and almost apathetic hold of power. Sure he is slightly insane, whispers from his father in his own mind and slaying of various underlying helps give the reader this impression. Don’t get me wrong, he has power, but it’s almost comical compared to Arkhan (the second story), who in his own right is rather humorous. I know, an undead-liche with humour! I felt the cat was a nice touch from Josh. Was it just a bony-old-mog or just a miserable bastard? Who knows. The third story really is everything else going on within the novel. Some of Mannfred’s minions are rather likeable. The love story between Erikan and Elise is rather touching, if somewhat reflecting a BDSM hook-up.
  
  We meet so many other characters on the way, it’s sometimes difficult to keep track, especially as the story/ies jumps around a hundred years or so. Luckily the pacing is handled by Josh Reynolds fairly masterfully – nothing gets side-tracked, which is a compliment to the author as it could have easily done so. A lot of fun and I'm looking forward to racing through the next novel in the series.
  
• 
  Nicholas

  Before I begin - this review has no spoilers. It's a comment on the author, the book and the series.
  
  This is book one of five books in Warhammer's The End series. The Games Workshop ambition to end the current Warhammer world and start something new is frankly a big call. Thankfully, Joshua Reynolds is able to take up the challenge of writing the first book to get the show on the road, delivering an engaging plot, make that plots, with lashings of characters. It is a feast of names from the Warhammer world. A character gluttons delight.
  
  Basically, nothing prepares you for the onslaught of characters and plots wrapped in this one book. Mr Reynolds is a master of juggling, there is a lot to take in, which he handles deftly, but making this a difficult read, at least for me anyway.
  
  Part one of three is hard work. It requires a lot of concentration. Ditto part two of three. Part three is the downward slope and easy to get through.
  
  The story almost gets lost, or was it I missed some bits because I was overwhelmed? Regardless, the author holds it all together wrapping it up with a fantastic ending. Not often do I end up smiling at the end of a book because the author has dropped in a brilliant ending.
  
  Worth the $22 AUD; half way through I went out and bought the second and third books in the series.
  
  If you like fantasy and especially Warhammer then get into it. Heres hope the next four can live up to the high standard set by Mr. Reynolds.