| Title | : | Dominion (Von Carstein, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1844162923 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781844162925 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | First published September 12, 2006 |
Dominion (Von Carstein, #2) Reviews
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-Luchando contra el enemigo exterior y el interior.-
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro Dominio (publicación original: Dominion, 2006) Cornad von Carstein ha reclamado la herencia de Vlad, pero no todos los demás vampiros poderosos, incluidos sus familiares, están de acuerdo con su liderazgo. Además, Mannfred, el primogénito de Vlad, se mueve en las sombras con sus propios planes. Segundo libro de la Trilogía de von Carstein: Las guerras de los vampiros.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/... -
An excellent addition to the Vampire Wars series, it follows almost immediately after the first novel and the fall of Vlad. We start with the Undead razing Grunberg(which is a lot of fun to do in Total War: Warhammer!), and find the Vampires under the new rule of Konrad Von Carstein. The whole novel was an adventure of violence, and gods damn it was fun. Getting a gods-eye-view of the politics and backstabbing of the Vampire Counts was amazing. It's probably due to Konrad being a bit of a dick and going mad, but there was much backstabbing and betrayal this time around since he wasn't nearly as unifying papa Vlad. Adding in the freeing of Jon Skellan and the plots started by the coming of Mannfred all adds up to be quite a bit violent intrigue that I think Mr. Seville did perfectly.
The story following our Dwarf friend Kalled was mighty fun as well, and it really set the tone for having a good adventure with the novel. The lives lost on his quest and the very real moral personality of his character really gave the novel quite a bit more depth than the first one. The whole novel was a blast from start to finish, though I do wish there was a more focus on the war between the Empire and Dwarfs against the Undead, but given the much higher focus on the Vampire Counts themselves, it was a worthy trade.
And I can't forget Konrad's devolvement into Madness, but it was really spectacular to watch. -
Following on, almost directly, from the first novel, Dominion tells the twisted tale of perhaps the strangest of the Vampire Counts in Warhammer Fantasy lore: Konrad von Carstein.
Konrad is a paranoiac, schizophrenic, and self proclaimed messianic all in one vile, blood soaked, evil package. Konrad aims to rebuild the Empire of the Undead that Vlad had built in the first book, however, Konrad's own severe paranoia literally devours his own court and his followers.
While the first book focused on the war Vlad waged against the Empire, this book gives only glimpses and hints of Konrad's war against both the Empire and the various Dwarf kings. The focus in on the sheer madness of Konrad, a lunacy that spirals out of control, robbing him of any sense of reality and damning his dreams of glory. However, the book is still filled with plenty of action and horror.
The other main characters are all well represented, especially three: Jon Skellan, a turned vampire who plots with one of Konrad's kin to undo him, Jerek, the former White Wolf of Middenheim who was turned against his will by Vlad, and who wrestles with the fate of his own soul as he still retains much of his humanity. Jerek too will work against Konrad and redeem himself in the process.
And then we have the hero of our tale, a Dwarf prince named Kallad Stormwarden, the last of his clan. He vows to hunt down and slay Konrad, and towards the end is instrumental in helping to form a human/dwarven alliance against the undead.
While this was a good read, it was not as great a one as the first volume.
The portrayals of the dark and vile ways of the Vampire Counts is far more twisted here, a representation of Konrad's madness, as well as far more gruesome and graphic. While this is necessary to highlight that vampires really are evil creatures (ahem, fans of Twilight, vampires come to eat you, not sparkle as they try to make love to you), the author tended to stray a tad into the realm of the needlessly macabre merely for shock value.
And the final battle lacked the sense of scale that the Siege of Altdorf had in volume one.
Still, despite those quibbles, this was a good continuation of the Von Carstein saga, and easily three and a half stars. -
Dominion tells the story of the rise and fall of Konrad Von Carstein following the death of Vlad in the previous book. Its a tale of paranoia, betrayal and the descent into a madness to which not even the undead are immune.
Some characters from the first book continue their stories here while also adding new characters with their own new motivations and hatreds. We get to see some of the deep flaws of both the vampires natures when it comes to ruling and warfare when not guided by a hand as sure as Vlad's and the weakness of a fragmented and quarrelsome Empire that is woefully unprepared to deal with a resurgence of vampiric power.
Meanwhile behind the scenes as the living and the dead stagger in confusion and disarray towards one another and weaken each other a quiet and subtle presence moves behind the scenes manipulating events and the last of the Von Carsteins plots his rise.
A very solid novel that is engaging and while it never made me desperate to get to the next scene I was more than intrigued enough to keep reading. -
Sorprendente, creo que ea es la palabra, esta novela me ha sorprendido. Es más centrada que la primera, manteniendo esa carisma e incluso aumentándola, centrándose más en ciertos personajes en vez de cambiar continuamente, lo que ha ayudado a mejorar el desarrollo de personajes. Como han mantenido la esencia de Konrad Von Carstein y además lo han transformado en un personaje trágico dominado por sus miedos y su locura me parece brutal. Este libro es más decadente, más asqueroso y brutal, reforzando los puntos buenos de las batallas del anterior tomo a cambio de disminuir su número. Genial.
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This isn't a very compelling book. The characters are bland, and their motivations sporadic. But I enjoy the lore of the warhammer world, especially the vampire counts, and that's why I'm reading these books.
So, if you're not a warhammer fan, I wouldn't bother reading these books, but if you like the lore, or the idea of immortal necromancers raising giant armies to destroy the mortal world (albeit a fantasy one), then you might enjoy this. -
No es que es más torpe: la narración o el desarrollo de la historia, tiene unos altibajos impresionantes. Cuando tiene que ser épico no lo es, y intenta desesperadamente incluir algo de aventura a cada paso. Kallad no está mal, porque es un enano más duro que un muro, pero su historia es muy repetitiva. Sobre todo destacaría a Skellan y a Konrad. Y lo que está por venir, la pesadilla tiene un nombre: Mannfred...
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If you read the first book, Inheritance, and thought that the vampires in it didn't get enough spotlight, you'd probably like this one. It amps up the carnage, the savagery and brutality of the vampires, gives a better look at their society, how they think and what their kingdom is like. This book is much bloodier and grittier than the last, emphasizing the sinister nature of vampires. It does a great job of depicting the ferocity and terrible might of vampires. Basically, if you like vampires, this would probably be worth reading for you.
However, I do feel this book is a lot weaker than its predecessor. Its characters aren't as compelling, Konrad von Carstein isn't as imposing as Vlad, though he is a bit more complex, and the heroes are definitely not as good as before, plus the plot is very wishy-washy compared to the previous book. There were a lot of contrivance, parts where characters should have died but were allowed to live for no other reason than plot armor. There are certain things that happen without any explanation (like when a character who's supposed to be dead suddenly shows up again). The dialogue isn't as good and character interactions sometimes don't make any sense (why doesn't Kallad attack Skellen at the end?). The ending is also pretty abrupt; the epilogue is only a few paragraphs and there's no sense of conclusion for most of the characters.
It's not a horrible book, by any means. It's writing is pretty good for the most part and does a great job depicting vampires. I still plan to read its sequel. It's just not as good as Inheritance, that's all. -
Mannfred was the most intriguing
Excessive violence
Not sure where they could go after this, (there is a third book) but maybe I should take a break
Impunity -
Bloody fantastic!
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For some reason, the quality of the writing was poor. Grammatical mistakes kept knocking me out of the story. I still want to see what comes next though.
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Well, I am reviewing this book despite that alread 3 years have passed. I still remember most of the plot and I add some things written here about these two books...
They are the second and the third of a trilogy about a family of vampires. It was a good trilogy and it's very unfortunate that Steven Savile is no longer a writer for Black Library. He could do so much... Oh well, life doesn't not always turns out as we wanted...
The review of the first book Inheritance can be found HERE.
In this book we are introduced to a new hero that will have a great impact in this book and the last. It's a Dwarf called Kallad with his has called Ruinthorn. He lives with a promise that he shall bring death (again) to all vile creatures specially undead. He was a prince and he was fighting at the walls of some keep that fell to the undead. His father and many of his followers sacrifice themselves to give kallad time to save some women and children.
The other two main character is Mannfred and Konrad von Carstein. Since the demise of Vlad fell in Altdorf those he sired battle themselves for domion. Mannfred wanders alone and forgotten. Mannfred only goal at that time was knowledge. He still has Vlad signet ring (with it's restorative magic), and within his goal there is a book with incantions crafted by Nagash.
Konrad meanwhile rules the court and prides himself with cruel savagery. He is to paranoid to trust any one even if picked every member of elite guard. (He reminds me of Ivan IV, The terrible a Russian tzar). Strangely enough Mannfred reminds me of Peter I the Great another russian tzar).
Then the second battle against the humans...
Meanwhile there are other characters who make this book so great.. Jon Skellon andf Jared from White Wolf changes...
Well this book is a build up for the last book... It is a good book with a good plot and great characterization. This book needs the third to be fully appreciated.
The third book does not disapoint anyone. It starts the same way the others had began and the end... well it's was not expected. Again great character building.
Obviously the story the book tell us were already known cause it's the Vampire Army Book but it was great seeing these way. I only thing that the vampires could dominate the humans if not by their own superiority = stupidity. It's a shame. In the end my vampire vampire was Vlad. No doubt and again the two SS I told before are there...
There is only another book by Steven Saville before he left called Curse of Necrach... It's a shame... he could really write about Vampires and could creat good characters... I really hope he is doing great out there... -
Fun with Konrad! I liked this one better than Inheritance, mostly because the story felt a lot less disjointed. I think it could've stood about a 15% edit off the top, but I think that about a LOT of books. I feel like Konrad and Mannfred overlapped a bit too much at the beginning, then were so ridiculously different and I wasn't sure why that ... either I missed something, or an arc wasn't explored very well.
I still like Skellan a hell of a lot more than Jerek, but I enjoyed the addition of the dwarf (Kallad?) to the mix of "fairly main" characters. Also, I think Vlad is just by far the most dull of the Carsteins. I'm reading these alongside Return of Nagash, which includes a lot of post-resurrection Mannfred, so it's fun to see the origins of a lot of this. -
Well it was to be fair another good read despite the three star rating. The writing is great, very dark and descriptive all the way through , this book is part of one of the most sinister series i have read. However, the reason this got three stars was because it simply did not live up to the first book , or what seemed to be preperation for the third book. Most of this novel was prepping for the third in the series and it really took away from the novels story line in itself. The books characters and plot twists just to me werent as good as the first, but maybe to another reader the second book was even better. i dont know. Im excited to see how this series will end.
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Another interesting read. It was a good bit of escapism but nothing revelatory or life changing. The characters were interesting and the story was well told, but if you are looking for deep literature then I would recommend a different avenue.
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Once again, decent writing, very interesting story. I'm excited for the third.
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Аналогично первому.
Все быстро и решительно, но при этом не особо интересно. -
La saga de libros Warhammer ya sabemos de que va: explotar el juego de miniaturas y entretener. Cierto que lo consigue, gracias a una buena plantillas de autores que saben muy bien lo que hacer. Escribir como churros, vestidos de con espadas y capas, lleno su estudio de figuritas, posters, buena música cañera y al lío.
EL segundo libro de la saga Von Carstein es autoconcluso al igual que el primero. Esta vez tenemos a un enano escapando de una catedral asediada por no muertos, dirigidos por este famoso vampiro. Después de escaparse ve de lejos como este mata a su padre. Jurara vengarse. Y tendremos una aventura clásica, sin ningún tipo de pretensiones ni florituras.
