A review by beorn_101
Castle of Blood by C.L. Werner
2.0
I really wanted to like this book, and I think there are some great moments, but lets start with what doesn't work.
Much like a B-horror movie, the characters are pretty flat and unlikable, most of them felt like just fuel for death scenes, serving little real purpose in the story. The few characters I did feel like had more personality or purpose sadly played very little role in the actual story. This means that parts of the story really drag, because you just don't care about the characters. The most satisfying parts are the atmospheric moments where the ragged survivors are fleeing or cowering from the monster.
I really enjoy black library books, but the Age of Sigmar setting is so odd that it is hard to really suspend disbelief, it just sounds and feels like a game setting. This hurts what could have been a pretty atmospheric novel, that is just dragged down by some game mentions and weird AoS language. Pointless references to the Stormcast Eternal, who aren't even in the book, odd references to realms of magic, which again served no purpose, derailed the story.
What worked, well the best part of the book is the physical design of the book, the cover (particularly being hardbacked) the pages, its size, everything made it an incredibly enticing read. I had a few people even comment saying "wow that looks like a cool book" while I was reading it at work.
The setting and core story is decent, survivors trapped, forced to struggle together or apart. It has a creepy castle and pretty much everything you could want from a gothic horror. Unfortunately, the setting doesn't get a lot of screen time, with every room feeling similar and not a great deal of time spent describing anything after the characters first arrive. Its a disappointment, as without decent characters, the setting could have been a saving point, but this one is just mediocre.
The pacing of the book is good, building some good anticipation and suspense and then maintaining the quick fast paced slashings of the characters that would fit perfectly in any slasher film.
Overall, this wasn't a great book. There is a lot better horror out there.
Much like a B-horror movie, the characters are pretty flat and unlikable, most of them felt like just fuel for death scenes, serving little real purpose in the story. The few characters I did feel like had more personality or purpose sadly played very little role in the actual story. This means that parts of the story really drag, because you just don't care about the characters. The most satisfying parts are the atmospheric moments where the ragged survivors are fleeing or cowering from the monster.
I really enjoy black library books, but the Age of Sigmar setting is so odd that it is hard to really suspend disbelief, it just sounds and feels like a game setting. This hurts what could have been a pretty atmospheric novel, that is just dragged down by some game mentions and weird AoS language. Pointless references to the Stormcast Eternal, who aren't even in the book, odd references to realms of magic, which again served no purpose, derailed the story.
What worked, well the best part of the book is the physical design of the book, the cover (particularly being hardbacked) the pages, its size, everything made it an incredibly enticing read. I had a few people even comment saying "wow that looks like a cool book" while I was reading it at work.
The setting and core story is decent, survivors trapped, forced to struggle together or apart. It has a creepy castle and pretty much everything you could want from a gothic horror. Unfortunately, the setting doesn't get a lot of screen time, with every room feeling similar and not a great deal of time spent describing anything after the characters first arrive. Its a disappointment, as without decent characters, the setting could have been a saving point, but this one is just mediocre.
The pacing of the book is good, building some good anticipation and suspense and then maintaining the quick fast paced slashings of the characters that would fit perfectly in any slasher film.
Overall, this wasn't a great book. There is a lot better horror out there.