Briardark

Warhammer Horror

De: C L Werner

Narrado por: Gabrielle Nellis-Pain

A Warhammer Horror Novel

An evil entity stalks the forest of Briardark, and the revered beasthunter Samuel Helmgaart must recover from tragedy to protect his village.

Listen to it because

Continue exploring the tale of Mhurghast and find out what life looks like in Shyish, the Realm of Death, as nightmares become reality.

The story

Evil stirs in Briardark, an ancient forest that looms over the Shyishan village of Felstein, where whispers abound of the spectres and brutes that lurk amongst the trees.

One man keeps these perils at bay—Samuel Helmgaart, the revered beasthunter of Felstein—but when tragedy strikes his family, an unknowable foe is unleashed, one that stalks the villagers and turns neighbour against neighbour.

Soon, a witch hunt ensues, and in the midst of his own sorrow Samuel’s daughter, Cicely, struggles with grief that has twisted into something dark. To save her, the beasthunter must track down the entity in the forest, and the evil that beckons to his daughter from beyond a most hostile grave.

©2022 Games Workshop Limited (P)2022 Games Workshop Limited

Misleading synopsis

I liked the story overall but it was a much different story than the synopsis would leave you to believe.

Chaos be Chaosing, Good Enough

The "main character" of the book isnt really mentioned much in the description. The way this character is written can often be eyerolling, a gold metal mental gymnast with the way they justify their actions. If you have read the 40k short story "The Oubliette" this hits alot of the same themes/story beats. If a story can make me hate its main character its usually a pretty good, I was cheering for their downfall the whole way through.

Gabrielle Nellis-Pain does an amazing job, her vocal range is incredible and brings all the characters to life while making them very vocally distinct. Gabrielle does more varied/better male voices than most actual men. Truly a talented professional.

C L Werner doesnt dissapoint either, the story itself does take a bit to get going and the main character goes through less of a "fall to chaos" and more of a "dive" they waste no time justifying murder.

Family Values

Fun descent into self-preservation and shame with a touch of knitting. Leave that cat alone!

not what I expected

Gabrielle did such a wonderful job! I got lost in the vocals in the husky males voices and the beautiful sing songy females. Truly made a well written, albeit not my favorite story, book into a true story.

Great!

Usually I use a special 5/5 for warhammer books, and this one wouldn’t need it.

Building up to something big, Mr. Werner?

This was appears to be a continuation of Gothgul Hollow, which I thoroughly enjoyed. C L Werner KNOWS HORROR, and his Warhammer Horror books are quickly becoming my favorite, however I feel that the “slow burn” of revealing where this story is going is more of an intro to one of the protagonists that will pay off in a future book. If you are looking for a standalone book, maybe try Gothgul Hollow, and if you like it then go for this. I know I am excited to see what he has planned for us!

Where is the fantasy setting?

For taking place in the fantastical setting of Age of Sigmar this feels like a fairly mundane murder story primarily centered around a human family. The fantastic atmosphere is alluded to but takes a pretty far back seat. Not too many twists and turns in this Briardark im afraid. Things do start picking up at the end.