Soul Wars

Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Book 1

By: Josh Reynolds

Narrated by: Andrew Wincott

Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It is said that all who live belong ultimately to the Undying King. In the shadowy lands of Shyish, Nagash, God of Death, calls forth his soulless legions to reassert his dominion. His dread advance begins with the free city of Glymmsforge, bastion of Azyr in the Realm of Death. 

Standing between Nagash and his prize are the brooding Anvils of the Heldenhammer, an ancient host of Stormcast Eternals, and Lord-Castellant Pharus Thaum, guardian of the Ten Thousand Tombs. 

As battles between the living and the dead rage throughout the Mortal Realms, the War of Heaven and Death begins anew. But even Sigmar’s chosen may not be enough to cease the onslaught. For how does one destroy what is already dead?

©2018 Games Workshop Limited (P)2018 Games Workshop Limited

Unbearable Drag

Plus:

The setting is fantastically described and paints a great picture (when you understand it).


Negatives:

The God characters are so insufferable. They often go on these long annoying monologues that seem to drag on until it sends the reader into a slumber. They are completely unlikable and un-relatable. I realize they are Gods, but I prefer the characters in my books to be interesting.

The book often has boring sections of dialogue that seem to be entirely pointless filler. Most of the book is just people
standing around and talking.

The narrator isn't great at female voices.

I am just a reader of fantasy (not a Warhammer tabletop fan), so I don't know if this problem is relevant for most of this book's audience. I have no idea what any of the rankings, locations, and mythologies are. So most of the time I am in the dark. The author goes out of his way to set up these really cool war scenes that are absolutely meaningless to me because I don't know what any of the titles mean.

Most of the main characters are members of the same religious order. So I often forget who is who, since they all have the same zealot-like personality.

Speaking of characters, there are tons of side characters that just seem to be entirely pointless to the main plot. I just don't care about them when the author decides to visit them. Maybe characters like the girl who lords over the cats, for example, will pay off eventually, but I just don't care about her right now. It's absolutely painful to follow her around. Imagine all the movies with kids in it that were uninteresting and annoying, its like that.

I don't know if I am going to be able to finish this, I am over half-way through and it's getting difficult to even pay attention.


Overall:
If you are a huge fan of the Warhammer universe, maybe you will get something out of this. I still wouldn't recommend it, due to the slow pace and filler. This book is a horrible chore. Maybe since I just got into Warhammer books, I just don't get it, but I just want something exciting with fleshed characters and real personalities. This book simply fails to meet that need.

Good story, good narrator, terrible female voices

This is a good narrator with an acceptable range of voices to the different characters. I am just CONFOUNDED with how he seems to think that all females talk in whispers with raspy voices. You really have to hear it to understand. It grinds my gears to no end and completely pulls me out of the story everytime one talks. All of the women in this audiobook are basically Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort. You have been warned.

Was glad I bought it on a whim.

The author did a good job of writing this more in line with a compelling story versus a narrative of a game experience which I find to plague D&D books. This was my first experience with an AoS book and I'm glad I bought it. the narrator did an amazing job and the only negative I have is it would have been nice to have some more voice differences. He did have a decent amount of change but just not enough to get that top tier narration, but his actual narration voice was what I would say is at level with the best in audible. I would recommend this book and I will go back through the Realm Gate series to enjoy the beginning of AoS books.

Boring

I never thought a massive battle with the dead could be so boring.

I got this because I wanted to know more about the Necroquake. It promised fantastic battles and a deeper looking into the battle of Shiesh (spelling?). I got a little of that.

What I got a lot of was a whole lotta long winded speeches and pointless posturing. Over and over and over again. None of the Sigmarite characters made me want to care about them, and it was only marginally better with the undead. Granted the undead were better after all, but still too much pointless internal strife that added nothing to the overall story. Ugh.

The battle wasn't very compelling. It's like looking a picture of a burger in a menu and thinking "oh that's big! Nice!" But what you get is drastically different than what you were hoping for.

It's ok. It was better than listening to nothing I guess.

Top notch

Probably the best Age of Sigmar novel yet. well developed characters with a compelling story that keeps you hooked. Excellent listen!

Good Story, Great Characters

Yeah, Nagash is a bit of a bore, but that's the only minor criticism that I could throw at the book. I do think that is a bit on purpose though, as he is meant to be a foil to Sigmar.

I am continually impressed at the caliber of writing within the Age of Sigmar, Black Library. If you are interested in how the story is progressing, and (if like me) you are interested in seeing what Stormcasts are like as people (not quite humans), then this is a definite read.

The main story arc is entertaining and has its twists and turns and surprisingly good character development. What is even more interesting is that even the minor characters have well written and portrayed threads throughout the novel.

Good read, great characters. Highly recommend.

Hard to finish

Really dragged on for me. There was no character arc to get attached to. Everything Nagash related was incredibly tedious.

Plot armor, plot weaknesses, annoying characters

Third act is just horrible to endure. Character strengths just adjusted to the plot needs. Endless inner annoying monologs. And Nagash, full of energy just does nothing with it and stands by, being angry when it falls apart. When this souls would be so important than it would have been easy to get hold of them after the necro quake, but no, we need a needles story with unlikable characters or just as a mcguffin. Hinting through out the story with no conclusion at all. Could have had potential by its premise, but to just use the spark as it was clear from the beginning was lame.

Just blah

Couldn’t get into the story at all. Seemed to ramble on without any real drive or energy behind it. I’d ask for refund if I could.

Great, Worthwhile book.

Well written. I cannot express how well narrated this story was. Incredible performance. highly recommend.

Immerses you in the lore of Soul Wars

Tomes from the Black Library are probably best enjoyed when you’re actually part of the world of Warhammer i.e. you’re a table top gamer. There’s something about taking part in the narrative play and painting the miniatures that brings you close to the characters and the world (or in this case realms) they live in. That’s not to say this book can’t be appreciated without playing Age of Sigmar, but it certainly helps. As to the story; well, I’d say it was pretty good. Some reviewers have commented that it seems to consist of many dramatic characters and demi-gods making grand, doom-filled speeches, and this is true. But if you’re Nagash, Lord of the Undead, used to whiling your time for centuries regenerating your body and inner energy, then what else have you got left to do? Andrew Wincott’s narration is superb in this respect, and his narration of the different Nighthaunt characters is immensely entertaining. Who knew there were so many ways to speak in the voices of the undead? In places the story is a bit repetitive. I lost count of the number of times that someone said ‘... all are one in Nagash’. There’s also no trace of romance or development of ‘relationships’ if you”re looking for those elements. This is probably the ethos of Warhammer, and aficionados won’t miss this, but it does tend to make you not care as much for the characters if you don’t think they have much to lose. It also doesn’t help knowing that you can always be reforged by Sigmar or recast by Nagash if you happen to fall by the Lord Executioner’s axe or mashed by a stormsmite maul. But overall I enjoyed this story and it will certainly colour my perceptions when launching my Nighthaunts in future battles!

WOW!

I finally decided to listen to soul wars after having it in my library for a while and cannot believe I left it this long. Characters were excellent, setting was great and this is probably the best Age of Sigmar novel I have listened/read so far. Great, great great.

Inspirational

First time on audible for me.
Soul wars is incredible. The emotional baggage that all the soldiers on both sides carry from their lives/ their past lives. I found it to be easy to listen to whilst I was assembling some miniatures in the evenings.

Very interesting book

And I say that as a relative newcomer to AoS books, there was so much lore and politicking happening between factions and characters I felt information overload at times, credit to Josh Reynolds and to Andrew Wincott who narrates superbly for blending it all together

fantastic stuff

brilliant book that continues the narrative in AOS, the complicated morality of the protagonist perfect

A perfect crossover from The-World-That-Was to AoS

I loved this book!
A great story for any fan of Warhammer Fantasy or Age of Sigmar, with a heavy focus on a lot of characters from the End Times (Balthasar Gelt, Arkhan the Black, Mannfred Von Carstein, Nagash, and Sigmar himself).
I loved how it fleshed out both Nagash and Sigmar in a very human way, and showed how much emotion still goes into their decisions.

An apple a day keeps the Nighthaunt away

Who would have thought. A Black Library book in which I was actually invested in a character. That is, before the inevitability of the setting required the railroaded outcome, robbing me of a more interesting redemption arc.

I have come to realise that repetition is a flaw of a lot of Games Workshop novels, an indicator that a more thorough second drafting could do away with 40% of the material. But apart from some chapters waffling on without advancing the plot, and a couple words ("cerulean"! "corpuscant"!) becoming more pretentious with each re-emergence, it's not as blatant a flaw in Soul Wars as it is elsewhere in the Black Library.

Sure, we get the usual Age of Sigmar tropes: a Stormcast Mum unknowingly meeting her own orphaned child (not much of a spoiler, as it's practically a required plot twist now); a Stormcast scoffing at the squalor of mortals; said mortals dying bravely whilst fanboying over their Space Marine heroes; Sigmar acting like a bellicose Santa; evil folks brought low by their own megalomania; POV ping-pong between adversarial sides; etc etc.

But the world building feels more solid than in other AoS fare, and the setting is worked out in relatable details that makes you forget about game mechanics, or that this book's initial events are a crucial turning point in the board game's ongoing narrative (yet its true implications are only hinted at). The author even allows us glimpses into how Sigmar's Chosen are reforged, how tenuous the concept of free will is for the undead, and he does conjure up the chaos of battle in credible ways too.

It's still easy listening, it's still not as tightly edited as it could have been, but its hidden moral - Stormcast Eternals have more in common with the undead revenants they battle than they might want to admit - scrapes at the surprising hidden depths in this disposable genre.

The narrator has a nice arsenal of snarly undead voices, but unfortunately his range doesn't extend as much to female roles, who often come across as simpering and dithering.

Overall a pleasant surprise compared with other titles I have been listening to so far.

Entertaining

I found this story quite entertaining, if not a litte long and drawn out.

I liked a some of the characters, and they were well written. It was also fun to hear a story where you also see things from the Nighthaunt perspective.

All in all an entertaining read, with great worldbuilding. A good story to help you pass the time as you paint.

Good listen

Just a decent listen for many late night painting session. Did not expect some things to happen which is nice.

An effort.

I found this story a real effort to listen to. Whilst the narration was decent enough, it was the voices for the female characters that the reader did which made it tiresome. Every female sounded like Gollum, it was off putting. Like most Warhammer: Age of Sigmar story's, it is a bit forced and at times cumbersome. Decently enough written but not great. I'd say read this rather than listen to it, unless you want to paint figures whilst listening to the story, which is what I did.