The Curse of Khaine

Warhammer Chronicles: The End Times, Book 3

By: Gav Thorpe

Narrated by: Andrew James Spooner

Book 3 of The End Times

The End Times have come to Ulthuan. The battle that began millennia ago will finally end, as the druchii march upon the soil of their ancestral home once again and Malekith claims his destiny.

Listen to it because...

It's Gav Thorpe writing about elves, finishing the story he began in The Sundering trilogy. Storylines decades in the making reach their conclusion in an epic that changes the fate of the elves forever.

The story:

The End Times are coming. With Naggaroth besieged by the hordes of Chaos, the Witch King Malekith makes the decision to abandon the Land of Chill and make one final attempt to seize the throne of Ulthuan. As the druchii march upon the soil of their ancestral home once again, long-laid plans come to fruition and treachery blooms, bringing Malekith closer than ever to his goal. All that stands in the Witch King's way is the Regent of Ulthuan, Prince Tyrion, and the darkness within Malekith's own soul, the call of the Curse of Khaine.

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

Malakith is a pain as a character

He is really annoying and is the cause of all his own problems. I know that is the point but its hard to have him as a protagonist rather than a villain when he is like this.

Difficulty following shifts in time

My biggest gripe with what is an otherwise great story are the constant shifts in time between the current time of the story and its history. There is no note or annotation to indicate the shift. For the majority of the book, it happens so quickly you barely realize it. I'm sure reading the book you can, but the audio book suffers from it.

Definitely pick this one up

If you’re a fan of Warhammer, and you want to know how the world ends pick this one up, also get the return of the nagash and the fall of altdorf great books to lead up to this one and I hope they continue to release the rest can’t wait

Not my favorite of the five

Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of Elves. This book, suggested by the title, is all about the elves. I also am not a huge fan of the main character. He is not likable antihero. He is spoiled, smug, and greedy with no redeeming qualities.

wasted potential

this book is decent although I have a few major issues with the story malekith being the true king all along was a mistake. it disregards decades of lore. which I belive was brought on by the fact that GW was trying to rush the end times to kill warhammer fantasy and its perceived unprofitability. had they added more books to the end times series I belive that this would be mitigated. a better story would have been malekith coming to realize who he was and what he had done and seeking to make peace with his enemies. I think that the other kings being false had potential. for example it could have been revealed that neither Malekith or any of the other pheonix kings were the true pheonix king. then one of the books about malekith. in this scenario were GW did not rush the end times and actualy made it make sense without casually disregarding the lore and fans would have been, as stated that Malekith seeks asuryans Forgiveness and gains it through great deeds. protecting Ulthaun like his father did. my second issue is the whole Incarnation thing. the book flirts with the idea that the gods are being reborn as Mortals but dose not commit to it in the extent that I belive is required. I mean other than Hotek making Malekith his sword and Malekith summoning dead pheonix kings as Asuryans Incarnation. what happened with that plot line? I think that this issue was brought about by the whole vortex plot line. why would we need the Incarnations of the winds of magic when the we have the Incarnations of the gods? this is an issue with the other books to. other than Sigmar, Lileath and Ulric the gods who aren't chaos do nothing. again what I think happened is that the end times was supposed to be longer but thanks to GW it was rushed. you get hints of how the goods of man, dwarf and elf were supposed to be have avatars like when the Supreme Patriarch of the colleges of magic became Ulrics avatar and fought the everchosen. Gotrek I believe was revealed to be an Incarnation of one of the ancestor gods and at first it seemed that sigmar resurrected and empowered Karl Franz as his Avatar. but as I said this book and the entire series seemed rushed and a cohesive plot was exchanged for haste. my third issue and this is the most minor one is that in Lothern there are Humans who live there. I believe that once malekith arrived at Lothern there should have been some sort of conflict with the humans living there. I mean Malekith did spend the last six thousand years enslaving humans. maybe some sort of acknowledging of his wrongs done to humans would be in order. this is minor because it sort of ties into complaint number one is that Malekith does not earn the title of pheonix king or the loyalty of his people. trying to make amends with people that he has terrorized from the beginning could have provided deep growth for malekith. but as I said this book and the whole series seems rushed. or in much simpler words the book while having good moments is trapped by the telling two stories and fails at adequately telling them both. in short Wasted Potential.

More flashbacks/cutaways than a family guy bit.

As someone not deeply invested in this particular flavor of Warhammer [I'm a 40k guy myself], the apparent canon conflicts didn't bother me since I have no frame of reference. But good lord, the flashbacks are practically never-ending. I'd dismissed it at first as simply poor/hasty writing (which I'm sure is also true), but the sheer frequency is so ludicrous that I think author just had a hard-on for the story-telling method. Maybe it was an experiment. Who can say? Whatever. Story itself was decent enough and the voice work was splendid, but I probably won't re-listen to this one. 3/5

wow

ok..i’m not a fan of the end times at all…. BUT THIS BOOK WAS FUCKING AWESOME! i hate malakith so much that i made it point to fight him in warhammer total war just to feel some vengeance for all the elves he killed!! a fun book…Gab Thorpe did a miracle with this story line!

Malekith!

This is the best endtimes book i have heard so far.. really well writen and told..
can only recommend it

Freaking sweet lois

Just frame this as an episode from family guy trust me. 10 out of 10.

A great perspective for Dark Elf fans

It all makes sense now. The insight to the elven civil war is an ah hah moment. Morathi is c u next Tuesday