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A Dynasty of Monsters

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

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A Dynasty of Monsters

By: David Annandale
Narrated by: Christopher Kent
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About this listen

A Warhammer Age of Sigmar audiobook.

War makes for strange alliances - and so it is for the free city of the Colonnade, which must turn to the Mother of Nightmares and her dynasty of monsters to defend themselves against the hordes of Chaos....

Listen to it because: get an insight into one of the newest threats to the Mortal Realms - the monstrous vampire queen Lauka Vai and her dynasty of terrifying, bloodthirsty killers.

The story: the Colonnade, a free city held aloft by gargantuan pillars and crowned with a spire of diamonds, is the jewel of Ghur, obsessed with purity in a realm of bestial savagery. But now, it faces annihilation at the hands of an unstoppable beastherd. In a desperate gamble, Councillor Atella Reigehren requests the aid of a being anathema to the Colonnade. She seeks Lauka Vai, the Mother of Nightmares, and her dynasty of monsters, the Avengorii. The crucible of war has thrown these factions together, but can they put their differences aside to face this common foe, or will the clash of purity and monstrosity be their undoing?

Written by David Annandale. Narrated by Christopher Kent. Running time 9 hours 34 minutes.

©2022 Games Workshop Limited (P)2022 Games Workshop Limited Adventure Fiction Military Science Fiction War
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Typically I would give credit or critique to the story as written prior to touching on narration, but I'll make an exception in this case as I like to begin with positives. The narration is phenomenal. The reader's chosen voice for the primary vampire character especially is fantastic, you really find yourself wrapped up in whatever the character is saying in a way that feels very appropriate for such a beguiling creature. Other characters are certainly well-represented, too, with distinct voices all their own.

A downside that this story suffers from on the narrative front, though, is one shared by a LOT of Age of Sigmar novels that highlight some of the more monstrous factions of the setting. Namely that they end up predominantly told from the perspectives of Freeguild or general Cities of Sigmar citizenry, and told in a way where the subject matter is made more sympathetic by the sheer incompetence and close-mindedness of the human observers. I don't mind reading about characters that aren't sympathetic so long as what they do is interesting and the set pieces creative. I don't want vampires to be "good guys." But I do mind having to sit through a story that's told from the perspective of human characters that are written to be so deplorable as to make the monsters look "better." Having read 15 or so Age of Sigmar books now, it's a very common narrative tool across them that I'd argue is overused to lessen the impact of what the monsters are doing, or to make what they're doing feel justified. This book may be the worst example of that trope, as approximately two thirds of the whole story is told from the perspective of an aggressively ignorant zealot who finds increasingly convoluted justifications to hate and oppose the Avengorii, who happen to be the subject matter occupying the cover of the book and the reason we all picked it up in the first place. I didn't pick up a 9.5 hour book to sit through 6 hours of a character intentionally written to be unlikeable in order to make the remaining 3.5 hours' worth of content more appealing.

It's not a bad story. But it's definitely a little tainted for me, personally, by leaning heavily on a trope that I've already seen so many times across the AoS catalogue of novels. If coming in to it with fresh eyes that experience may very well be less jarring.

Exceptionally narrated but full of pitfalls.

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Honestly for me this book was 10/10.
An insightful look into the interactions between Order and Death.
Does an excellent job of grounding the avengori so you can really understand their point of view.

A must listen for Soulblight Gravelord Fans

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A compete and fantastic book from start to finish that will inspire new armies.

Absolutely superb

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An incredible read from start to finish. The build of tension and horror throughout the book was marvellous! The descriptions, the depth in the characters and the setting was excellent! If you love Age of Sigmar, Soulblight Gravelords, or just vampires in general, get this book. You won’t be disappointed

What a book

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exceptional book to listen to, very interesting to get both sides of the coin, the characters are well written and the story flows well. long have I been awaiting a vampire book that lives up to the vampire wars trilogy of the old world and if this is the start of more from this breed of vampire, I'm in this was 10 out of 10 from start to end.

hard to stop listening to it.

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