The Sundering is Killing My Hands

I have been reading The Sundering, by Gav Thorpe, for over a month and a half. It groups the books Malekith, Shadow King, and Caledor into one book, along with 2 short stories. It is a monster at over 1000 pages.

I've been wanting to write a post on it. And even though I'm not finished yet, I'm 900 pages in. I feel like I've got a handle on the story and writing style.

First, it never takes me this long to read a book. I am a quick reader. In middle school, when the other kids were complaining about reading 3 books over the summer, I was reading 150. I can plow through a Gotrek & Felix Omnibus in a little over a week. This book has taken FOREVER to get through. And I haven't been putting it aside to read anything else either.

Yea, this book is large at 1000 pages. But I've read other books about that long. The Sundering is enormous! It makes regular books look like cardboard readers for infants. And it's size alone has made it difficult for me to read. I have rheumatoid arthritis, which makes my hands a bit weak and sore. I actually have to wear compression gloves just to hold this book up. It looks like I picked up a dictionary and decided to start reading. So, I go days without reading, because it just simply hurts too much.

This book dwarfs "normal" books

Just in case you weren't aware, Black Library has created the Time of Legends series. It mirrors the Horus Heresy 40k series, in that it deals with world changing events that happened centuries before "current" time in the fantasy world. The Sundering tells how the Dark Elves came to be from mainly 3 points of view; Malekith, Alith Anar - a Naggarothi who fights with the other kingdoms of Ulthuan, and Imrik, who takes the name Caledor when he becomes Phoenix King of the High Elves. The problem is, each book repeats the events from the previous book, just from a new point of view. It bogs the story down. Just as I get excited and can't wait to turn the page, a scene from the previous book appears, and I'm forced to read pages of THE EXACT SAME WORDS again.

This book confirmed for me that I am not a fan of Gav Thorpe. The only previous work of his I had read was Deliverance Lost, from the Horus Heresy series. It, too, was a slow read. He gets so concerned with setting up events, that once something finally happens, you just don't care anymore. Even his intro to The Sundering was boring. He basically tells us that he wrote a totally different book as the first in the triology, then had to quickly changed it when Black Library told him they wanted to name it Malekith. Yea, the first book was originally all about this elf named Carathril. Call me crazy, but if I was told I was going to write a book about how the Dark Elves came to be, the first guy I would think to write about would be Malekith. He is kind of a big deal.

Ok, so I've been bashing this book. But it isn't all bad. I love the character of Alith Anar. And being new to the Warhammer fantasy world, I've learned a ton about the elves in general. There are parts that are real page turners, and I've found myself up past 1 in the morning, because I have to find out what happens. It is definitely a must read if you are a fan of either the Dark Elves or the High Elves. There is a lot of history explained here. But I know that if I ever happen across a book written by Gav Thorpe, I won't pick it up to see how it is. (I do this with Dan Abnett. He could write about paint drying and I would read it.)

Have you read The Sundering, or other Time of Legends books? Let me know what you thought! I'm really looking forward to picking up both the Sigmar and the Rise of Nagash collections.



Seriously, it is like a phone book