BONEREAPERS novella by David Guymer

[Nullius]

Hey folks, just starting to get some paint on my BoneReapers army and read the new seasonal novella by David Guymer. I loved it (especially for under ten dollars) and feel like chatting about it. What did you all think?  (Let’s keep spoilers properly marked to protect those who are thinking about reading it but haven’t done so yet). 

[Kiekeboe]

I ordered it locally for €6,50 and wasn't expecting much but it's a great quality hardback. The story is great, definitely an ending I wasn't expecting (I'm not too familiar with Black Library stuff so it could be common in the Warhammer universe but it was unexpected to me). I sat down yesterday evening and read it in one sitting, only about 140 pages but it grabs you. 

 

Don't read on if you don't want the whole story and ending spoiled:

Spoiler

 

I read City of Secrets some time ago and this story started much like it, you follow some humans in a human city. And much like in City of Secrets I was expecting some setbacks, sad times, and eventually a victory for the humans. But the further I got in the story the more I went "wait a minute, how are they going to win this?" And up until the very last few pages where the main character basically deserted and the Liege Kavalos did his thing to the Fyreslayer dude I held hope for the city. Honestly it was great to see the Bonereapers wreck everything so brutally. 

Also bonus points for the descriptions of the Gothizzar Harvester, loved it.

 

All in all: great story, cheap and high quality hardcover book. No reason not to get it.

[Gorthor21]

It gives a good perspective of the liege-kavalos in some parts.  I also felt kind bad for the people of that city at the end all cause of one person’s guilt.

[Nullius]

Yeah this felt like PROPER Warhammer, it was unrelentingly grim, but the realization that...
 

...just realized I don’t know how to make the little “hide contents” box to hide spoilers. What do I have to type?

Edited December 1, 2020 by Nullius

[Nullius]

 

SPOILERS BELOW

(..the heroes of the story were ultimately doomed only dawns on the reader slowly, and with growing dread.  And, although the Fyreslayers died gloriously and horrifically the way the author subverted expectations and had the protagonist do the entirely reasonable thing by deserting To save her children was satisfyingly and bleak and realistic, reminding us that -despite her bravado and lust for revenge- she was still a woman and a mother. You could really feel her agony at making the decision.  
 

I also like that the Ossiarchs were all...I don’t want to say saddened but certainly disappointed that it came to war. In the army book they are sometimes portrayed as quite diabolical but here they felt reasonable In their own alien way. The destruction of the town was avoidable and a failure in the Liege’s opinion. Even the Soul Mason in charge of the delegation seemed eager to find some interpretation of Nagash’s law that might get them out of having to extinguish a vital resource. (The bit about him sending away for the times of the Princess Necrotopia -which arrived in a giant ossified beetle with book cases built into it was a morbid delight) I also loved their perfect manners and cultural sophistication counter posed with their inhumanity and callousness. It was very memorable when they tried to serve the human delegation fine wine served out of what were most likely the skulls of their ancestors and dead family members and didn’t realize they might give offense in so doing, after all to the BoneReapers they are just wine glasses. 
 

in this respect, the Ossiarchs become  a Symbol of imperial powers throughout human history, no full of malice per se, but who consider their vassals to be a resource to be exploited mercilessly, but nothing more. There is no passion in their mercantile need to harvest bone. Made me like the BoneReapers much more. They are less a symbol of nagash’s tyranny and unquenchable rapaciousness and more a culture in and of themselves. 

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Nullius

[Clan's Cynic]

Got around to this a lot later than everybody else, but I thoroughly enjoyed it even after reading the spoilers here.

I did especially enjoy the... 'humanisation' of the Ossiarchs, which somehow only serves to make them more ominous and, ironically, inhuman at the same time.

Was the implication that Heraklis was made from Nestira's son?

Edited March 25, 2021 by Clan's Cynic

[Gorthor21]

Perhaps but not completely.  Ossiarchs are composite beings made from numerous souls and bodies worth of bones.

[Carnelian]

the Richard Strachan book "The End of Enlightenment" has some great insight into OBR too.

highly recommend it - Strachan is now my clear favourite AoS author, even surpassing Josh Reynolds' stuff