Ready for some quick fire reviews for books you’ve probably never heard of? Yes? Awesome! Here’ we go! Today I’m reviewing two books in the Warhammer universe that my husband and I buddy read together. One was my pick, the other was his pick. Let’s see who made the better choice shall we?
XENOS by Dan Abnett
Goodreads
★★★
When I was first interested in reading more about the Warhammer universe, I did a Google search for where to start and The Eisenhorn Trilogy was on many lists. Then, I bought Pariah which turned out to be a third trilogy to Dan Abnett’s series. So, naturally, I had to read this one first. I enjoyed this one more than my husband did. It started off quite strong with characters I found intriguing and was excited to get to know – but this is kind of what the Warhammer community deems “Bolter Porn“. There’s a lot of shooting, a little talking, and no character development. So, if I wanted an action with a dash of mystery, this would have been perfect. Unfortunately, I even skip action scenes in my favorite YA novels! Thus, I just wanted more from the characters. There are some really interesting characters in this first installment that I hope Abnett fleshes out more in future novels.
LUTHER: FIRST OF THE FALLEN
by Gav Thorpe
Goodreads
★★
This was my husbands choice to buddy read together. Now, he liked this more than I did. This is a short read and I finished it rather quickly, but I don’t think it’s a great book for someone like me to read. It’s almost like a collection of short stories that show Luther through the years – which is fine and all, but I don’t know who the heck Luther is. So this probably isn’t a book meant for me, someone who knows the bare minimum about the Warhammer universe. I kept having to ask my husband for clarification on things. I understood the overall story, but some of the finer details (like regiment names, certain characters) were introduced with the assumption you already knew what they were. (Not all Warhammer novels are like this, I’ve read several that do just fine explaining the basics for the story). Let’s put it this way, I thought the ending was a great twist, I was excited to talk about it with my husband. His response was basically “yeah, duh, we all know that” because I guess it isn’t a twist if you know Luther’s story 😆
I’m sure none of you have read these books, but if you read this post anyways, are there any books that you’re significant other or someone in your life really wants you to read but it’s outside your comfort zone or a topic you’re not super into?
3 Comments
How fun to buddy read with your husband! My husband and I have done that a couple times and it’s so much fun to be able to discuss a book in real time. 🙂
Yes it is! Although one of us is always ahead of the other so this time we made weekly goals to hit so we can discuss it at the same time and not be itching for the other person to read faster lol
[…] XENOS // LUTHER // SHADOW & BONE // NAMESAKE // THE LOST APOTHECARY // THE LAST WISH // ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE // EVERY VOW YOU BREAK // THE LOST VILLAGE […]