Bloody Books - GHAZGHKULL THRAKA: PROPHET OF THE WAAAGH! by NATE CROWLEY
Warhammer should be funny, As a setting it's vastly over the top, with bleakly hilarious elements and whilst there are places and novels where humour would not be appropriate, it seems the the majority of releases forget the foundations that modern 40k is built on.
Not so much in Nate Crowley's Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!, which combines such humour with a truly jawdropping examination of orkish culture. The story is framed via an Inquisitor as she interrogates a Grot who claims to be Makari (with a wonderfully sneaky and untrustworthy interpreter), as as the tale unfolds we begin to understand this is a gradual origin of Ghazghkull and a mirror for the Inquisition to attempt to decipher.
We only experience Ghazghkull from afar, with the tale only ever being told from Makari's viewpoint (possibly plural) to bring the warlord into focus without losing any of the mythical sense he owns. It may be an unreliable narrator, but it may be the lies that show the larger truth here.
The tale has it's share of violence and laugh out loud moments, but strangely for a book concerning the Ork, there is a sense of thoughtful psychology and reflection at play for both Inquisitor Falx and the reader. The book calms for certain scenes to explore the mindset of the Ork, and just how removed from the crowd Thraka actually is, whilst examining everything from time to how they understand Humans. Along they way you cannot help but enjoy and fall for the pious manner in which Orks may provide lip service to Gork and Mork, but the only true belief they have is themselves. The Ork is all an Ork needs to believe in. It's a Weatherwaxian revalation that works wonderfully,
it's a character study that brings Thraka to rip-roaring life, a tour-de-force of an experience that is both terrifying and sympathetic, with the most quotable lines outside of a certain Necron buddy-sitcom story. It is more than worth your time and should be at the top of anyone's reading list.