Bloody Books Review: The Hollow King
Age of Sigmar as a novel setting is on something on a roll of late, with a multitude of excellent releases, and ones that while not as high-leve and heavy-hitting, have at least managed to be interesting. Outside of Godsbane*, every book I’ve come away from recently with the AoS tag has been something worth discussing.
So, we come to The Hollow King, a side-by-side release with the Drekki Flynt book that we reviewed a few weeks ago. Much like The Arkanaught’s Oath, this is a book and miniature releasing together, with a main character that has enjoyed a few short story adventures in anthologies and Black Library ** epubs. The Drekki book was a light heartened, fun, pulpish affair, so I expected very much the same going into this, the first introduction to Cado that I’ve had.
What I got was a fascinating experience, one that is as much an exploration of Mortal Realm general person’s life in a genuine underworld where the actual dead go, built by the metaphysics of belief that are baked into the landscape around them, as it is the story of a “noble vampire”. As a Soulblight Gravelord, Cado is a great creation, being both a monster akin to what we saw in Mother of Nightmares and a more grounded indirvidual trying to complete his task. Granted, his task to take revenge on the Tzeentch cult that destroyed his kingdom many hundreds of years ago is something that, purpsofully, is unresonable and ridiculous, but it works here as a form of motion. Cado’s torment and guilt for his loss is compounded and reinforced by the fact he carries with him nine souls (remember, Tzeentch cult destroyed his world and this is a great touch) that he saved when he turned to Nagash. These souls vary from devotion to their once-prince and king to outright hostillity and add layers to Cado without burdening him down with a side cast or followers. It’s a smart and very enjoyable mechanism.
The city of Aventhis, a place of broken towers and constant ravens, is a great setting as well, being visualised wonderfully and holding memorable characters that weave an ever-tangled web around Cado, who never looses the footing of focus as the book expands out to include other forces. It says something in a book that contains reactionary movements towards a Soulblight from humans***, Lumenth and Bonereapers, let alone any and all Tzeentch that may be in there**** that Cado isn’t lost in the shuffle. In fact, the only time he does shrink into the background is when a Blacksmith named Valenten enters the story and takes his own, innocence-shredding journey around Cado’s life. Valenten is the heart of the book, and whilst he is someone who can only ever be classed a “supporting character”, I cannot help to wish to revisit him in the future, his children, his smithy and his incorruptibility when surround by horror. I love the poor smith, and the awful things that happen to him to force him to see a larger, darker world are effective and heartrendingly sad.
The tale weaves a gossamer web of intrigue with a great stinger at the end for later tales, and The Vulture Lord or Mother of Nightmares, treading a path distinct but with familiar echoes. It’s absolutely the same universe as those other books, but at the same time it is very much it’s own dark and terrible thing with enough weight to keep you in Shyish for a while.
It’s never groundbreaking, but the ground it’s on is sturdy, stable and well worth exploring. And is of course, a graveyard.
*Nothing to do with the quality, it’s just the size of a North England farm and I have a massive backlog to get through. I’ll get to it though, worry not.
**I hear you…and I shall stop calling it BL in these reviews
***It does amuse me, looking at the cover, that some people didn’t realise he was a vampire at first
****I’m still unsure on that one…..