This is the second of currently five novels by William King featuring theTrollslayer Gotrek Gurnisson and his companion Felix Jaeger, re-negadeson of a Nuln merchant and poet sworn to record Gotrek's doom in an epic poem. 'Skavenslayer' takes the dynamic duo to the Imperial city of Nuln. For lack of money they join the sewer watch, hunting criminals and Chaos minions in the city's effluent system. Down there, they meet and kill a group of skaven and thus unwittingly foil the schemes of a certain van Halstadt, none less than the head of Nuln's secret police. Don't we role-players know the feeling of being caught between two powerful factions, both intent on killing the adventurers?

Evidently, the skaven are planning a full assault on the city and won't let a stubborn dwarf and his blond-furred companion stop them. Clan Eshin assassins are sent out to deal with the two, who now work as bouncers. Following that, Gotrek and Felix are forced to fight all other skaven clans one after the other. Clan Skryre is intent on stealing steam tanks from the Royal College of Engineering and "improve them with superior skaven technology". Clan Pestilens finds creative ways of spreading a new kind of plague, and Clan Moulder engineers warp-stone-mutated, all-eating rats designed to devour Nuln's food supplies. The scheming mind behind those exploits and most of the failures is Grey Seer Thanquol, a skaven mage intent on leading the final attack on the city, holding the Countess Emmanuelle ransom and bringing glory to his name and the Horned Rat.

'Skavenslayer' is more of a novel than its predecessor 'Trollslayer'. Although some of the chapters have been previously printed in other Games Workshop publications, there is a
better sense of cohesion and coherence between the stories in the second novel of the series. The whole plot is set in Nuln, and the temporal gaps between chapters are minimal. Furthermore, there is a constant build-up of tension leading to the climax, a sense of the
heroes and the arch-villain approaching. On the other hand, the sequence of chapters is very predictable: between the introduction and the climactic battle at the end, each chapter deals with the machinations one particular skaven clan. This is the modular structure familiar from GW's army books, which works well for non-fiction gaming publications but is a rather clumsy approach for a novel.

Apart from its structural deficiencies, 'Skavenslayer' is an enjoyable read and succeeds in conveying the down-and-dirty atmosphere of the Old World. In my opinion, William King's most important achievement is his portrayal of the skaven, which come truly alive. They are more than just scheming, stinking little tunnel-runners - in fact, there seems to be a particular kind of skaven psychology. Their behaviour combines a strict code of pride, pomp and
wannabe heroism with downright cowardice, culminating in the expression "a leader's place is in the rear". The whole of skaven society suffers from an overwhelming feeling of paranoia, which is more than justified since the clans continually conspire against each. Still, the skaven are not only ridiculed, since the power of their fighters, mages, engineers and plague-monks is awesomely illustrated as well. What is more, King creates some memorable skaven characters, such as the opportunist Lurk Snitchtongue or the arch villain Grey Seer Thanquol.

In my opinion, his sense of characters is William King's greatest talent. Not only among the skaven, but also among the citizens of Nuln we find a number of original, life-like and three-dimensional characters, such as Felix's merchant brother Otto or the scientist-physician Dr. Drexler. Moreover, Felix is again involved in a gentle but melancholic love story, which is closer to reality than to romance. Contrary to many other fantasy novels, 'Skavenslayer' has a
human heart.

All in all, 'Skavenslayer' is to be recommended as a straightforward collection of stories true to the atmosphere of the Warhammer World, containing loads of action and great characters, even if the overall scheme if the plot is very predictable. (mw)