The Cold Hand of Betrayal

by Richard S. Ford, Marc Gascoigne, Christian Dunn

In the grim Old World, the bloodthirsty followers of the Chaos Gods ravage the land. It is a dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and of death, and of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844162885
• ISBN13: 9781844162888
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Games Workshop(uk)
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

A Quality Warhammer Fantasy Collection

Marc Gascoine and Christian Dunn have once again delivered to us a collection of themed short stories of high quality. Like it's sister volume of shorts ('Invasion!') this has a very high standard, with few real dips in the overall strength of the stories. As noted in an earlier review this does contain both a 'Brunner the Bounty Hunter' story, and a tale relating to the 'Von Carstein' vampires. If you are fans of either, then it should be a good buy. 'Invasion!' has the slight edge on this collection but both are excellent reads if you don't have much reading time.

Good & Varied Short Story Collection

This is a collection of short stories set in the Warhammer fantasy universe. It is a diverse collection, but all deal to some degree with the theme of betrayal. The theme varies from open and obvious betrayal to much more subtle twisting of the spirit. In this, they are archetypical Warhammer. The stories are set in diverse locales and eras from the Warhammer world - one dealing with High Elves, two set in Tilea, one in Araby, one in the northern lands, the remaining four in the empire. As such, they give a broad overview of the Warhammer world. It has a Brunner the bounty hunter story (Sickhouse) and one dealing with the Von Carstein vampires (Death's Cold Kiss). The stories vary from excellent to the low side of average. A good collection of stories and a great introduction to Warhammer fiction.

This is a book about ... you got it.. Betrayal.

Well let us begin, there are several stories... The first it's Kinstrife by Graham McNeil. This is a story which the two main characters are brothers and high elves. This is the way a betrayal should begin since in the warhammer world there wasn't a more act of betrayal than Malekith and the Druchii did to the High Elves. Well, you see a story about two brothers who are seeking vengeance for their late father who died by poison from a dark elf [...]. The story it's divide in two parts. The first it's the current time and the other it's some flashbacks from the main character Lord Eldain. I didn't expect for this kind of end... It's like a plot within a plot.. a betrayal within the betrayal.. I guess it won't hurt if I tell you. The flashbacks take you to know why they are there in druchii land . Besides that another plot starts to unfold in which we begin to realise that not everything is well between the brothers. Rhianna, to be bethroned as everyone expects to Eldain comes to close to his brother Caelir. He already loves her and she loves him too. So before they part Caelir promises himself to her. Eldain becomes aware of that by Rhianna who tells him days before they part. This we only know in the last 10 pages or so. Then the flashbacks ends and the high elves start to war the druchii making great damage to their warships and one Ark. When they are fleeing after causing so much chaos and mayhem and death Caelir is injured and Eldain stands his hand to help him but sees his ring. The ring of the marriage between his brother and Rhianna. In a act of betrayal, yes this is the main betrayal, he leaves the scene. Then the author presents a final chapter which is a flashback in which Caelir asks his brother to look after her if he dies. Well this shock me. I never thought that High Elves had such .. qualities.. It's horrific :I a dissapointed. Oh well.. There is a part when the druchii slave masters are chasing a pack of humans and the high elves could save them. Caelir and the Shadow Warriors wanted to kill the druchii but Eldain forbades him saying "They were only humans" ... " Do not trouble yourself with them." It's kind of brutal.. The second history is call Small Mercy by Richard Ford. This is a begins with with two bounty hunters arriving at a village with a norsc prisioner. They bring it to a tavern where they are going to pass the night. The patrons here the tale and a child is beddazzled by these norsc one blue eye soldier. Well the betrayal here it's kind of sad. Well the "friends" of the norcs arrive and kill all habitants excpet this boy. Later we see the same boy a captain in the mist of Storm of Chaos war. We don't see much of the fight except we know they are running away and they are rallied by a charismatic, suicidal, valiant general. Well they start running and there are several skirmishers. One time they encounter a Chaos Knight Champion and the captain try to attack the knight but falls. The chaos knight remove the helmet and