WFB Book Review: Bloodborn by Nathan Long

When I got handed this book, all I could think of was, “Oh god, Black Library is getting their piece of the vampire craze.” Read on to find out why this is a good thing.

Though I went into this book expecting a whiny tale full of wangst about how Ulrika (the title character) was cursed with awesome, Nathan Long quickly disabused me of that notion.

I have super-human strength and agility and will live forever… boo hoo hoo.

Rather than just giving us another bad vampire novel, Mr. Long has written a really good vampire novel. He reminded me why vampires can make great characters. Ulrika manages to strike a really excellent balance between angsty despair over being a monster, and reveling in how awesome it is.

Bloodborn also delivers on the plot, with several interesting characters and some cool intrigue. Another nice point is that it manages to feel like its well and truly set in the Warhammer world without actually bludgeoning you with Warhammer references (the last BL novel I read was a little too much like an anthology of battle reports).

Bloodborn fits nicely into its 411 pages. It doesn’t feel rushed, but neither does it drag. The action is well paced, and… well, I wish I could say more about the book, but at this point, I can’t without spoiling some of the better sequences.

Anyway, if you can’t tell, I liked this book a lot. Its a great read, and serves as an excellent reminder of how vampires should be written.

~ I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, both for its quality, and for it not being “Twilight in the Empire”.

Author: Guest Columnist

This article was written by a Guest Columnist who requested anonymity.