Blighted Empire Short Review

Warning: Contains some spoilers.

 I still have no idea how that Priest became such a powerful Necromancer.

A while back I did a (very) short review of Dead Winter. Blighted Empire is the sequel to it and kicks off about a year after the events in Dead Winter. I liked how they recapped the important events from the first book in the form of of a scholar who is recalling those events, explaining them as from his previous volume and that these events are from his second based on his research from that period of time.

The book focuses on four main locations of the Empire for the stories (Altdorf, Middenheim, Sylvania and eventually, Carroburg) and of the characters within them. We still follow the main characters from the first book, though the Skaven characters have shifted somewhat. While we finally see the true purpose of Seerlord Skritter and his plan for the moon (something that was kept very vague in the first book), the torch moves more away from Clan Pestilens and more towards the Grey Lords and their planned assaults of the surface world.

The stories themselves are fairly good, with more character development for characters like Mandred and Kreyssig. While the first book builds up the characters and the horror of the Black Plague, this one launches the insidious invasion of the Skaven as the various Grey Lords launch their invasions, with the same belief that they will be the one to show their rivals. As you can expect with all Skaven plans, they are ingenious, intelligent and very cunning. And like all Skaven plans, they always possess one obvious flaw.

One of my few complaints is that, unlike the first book, this one feels almost like it had finished up without telling the full story, namely the ending. Perhaps this is ment to leave more mystery as to the events in the third book (Wolf of Sigmar in 2014). I also felt that the battle in Altdorf didn't seem as big or grand compared to the ones in Middenheim and Sylvania, considering how quickly it ended (though that might be me just being nit picky). One thing I did love was the inclusion of Clan Mordkin in the book. I've always been interested in what purpose the clan could serve in Skaven society and this gives a satisfactory role, particularly with why they are brought in and how they work.

Despite there is still a third book to continue the story, there really wasn't much to tempt the continuation of the story (in other words, no real cliffhanger leaving you wanting more). While it's difficult to say if it is better then the first book (I do recommend reading it before this one), it does well enough as a stand alone book, given how the introduction and ending parts go.