After the fourth omnibus contained some killer novels I have been awaiting this one with trepidation. Two novels and seven short stories, none of which are crap. One interesting thing about this collection is that none of these stories fit into the linear history so far - a couple of them mention the airship and a couple mention Ulrika, so we know what they're after, but there is no indication as to whether or not they are in order with the others - and one of them doesn't fit in at all, in any way.

Road of Skulls is a fine rollocking action read that takes us to a dwarf hold being attacked by a chaos horde. The leader of the chaos horde is a Knornate warrior smarter and saner than most - he has divided his consciousness into a giant chaos monster and keeps all his Khorny bloodlust crazyness there. There's some good characterisation on the chaos side, and lots of action. It ends with Gotrek persuing the monster towards the north.

The Serpent Queen is probably my favourite of these stories. Its a lot of fun, shows parts of the Warhammer world that we haven't seen before, and some Tomb Kings characters that really work. Its fast paced stuff and well worth a read. How did Gotrek get from the North to the Southern Lands? Who knows! We're non-linear now, baby!

Charnel Congress is another vampire story, setting G & F against a reborn Manfred von Carstein. It's a good read, but fairly unremarkable.

The Reckoning takes G & F into a Skaven-inhabited dwarfhold to liberate a book of grudges. There are some great moments here and the mad Skaven baddies are gloriously OTT.

Into the Valley of Death is a G & F story without G. It's not very good to be honest, but it has the kernel of a good story in there, if only for a better editor. There was no need at all for Felix to be the protagonist. It doesn't fit into the storyline, it doesn't retcon it either. The character could have another name, and perhaps did until someone ctrlF ctrlR.

Curse of the Everliving is alright and bodes well for David Guymer's G&F stories, but its fairly unremarkable. A good monster though!

Marriage of Moment is a silly bit of nonsense that sees Felix betrothed to a halfling in the Border Princes. Reynolds has added a running joke throughout his Gotrek stories that Gotrek hates halflings, for reasons unclear. Along with lots of references to other events that we haven't seen, its clear that Reynolds was telling us that there is plenty of space in the story for new events and historical stories to fit in the gaps between the earlier novels. I think this is a good idea, but a bugger for trying to work out how it all fits together (if that's your bag). Did you know jabberslythes reproduced from blisters on dead jabberslythes?

Berthold's Beard is a bit of gross horror silliness. Reynolds should have looked at hair under a microscope before writing this, because hair is even grosser than what he wrote!

The Contest is a bar room brawl piece of fluff that is pleasant enough but nothing to tell your mother about.

All in all a mixed bag but one that I enjoyed. ( )