Chroniken des Wahns - Blutwerk

War ok

Dieses Buch ist bestimmt nichts für Jedermann 😅 Vom Protagonisten mit Nebenhöhlen Entzündung , ders mit dieser Krankheit im mittelalterlichen Setting echt nicht leicht hat… über Versklaver der Eingeweide Eintöpfe serviert… bis zu Adlige mit verschiedenen Persönlichkeiten und Wahnvorstellungen …. 😊 Dieses Buch ist dreckig, teilweise eklig, düster und derb. (Aber alles noch im akzeptablen Bereich 😅) Wahnsinn ist nicht nur eine Krankheit, sondern eine quelle der Macht. Je „wahnsinniger“ desto mächtiger. Mir war es zwischendurch etwas zu langatmig aber die Idee war ganz gut 😊 Durch diese derbe und bodenständige Art, hab ich zu den Charakteren leider kein richtiges Gefühl aufbauen können. Das hat mir etwas gefehlt. Deckard, der nebenhöhlen-Heini, war mein Favorit 😄 „In einer Welt in der der Verstand zerbricht, ist der Wahnsinn der letze Halt.“

This book sat in my TBR for a long time, because I really hoped Bastei Lübbe would announce the translation of the second book, but I guess that is not happening anymore. And I refuse to read the english version of this book, I’ll tell you later why that is. “Blutwerk” or “Beyond Redemption” tempted me with a very interesting pitch. “When you seek dragons, magic and brave heroes, then put this book away. When you prefer harmless, unbloody stories, hands of this book. And when you hate it, when the protagonists end up dying, don’t even pick up this book.” My own translation, so don’t judge it. It was so very tempting to pick up this book that promises from the start that it will be everything but nice. A bit of grimdark can be good to shake things up and in a bloody way. So I finally dove right into this insane world. The story starts off with Deckhard/Bedeckt and his two companions entering the town of Gottlos. Deckhard/Bedeckt is a fighter who is getting old, sick and very much annoyed by the bickering of his companions. But when he hears the gossip of a young boy that is supposed to be the new god of Geborenen/Geborenen Dämonen he can’t help but plan one last grand mission that will earn him his retirement. I didn’t have an idea where this story would start or where it would take me and ended up being very seceptic about Deckhard/Bedeckt and the other two. They weren’t the least bit appealing to me. The old guy, thinking about retirement is something that I came across in some other books and it always took me time to get around. Maybe because more often than not main characters are younger, have a different mindset and are… more likable to me? I have similar moments with the other characters that appear and I ended up not really liking one of them. They are each unique in their own way and have interesting mindsets, plans and pasts, but they don’t get me to invest in them. Even if they make me smile about their bickering and misunderstanding each other, or roll my eyes when they do something stupid. There was one part of the story I could absolutely not enjoy, better I found it disgusting. I can read about battles, fights and deaths of humans in all of its gory details but I simply can read cruelty to animals. And in this book a cat suffered a very, very horrible fate. I won’t even re-tell it. I still get angry thinking about it. That really took away a lot of sympathy I had for the character that did it, from the story, since it was mention a few times after it happened and from the book in total. But the world-building is something else. Fletcher built his world on the concept of Faith is Might. When your beliefs as a Wahnwirker/Wendigast form the reality you live in and when your Faith is strong enough not only you. It is not magic in a way you would expect but it is a power. The power of the mind or better the power of the insane mind. The stronger you are the less sound of mind you are. I could go into lengthy explanations but I would mess it all up. It really is a unique take on the power of mind and how it can change reality into something one would not recognize. But the fact is that it all comes with a consequence, slightly at first, but the longer the power is used the harsher it is and the more severe it gets until it leads to the destruction of the mind, most times along with the end of life. I really like the concept of Wahnwirker/Wendigast. Most times magic follows a path that a lot of people went down already, you most times can’t reinvent the wheel, but sometimes you can change it enough to use it in an entirely different way, like the wheel of a car and the wheel of a bike are the same thing but they are not. This is how I see the Wahnwirker. Also in uniqueness it really gets close to the way Brandon Sanderson developed the concept of Metallic Arts in his Mistborn series. I’ve never encountered something similar. Now to the point I promised to go back to, why I wouldn’t read this series in german. I once, before I bought the book, read a statement from the author where he said that he simply picked up random german words and also from other languages that he liked and put them together. Which ends up with messed up words, incorrect grammar. So it is not even fun to look at the words. Imagine reading the name of a forest and then someone translates it and it ends up like “xyz forest forest”. And it is a main location so you would read it over and over and over. The publisher, and I’m so very grateful for that, in accordance with the author changed a lot of names so they are more pleasant to the German eye and mind. For an example: In the original there is an imperium called “Menschheit Letzte Imperium” which is literally “Humankind Last Imperium”. Sure you understand it, but stumbling over the words. So in the german translation it was changed to “Das letzte Imperium der Menschheit” (The last imperium of humankind). After finishing this book I think it is a good read, the setting is as I said a unique one, the characters might - for me - not the most beloved or understood, but I could still enjoy reading what happened to them. And the plot is solid. Leading you on and revealing interesting bits and pieces. Still I would not go for the second book if there was a translation of it. Why? For once the part of animal cruelty, I simply hated that part. And for the rest? I can’t put my finger on it. I just feel like I would enjoy other books more, and spend my time better reading them.