Blood Bowl

Welcome to a twisted fantasy world where humans, elves, goblins, ogres and all other species work out their aggressions on the football field instead of the battlefield. It is called BLOOD BOWL! (Actually, the sport began under a different name, but everyone just began calling the sport after the most important match, Blood Bowl.) In this game, it is only cheating if you get caught or forget to bribe the referee (or the other team's bribe is higher). Murder happens in almost every game and only illegal in rare instances. In fact, murder and maiming is encouraged! Dunkel "Dunk" Hoffnung grew up in Altdorf, the capital city of the Empire, in a privileged home. Things went down hill when his family fell from grace. Dunk's luck begins to change when a halfling, Slick Fullbelly, sees him bring down a chimera with a spear from a hundred paces. Turns out that Slick is a talent scout for the Bad Bay Hackers. It is not long before Dunk finds himself trying out for the position of back-up thrower. Dunk also comes face-to-face with his brother, Dirk. The brothers have not seen each other in over three years. Dirk is now the Reikland Reavers' team captain. After three years on the Reavers' team, Dirk has become wealthy and famous. But the reunion is anything but sweet for the brothers. They must settle their differences, on and off the field. Once done, being brothers does not mean going easy on each other whenever they are on the field. Dirk's lovely teammate, Spinne Schönheit, almost succeeds in killing Dunk, even though she and Dunk had recently become lovers. And Dunk has made the tiny best friends list of a huge ogre named M'Grash K'Thragsh, his team's best blitzer. Good thing too, because in the game of Blood Bowl, anything goes! ***** Matt Forbeck's name will forever be linked to the game of Blood Bowl. In fact, this title (the first of a series) probably made the author's career. Personally, I am not a football fan, but I am now a die-hard Blood Bowl fanatic and can hardly wait to begin the next book of the series. I never dreamed a ball could have spikes or be hidden in chests that could explode in your face. This game is full of violent carnage, a lot of fun, and highly recommended! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Review.

I purchase this book, on a whim by the cover, actually by the cover of book two, because the store I wokr at, did not have book one in stock, and i had to order it in. I did not know it was a board game or anything, I liked because I like football, and fantasy books, and the cover reminded me of one of my old favorite video games, Mutant League Football(was on Genesis they also had a hockey game, put out by EA sports in the early 90's). I enjoyed this book for what it is, a farce, and thats all it needed to be. I also enjoyed book two: dead ball, and can't wait to read book three, because that is now also available to finish the trilogy. Good fun, on the gridiron in the realm of fantasy.

I was very impressed by this book. I picked it up on a whim, based just on the cover. I'm a fan of fantasy books, but have very little sports knowledge. I was a little worried this would keep me from enjoying the book. How wrong I was. The characters were well drawn-out and sympathetic, and the action (both sports and fantasy) was very exciting and easy to follow. You need not know much about football or fantasy fiction to love this book. I devoured it in one night, and I'm buying the sequel, Dead Ball, right now!