Outlander

Necromunda Outlander 2006-12-26

No permission to buy ($11.99)
Very different storytelling style from the other Necromunda novels, in a good way! The usual Necromunda/sci-fi fantasy storytelling, where the story rotates each chapter between antagonist and protagonist, was kind of done away with.
Instead, the setting and story are set-up, and the plot is mostly set out, with the reader pretty much anticipating the ending from early on. As Nooker says, the plot is therefore predictable, but I think that was part of the concept.
From there on you get the daily goings on of a gang working their territory, told from multiple points of views (in fact about 8 or so different views, from different gangers), and the story is fleshed out using flash-backs/flash-sideways views of recent events.
It's cool in a way in that it gets into the nitty gritty of gang life and gives different perspectives, from juves, to seasoned-gangers, to leaders, and the villagers caught up with the gang. The flip side, is it doesn't cover much ground in terms of time scales and development, but as I said, I don't think it was the point here.
I quite enjoyed the idea of the Ash Wastes flooding through into this part of the Underhive. I didn't get the feeling that the author felt the Ash Wastes were only in the Hive. I thought overall he did a great job of describing the underhive as the set of decrepit and crumbling domes we have come to know and love.
While I still gave this one a 4 because it's Necromunda, it is probably the weakest of the series. It did have an interesting concept/formula, but it was poorly executed with a rather predictable plot. What I did like is how it examined one house and despite it's protestations that it was a holy group (Cawdor) it really was just a bunch of thugs collecting protection money and sinning just as much as the rest of us. It had echos of Easern Promises, which is odd as that movie came out after this book was published. Lastly, this book proves that GW has no idea what a Hive looks like as it gives yet another very different description. I did like how the Ash Wastes seemed to be seeping into the hive (and I don't care if the author thought that they were actually wholly inside the hive, I'm just going to assume that he didn't think that way and be happier for it.)