Josh Reynolds’ 2016 novel Fabius Bile: Primogenitor provided an unexpected injection of variety into Black Library’s 40k output, which is continued with the sequel – Fabius Bile: Clonelord. Picking up a fair amount of time after Primogenitor, we catch up with Chief Apothecary Fabius just as he’s about to set out for a darkened spur of the Webway in search, as always, of knowledge. When his exploration of a long-abandoned Craftworld is interrupted by familiar, if unwelcome, faces he ends up drawn closer to an old brotherhood than he’d really like, and persuaded to risk much…for great reward.
Fabius himself is once more front and centre as Reynolds puts him through some pretty tough times, challenging his world view, his objectives, and his patience. In amongst a Legion for whom loyalty is as strange and twisted as their senses, he sticks stubbornly to his guns as all around twists and turns. He’s still the same Fabius as we saw last time, at heart, but at the same time things for him are changing in some pretty interesting ways. Most of his companions return here (except Oleander, who’s only mentioned in passing), plus some familiar faces both expected and…not. Oh, and the title, Clonelord? Yeah, that’s explored in interesting ways, too.
Perhaps even more so than Primogenitor, the core of this book is made up of bitter rivals…and allies, for that matter…trading verbal barbs in the midst of plots and counterplots. It’s heavily dialogue-led, even during most of the action scenes, so it’s driven by sharply-drawn and well developed characters rather than visceral excitement. That being said, there are some surprises during the set-pieces, even so – it’s still a 40k book, so while this isn’t the place to come for masses of action, there’s enough variety to keep things interesting. Essentially, however, it’s further exploration of what makes Fabius tick, and the lengths he will go to keep to his convictions. It’s pretty dark, as for all that he’s an engaging character with a strangely paternal attitude to a lot of his creations, he’s still fairly monstrous.
It’s a slightly longer book this time around, which – along with the nature of being book two in a series – allows Reynolds to really dig into the weird world he’s building up around Fabius. We spend more time on the Vesalius, for example, and see a little more of the below-decks world inhabited by the vatborn and the New Men. It’s another fascinating book, which doesn’t suffer in the slightest for a decreased focus on action compared to many Black Library titles. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but the dry, cynical, world-weary characters and sharp dialogue continues to set this apart from pretty much anything else out there. If you enjoyed Primogenitor, chances are you’ll enjoy this.
If this has whetted your appetite to read Clonelord, you can click here to check it out on Amazon and support Track of Words while you’re at it. Alternatively, if you fancy the audiobook version you can click here to check it out on Audible.