For his Black Library debut, Evan Dicken takes us to the end of the Lantic Empire in The Path of Glory, a pre-Age of Sigmar short story that’s set just prior to the Age of Chaos beginning. In the realm of Chamon, a great human empire is crumbling under the weight of Chaos invasion, and it falls to three champions to try and wrest some kind of victory from the jaws of defeat. Between Captain Sulla of the Lantic Legions, the mage Kaslon of the Gilded Order, and de-facto Emperor Livius, a little hope still remains for victory or vengeance.
It’s a little longer than the usual Black Library short stories, with greater scope to match its word count. Each of the three characters gets a chunk of action in turn, and while backstories are only hinted at it’s interesting to see them brought together and then forced to cooperate and, eventually, make some intriguingly tough decisions. There’s enough scope for this to have made a fantastic novel, so it feels just a touch lightweight as even a long short story, but Dicken’s writing is clear and imaginative, and there’s lots to enjoy with interesting characters, a vivid setting and an entertaining plot. It’s a pretty good debut, all told.
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