Welcome to March! 2018 is two months down already, if you can believe it, and in February I posted twenty-one reviews of books, short stories and audio dramas here on Track of Words. As with last month, when I published my first Monthly Highlights article, I’m taking a quick look back at everything I read and pulling out a few highlights. Once again I’ve picked a single story to be the main highlight, along with a couple that merit notable mentions.
Last month I went with an audio drama as my main highlight, but while February was chock full of short stories, this time I’m going with a novel – although once again it’s something I picked up as a pre-release at an event. February’s highlight for me was Wolfsbane by Guy Haley, the 49th novel in the Horus Heresy series. Check out my review here.
A new Heresy novel is always going to be an exciting prospect, and Wolfsbane very much delivered on that excitement with a gripping narrative and an intriguing exploration of the Space Wolves. It’s a story that a lot of people have been waiting for for quite some time, and may well confound the expectations of many, but in the end covers so much more than the ‘wolf cull’ idea that had been bandied around for a while. Sure, it does portray the climactic battle between Russ and Horus that we pretty much knew would happen – if you’ve read Weregeld by Gav Thorpe then you’ve seen the aftermath – but in classic Heresy style it looks at the whys and the hows as well as just what happened.
There’s an awful lot to like about Wolfsbane, not least the way Haley handles Russ and the Space Wolves. We’ve seen some really good depictions of Heresy-era Space Wolves from people like Dan Abnett and Chris Wraight, and Haley does a fantastic job of carrying on from what they’ve done, maintaining the spirit of their representations while taking the characters in a slightly different direction. The Wolves have gone through hell to get to this point, and their outlook has been affected by the difficulties they’ve had. Haley uses that, and looks at the conflict at their heart – between the ‘barbarian’ essence of Fenris and the ‘civilised’ Imperial Truth. There are some hard truths examined here, including Russ’ attitude towards psykers and the warp, and it makes for fascinating reading.
I can’t talk about Wolfsbane without also mentioning one of the supporting cast – a young Belisarius Cawl, who pretty much steals the show. That’s not to say that he detracts from the story or the other characters, but rather that he just provides a bit of humour and some really sharp, standout dialogue. This isn’t your usual Mechanicum character, but nor is he just a younger version of 40k-era Cawl – Haley has extrapolated backwards from the fully-formed character of Cawl to show what he was like when youthful exuberance, confidence and even a bit of naivety still dominated his personality. It’s really nicely done, and Cawl provides a great extra dimension to an impressive story.
So that’s my highlight – if you weren’t lucky enough to get a copy at the Weekender in February, you’ll be able to get hold of the hardback in May…and it will be worth the wait!
Like last month, I’d also like to quickly talk about a couple of honourable mentions, starting with a tremendously entertaining new audio drama from Gav Thorpe – Heirs of the Laughing God: A Deadly Wit. Click here to check out my review, or here for a quick Rapid Fire interview with Gav. Suffice to say this isn’t your usual audio drama, packed as it is with over the top, theatrical dialogue as a Harlequin troupe take the fight to an ork stronghold. That’s right, no po-faced Space Marines here, just a bunch of killer space clowns led by a Great Harlequin who refers to himself in the third person and a Death Jester who picks apart anything and everything her leader says. It’s great fun, just on the right side of daft and a real breath of fresh air.
I could easily have picked a short story to talk about as a final mention, what with having reviewed no fewer than eight new Primarchs short stories and six new Necromunda tales…but instead I’ve decided to pick something non-Black Library. Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell is a fast-paced, character-driven space opera filled with sentient spaceships and troubled, conflicted human characters from both sides of an interstellar conflict. Click here to check out my review. It’s the first book in a brand new trilogy, and if you’re a fan of big, space-based stories (which I suspect most people reading this are), and especially if you’re a fan of Iain M. Banks’ Culture series, then this is something I would highly recommend. Keep an eye out for the next two books, and if you enjoy this then I’d also recommend checking out Gareth’s Ack Ack Macaque series.
So there you have it, my Monthly Highlights for February. I’d love to know what you thought of these stories, if you’ve read or listened to any of them, so let me know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll write another one of these posts at the start of April, looking back at what I’ve read and reviewed in March!