Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author Chris Wraight about his new novel The Regent’s Shadow, book two in his Watchers of the Throne series, which is available to order now as part of the 2020 Black Library Celebration. If you’re keen to know more about what happened on Terra in the wake of Guilliman’s return, this looks like being a very interesting book indeed!
Without further ado, over to Chris…
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow?
Chris Wraight: Guilliman is gone, after just a brief time on Terra, and his attention is now turned to the Imperium and its many crises. But what happens after he leaves? Will everyone on the Throneworld just accept his new order? And what role will the ancient institutions – Custodians, Sisters of Silence, the High Lords – play in the face of ever-increasing threats from a resurgent Archenemy?
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
CW: There are three main characters: Valerian, the Shield-Captain we met in the first book, Tanau Aleya, the Sister of Silence we also met in book one, and Anna-Murza Jek, the new Chancellor of the Senatorum Imperialis. We also see plenty of High Lords, power-brokers, and even a Space Marine or two. In their various ways, they’re all trying to work out what to do as Terra continues to suffer from instability, insurrections, and worse.
ToW: Does this directly follow on from the events of The Emperor’s Legion? Is there anything else that you’d recommend readers check out before starting it?
CW: Yes, it follows on directly from the first book. I’d recommend reading that one, as well as the key ‘post-Great Rift’ books such as Guy Haley’s Dark Imperium novels, if you want to find out what’s been going on in the wider galaxy. You could also take a look at my Vaults of Terra series, which takes place at roughly the same time and place.
ToW: Have you taken a similar approach to last time, with alternating first-person viewpoints?
CW: Yes, it’s the same format, with one character change (poor Tieron needed a break after what he ended up doing in book one, though he does make a brief appearance).
ToW: How was it returning to these characters, after all they’ve been through and the ongoing development of the 40k lore? Are you continuing with arcs that you’d originally planned, or have you taken them in different directions?
CW: It’s always lovely returning to characters, and one of the privileges of writing a series. This story, though, is very much about the politics of Terra, and the ‘big themes’ of the galaxy just after the primarch’s return, so that’s really the focus. However, both Valerian and Aleya continue to change their views as events hurtle around them, and have their certainties challenged from all quarters.
ToW: We’ve had a few stories about the Talons of the Emperor now, and readers are much more familiar with them than when The Emperor’s Legion was released. Has that affected your goals for this story/series, now that there’s less overtly ‘new’ stuff to explore?
CW: This book, it’s true, is a bit less about what the Custodians are, and more about the choices they have to make. It’s an evolving institution, forced to adapt rapidly after centuries of stasis. That’s really interesting to me, and I’m hoping there’ll be much more to come, in the Watchers series and elsewhere, about how what role they end up occupying in the new Imperium. As it happens, there is a little more material in The Regent’s Shadow on the Silent Sisterhood – its origins, and why it was allowed to wither away – which I hope readers find interesting.
ToW: Given that the Watchers of the Throne series takes place roughly concurrently with your Vaults of Terra series, and they’re both set on Terra, how would you say the two series differ (beyond featuring different characters)? Do you see each of them as a different type of story, or tackling different themes?
CW: They’re a bit different, at least in my own mind. Watchers is designed to be a series about the Imperium as a whole – an empire in crisis, slowly and uncertainty reacting to galaxy-wide events. Vaults is a story about one particular hidden conspiracy, albeit one that has links to the broader wars. We’ll see more crossovers of characters as things go on, I imagine, but the final destination will be very different.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
CW: After having written a fair few books for Black Library now, I do try to have a go at different types of story. This book is very different in conception, to, say, The Lords of Silence or the White Scars books, and I hope people enjoy what we’ve tried to do with it, and see it as part of the rich unfolding story of Terra in the 41st Millennium. The intention, at any rate, was to write something akin to a political thriller, a book about ideas and loyalties, factions and espionage.
ToW: Is this series, like the Vaults of Terra, likely to continue and become a trilogy (or more)? If so, can you tell us anything about where you’d like it go, or what you’re still hoping to explore?
CW: I hope both will continue. Vaults has a definite endgame in mind, one that I’ve had roughly plotted-out for a long time. Watchers is more open at the moment, and by necessity needs to tie-in a bit more closely to some evolving themes in the wider 40k continuity. I do plan to write more of both of them (as long as BL wants to commission them!).
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Thanks as always to Chris for taking the time to answer these questions. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my review of the first book in Chris’ Watchers of the Throne series – The Emperor’s Legion. You can also check out a Rapid Fire interview for that book (the second ever of these quick interviews!).
Click this link to order Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow.
Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you have any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter.
Interesting interview and I look forward to reading this series in the future.
I am disappointed by Black Library’s lack of special edition for this sequel though, after Neil Coombe promised at BL events last year that they would now continue series in special editions where the first book(s) received one. It didn’t take long for that assurance to be broken! It’s not like the first special edition book didn’t sell well either, it sold out almost immediately! Another Black Library sigh.
I’ve not read this yet but the first book was brilliant – well worth reading – and I assume this one will be great too!
Fair point about the special edition, it’s certainly a shame from a series consistency perspective. I wonder if it will appear subsequently, like Dark Imperium 2 and Incarnation did?
That would be helpful! but I’m not sure why they would choose it that way when had plenty of time to prepare for this one so seems more like a choice (dare I whisper incompetence?). Having said that, the ‘standard’ hardback has already became unavailable after about one day :S so getting hold of any copy would be nice! I don’t know why they appear to have done such a ridiculously small HB run for this one (even by Black Library’s standard) – their ways are ever a mystery!