Author Archives: Michael

QUICK REVIEW: Nightfall – Peter Fehervari

Nightfall is Peter Fehervari’s debut Black Library story, originally published in the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology. On Sarastus, a dying world which sacrifices its youths to monstrous masters, True Night falls and the Night Lords descend to collect their tribute. Among the ghouls left to fight for survival in the abandoned heights of the last remaining hive, young Zeth unconsciously understands that something sets him apart from his fellows. While bitter rivalries twist the Night Lords even as they make bloody sport culling the weakest of the sacrifices, Zeth sees opportunity in amongst the danger.

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Cult of the Spiral Dawn – Peter Fehervari

Peter Fehervari’s Cult of the Spiral Dawn comprises a short but powerful novel – originally released with the bland title of Legends of the Dark Millennium: Genestealer Cults – plus an accompanying short story, Cast a Hungry Shadow (or Casts…depending on which version you read). You can find reviews for both of these elsewhere on Track of Words (click the links in the previous sentence) from their original releases, while this article aims to take a wider look at what this book offers across both stories. Suffice to say, whether as an introduction to Fehervari’s writing or part of an ongoing exploration, it is – quite simply – essential reading for any 40k fan looking to dig beneath the surface a little.

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QUICK REVIEW: Vanguard – Peter Fehervari

A sort-of sequel to his novel Fire Caste, Peter Fehervari’s short story Vanguard sees Magos Caul, leader of the Adeptus Mechanicus contingent on Phaedra, send his skitarii into battle against what remains of the T’au forces. Tasked with retrieving ‘Objective Skysight’ from within a well-defended T’au enclave, Caul’s skitarii push on through everything the T’au throw at them without questioning exactly what their objective is or why it’s so important, but as the battle continues small scraps of their original personalities begin to show through their machinic logic and programming.

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QUICK REVIEW: Wrathspring – Gav Thorpe

One of five short stories first published in the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Sylvaneth anthology, Gav Thorpe’s Wrathspring features Alarielle herself and sees the sylvaneth battling the forces of Chaos in the Jade Kingdoms of Ghyran. Led by Leafmaster Diraceth, the tree spirits of Clan Arleath defend their Glade against endless hordes of plague-ridden skaven, but the tide of pestilence is taking its toll on both the sylvaneth and the land itself. It takes Alarielle’s intervention to drive out the taint of the skaven, and set the sylvaneth on the path to reclaim their lands from Chaos.

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Fire Caste – Peter Fehervari

Despite its bland, misleading title, Peter Fehervari’s debut Black Library novel Fire Caste is a captivating tale of damaged, haunted characters spiralling into hell. The Imperium and the T’au Empire are locked in an endless stalemate over the planet Phaedra, into which stumble the 19th Arkan Confederates, still haunted by the trauma of their world’s recent rebellion. Commissar Holt Iverson – twisted and troubled from years spent on Phaedra, sees in the Confederates the possibility of redemption. The Confederates, however, are soon suffering under the troubling influence of Phaedra and find themselves drawn ever deeper into the tangled conflict taking place.

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Black Library Weekly – W/C 09/04/18

Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. There’s not been a huge amount to talk about this week, with only the two new releases, but they’re definitely both worth taking a look at – and we’ll see what else comes up as we go along…

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RAPID FIRE: Mike Lee Talks Legacy of Dorn

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library 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 Mike Lee about his latest 40k Crimson Fists novel, Legacy of Dorn, which is available to order right now.

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League of Legends Progress – April 2018

It’s been a little over a month since I published my post entitled Something New (for me) – League of Legends, in which I set out to start exploring the fiction that exists around Riot Games’ MEGA popular online game. Have a read of that post if you want to catch up on what I talked about, but essentially the plan was to start reading and reviewing short stories that are available to read for free on the League of Legends Universe website. A month (ish) later, I thought it might be interesting to take stock of what the experience has been like so far.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Sands of Grief – Guy Haley

Guy Haley’s short story The Sands of Grief returns to the characters of Prince Maesa and Shattercap from the excellent Shadespire audio drama The Autumn Prince. This time they set out from the city of Glymmsforge in the Realm of Shyish and travel deep into the eponymous Sands of Grief as Maesa continues his quest to find a way of returning his beloved Ellamar to life. Beyond the borders of Glymmsforge and the protection of Sigmar they encounter nothing living, but as they head further from the core of Shyish they increasingly see the dark hand of Nagash at work.

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Traitor’s Gorge – Mike Lee

Mike Lee’s Space Marine Battles novella Traitor’s Gorge picks up where Steve Parker’s Rynn’s World leaves off, with Pedro Kantor left leading a pitiful number of Crimson Fists once Rynn’s World is relieved and Snagrod’s ork hordes driven off. With the Imperial reinforcements long gone, it’s left to Kantor to wipe out the last remaining pockets of orks – a dangerous task, but one the vengeance-hungry Crimson Fists approach with relish. Bringing one such group to battle at Traitor’s Gorge, Kantor doesn’t realise the trap he’s fallen into until it’s too late, but help is on hand from an unexpected quarter.

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