Hello and welcome to the final 2017 instalment of Black Library Weekly, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. As the last week of the year it’s not been the busiest in terms of Black Library news, but there have actually been quite a lot of releases to talk about! I’m going to use a slightly different layout to usual for this week’s post, but we’ll then be back to normal next week…
Included in the limited edition hardback of The Horusian Wars: Resurrection, John French’s short story The Blessing of Saints takes a closer look at Idris, one of the most important characters from the novel. Back before they were full inquisitors in their own right, Idris and Covenant both studied under the same mentor, inquisitor Argento. Here we see the three of them searching for a manifesting saint among the cog-yards on Frell, though what they hope to do when they find it remains to be seen.
Book nine of the Realmgate Wars series, Mortarch of Night was originally released as eight audio dramas (four by Josh Reynolds and four by David Guymer) before being rolled up into this novel. Although really two stories, the overall narrative is Sigmar’s attempt to negotiate a new alliance with Nagash, focusing mostly on one stormhost – the Hallowed Knights, specifically the Bull-hearts led by Lord-Celestant Tarsus and Lord-Relictor Ramus. Venturing into Shyish in search of the Great Necromancer, the Hallowed Knights forge an uneasy alliance that will have profound consequences, while Nagash himself appears…unhappy with the intruders into his realm.
Rob Sanders has a good track record with Heresy-era Alpha Legion, and now he’s tackling them in a pre-Dark Imperium 40k novel, Sons of the Hydra. It follows the exploits of a small Alpha Legion warband known as the Redacted, led by Occam the Untrue – and no, he doesn’t have a sword called Razor. There’s a typically twisty, convoluted plot as Occam drives the Redacted in pursuit of his and the legion’s goals, and without giving too much away it involves Marines of varying chapters and loyalties, the expected levels of infiltration and false faces…and lots of plasma guns.
As we close in on the last few days of 2017, we’ve reached the end of the Black Library Advent Calendar for another year. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or, you know…busy) let’s just recap – for the last few years, Black Library have released a digital short story or short audio drama every day from the 1st to the 24th December. Over the course of the Advent period we – Black Library fans – get to check out a range of content from different authors, with each day revealing a new surprise.
The third Shadespire-set Black Library audio drama, Guy Haley’s The Autumn Prince is the bravest and best yet. A narrator-less tale driven by strong dialogue and an excellent central performance from John Banks, it sees aelven Prince Maesa drawn to Shadespire in search of dark secrets to help him solve an even darker problem. Guided by the bound spite Shattercap and driven by determination that only an ancient soul can possess, Maesa seeks out the trapped spirit of one of Shadespire’s old lords to bargain for the knowledge he desires.
If you’ve been following the 2017 Black Library Advent Calendar throughout December then you’ll probably already know that three of the twenty-four stories were audio dramas in the Horus Heresy Primarchs series. These three stories are the first audio dramas we’ve seen so far in the Primarchs series, and two of them offer the first contributions to the Heresy in any form by the authors in question.
Hello and welcome to the penultimate instalment of Black Library Weekly in 2017, my regular look at what’s been happening in the world of Black Library. This week it’s been Advent all the way, so I’m focusing almost entirely on the seven stories that have been released. I say almost…because there’s at least one other cool thing for me to talk about this week. Let’s crack straight on, though…
A smart, cleverly-told tale, Gav Thorpe’s Horus Heresy short story The Board is Set shows an unusually open side to Malcador, in the final moments before Horus’s forces arrive and the Siege of Terra begins. Looking for guidance and insight, Malcador sits down at an unusual game board with the Emperor to discuss what has been, what might have been, and what might yet be. With the last act approaching, he looks to the Emperor for a hint of what His final plan might be, and how they might survive what’s to come.
A suitably dark and grisly tale, Ian St. Martin’s short audio drama A Lesson in Darkness is a Primarchs story concerning Konrad Curze, primarch of the Night Lords. When the human world of Piamen refuses to join in Imperial unity, the Imperium sends Curze and his legion to bring the Piameni to heel. Newly reunited with his legion, Curze demonstrates his instinctive mastery of terror tactics as he brings compliance to the horrified population of Piamen. For his legion, and Captain Nivalus in particular, it’s an early taste of what’s to come under Curze’s leadership.