Category Archives: Books

The Beast Must Die – Gav Thorpe (The Beast Arises Book Eight)

IMPORTANT: This is book eight in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter; Predator, Prey; The Emperor Expects; The Last Wall; Throneworld; Echoes of the Long War or The Hunt for Vulkan.

We hit book 8 in Black Library’s The Beast Arises series with Gav Thorpe’s second in the series, The Beast Must Die. We’re two thirds of the way in now, and with the return of the primarch Vulkan the Imperium finally has a chance to strike a decisive blow against the invading orks. With a withdrawn and brooding Vulkan as figurehead and Koorland reluctantly calling the shots, a combined force the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Heresy besieges legendary Ullanor in an attempt to bring The Beast to battle and kill the ork warlord. Simultaneously, unwilling to trust to brute force Vangorich secretly makes his own plans for dealing with The Beast.
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The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax – Andrew Cartmel

The first in a new series from author, journalist and script editor Andrew Cartmel, The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax is a fast-paced crime novel with an unusual protagonist. Instead of the normal professional detective, here we have a record collecting failed DJ whose jokingly-produced business cards proclaim him to be the Vinyl Detective, by virtue of his claim to be able to find any record for anyone. After agreeing to help the beautiful, if slightly suspicious, Miss N. Warren find a rare record for her shadowy employer, he finds the world of record collecting soon becomes much more dangerous than he’s used to.
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QUICK REVIEW : Cross Kill – James Patterson

Cross Kill, by James Patterson, is the first in a series of quick reads called Book Shots, designed to be rapid-fire stories that can be read in one go. While most of these titles are co-authored, this one comes entirely under Patterson’s name, and features much-loved character Dr. Alex Cross. Set ten years after the events of Along Came a Spider, it sees that book’s antagonist Gary Soneji apparently returning from the grave to take revenge on Cross, first shooting his partner in the head and then returning to plague Cross as his investigation continues.
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Xenos – Dan Abnett

Widely held as a Black Library classic, Dan Abnett’s Xenos is the first installment in his Eisenhorn trilogy and the first novel to take a close look at the workings of the Inquisition. First published in 2001 following the release of the Inquisitor game by Games Workshop (in which the character of Eisenhorn was briefly introduced), it sees the young Gregor Eisenhorn closing in on a target only to realise he’s just beginning to scratch the surface of a much, much wider conspiracy involving the noble Glaw family and a foul xenos race.
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Trigger Warning – Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman’s third volume of short stories, Trigger Warning is a strange, eclectic collection that fails to follow one of Gaiman’s own tests by assembling stories ‘hodgepodge and willy-nilly’ but nevertheless still feels totally appropriate for a book of Gaiman stories. There’s a little bit of everything in here – poetry, stories both long (ish) and (very) short, ghosts, Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes, saints, dogs, David Bowie, and all sorts of captivatingly strange goings-on. They range in length, style, structure, genre, each one standing separate but contributing to a whole that’s occasionally confusing but always interesting, and very, very appropriate to Neil Gaiman.
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Medusan Wings – Matt Westbrook

EDIT: since writing this it’s come to light that Matt Westbrook is in fact a pen name, and the actual author of this novella is Ian St. Martin, he of the excellent Deathwatch short story City of Ruin. Given that the name on the cover hasn’t changed I’m going to leave both the title and body of this review as it is, but please feel free to substitute Ian’s name for any mention of Matt Westbrook! I’ve also inserted an occasional comment here and there, marked in red italics.

Following the tried and tested route, Matt Westbrook’s novella Medusan Wings is released to tie in with a new Games Workshop game, in this case Stormcloud Assault. The focus is on Atraxii, an Iron Hands Techmarine just returned from his tenure on Mars who joins his mentor Oblexus and the fighter squadron the Medusan Wing in the defence of an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world against an ork invasion. As their relationship with the Mechanicus gradually sours, Atraxii is forced to learn how to combine the strengths of the flesh and iron like never before in order to succeed in his mission and survive against endless waves of ork fighters.
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The Hunt for Vulkan – David Annandale (The Beast Arises Book Seven)

IMPORTANT: This is book seven in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter; Predator, Prey; The Emperor Expects; The Last Wall; Throneworld or Echoes of the Long War.

Black Library’s ongoing The Beast Arises series moves one step closer to completion with book 7, David Annandale’s The Hunt for Vulkan. Annandale’s second contribution to the series, it focuses primarily on Chapter Master Koorland of the Imperial Fists who, after forcing the Adeptus Mechanicus to reveal the origin of the ork invasion – legendary Ullanor, calls for aid from other First Founding chapters. Recognising that the Imperium needs a powerful figurehead if they are to strike at the heart of The Beast’s forces, an unlikely source points him in the direction of a mythical figure who might just fit the bill.
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The Vagrant – Peter Newman

The debut novel from Peter Newman, The Vagrant is a genre-straddling, expectation-defying book that represents both an assured debut and an impressive willingness (from author and publisher) to take risks. Set in a world that’s equal parts dystopia, fantasy and science fiction, where living swords and ephemeral demons coexist with futuristic firearms and vast sky-ships, it follows the titular Vagrant as he journeys through lands long corrupted by a conquering foe bearing a sentient sword and incongruously caring for a baby. Never speaking, communicating through body language alone, he stubbornly makes his way ever northwards in search of home, and safety.
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Black Rift – Josh Reynolds

Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar novel Black Rift was initially published in eight short story-length instalments under the Black Rift of Klaxus banner, before its subsequent release as a combined volume. However it’s read, it details the battle for the crater city of Uryx fought by the Stormcast Eternals of Lord Celestant Orius Adamantine and the Khornate warlord Anhur the Scarlet Lord. Orius and Anhur have a personal connection, having fought side by side to protect the city in their previous lives, and while Orius believes he has backed Anhur into a corner, the Scarlet Lord plans to open a gateway to Khorne’s realm and ascend to daemonhood.
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Cassius – Ben Counter

The second short novel in the Space Marine Legends series, Cassius sees Ben Counter return to take a longer look at the titular Ultramarines Chaplain after having previously tackled the character in the Deathwatch short story One Bullet. Here we see the contemporary Cassius, grizzled and scarred after centuries of war, leading two companies of Ultramarines against endless waves of Tyranids on the strategically important world of Kolovan. Situated perilously close to Segmentum Solar, if Kolovan were to fall then the Tyranids would have a route into the heart of the Imperium, so who better to put a stop to that than the hero of the Tyrannic Wars?
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