Category Archives: Books

The Realmgate Wars: Ghal Maraz – Black Library

The second novel-length Age of Sigmar release from Black Library, and the second title in the ongoing Realmgate Wars series, Ghal Maraz combines novellas from Josh Reynolds and Guy Haley into a single volume. Both novellas follow on from the stories in War Storm, moving the wider Age of Sigmar story arc a little further forward as the Stormcast Eternals continue to make inroads into the Mortal Realms. Specifically it follows events taking place in the realms of Ghyran, where the forces of Nurgle blight the realm of Life; and Chamon, where the legendary weapon Ghal Maraz has been located.
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Dark Hunters : Umbra Sumus – Paul Kearney

Better known for his own epic fantasy series, Paul Kearney is a relatively new name in terms of Black Library, having just two short stories to his name before the ill-fated (more on this later) release of his novel Dark Hunters : Umbra Sumus. The first novel to feature the titular chapter of Space Marines it sees Captain of Third Company (or Mortai) Jonah Kerne sent to investigate reports of a raid on Imperial territory by the Hunters’ old enemy, the chaos Space Marines known as the Punishers. While Kerne and his men make haste to the planet of Ras Hanem to intervene, the local Imperial forces under the command of General Dietrich dig in against the brutal assault of the Punishers.

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Ahriman: Exodus – John French

A small but perfectly formed anthology collecting together eight short stories, most of which were previously available in one form or another, Ahriman: Exodus fits in and around the three novels in John French’s fantastic Ahriman series, extending the overall story and fleshing out some of the secondary characters. The stories are split into two sections – The Tale of Ctesias, containing five stories that introduce and add detail to the titular Ctesias, and Voices of Fate, which contains the remaining stories, three micro-shorts featuring Helio Isidorus, Ahriman and Magnus the Red.

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The Horus Heresy Cover Art Collection

2016’s first Limited Edition release in the Horus Heresy series isn’t a novella but a plush art book, in the shape of The Horus Heresy Cover Art Collection, a landscape-format hardback showcasing original cover art from the Heresy series so far. Featuring covers for novels up to Deathfire, novellas up to Garro : Vow of Faith and audios up to Raptor, all but one of the pieces are from the hand of Neil Roberts, the one exception being False Gods by Phil Sibbering. It’s testament to both Roberts’ work rate and the phenomenal success of the Horus Heresy series that there’s a massive seventy-six pieces included here.
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Garro : Vow of Faith – James Swallow

After six audio dramas, and eight years after his first appearance in the Horus Heresy series, Nathaniel Garro is back in a new book entitled Garro : Vow of Faith, James Swallow’s first novella-length contribution to the series. Picking up where Shield of Lies left off, with Garro growing increasingly dissatisfied with his role as Malcador’s Agentia Primus, it sees him putting that role to one side while he embarks on a personal mission to find the living Saint Euphrati Keeler. While he searches for her trail, agents of the Warmaster are also on the hunt for Keeler, aiming to disrupt the defences of Terra with her death.
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The Sand Men – Christopher Fowler

The stark contrast between its gleaming modernity and deep-rooted middle-eastern conservatism makes Dubai an ideal setting for a sort-of-science-fiction thriller, so Christopher Fowler’s The Sand Men seems an intriguing prospect. Promising a look under the surface of a modern technological utopia, it sees the Brook family move from their old life in London to a gated community set up for the families of the men brought over to work on Dream World, a vast, sprawling hotel complex offering every luxury for the most wealthy visitors to the country. Once there, the realities of life for Western outsiders start to become clear, with the family fragmenting while dark secrets start coming to light.
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Pharos – Guy Haley

Please note, if you haven’t read The Unremembered Empire then this review will contain spoilers.

Mysteriously numbered as 34 in Black Library’s Horus Heresy series despite Deathfire coming in at number 32, Pharos by Guy Haley continues the wider Imperium Secundus arc, picking up plotlines from Dan Abnett’s The Unremembered Empire as well as Haley’s own short story A Safe and Shadowed Place (from Death and Defiance). While the new Emperor Sanguinius sits uneasily upon the throne, Guilliman continues to tend to the Imperium Secundus with the aid of the alien artefact discovered on distant Sotha, as directed by the unlikely pairing of Barabas Dantioch and Alexis Polux. Meanwhile the Night Lords have been watching from the shadows, and choose their moment to launch an attack on Sotha.
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The Realmgate Wars: War Storm – Black Library

Since the introduction of the Age of Sigmar, Black Library’s Warhammer output has been mostly shorter format releases, in the shape of short stories, novellas and audio dramas. War Storm, book one of the Realmgate Wars series, is the first full-length novel to be released for Age of Sigmar, except…it isn’t. While it’s packaged as a single book, it is in fact three novellas combined into one volume, from Nick Kyme, Guy Haley and Josh Reynolds. Each novella follows a different Warrior Chamber of Stormcast Eternals in the early stages of Sigmar’s campaign to retake the mortal realms from the forces of Chaos.
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The Unburdened – David Annandale

The second in the set of Black Library books released to coincide with the new Betrayal at Calth game, The Unburdened is the companion piece to Rob Sanders’ The Honoured and sees David Annandale delving into the darkness once more to tell the Word Bearers’ side of the story. Set primarily on Calth at the very beginning of the Underworld War, it actually takes things back much further to begin with, to Monarchia and the humbling of the Word Bearers by The Emperor and his XIIIth Legion. We meet Kurtha Sedd at a turning point in his life, taking his first steps on a path that will lead him to Calth and a fateful confrontation with Captain Aethon of the Ultramarines, a man he once called friend and brother.
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The Honoured – Rob Sanders

Released to accompany the new Betrayal at Calth Horus Heresy board game, Rob Sanders’ The Honoured is one half of a pair of short novels that tell the story behind the game, set on Calth in the aftermath of the Word Bearers’ surprise assault on Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines. As the Veridia star dies, irradiating the planet’s surface and forcing the remaining combatants of both sides underground, Ultramarines Captain Aethon rallies his troops in defence of what remains of Calth, facing off against his old friend Kurtha Sedd of the Word Bearers.
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