Category Archives: Books

The Return of Nagash – Josh Reynolds

The accompanying novel to Games Workshop’s first Warhammer : End Times background book (see the review of Nagash here), The Return of Nagash comes from the prolific pen of Josh Reynolds. It follows Mannfred Von Carstein and Arhkhan the Black as the two rivals forge an uneasy alliance in order to bring about Nagash’s reincarnation, each of them for their own, wildly differing, reasons. Accompanying or opposing these two legends of undeath are some of the most famous characters in Warhammer, from Heinrich Kemmler and Krell to Ungrim Ironfist, Eltharion the Grim, Morgiana le Fay and Volkmar the (also) Grim; the stage is well and truly set for the first stages of the world-spanning, cataclysmic End Times.

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Very Short Introductions Blog Book

The first Very Short Introduction book was published by Oxford University Press in 1995, and since then the series has expanded to the point that there are currently over 400 titles, from Classics (book 1) to Corporate Social Responsibility (book 414). The sheer variety of topics is incredible, but it can be a bit daunting when choosing from so many subjects. Help is at hand however, in the form of the VSI Blog Book, a collection of short essays from 30 VSI authors that provides a great little taster of each topic, giving the reader the chance to get a sense of each one and see what looks worth investigating further.

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Archaon : Everchosen – Rob Sanders

Published in early 2014 before anyone had even an inkling of just how much Warhammer was about to change with the world-shattering End Times arc, Rob Sanders’ book Archaon: Everchosen sets out to tell the full story of the Everchosen of Chaos, the driving force behind the single biggest change in Warhammer’s 30+ years. From humble (and fairly grim) beginnings to his life as a templar of Sigmar and the events that turn him to a darker path, we watch as one man’s fate is manipulated for sinister purposes that will see the world drenched in blood.

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Valedor – Guy Haley

With a few notable exceptions the Warhammer 40k universe is largely shown to us through the eyes of the Imperium, lending it (not inappropriately) a very human perspective. Occasionally though, Black Library releases something which shows a different side to 40k, in this instance Guy Haley’s Valedor which follows in the footsteps of Gav Thorpe’s Path of the Eldar series to look through the eyes of this ancient, dwindling race. We see the eldar of Iyanden, still reeling from the latest in their string of disasters, as they set out to prevent the merging of two tyranid hive fleets; in order to avert a disaster that would have terrible consequences for their entire race, they are forced to ally with not only the eldar of another craftworld but also their dark kin.

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Cat Sense – John Bradshaw

Love them or loathe them, cats are remarkably popular as pets; according to John Bradshaw in his book Cat Sense, domestic cats outnumber dogs by three to one, so chances are most people encounter them on a fairly regular basis. Unlike dogs however, who tend to be overt with their displays of affection and emotion, cats are often difficult to read; the purpose of Cat Sense then is to dig a little deeper into cats as a species in order to try and help cat lovers understand their feline companions better, and as a result make the lives of both cats and owners a little easier.

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Hegarty on Creativity – John Hegarty

You might never have heard of John Hegarty or his advertising agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), but unless you’ve been living in a cave your entire life you will have come across at least some of the work he’s been involved in. Vorsprung durch Technik? That was him. Levi’s adverts such as the guy dancing in his boxers in the launderette, or Flat Eric? Him too. He has sustained a creative career over an incredible four decades, and in Hegarty on Creativity he attempts to distil some of his philosophy regarding creativity and the creative process.

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Khârn: Eater of Worlds – Anthony Reynolds

First released on Christmas Day 2014 in ebook, as the final part of that year’s Black Library Advent Calendar, Anthony Reynolds’ Warhammer 40,000 novel Khârn: Eater of Worlds is set after the Horus Heresy, looking at the fractured and damaged remnants of the World Eaters legion in the aftermath of the Siege of Terra. Their primarch is gone, the chain of command ravaged, and rival factions are forming and threatening to rip the legion apart; the only one who might be able unify the legion is Khârn, but he lies unresponsive in a coma after being pulled from the battlefield on Terra.

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Ancient Lives, New Discoveries – British Museum (John H. Taylor and Daniel Antoine)

The British Museum is famous for no end of reasons, but one of the things it’s most synonymous with is its collection of Egyptian mummies. Incredibly, over the 250+ years that the museum has been maintaining its collection it has never unwrapped any of the mummies; in 2014 it opened a new exhibition called Ancient Lives, New Discoveries which uses the results of new technology to peer beneath the wrappings of eight of the mummies and show them in a new light. This book is the companion to the exhibition and tells the stories, or at least as much as can be determined, of these eight people and how their mummified remains came to be held at the museum.

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Ahriman: Sorcerer – John French

John French’s Ahriman series continues with the second novel, Ahriman: Sorcerer, in which the exiled Thousand Son sorcerer is still searching for knowledge, looking for a way to save his legion and repair the mistakes he has made in the past. Now firmly on this path after the events of Ahriman: Exile, he has gathered a vast warband to his banner as he seeks the Athenaeum of Kalimakus, a record made by Magnus the Red’s personal remembrancer, hoping to find a clue to where his rubric went wrong. A range of foes bar his path or dog his heels, from the Inquisition and the Grey Knights to a tireless pack of Space Wolves, not to mention his own treacherous allies.

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Mephiston : Lord of Death – David Annandale

In a relatively short space of time David Annandale has amassed a sizeable body of work for the Black Library, writing for the Imperial Guard, Black Dragons, Iron Hands and Grey Knights amongst others. One of his earliest contributions was a limited-edition Blood Angels novella in the Lords of the Space Marines series; soon to be re-released in non-limited format, Mephiston : Lord of Death takes a detailed look at the Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, the only one of their number ever to overcome the Red Thirst. Following on directly from the short story Eclipse of Hope, this finds Mephiston accompanying 4th Company as they battle Chaos Space Marines, daemons and their very nature, drawn ever onwards towards the Pallevon system and whatever lies waiting for them there.

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