Category Archives: Books

Rebirth – Nick Kyme

Hot on the heels of The Talon of Horus comes the second of Black Library’s exclusive First Editions, in the form of Rebirth by Nick Kyme. Following on from his Tome of Fire trilogy (plus accompanying anthology), this shifts the action over to Captain Ur’zan Drakgaard and his 6^th Company of Salamanders as they face the Black Legion on the Imperial world of Heletine. While a few familiar faces return from the events of the original series, for the most part this is a distinct story which doesn’t require the reader to be familiar with the previous novels. That being said, it certainly makes sense to read these in order, so readers who pick this up first would be advised to go back and start with Salamander.

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The Greater Good – Sandy Mitchell

Now onto its ninth novel, Sandy Mitchell’s Ciaphas Cain series is one of Black Library’s longest running and most well loved ranges. Since the publication in 2003 of his first adventure, Cain’s memoirs have seen him fighting all sorts of menaces across the galaxy, from orks to tyranids, necrons and the forces of Chaos. In the latest novel, The Greater Good, we see him facing an old foe in the shape of the tau, as he bravely (sort of) defends the world of Quadravidia from the upstart aliens. The situation soon changes however, as the threat of a new tyranid hive fleet forces the Imperium and the tau into an uneasy alliance. Caught in the middle of this, Cain’s reputation as a Hero of the Imperium sees him called to act as intermediary between the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the tau.

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The Talon of Horus – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

[Note: this review was first written when The Talon of Horus was released as a limited-edition hardback. It has since been released in standard hardback, ebook and paperback formats.]

Since the release in 2009 of his debut Black Library novel Cadian Blood, Aaron Dembski-Bowden has become both a fan favourite and a New York Times bestseller, and is now acknowledged as one of Black Library’s most accomplished authors. His latest book, The Talon of Horus, demonstrates just how much of a key player he is within Black Library by virtue of being the very first of their new First Editions – limited edition, premium hardbacks released to satisfy the die-hard collectors before the ‘standard’ hardback release. With a beautifully tactile embossed cover, internal artwork, author foreword and three additional short stories (including one you won’t find anywhere else) the dedicated (and deep-pocketed) reader is certainly rewarded, not least with the sheer size and weight of this mighty tome.

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David & Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell

We all know the story of David & Goliath – the giant soldier felled by the lowly shepherd, proving that underdogs shouldn’t be underestimated. What if we’ve got that story the wrong way round though, what if David wasn’t in fact such an underdog? This is one of the questions posed by Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book, as he challenges the reader to consider whether our perception of what makes an underdog, or what constitutes a disadvantage, is actually correct. In the case of David the shepherd, could it be that he was in fact ideally suited to fighting Goliath on his own terms, and that the soldier was doomed the moment the lowly shepherd stepped up?

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The Copper Promise – Jen Williams

Mercenaries hired for a dangerous quest by a mysterious stranger? Check. Peril, monsters, magic and epic journeys? Check. The Copper Promise has all the hallmarks of a generic swords ‘n sorcery tale, but Jen Williams lifts it above mediocrity through some likeable characters, a sufficiently detailed plot and, crucially, a sense of fun. Too often this genre gets bogged down in tortured heroes and their inner anguish, but here Williams leavens the death and destruction with bickering camaraderie and a breezy pace that doesn’t give us time to dwell on the darkness.

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Solo – William Boyd

Ian Fleming’s final James Bond book – Octopussy and The Living Daylights – was published in 1966, two years after his death. Since then a variety of authors have taken up the 007 mantle, including Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks and Jefferey Deaver. The latest novel, Solo, comes from the pen of William Boyd and follows Deaver’s modern-day update with a return to 1969 and the classic era of Bond stories.

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The Orphan Master’s Son – Adam Johnson

North Korea and the day to day lives of its citizens is a subject matter that isn’t touched upon often in fiction, for good reason. Adam Johnson puts it eloquently in the afterword to his book The Orphan Master’s Son – “we’ll know the true way to write a novel set in North Korea when North Korean novelists become free to tell their own stories.” That being said, with this book Johnson has created a powerful, emotional tale which feels honest, true to life, and – in keeping with the image most of us have of North Korea – painfully bleak.

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The Purge – Anthony Reynolds

Hot on the heels of the 30^th Horus Heresy book’s official release comes the latest limited edition novella – The Purge, by Anthony Reynolds. It’s the author’s first Heresy book, following on from a couple of short stories and an audio drama, and is a welcome return to his beloved Word Bearers. Some will undoubtedly wish for a non-limited release, but once again Black Library have produced a beautiful object complete with blood-stained cover and silver page edges. Is it worth the asking price? Irrelevant really, as for collectors and completionists it’s another piece of the Heresy puzzle.

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The Bone Season – Samantha Shannon

Fantasy books are all about escapism, and in order to transport the reader away from reality the best examples have vibrant, fully-realised worlds with complex, exciting structures and systems (be they magic, technology, religion and so on). With her first novel The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon shows that she’s a natural world builder, weaving together past, present and future England to create a compelling mixture of epic fantasy and dystopian future. Here we have a world of the near future, at once frozen in Victorian times and developed past today’s technology, populated with poltergeists, angels and monsters. Part of the population are ‘clairvoyants’ with cleverly realised abilities that are beyond the ken of others, and thus are shunned and persecuted for being different. Their whole world is built around the control of this social underclass, through segregation, propaganda and fear.

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Baneblade – Guy Haley

While tanks are obviously a hugely important (and entertaining) part of the Imperial Guard, a book solely about a tank is perhaps not the most exciting prospect. Thankfully then, Guy Haley’s Baneblade – despite the title – is very much a human story. Yes, in true 40k style we get to see a bit of the tank’s personality in terms of its machine spirit, but this is really a story about two men’s different viewpoints on and relationships with the tank.

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