Category Archives: Reviews

Priest of Crowns – Peter McLean

The fourth and final book of Peter McLean’s phenomenal War for the Rose Throne series, Priest of Crowns concludes the story of Tomas Piety – gangster, army priest, Queen’s Man, politician, heartless killer, caring father – in bleak, brutal but satisfying style. After the events of Priest of Gallows, Dannsburg is boiling over with civil unrest as religious fervour vies with xenophobia and nationalistic fury, and the prospect of war with Skania looms over everything. Increasingly uncomfortable with the machinations of the Provost Marshal Dieter Vogel, Tomas (now Councillor Sir Thomas) finds himself torn between pride at his lofty position and loathing of what he’s become. With suspicion tainting his every move, and unsure of who he can truly trust, Tomas plans a careful opposition of Lord Vogel, knowing full well that any wrong move will see him and everyone he cares about dead.

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Priest of Gallows – Peter McLean

Book three in Peter McLean’s phenomenal War for the Rose Throne series, Priest of Gallows delivers another gripping tale of gangsters, intrigue and espionage, family bonds, harsh justice and escalating danger. Picking up where Priest of Lies left off, it begins with Tomas Piety – army priest, businessman, Queen’s Man – in the uncomfortable position of governor of Ellinburg. When word arrives of the Queen’s untimely death, however, Tomas returns to Dannsburg with his closest companions, where he finds himself pulled ever deeper into the murky world of the Queen’s Men. Under the orders of Provost Marshall Dieter Vogel, Tomas sinks further into the role of Queen’s Man while rising higher in Dannsburg society, but even as he does so he’s forced to consider how far he’s prepared to go in the pursuit of respect, power and authority.

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The Method of Madness – Peter McLean

Peter McLean’s first Black Library story to be set away from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, The Method of Madness – a fairly long short story, almost a novella really – is a Warcry story exploring the Cypher Lords and their subtle ways. In the Bloodwind Spoil of the Eightpoints, the bustling, stinking city of Carngrad is ruled over by a group of powerful warlords who maintain a brutal status quo. Considering himself a civilised man of politics, Thrallmaster Vignus Daneggia of the Cypher Lords sees in Carngrad’s hierarchy an opportunity for a scheme worthy of attracting the attention of Archaon himself.

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QUICK REVIEW: Hunger and the Lady – Peter McLean

In Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne series, one character of particular interest is Billy the Boy, the young orphan described with considerable understatement in the dramatis personae of Priest of Bones as “a very strange young man”. Featured in Grimdark Magazine Issue 18, the short story Hunger and the Lady offers the first opportunity to explore a little of Billy’s backstory. It’s the tale of an eleven year-old boy scraping a living in the ruins of war-torn Messia as enemy soldiers close in, a story about survival, about enduring hardship, and maybe even the presence of a higher power.

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Priest of Lies – Peter McLean

Many thanks to Jo Fletcher Books and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

A sequel to the fantastic Priest of Bones, and book two in Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne series, Priest of Lies is another brutal, brilliant fantasy tale of gangsters, spies, violence and intrigue. Life is complex for Tomas Piety, self-made prince of Ellinburg and reluctant servant of the Queen’s Men. For all his successes, he’s still driven – largely by the demands of his wife, the Queen’s Man Ailsa – to keep fighting for his city, and for the crown. As the situation in Ellinburg deteriorates and Tomas is drawn into the murky political waters of the capital, Dannsburg, he finds himself increasingly out of his depth and troubled by the consequences of power.

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QUICK REVIEW: Blood Sacrifice – Peter McLean

The fourth and final short story in Black Library’s Digital Horror Week 2019, Peter McLean’s Blood Sacrifice returns to the story of Corporal Cully and the Reslian 45th as a sequel to Baphomet By Night. Digging in on a dreary hive world under the watchful eye of a new, by-the-book sergeant, the endless waiting is wearing on Cully and bringing back painful memories. When the opportunity arises to make a little money off the books Cully jumps at the chance, but what should be a straightforward job becomes something much worse when an abandoned medicae facility turns out to be anything but.

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Drake – Peter McLean

Peter McLean’s debut novel, Drake is a dark urban fantasy complete with cowardly night creatures, demon mobsters, a faintly inept demonologist, a snarky bound demon and an almost-fallen angel, all wrapped up in a gritty, sweary, fast-paced thriller. When Don Drake, the aforementioned demonologist, winds up owing a gambling debt to a deeply unpleasant ‘businessman’, his already seedy life quickly goes from bad to worse. He soon finds himself with a problem that even the power of his bound demon – the Burning Man – might not be enough to help him with, involving exceedingly dangerous magical enemies and dubious allies who might just be even worse.

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QUICK REVIEW: Sand Lords – Peter McLean

Peter McLean continues to impress with his fourth Black Library short story, this time tackling the Tallarn Desert Raiders. On the arid world of Marbas II, the Tallarn 236th Sand Lords have deployed in force, an armoured column storming into the ork-held city of Iblis Amrargh intending to reclaim a lost relic of their regiment. The story begins as Captain Amareo Thrax is leading the battered remnants of his force in a desperate retreat through the baking desert. As they race for safety, Thrax bitterly recalls the horrors that took the lives of so many of his warriors.

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Priest of Bones – Peter McLean

Peter McLean’s fourth novel, Priest of Bones is the first in a ‘grimdark fantasy’ series featuring crime lords, turf wars, secret police and the effects of PTSD on veteran ex-soldiers. Having survived the horrors of Abingon, Tomas Piety – once a ‘businessman’, now an army priest – returns to his home city of Ellinburg to retake his position, and his streets. What he finds there are businesses taken over in his absence, streets no longer safe for the people living in them, and a new war brewing that promises to be as dark and harrowing as the one he’s just returned from.

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QUICK REVIEW: No Hero – Peter McLean

Peter McLean returns to the Reslian 45th for his third Black Library short story, No Hero. Abandoning the jungle world of Vardan IV to the rampaging orks, Imperial forces are pulling out and redeploying elsewhere. The troopers of One Section, D Company are finally on their way to being evacuated when their Valkyrie is hit, and the survivors must slog through the jungle on foot to try and reach the landing fields before the orks do. For one young Guardsman keeping a journal of events, it’s a journey that tests him body, mind and soul.

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