Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW : Godless – David Guymer

David Guymer contributes the twentieth story in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar with Godless, an Age of Sigmar short story dealing with the search for the missing Chaos god Slaanesh. The decidedly ambiguous Shahleah leads her fellow champions and their collective warriors to seek out a daemonic oracle, whose guidance leads them to a seemingly abandoned temple where they hope to find a trace of their absent deity. Despite its outward appearance the temple proves to still have its guardians, while the oracle’s trustworthiness is definitely in question.
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QUICK REVIEW : Midnight Rotation – Dan Abnett

Dan Abnett joins the party on day nineteen of Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar with Midnight Rotation, a 40k short story that takes place within his Sabbat Worlds setting. Trooper second class Cawkus, of the Fiftieth Urdesh Regular, offers his take on the events he witnessed in the run up to the destruction of a Munitorum facility under his squad’s watch. Being only a trooper second class he might not have the most strategic overview of events, but he knows what he saw.
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QUICK REVIEW : The Eighth Victory – Graeme Lyon

On the eighteenth day of Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar it’s time for The Eighth Victory, an Age of Sigmar short story from Graeme Lyon. Krev Deathstalker, another wonderfully titled champion of Chaos, has led his forces to seven mighty victories against the invading Stormcast Eternals, spilling much blood for Khorne. The eighth victory promises to bring him glory and power untold, but to achieve it he has to keep his battered army together and inspire his eight champions to one last slaughter. Meanwhile some within his army are starting to question their role in his upcoming glory.
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QUICK REVIEW : Glory From Chaos – Chris Dows

Day seventeen in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar, Glory From Chaos sees the return of Jetek Suberei from Chris Dows’ previous Deathwatch short story, First To Hunt. Taking place at the beginning of his journey as a White Scar, it sees the young warrior on his first mission as a full Marine, joining his brothers in an all-in charge against the forces of the Tzeentchian sorcerer lord Karnel. Having run Karnel to ground after a long hunt, the Scars see the end of their task in sight, but Karnel has other plans for how the day will turn out.
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QUICK REVIEW : Gorechosen – Andy Clark

On the sixteenth day of Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar it’s a battle for supremacy as two Khornate champions duke it out in Andy Clark’s Age of Sigmar short story Gorechosen. The slaughterpriest Akhagor leads his warband into the Scorchpit, a veritable arena of death filled with all manner of foes to battle, while the aspiring deathbringer Vorhak chafes under his command and threatens to turn the warband against him. With the realm of Fire under assault by the Stormcasts, can Akhagor lead his army to glory and reach his destiny?
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QUICK REVIEW : Blood and Iron – Robbie MacNiven

Day fifteen in the 2015 Black Library Advent Calendar provides Blood and Iron, Robbie MacNiven’s second contribution and the third story to feature the might of the Iron Warriors. On the Dark Mechanicum forge world of Dementius, Warpsmith Ferrix oversees the gory rituals necessary to bind a powerful daemon into the body of a captured Titan, sacrificing much to create a weapon of devastating power. As the blood flows and the daemon rises, Ferrix knows he must use all of his knowledge and skill to complete his greatest work.
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QUICK REVIEW : The Crystal of Fate – Guy Haley

The second week of Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar comes to a close with The Crystal of Fate by Guy Haley, which sees a Tzeentchian champion hoping to usurp the absent Kairos Fateweaver and ascend to daemonhood. Determined to take back his domain from the invading Stormcasts, Duke Phostrin strikes a pact with the sorcerer Chalix to venture into the realm of Tzeentch himself and take ownership of the titular Crystal of Fate. Can he survive long enough to reach his goal, and will it give him everything he hopes?
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QUICK REVIEW : A Song for the Lost – Robbie MacNiven

It’s halfway to Christmas and time for the thirteenth story in the 2015 Black Library Advent Calendar – A Song for the Lost by Robbie MacNiven. Ulix, a young Ecclesiarchy novitiate, suffers under the harsh regime of his zealous bishop, taking refuge in the comfort provided by the mysterious Sister D’Fey. While his fellow novitiates shy away in fear he seeks out her company in the darkness, unwittingly ingratiating himself with something far beyond what he realises. The innocent actions of a young boy prove to have far reaching consequences, for Ulix and the Imperium at large.
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QUICK REVIEW : The Prodigal – David Annandale

David Annandale joins the party with the twelfth story in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar, contributing The Prodigal, an Age of Sigmar micro short which sees another champion of Chaos causing trouble in the realm of Light. Hidden within almost-impenetrable mountains and suspended above the ground by light itself, the city of Lykerna is a sanctuary from the darkness until Graunos, a fallen son of the city, returns at the head of an army of Khorne to take vengeance in the name of his god for perceived past mistreatments.
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QUICK REVIEW : Black Iron – Graeme Lyon

Day eleven in Black Library’s 2015 Advent Calendar sees the second Iron Warriors story in short order, in the shape of Graeme Lyon’s Black Iron. Warsmith Kallus, tired of standing as castellan on his legion’s home planet Medrengard, approaches Abaddon the Despoiler with a view to selling his to the Black Legion in exchange for a chance of action and greater glory. Sent on a mission to capture an Iron Warriors-held forge world in the name of his new legion, he leads his warband against his former brothers without second thought.
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