Category Archives: Reviews

Mortarion’s Heart – LJ Goulding (audio drama)

The idea behind Black Library’s series of Space Marine Battles novels and audios is that they showcase some of the most famous actions featuring the Imperium’s finest, but while Space Marines are fundamentally cool, there’s often a risk of these stories being a little…well, a little silly. Step forward Mortarion’s Heart, the story of a single Grey Knight battling a daemon primarch and (SPOILERS) emerging victorious. It’s all well and good having things like this as colour text for a codex, but as a full story there’s a definite whiff of the preposterous. So how does LJ Goulding do as he tackles this particular tale?

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW : The Kaban Project – Graham McNeill

A prequel to the novel Mechanicum, available as a standalone ebook after previously being released in both Collected Visions and Shadows of Treachery, Graham McNeill’s The Kaban Project is a tale of loyalty and what it means to be human, even amongst the ranks of the Mechanicum. It features Adept Third Class Pallas Ravachol, a low-ranking tech priest on Mars who accidentally strikes up a friendship of sorts with an artificial construct that he fears has broken the Emperor’s ban on the creation of artificial intelligence.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW : Heart of the Conqueror – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Recently released as a 99p ‘quick read’, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Heart of the Conqueror was first printed in the 2014 Horus Heresy Weekender programme where it sat alongside game rules for Heresy-era Navigators. That was surely no coincidence, focusing as it does on Nisha Andrasta, the Navigator responsible for Angron’s flagship The Conqueror. Set in the aftermath of Betrayer, it sees Andrasta looking back at her purity of purpose when she first joined the ship, and struggling to reconcile that with where she finds herself now. Keep reading…

Iron Corpses – David Annandale (audio drama)

In conjunction with The Eagle’s Talon by John French, David Annandale’s Iron Corpses continues the tale of the Battle of Tallarn in audio format, either as an MP3 or as part of the upcoming joint audio CD. This follows on directly from The Eagle’s Talon, as a lone Iron Warrior strikes out through the blasted devastation created when the troop transport hit the surface of Tallarn. Having survived through sheer chance, Warsmith Koparnos knows he is slowly dying on the virus- and radiation-scarred surface, but sees an opportunity for both survival and vengeance in the shape of an intact Titan.

Keep reading…

The Eagle’s Talon – John French (audio drama)

In a brave move that will gain approval and derision in equal measures from different elements of their fanbase, Black Library have decided to tell the events of the Battle of Tallarn across not just multiple releases but multiple formats. Having told the main body of the story in his novellas Tallarn : Executioner and Tallarn : Ironclad, John French has also contributed an audio drama in the shape of The Eagle’s Talon, available as a standalone MP3 or soon to be packaged with David Annandale’s Iron Corpses on audio CD. Told largely via found footage-esque snippets of vox transmissions, it follows a handful of Imperial Fists legionaries attempting to take control of a vast traitor transport vessel.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW : The Devine Adoratrice – Graham McNeill

Originally part of 2013’s Limited Edition The Imperial Truth, Graham McNeill’s The Devine Adoratrice is one of only two of the included stories to have found a general release so far, alongside Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Lord of the Red Sands. A direct prequel to Vengeful Spirit, it follows the young siblings of House Devine as they prepare for the ceremony that will bond the brothers with the warrior-spirits of their Knight armour. Meanwhile, hidden factions on Molech work to direct events to their own ends, and the day doesn’t go quite as smoothly as all involved had hoped.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW : Army of One – Rob Sanders

Released back in 2012 as part of Black Library’s 15th birthday celebration, Rob Sanders’ Army of One was one of the first (perhaps actually the first) Horus Heresy short stories to be released as a standalone ebook. Very much a ‘quick read’, it takes a whistlestop tour of one man’s history as he relives the unexpected way in which he was caught up in the Heresy. Unwanted by the Imperial Army, he finds his place in the war in a less obvious role.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW – Garro : Ashes of Fealty – James Swallow

Released to tie in with an upcoming box set collecting together all of the Garro audio dramas so far, Garro : Ashes of Fealty is a brand new 18-minute short audio that re-introduces an old character from Garro’s past. Set at an unspecified point in the overall story arc, it shows a bitter, unhappy reunion with his old comrade Meric Voyen, the apothecary last seen in Flight of the Eisenstein having chosen to dedicate his life to finding a ‘cure’ for the terrible affliction that blighted his Death Guard brothers.
Keep reading…

Blades of the Traitor – Black Library Anthology

A few months after Death and Defiance, the first novella-length, non-limited edition Horus Heresy short story anthology, comes Blades of the Traitor, a collection of five short stories from some of Black Library’s best-known authors. Interestingly, Black Library are offering readers a choice straight away of how to purchase these stories – the physical book is due for release soon (after pre-release at the Horus Heresy Weekender) while the ebooks are available either as a well-priced collection or as individual stories. It’s therefore up to readers whether to cherry pick the stories they’re most interested in or read them all as a collection.

Keep reading…

Tallarn : Ironclad – John French

Following hot on the heels of the general release for Tallarn : Executioner comes John French’s latest Limited Edition novella, Tallarn : Ironclad. Yes, it’s an expensive hardback novella that won’t please everyone, but for those willing to fork out for it, aesthetically it’s an absolute beauty, complete with creepy daemons embossed beneath the dust jacket. Following on from Executioner and Black Oculus it widens the view of Tallarn to take in the entire conflict, with Perturabo’s legion opposed by a ramshackle mixture of loyalist forces, while an emissary of Horus asks pointed questions regarding the Lord of Iron’s use of resources in this meat grinder of a battle. We see through the eyes of characters on both sides of the struggle, as it gradually becomes clear that for all its complexity, ultimately everything about this battle boils down to a single question – what are the Iron Warriors actually doing on Tallarn?
Keep reading…