Category Archives: Reviews

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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QUICK REVIEW : The Watcher – CZ Dunn

On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy audio drama by CZ Dunn. The final advent short, The Watcher sees one of Malcador’s Knights Errant receive a message in the form of a broken and bloodied Space Wolf. Using his psychic abilities the Knight watches through the eyes of the Wolf as he recalls his Sigillite-ordered mission to ‘observe’ the Night Lords, and the events that led up to his appalling wounding.

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QUICK REVIEW : Forgotten – Dan Abnett

On the twenty-third day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Gaunt’s Ghosts short story by Dan Abnett. A Gaunt’s Ghosts ghost story, in fact, called Forgotten. As the story unfolds, several of the Ghosts are gathered around a fire in a quiet storeroom somewhere within the Ser Armaduke, telling each other ghost stories. At Gaunt’s prompting, Mkoll begrudgingly tells his tale, of a fiend who moves in the darkness and strikes unseen, forgotten by death but stalked in turn by Mkoll.

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QUICK REVIEW : Brotherhood of the Moon – Chris Wraight

On the twenty-second day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy short story by Chris Wraight. First of all, Brotherhood of the Moon is a direct sequel to Scars, so if you haven’t read that…look away now. Shown through Torghun Khan’s eyes as he attempts to explain himself in the aftermath of Scars’ denouement, it looks at his early dealings with the Lunar Wolves and some of the first steps that set him on his path. He recalls early campaigns before the legion was reunited at Chondax, and his desire to see his legion honoured and respected alongside the Lunar Wolves.

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QUICK REVIEW : Loss – Joe Parrino

On the twenty-first day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Raven Guard audio drama by Joe Parrino. Loss, a fifteen-minute audio, sees a squad of young Raven Guard scouts battling against dark eldar, ambushed from out of the shadows in a reversal to the usual order of things. As the inexperienced scouts pit their strength against the xenos they find their preconceptions of superiority and invincibility sorely tested.

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QUICK REVIEW : The Dread Sentinels of Dorn – Rob Sanders

On the twentieth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…an Imperial Fists short story by Rob Sanders. The Dread Sentinels of Dorn sees Captain Kontrador of 5th Company investigating the unexplained silencing of one of the Imperial Fist-manned star forts on the border of Segmentum Solar. When the fate of the star fort and its garrison becomes clear, as a tyranid hive ship threatens his own vessel, Kontrador realises that far more is at stake than just the lives of him and his warriors.

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QUICK REVIEW : Holder of the Keys – Gav Thorpe

On the nineteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Dark Angels audio drama by Gav Thorpe. Another twenty-minute audio, Holder of the Keys sees an unnamed member of the Fallen offering his recollection of events that took place on and around Caliban 10,000 years previously, as he suffers under psychic interrogation by the titular Holder of the Keys. His confession, drawn out of him under duress, paints a very different picture of events to those held to be true by the Dark Angels Inner Circle.

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QUICK REVIEW : Herald of Sanguinius – Andy Smillie

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy audio drama by Andy Smillie. Set amidst the turmoil of the newly-founded Imperium Secundus, Herald of Sanguinius sees Commander Azkaellon making some difficult decisions regarding the safety of his primarch, the new Emperor Sanguinius. Tensions are running high amongst the gathered Space Marines, and the future of Imperium Secundus weighs heavily upon both Sanguinius and his sons.

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QUICK REVIEW : The Value of Fear – Gav Thorpe

On the seventeenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy short story by Gav Thorpe. A 1000-or-so word micro short, The Value of Fear features the Raven Guard as they fight to quell an Alpha Legion-led rebellion alongside an unlikely ally in the shape of a still-loyal Night Lord. Striking as ever from the shadows, as the mission progresses Sergeant Ashel has cause to question the methodologies of his ally, compared to those of the Raven Guard.

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QUICK REVIEW : Vengeful Honour – Nick Kyme

[This short story was originally released as part of the 2014 Black Library Advent Calendar]

On the sixteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Marines Malevolent short story by Nick Kyme. Continuing the thread started in Bitter Salvage (in the Angels of Death anthology), Vengeful Honour sees Ballack and his unloved brothers in the Malevolents embroiled in the fighting on Armageddon. Faced with the prospect of fighting alongside the already antagonised Black Templars, and conscious of his own reduced capabilities, Ballack becomes increasingly aware of his own mortality. When some unwelcome faces appear, things seem to be looking bleak for the Malevolent.

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