Category Archives: Reviews

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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Legion of the Damned : Digital Collection – Black Library Anthology

The Legion of the Damned – spectral Space Marines clad in ebon and bone, wreathed in flame, appearing only when the hour is darkest and humanity’s need is greatest. It’s a wonderful concept, one which entered the Warhammer 40,000 canon way back in the ’80s and has been a fan favourite ever since. They’re classic 40k – dark and gothic, morally ambiguous and forever shrouded in mystery. For anyone hoping to get a concrete explanation of their background, you won’t find it here. Instead we get a collection of short stories (including one very short story) from six Black Library authors exploring different aspects of this most mysterious of forces.

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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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The Circle – Dave Eggers

Imagine if Google could provide all of your online needs – social media, communication, banking, entertainment, all in one place. No need for multiple passwords and user names, no need in fact to log in at all – your identity is linked indelibly with Google. Doesn’t that sound so much simpler and more convenient than what we have at the moment? Scale that up – think about global tracking to keep track of where your children are, or permanently-on video cameras keeping an eye on your house, your family, the things most previous to you. Sounds ideal, right?

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