Category Archives: Reviews

Seven Devils – Laura Lam and Elizabeth May

Seven Devils, by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May, is a character-driven feminist space opera in which a thrown-together collection of badass women put their differences aside to help an embattled resistance strike back against the powerful Tholosian Empire. Once firm friends before bitterness and anger drove a wedge between them, engineer Clo and soldier Eris reluctantly team up again for what should be a relatively straightforward mission, only for things to be complicated by a trio of Tholosian defectors. The information provided by Ariadne, Nyx and Rhea gives the mismatched group of rebels the chance to strike a powerful blow to the Empire and save countless lives in the process, but in order to succeed they’ll each have to confront the pain they suffered at Tholosian hands.

Keep reading…

Harrow the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

Carrying on where the fabulous Gideon the Ninth left off, Tamsyn Muir’s second novel Harrow the Ninth continues to explore the setting and mythos of the Locked Tomb series while taking the narrative in an unexpected direction. Having attained Lyctorhood, Harrow finds life as one of the Emperor’s Saints to be not what she expected. There’s something strange going on with both her memories and her powers, someone appears to be trying to kill her, and of all people the entirely untrustworthy Ianthe is proving (much to Harrow’s disgust) to be the closest thing she has to an ally amongst the deeply dysfunctional family of the Emperor and his Lyctors. To make matters worse, an impending apocalypse is looming over them all in the shape of a deadly Resurrection Beast.

Keep reading…

Profit’s Ruin – CL Werner

CL Werner’s 2018 novel Overlords of the Iron Dragon was a pacy, entertaining Age of Sigmar story and its sequel, Profit’s Ruin, hits many of the same notes and delivers a similarly fun, action-packed adventure. Having returned to Barak-Zilfin with empty holds to face the wrath of his investors, Captain Brokrin Ullisson is confronted with the very real possibility of losing both his charter and his ship, the Iron Dragon. His only hope is to accept a perilous mission to find the infamous Profit’s Ruin, a vast floating mass of weeds and vines which is said to have snared countless sky-ships, and return with enough salvage to settle his debts.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: Elizabeth on the Island – Josh Reynolds

First published in 2011 anthology Candle in the Attic Window, Josh Reynolds’ short story Elizabeth on the Island is a haunting gothic tale of rain-lashed rocks, troubled memory and inhuman strength. On an unnamed island in an unnamed sea, a lone woman ekes out a harsh existence hunting rats for food and with only the remnants of someone else’s life for company. When her troubled solitude is interrupted by a new presence on the island, the woman who calls herself Elizabeth, who emerged bleeding and bedraggled from the sea into this strange life, must face up to her fear of the unknown.

Keep reading…

Exuma – Mark Brendan

From Cartagena on the Gulf of Mexico to the time-lost isle of Exuma Obscura, Mark Brendans’ adventure-horror novella Exuma inhabits some of the darker corners of the 17th Century New World. Merchant Juan de Castro lives a quiet, largely contented life with his family until he’s accused of heresy by the Inquisition and sentenced to serve as a galley slave, for the crime of being a Protestant. When his galley is attacked and he’s washed up on the shore of a strange, mist-shrouded island, de Castro finds himself free once more but surrounded by dangers he can’t imagine.

Keep reading…

Infestation (S-Squad #1) – William Meikle

The first book in William Meikle’s S-Squad series, Infestation is a short, snappy creature-feature packed full of action, danger, sweary soldiers and swarms of disgusting (and worryingly large) creepy-crawlies. Captain John Banks and a hand-picked team of soldiers are dispatched to investigate reports of a Russian boat in some kind of trouble in Canadian waters, their mission simply to drop in, find out what’s going on and report back. When they’re greeted by scenes of bloody devastation on arrival, however, it quickly becomes clear that there’s more going on than just a few Russian spies lurking where they shouldn’t be.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: Child of Chaos – Chris Wraight

One of the most notorious figures in the Horus Heresy, the much-loathed Word Bearer Erebus is the subject of Chris Wraight’s fascinating character study Child of Chaos. From the arid streets of a forgotten Colchisian village to the ruins of an ancient temple to the Ruinous Powers on Davin, Erebus calmly and succinctly tells his own story of single-minded determination and dedication, speaking directly and unashamedly to the reader of his childhood, his journey, his beliefs and the vital role he played in the Heresy.

Continue reading →

Road to Redemption – Mike Brooks

Mike Brooks’ second novel for Black Library, Road to Redemption swaps Navigator Houses for Necromunda in a dark and character-driven story about faith, atonement, buried secrets and impossible decisions. For Zeke, once of House Cawdor, a quiet life of hard work, hard liquor and honest friendship provides a way of silencing his demons, right up until it’s burned out from under him. With that life destroyed, and his friends’ children taken, all he has left is the drive to find the culprits and either rescue or avenge the children, but to do so he’ll need to face not just the risk of death but a return to the life he tried so hard to escape.

Keep reading…

QUICK REVIEW: The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex – Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir’s short story The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, part of the Locked Tomb series, is a prequel of sorts to the fantastic Gideon the Ninth, featuring the thirteen year-old incarnations of the Sixth’s House’s Camilla Hect and Palamides Sextus. When the study of a long-dead Library tutor (the brilliantly-named Doctor Donald Sex) is finally reopened, 460 years after his death, Camilla and Palamides are among the lucky few to examine the dusty, intriguing old office. What they find within reveals an unexpected locked-room mystery, and while their elders proceed to trawl through academic bureaucracy the two youngsters set about unravelling the puzzle themselves.

Keep reading…

Sons of the Selenar – Graham McNeill

While Black Library’s Siege of Terra series is closing off the Horus Heresy with eight novels covering the major story beats, Graham McNeill’s Sons of the Selenar marks the first in an additional set of novellas which tackle slightly smaller subjects within the context of the Siege. In this case, the story of Sharrowkin, Wayland and the Sisypheum continues as, returning to the Sol System, loyalties within the crew begin to fracture. Drawn to embattled Luna, the few remaining Shattered Legionaries must put division aside and act as one if they’re to ensure vital secrets remain out of the traitors’ hands.

Keep reading…