Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: The Librarian’s Duel – MK Hutchins

One of two M.K. Hutchins short stories in Aconyte Books’ Tales From the Crucible anthology, The Librarian’s Duel explores the KeyForge setting through a story of a mother’s fear and a librarian’s duty. After the accident which left her husband dead and her daughter Marya somewhat out of phase with the rest of the world, Arash’s responsibility has been to keep her little library as well stocked as possible, because books are the only thing keeping Marya present. When she accidentally gets into a seemingly unwinnable fight with a giant Brobnar, Arash finds her world turned upside down again.

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QUICK REVIEW: War In The Museum – Robert Rath

Featuring one of Warhammer 40,000’s most idiosyncratic characters, Robert Rath’s short story War In The Museum sees Trazyn the Infinite, necron overlord of dubious sanity but boundless curiosity, hard at work in his museum of living wonders. While rehydrating a tyranid Hive Tyrant ready for it to take pride of place in one of his installations, something seems amiss – and at first Trazyn approaches the problem with confidence, for what could possibly threaten him in his own galleries? When it becomes clear that a particularly dangerous specimen has got loose, however, he seeks out allies from amongst his exhibits.

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QUICK REVIEW: Extermination Examination – Robbie MacNiven

Robbie MacNiven’s first KeyForge short story, featured in the anthology Tales From the Crucible from Aconyte Books, Extermination Examination sees a pair of students embark on a research trip to the dangerous martian territory of the Borreal enclave. Earnest, enthusiastic krxix Nal’ai is desperate to impress her Martian Studies tutor – the 96.7% inorganic professor Longaard – while her roommate, the party-elf Kolli, just wants to get through her second year. Theirs is a simple task – just spend a few days interviewing the enclave’s members – but neither is really prepared for the paranoia and xenophobia of the notoriously insular martians.

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Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri – via the British Fantasy Society

I’m pleased to say that my review of Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri is now live on the British Fantasy Society website – pleased not just to have another review available but because it’s for a book which I absolutely adored! I generally try to choose books I think I’m going to enjoy, but this one was something quite special. Feel free to head straight over there and check out the review, or alternatively you can stick around here and read a bit more about why this is such a great book in a less formal/more rambling fashion (and then pop over to the BFS site afterwards, of course).

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QUICK REVIEW: The Apprentice – Cath Lauria

One of nine KeyForge short stories featured in Aconyte Books’ anthology Tales From the Crucible, Cath Lauria’s The Apprentice is a story of gambling goblins, risky bets and family ties. Despite technically being Grizl Crustic’s apprentice, young human Roz is in fact the main mechanic in the lazy goblin’s workshop. When her boss guiltily explains that he may have lost her robot – TRIS, the last remaining link to Roz’s family – in a sure-fire bet gone wrong, she negotiates a dangerous new deal which sends her hunting within towering scrap piles in search of valuable technology to exchange for TRIS.

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The Oubliette – JC Stearns

Part of the growing Warhammer Horror range, The Oubliette is JC Stearns’ debut Black Library novel, a grim tale of bitter political rivalry on an isolated Imperial world. With her father and older brother dead in suspicious circumstances, Ashielle Matkosen takes up the mantle of Governor of Ceocan, trying to process her grief even as she fights to establish her reign with political enemies all around. When those enemies threaten her life, as well as her position, in desperation Ashielle turns to an ancient presence she encounters in the darkness under the palace; a creature with the power to protect her, but whose assistance comes with a high cost.

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QUICK REVIEW: To Catch A Thief – Thomas Parrott

Featured in Aconyte Books’ first short story anthology, Tales From the Crucible, Thomas Parrot’s KeyForge story To Catch A Thief follows the daring, dangerous exploits of light-fingered elf Nalea Wysasandoral. After a particularly lucrative score from burgling the home of the Crucible’s High Councilor himself, Nalea is on the lookout for her next job, unaware that the investigation into her ongoing crimes has been supplemented by an outside investigator – the renowned sylicate detective Talus the Thief-Taker. As she prepares for a risky new endeavour, the jaws of a trap begin to close around her.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword – Garth Nix

A short but satisfying homage to the classic Conan Doyle tales, Garth Nix’s occult detective story The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword features Sir Magnus Holmes, the somewhat less famous cousin of the legendary literary sleuth. Responding in Sherlock’s stead to a case more suited to his esoteric talents, Sir Magnus – accompanied by Almost Doctor Susan Shrike – investigates the appearance of a medieval knight in the cellar of a London pub. Although Holmes quickly deduces what’s happening, it turns into a case which tests his willpower and Shrike’s wits, and reveals the darkness lurking beneath the dapper detective’s civilised veneer.

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The Horusian Wars: Divination – John French

The third book in John French’s Horusian Wars series, Divination is not a novel but rather a collection of short stories, exploring some of the key characters in Inquisitor Covenant’s warband to add depth and emotional weight to the series as a whole. Covenant himself remains a slightly distant figure, always seen through others’ eyes (as per the novels), but over the course of these eleven stories French delves into the backstory and/or mindset of all the inquisitor’s key companions, and even an old ally. Each story takes a very different approach, some more action-packed than others, but they’re all united in shedding light on these intriguing characters and through them Covenant’s philosophy.

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QUICK REVIEW: Voice of Experience – JC Stearns

JC Stearns’ Warhammer 40,000 short story Voice of Experience takes a look at the T’au Empire through the eyes of its auxiliaries, exploring how the t’au interact with their gue’vesa allies. Having turned from the Throne and firmly embraced the Greater Good, Captain Kalice Arkady of the Follaxian 113th is now the highest-ranking and most trusted human on the orbital shipyard Suu’suamyth. When a series of worrying accidents seem to suggest sabotage, she’s called upon to investigate on behalf of the ruling council, and in the process comes to question her understanding of – and place within – t’au society.

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