Category Archives: Reviews

Heirs of Grimnir – David Guymer

David Guymer’s three-part Age of Sigmar audio Heirs of Grimnir revisits a character from Realmslayer and explores the dynamic between the quarreling Runesons of the Unbaki. Disaster has struck the lodge, as its Runefather and eldest Runeson have been found murdered and Aruk-Grimnir’s legacy chest – the means for deciding succession – stolen. The Unbaki’s enemies are legion, but only a great power could have committed such a terrible crime. Alongside his remaining brothers and the elderly Battlesmith Firebrand, sixth and youngest Runeson Forn sets out to retrieve the chest, discover who is to become the new Runefather of the Unbak lodge, and take revenge for the dead.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Child Foretold – Nicholas Kaufmann

Nicholas Kaufmann’s debut for Black Library is a Warhammer Horror short story, a tale of loss, loneliness and belonging for an isolated man. Kavel Trake was once a soldier in the militia, until the orks came to Ballard’s Run. Since then, having lost his family, his leg and his purpose, he’s eked out a living as a farmer with little to do but work and drink. When a dying woman stumbles onto his secluded farm and begs him to care for a babe in arms, he finds both a surprising sense of newfound purpose and the beginnings of a dark path.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Revelation of the Word – David Annandale

David Annandale’s 25-minute Horus Heresy audio drama The Revelation of the Word features a great cast of Black Library audio stalwarts and tackles one of the most delicious ironies of the series. During his Shadow Crusade against Guilliman’s 500 Worlds, Lorgar Aurelian’s meditations are disturbed by one of his sons bringing word of a strange discovery. Travelling to its source, Lorgar finds an underground church and a congregation basing their forbidden worship of the Emperor on the Lectitio Divinitatus. Aurelian’s initial rage as his words are turned against him soon gives way to further scorn of his distant father’s followers.

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QUICK REVIEW: Serpents of Ardemis – Mike Brooks

A prequel to Rites of Passage, Mike Brooks’ short story Serpents of Ardemis adds a little context to a key character in the novel, and provides a sharp exploration of the abuse of power amongst the privileged. Chetta and her (not yet dead) husband Azariel are on the water world of Ardemis for an annual social engagement, rubbing shoulders with other Navigators and nobility whilst simultaneously maneuvering for political gain. Chetta’s disarmingly blunt approach to diplomacy makes as many unexpected friends as it does enemies, friends which will come in handy if she and Azariel are to achieve their goals.

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QUICK REVIEW: Strong Bones – Michael R. Fletcher

His second Black Library short story, Michael R. Fletcher’s Strong Bones is another tale of the Ossiarch Bonereapers, this time from the perspective of a trio of young ogors. Bored of eating leftovers and waiting behind when their elders head off to raid, Stugkor and his mates Algok and Chidder have the bright idea to go out on their own raid, just the three of them. Forging off into the frozen wilds of Ghur, the youngsters find raiding to be less exciting than they expected, until they stumble across a human settlement presided over by an army of strange-looking deaders.

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Augur of Despair – Chris Dows

A three-part Blackstone Fortress audio drama, Chris Dows’ Augur of Despair is an action-packed adventure featuring an odd-couple pairing of protagonists facing off against all manner of potentially deadly denizens of the Blackstone. Rogue Trader Neyam Shai Murad and crusader Gotfret de Montbard make their way back to Precipice in the possession of an artefact which might change the balance of power in the Fortress. To unlock its potential they must escape the attentions of an Ambull, enlist the help of a deeply untrustworthy genetor, battle mutants and cultists, and put their trust in a creation of the Fortress itself.

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Low Lives – Denny Flowers

Following on directly from his debut Black Library story The Hand of Harrow, Denny Flowers’ Necromunda novella Low Lives is a tall tale of confidence and consequences in the underhive. Caleb Cursebound – allegedly the underhive’s ninth most dangerous man – and his partner Iktomi arrive in the (literal) dead-end settlement of Hope’s End with hunters on their tail after their last, somewhat botched, job. They’re quickly forced to abandon their plan to lay low when Caleb heroically (or at least drunkenly) promises to rid the settlement of a gang of Orlocks who recently took control of the locals’ potentially lucrative mine.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Question of Taste – Denny Flowers

A rare Necromunda story set almost entirely uphive, Denny Flowers’ A Question of Taste is a tale of civilised dispute between Guilders over contracts and business relationships. Having just overseen the implementation of the Mercator Lux’s latest contract to supply solar power to an underhive factorum, Tempes Sol returns uphive for a dinner meeting with the representatives of two other Guilds. As they dine on delicacies of sufficient sophistication to almost mask the flavour of corpse starch, Sol attempts to turn the conversation towards business, though the agents of Guilds Pallidus and Temperium appear to have him at a disadvantage.

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QUICK REVIEW: Reflections in Steel – CL Werner

Billed as “a Kravoth’s Reavers short story” (suggesting there will be more), CL Werner’s Age of Sigmar story Reflections in Steel is a typically vicious, bleak tale of the dangers inherent to walking the Path to Glory. When Kenji’s town is sacked by a bloodthirsty Chaos warband, the young man expects to die alongside his family but finds himself taken as a slave and forced into servitude to his brutal overlords. As the months pass in misery, Kenji’s anger keeps him alive and determined to find the opportunity to strike back. When it arrives, however, he’s already taken his first steps down a new path.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Crystal Cathedral – Danie Ware

Danie Ware continues her excellent run of Adepta Sororitas stories with The Crystal Cathedral, her second Order of the Bloody Rose story to look back to an earlier incarnation of Sister Augusta. The young Sister and her squad are sent to the mining moon Caro to attend the reconsecration of an awe-inspiring cathedral, built as a memorial to a great victory for Sisters of their Order a thousand years earlier. What should be a simple, non-combat mission turns into a profound test of Augusta’s faith, as an unexpected evil reveals itself and the Sisters are forced into action.

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