Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: The Sorcerer’s Tale – Guy Haley (At the Sign of the Brazen Claw Part Four)

Guy Haley’s multi-part Age of Sigmar story At the Sign of the Brazen Claw reaches its fourth and penultimate instalment with The Sorcerer’s Tale, in which Hyshian sorcerer Pludu Quasque tells a story of arrogance, envy and dread. He tells how, as a young man, he ignored his father’s advice, neglected his studies and let bitterness cloud his judgement until a final rash act saw him oath-bound to retrieve a long-lost jewel from the depths of the skaven underworld. As Prince Maesa, Shattercap and the other travellers listen to Quasque’s dour tale, the storm shaking the inn steadily grows in intensity.

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Castle of Blood – CL Werner

CL Werner’s Castle of Blood, his first full Warhammer Horror novel, is a dark and often disturbing Age of Sigmar murder mystery packed full of despicable characters, ingeniously lethal traps and a hideous daemonic threat. In the town of Ravensbach, eight families receive invitations to join the Count von Koeterberg for dinner at the ominous iron castle of Mhurghast, each wondering why they have been invited. Once gathered together, the bitter old Count reveals his motivation, setting loose an ancient daemon whose terrifying presence turns the families against each other and even themselves in the name of long-desired revenge.

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Mark of Faith – Rachel Harrison

In her second Black Library novel, Mark of Faith, Rachel Harrison tackles both the Sisters of Battle and the Inquisition in an intense and emotional story featuring the expected themes of faith and fervour but also family, purpose and the possibility of rebirth. After losing everything in defence of Ophelia VII, Sister Evangeline of the Order of Our Martyred Lady is sent on a divine quest to seek out the Shield of Saint Katherine in Imperium Nihilus. To Inquisitor Ravara of the Ordo Malleus, Evangeline’s mission offers the opportunity to serve her own ends and undo a terrible wrong. Haunted by ghosts of the past and wrestling with their duties, both find their faith tested and their paths profoundly challenged.

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Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – via Grimdark Magazine

It’s with great pleasure that I can tell you I’ve had my first review published by the excellent Grimdark Magazine, for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. If you haven’t come across Grimdark Magazine before, and in case the name hasn’t given the game away, it’s a website and (quarterly) digital magazine specialising in science fiction and fantasy of the darkest dark. You should check it out, it’s awesome! Go on – here’s the link. I’ve reviewed a story from the magazine before, but I’m delighted to be now writing reviews for the site, although don’t worry – it’s in addition to Track of Words, not instead!

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The Beast Inside – Darius Hinks

A follow up to his novel Blackstone Fortress, Darius Hinks’ audio drama The Beast Inside sees dashing, debonair Janus Draik return to the Blackstone to seek out the dreaded Ambull. Fearing that rival Rogue Trader Ava Victrix means to try and capture the beast and return it to Precipice – where it might run riot and cause untold chaos – Draik is determined to find it first and kill it. Accompanied by the kroot Dahyak Grekh and a group of retainers he sets off in search of the Ambull, but finds the fortress crawling with Chaos cultists and strange, lethal insect-like creatures.

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Isha’s Lament – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s first longer-form Black Library story, Isha’s Lament is a Blackstone Fortress novella, an entertaining and insightful tale of survival, exploration and the after-effects of trauma. Brakus Andradus – once a soldier, now a hunter – is part of a group of explorers who find a ruined, dead ship within the fortress, and in doing so unwittingly trigger a calamity that endangers everyone on both the fortress and Precipice. Despite his failing health Brakus ventures back in search of a way to prevent disaster, accompanied by a motley group of uneasy companions, and in the darkness faces up to his fears.

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QUICK REVIEW: Ghosts of Iron – Marc Collins

Marc Collins makes his Black Library debut with Ghosts of Iron, a tale of duty, faith and sacrifice for the servants of the Omnissiah. On the forge world of Sareme, as the forges are overrun by hereteks and the Great Rift sears the skies, Magos Domina Calliope Vartothex seeks out the silent bulk of the Warlord Titan Fury of Mars. Accompanied by the last failing remnants of her skitarii allies, Calliope holds the final, faint chance of survival for the Adeptus Mechanicus on Sareme, which rests upon her ability to connect with the Fury of Mars’ ancient Machine Spirit.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Firstborn Exile – Filip Wiltgren

Filip Wiltgren’s second Black Library story, A Firstborn Exile is a direct sequel to The Firstborn Daughter and sees Lieutenant Ekaterina Idra of the 86th Firstborn continuing to battle against not just the Tovogan rebels but the ingrained prejudices of her own people. Joining up with more Vostroyans under the command of a famously rigid Colonel with rather different values to her own, Idra and her men are soon caught up in brutal city fighting against a dug-in enemy. Before long, any bureaucratic differences of opinion are outweighed by the need to survive against overwhelming odds.

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QUICK REVIEW: Apex Predator – Gavin G Smith

Gavin G. Smith’s first Black Library story, Apex Predator is a tale of Knightly rivalry stretching back millennia, as Sethena of House Cadmus and the remnants of her lance desperately try to survive while outnumbered and hunted by Traitor Knights. With Imperial forces stretched to breaking point, Sethena’s Knights remaining battered and under-resourced, and a full-strength lance of enemy Knights on the prowl, the war on Turris appears all but over. At the edge of endurance, Sethena looks for any possibility of fighting back, and the ghosts of her Throne Mechanicum offer tantalisingly vague hints of new tactics to employ.

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Sisters of the Vast Black – Lina Rather

Lina Rather’s debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black is a beautiful little story of faith, love and hope in the midst of endless, cold space, featuring secret-keeping nuns, living spaceships and a sinister government trying to reclaim power. The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita travel the edge of space in their sentient ship Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, offering medical aid and religious comfort to scattered colonists far from the main systems. After answering the call of a brand new colony, the sisters find their peaceful lives threatened by the shadow of a war long thought over.

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