Category Archives: Reviews

Ghost – James Swallow

The third book in James Swallow’s high-tech thriller series featuring ex-MI6 agent Marc Dane and the Rubicon Group, Ghost provides another relevant, contemporary story as Dane tackles a mysterious hacker collective tapping into the world’s digital weaknesses. Marc is mid-mission gathering information on a link to the sinister Combine when sudden new orders arrive, sending him to Malta to investigate an unusually public assassination. Who the victim is, why he was killed and what it means for Rubicon all come to light as Marc, Lucy and co. chase digital ghosts and fight back from a devastating betrayal.

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QUICK REVIEW: Baphomet By Night – Peter McLean

A dark, uncomfortable Black Library debut from Peter McLean, Baphomet By Night is an Astra Militarum short story which takes place after the dust has settled on the Imperial campaign to cleanse the world of Baphomet of a Chaos cult. The Reslian 45th are sent in to garrison the world once the fighting is over, which to Corporal Cully and Sergeant Rachain seems like an easy duty after their last action, despite the inexperience of their new platoon. When unexpected resistance breaks out and the green troopers start dying around them, it becomes clear that Baphomet isn’t the break they expected.

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City of Secrets – Nick Horth

Nick Horth’s Age of Sigmar book City of Secrets, set in the city of Excelsis in the realm of Ghur, was the first to deal predominantly with mortal characters rather than Stormcast Eternals. Armand Callis is a corporal in the Coldguard, one of only three Freeguild regiments left behind to defend Excelsis while the majority of its forces march to deal with a vast gathering of Orruks. After stumbling upon a sinister plot and accidentally experiencing a powerful prophecy, Callis finds himself working alongside the Witch Hunter Hanniver Toll as they race against time to prevent the city’s destruction.

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Overlords of the Iron Dragon – CL Werner

Overlords of the Iron Dragon is CL Werner’s third Age of Sigmar novel, and the first to ever feature the Kharadron Overlords. Taking place mostly in the skies of Chamon, it follows sky-captain Brokrin Ullissonn and the crew of the Iron Dragon, a ship with a growing reputation for ill fortune. When they stumble upon the location of a strike of incredibly potent aether-gold, Brokrin’s lieutenants are desperate to go all in and claim a fortune that could spell the end of their troubles. Brokrin, however, remains cautious and suspects that it might just be too good to be true.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Resolute – Josh Reynolds

One of two Josh Reynolds short stories originally published in the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Sylvaneth anthology, The Resolute is a story of both the sylvaneth and the Hallowed Knights. The reed-city of Gramin, long ago ravaged by the armies of Nurgle, is once more befouled by the presence of the Order of the Fly. Felyndael and his fellow tree-revenants hasten to recover the dormant seed-pods slumbering beneath the city, but such are the forces set against them that they are begrudgingly forced to accept the aid of Aetius Shield-born and his Stormcast Eternals.

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Blackshields: The Red Fief – Josh Reynolds

Following on from the excellent Horus Heresy audio drama Blackshields: The False War, Josh Reynolds returns to ex-World Eater Endryd Haar in a second audio, Blackshields: The Red Fief. In the aftermath of his mission on Xana-Tisiphone, Haar is being courted by Malcador, who wants to make use of Endryd, or the weapons he recently acquired, as part of the loyalists’ defence against Horus. Wracked with indecision about whether to commit to the Sigillite’s goals, Haar leads his warriors in a raid on a World Eaters fief world to gather supplies and hopefully recruit an old ally to his cause.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Strange Demise of Titus Endor – Dan Abnett

An Eisenhorn short story that doesn’t actually feature Eisenhorn, Dan Abnett’s The Strange Demise of Titus Endor is a bleak, unsettling story and a reminder that the horrors of the 41st millennium come in all sorts of forms. Focusing, unsurprisingly, on Eisenhorn’s old friend Titus Endor, it finds the inquisitor alone in a drab city, hunting an elusive quarry who always seems just out of reach. Musing on recollections of his old master, Hapshant, Endor wonders what happened to his friend Eisenhorn, even as he follows up clues to his quarry’s whereabouts which point to sinister omens and old ghosts.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Keys to Ruin – David Annandale

David Annadale’s short story The Keys to Ruin is (along with his Shattered Crucible) one of four stories from the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Fyreslayers anthology, intended to introduce readers to the Fyreslayers as a new faction. Battling through legions of daemons and landscapes twisted against them, the Fyreslayers of the Drunbhold lodge follow a little-known prophecy and march to join with another, long-separated lodge. Leaving the great magmahold of Sibilatus and following the ever-present song of the wind, they seek out a realmgate to speed them towards their prophesied destination.

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Hammerhal – Josh Reynolds

Josh Reynolds’ Age of Sigmar novella Hammerhal is a surprisingly ambitious tale filled with action, adventure, faith and dark magic. Spanning the Realms of Ghyran and Aqshy, the twin cities of Hammerhal Ghyra and Hammerhal Aqsha are protected by powerful wards – but a darkness nevertheless grows within their walls, and in the dark Hexwood of the Nevergreen Mountains in Ghyran the beastkin gather. While Lord-Celestant Gardus Steel-Soul lends the Hallowed Knights’ strength to the sylvaneth against the tzaangor beastkin, knight of the Order of Azyr Sol Gage leads his comrades in excising the darkness that lurks within Hammerhal.

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QUICK REVIEW: Backcloth for a Crown Additional – Dan Abnett

In Dan Abnett’s short story Backcloth for a Crown Additional, inquisitor Eisenhorn turns paranormal detective as he investigates the unexpected and increasingly suspicious death of Lord Aen Froigre, head of one of the ancient noble houses of Gudrun. An old friend of Eisenhorn, Froigre’s death is enough to drag Gregor and Bequin away from a precious moment of peace and quiet. What might otherwise have been a simple, if emotional, investigation proves to be rather more complex when it’s revealed that Froigre died of terror, and Eisenhorn detects a trace of warpcraft on the Froigre estate.

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