Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: The Hardest Word – David Guymer

Day Two of 2017’s Black Library Summer of Reading campaign

Set in and around the fortress known as The Seven Words, in the Realm of Ghur, David Guymer’s Age of Sigmar short story The Hardest Word is a typically boisterous tale of Hamilcar Bear-Eater of the Astral Templars. When word arrives that his recently-conquered fortress may be under threat from the insidious skaven, Hamilcar bids his warriors to search for the source of the danger, while he offers up an unconventional distraction. Not one for the subtle option, his choice is bold, brash and surprisingly effective.

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QUICK REVIEW: Grandfather’s Gift – Guy Haley

Day One of 2017’s Black Library Summer of Reading campaign

Unexpectedly branded as a Horus Heresy Primarchs series short story (the first one ever!), Grandfather’s Gift by Guy Haley is an entertaining and surprisingly light tale of Mortarion, primarch of the Death Guard. After waking within the Garden of Nurgle with no memory of how he got there, Mortarion sets off along its paths to discover – or maybe rediscover – how he came to be there, while marvelling at the wonders he sees along the way. To avoid giving anything away let’s just say he’s not alone in the Garden, and during his time there we gain an insight into his place within Nurgle’s ranks.

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Agent of the Throne: Blood and Lies – John French

The opening instalment of John French’s Agent of the Throne audio drama series, which ties into the wider Horusian Wars arc, Blood and Lies sees Ianthe (first seen in the short story The Purity of Ignorance) recounting the tale of her first solo mission for Inquisitor Covenant. Dispatched to Mithras to deal with a troublesome cult before it becomes too much of a problem, only to find a deeper darkness lurking beneath, she has to use of all the tools – human and otherwise – at her disposal in order to fulfil her oaths and complete her mission.

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Carcharadons: Red Tithe – Robbie MacNiven

Carcharadons: Red Tithe is Robbie MacNiven’s second Black Library novel (after the serialised Legacy of Russ) and the first novel to really focus in on the Carcharadons as a Space Marine chapter. On the penal world of Zartak, deep within the dwindling adamantium mines, thousands of convicts toil under their arbitrator overseers’ supervision. Only young Skell, gifted with the mixed blessing of foresight, understands that darkness is approaching Zartak. Two fleets of predators, each intent on the same objectives – slaves, materiel and Skell himself. Caught between the Carcharadons and the Night Lords, the Imperial defenders see little to choose between the two.

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QUICK REVIEW: Hidden Treasures – Cavan Scott

Not quite a micro-short, Cavan Scott’s Warhammer 40,000 short story Hidden Treasures provides a brief, bleak look at life away from the battlefield in the 41st millennium. For brothers Elias and Marco, scavenging in the dark corners of Manos City and trying to avoid the attention of the local gangs, life is hard. When they stumble across an unexpected bounty, the ever-present dangers are increased exponentially as the line between their world and the Imperium’s eternal, ongoing war is somehow blurred.

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Architect of Fate – Cawkwell, Counter, French and Hinks

Part of Black Library’s Space Marine Battles series, Architect of Fate is made up of novellas from Sarah Cawkwell, Darius Hinks, Ben Counter and John French featuring various Space Marine chapters and members of the Inquisition battling against daemonic plots and manipulations on the fringes of the Eye of Terror. Four quite different stories told in each author’s distinct style, they nevertheless fit together nicely with common themes, the occasional bit of connective tissue, and a consistent tone.

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Legends of the Dark Millennium: Ultramarines

Collecting together stories about the boys in blue from five different authors, Legends of the Dark Millennium: Ultramarines features two novellas, prose versions of two audio dramas, and five further short stories. The emphasis is on named characters, with such Ultramarines luminaries as Marneus Calgar, Chaplain Cassius, Cato Sicarius, Torias Telion and Varro Tigurius shared out across four stories by Graham McNeill, two by Nick Kyme, and one each from Steve Lyons, Josh Reynolds and Gav Thorpe. Lyons’ novella Knight of Talassar is exclusive to this collection, while the remaining stories are available elsewhere as well.

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QUICK REVIEW: Old Scars – George Mann

One of only a handful of Black Library stories featuring the Brazen Minotaurs chapter of Space Marines, George Mann’s Old Scars sees Captain Daed and his brothers descend up on ice-bound Imperial world to liberate it from the invading orks. Keen to inflict a decisive victory and dismissive of the Imperial Guard’s efforts to date, Daed plans an all-out frontal assault despite the doubts of his closest brothers, who question whether vengeance for his old wounds is driving his decisions.

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Shroud of Night – Andy Clark

Billed as ‘a novel from the Dark Imperium’, Shroud of Night was only the second Black Library novel to be released post #new40k, and coincidentally Andy Clark’s second novel. Within Imperium Nihilus, away from the light of the Astronomicon, the world of Tsadrekha is a point of light amidst the darkness, its miraculous beacon holding the armies of Chaos at bay. Sent by one of the competing Chaos warlords to find and and corrupt the beacon, the Unsung – an elite Alpha Legion unit – are soon caught between the Imperium’s defences and a brutal assault led by Khârn the Betrayer himself.

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QUICK REVIEW: Dark Son – Gav Thorpe

Available as a standalone e-short or within the Path of the Eldar omnibus, Gav Thorpe’s short story Dark Son takes an interesting look at whether a warrior of Commorragh might be able to find peace and redemption through the Craftworlders’ concept of the Path. Dark Eldar incubus Kolidaran has spent his entire life fighting – to survive, to find the incubi shrine, to keep his soul safe from She Who Thirsts – but is there another option for survival, one that the Commorraghans have never considered? After joining a raid on an Alaitocii eldar ship, he has the chance to find out.

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