Category Archives: Reviews

QUICK REVIEW: Soulfuel – Rob Sanders

Intriguingly subtitled ‘A Black Ships Story’, Rob Sanders’ short story Soulfuel sees palatine Adrianna Verletz and her Battle Sisters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice hunting down a rogue psyker on an Imperial shrine world. Possessed of a fearsome psychic banshee wail, Xenobia Nox is destined to be soulfuel for the Emperor of Mankind, and Verletz is determined to see her prize safely to Terra. Even once safely aboard the Black Ship Divine Imperative, however, Nox proves to be a particularly troublesome charge for Verletz and her warriors.

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The Horusian Wars: Resurrection – John French

The character of Inquisitor Covenant was introduced in 2001’s Inquisitor rulebook; fast forward to 2017 and he’s the focus of The Horusian Wars: Resurrection by John French. The first novel in a new series that has already seen a few introductory short stories, it joins Covenant and his acolytes partway through their hunt for a fellow inquisitor, a radical named Talicto. A rare gathering of his peers provides Covenant with an opportunity to confront Talicto, but with so many inquisitors gathered in one place, events inevitably don’t go quite to plan. And so begins a story of conflicting ideologies and murky loyalties, of hidden conflicts taking place while the galaxy burns.

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The Realmgate Wars: Fury of Gork – Josh Reynolds

After two earlier novellas, The Fury of Gork is Josh Reynolds’ first novel in Black Library’s Realmgate Wars series, and the seventh book in the series overall. In the wilds of the Ghurlands amidst the bones of ancient gargants, armies converge on the Howling Labyrinth, each with their own purpose. Zephacleas Beast-bane’s Astral Templars, tasked with finding the orruk god Gorkamorka, fight alongside Gaius Greel’s Sons of Mallus, who hunt the Tzeentchian sorceress Sharizad. While she searches for what lies within the Howling Labyrinth, Gordrakk – the Fist of Gork – leads his Ironjawz in search of the biggest battle they can find.

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Forgotten Texts: Space Marine by Ian Watson

“What shelter could there be from an insanity which existed only a membrane away from the ordinary world?”

Originally published in 1993, before Black Library even existed as a publishing house, Ian Watson’s Space Marine was his second 40k novel and went on to be something of a seminal work, influencing countless stories to follow. These days it’s really not ‘canon’ (more on this later) but there’s no doubt about its story credentials. The tale of three Necromundan youths raised to become Imperial Fists from wildly differing backgrounds, it follows Biff, Lexandro and Yeremi as they progress through the trials required to become a Space Marine, and then various missions as first Scouts and then full battle brothers.

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The Realmgate Wars: Warbeast – Gav Thorpe

***On the 15th July 2017, Warbeast won the Legend Award at the Gemmell Awards – a much deserved accolade!***

Book six in Black Library’s ten-strong Realmgate Wars series, Warbeast by Gav Thorpe is the first what you might call ‘full-length’ novel in the series, and Gav’s first Age of Sigmar novel. Taking place in Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, it sees two Chambers of Stormcast Eternals – the Warbeasts of the Celestial Vindicators and the Silverhands of the Knights Excelsior – battling against vast numbers of skaven and Chaos-corrupted tribes to secure a vital realmgate. For Lord-Celestant Arkas Warbeast it’s a very personal mission, as he returns to the lands of his birth, lands he failed to protect as a mortal.

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QUICK REVIEW: Signal to Noise – CZ Dunn

First published in 2012’s Black Library Weekender Anthology 2, CZ Dunn’s Signal to Noise is the third short story (so far) featuring Sister Agentha of the Order of the Fractured Cipher to receive a standalone ebook release, albeit the first of the shorts chronologically. An unwelcome guest on a Black Templars strike cruiser, Sister Diologus Agentha finds herself a helpless bystander in the midst of an attack by eldar raiders. As the Templars defend themselves, Agentha works to understand the meaning of an ancient vox signal that might just challenge the preconceptions and prejudices of her Space Marine hosts.

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QUICK REVIEW: Fearful Symmetries – Rob Sanders

Available either within the Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters anthology or as a standalone e-short, Rob Sanders’ Fearful Symmetries takes a rare look back in time at a young Inquisitor Kryptmann in the early days of the Imperium’s interactions with the tyranid menace. Deep within an Adeptus Mechanicus forge world, Kryptmann oversees the dangerous process of gaining first-hand experience of captured tyranid specimens within a controlled environment. The risks involved pale into insignificance against the urgent need for information to aid in combating and halting this growing threat…

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Judge Anderson: Year One – Alec Worley

Formed of three novellas following Cassandra Anderson in her first year as a Judge, Judge Anderson: Year One by Alec Worley explores what it’s like as a psyker living and working in Mega-City One. The search for a powerful, rage-filled psyker infecting others with his anger; a fight for survival in the midst of some of the most deranged of Mega-City One’s inhabitants; and a quest to find the source of a psychic malaise infecting dreams…these are among the challenges facing the young psker as she wrestles with how to reconcile her responsibilities as a Judge with her inherent compassion.

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Dark Compliance – John French

Having tackled the character of Horus in a short Horus Heresy audio drama before – the appropriately named Warmaster – John French takes a longer, darker look in Dark Compliance. A simple but effective portmanteau, it sees the ruler of one planetary system – defiant in the face of Horus’ demands – regaled with the horrifying tale of another system’s demise…over a single day. A statement of Horus’ intent as much as his military power, the story of Accazzar-Beta’s destruction, as told by Sons of Horus emissary Argonis, demonstrates the fate awaiting those who defy the Warmaster. As threats go, it’s pretty compelling.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Absolution of Swords – John French

The third short story in John French’s burgeoning Horusian Wars series, The Absolution of Swords is pretty much a direct prequel to the novel Resurrection. On the shrine world Dominicus Prime, within and beneath the temples of the Crow Complex, Inquisitor Covenant and his warband hunt down an insidious cult known as the Tenth Path. While Duke Cleander Von Castellan and the soldier Koleg seek to cleanse the taint of Chaos from the darkness beneath the temples, Covenant leads his other followers in search of answers, and the man ultimately responsible for the cult’s dark purpose.

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