Track of Words

Assassinorum : Execution Force – Joe Parrino

While Black Library’s raison d’être has always been to provide tie-in fiction to expand upon the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, some books tie in closer than others with new Games Workshop releases. One of those is Assassinorum – Execution Force, a novella by Joe Parrino which accompanies the new board game of the same name. It follows the progress of a team of Imperial Assassins, dispatched in a rare show of force and cooperation to stop a sorcerer of the Crimson Slaughter from enacting a ritual that could spell doom for the Imperium.

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Lemartes : Guardian of the Lost – David Annandale

David Annandale’s latest Black Library release is Lemartes : Guardian of the Lost, a novella in the Lords of the Space Marines series. Having already looked at the only Blood Angel ever to conquer the Red Thirst (in his previous Mephiston novella), he now turns his attention to the only one ever to contain the other of the Blood Angels’ curses – the Black Rage. Roused from his stasis to lead the Death Company into battle on Phlegethon, a world consumed by madness and anger, Lemartes must cling tight to his tenuous grip on reality as the Blood Angels face a dark mirror of themselves in the form of blood-hungry traitors.

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Adeptus Mechanicus : Skitarius – Rob Sanders

Continuing a recent trend of books released to tie in with new Games Workshop miniature ranges, Rob Sanders’ latest novel – Skitarius – is the first Black Library release to feature the new Adeptus Mechanicus forces. It follows the impersonally-named Alpha Primus Haldron-44 Stroika (largely referred to as just Stroika, or occasionally the even more impersonal Stroika-unit) as he leads his Skitarii cohorts into battle, enacting the wishes of his distant Adeptus Mechanicus masters. After a new discovery leads to the invasion of a Dark Mechanicus forge world, Stroika finds himself battling daemon engines and twisted machine cultists in an increasingly desperate battle for survival.

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I, Lucifer – Glen Duncan

Ever wondered what it would be like if the devil could tell his side of the story? Well look no further than I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan, a darkly comic novel in which the Fallen Angel is offered one last chance at redemption. Justifiably suspicious of the offer, he agrees to a month’s trial period, which he spends inhabiting the body of one Declan Gunn, a down-at-heel writer whose last acts before Lucifer’s introduction were to purchase a pack of razor blades and run a hot bath. With Gunn’s body at his disposal, Lucifer proceeds to make the most of his time on the corporeal plane, with varying results, and sets out to tell his side of the story while he’s at it.

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Ack-Ack Macaque – Gareth L. Powell

While science fiction as a genre can occasionally take itself too seriously, with Ack-Ack Macaque Gareth L. Powell has shown that he understands how important it is for books to sometimes just be fun. Set in an alternative future where Britain and France are about to celebrate the centenary of their political and economic union, it follows a journalist hunting her ex-husband’s killer, while hosting a backup of said ex-husband inside her brain, and the British Crown Prince trying to extricate himself from a life of tedious duties in favour of the quiet life as a student. All the while the titular Ack-Ack Macaque, a violent, foul-mouthed monkey, is beginning to question the world around him as he battles German planes from the cockpit of his Spitfire.

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The World Engine – Ben Counter

The latest Space Marine Battles novel – The World Engine – is Ben Counter’s second in the series and promises to be about as epic a story as it’s possible to be. The titular World Engine is a mobile planet, a vast and apparently indestructible necron construct that has been marauding through Imperial space and devastating systems with impunity. With few options remaining, the entire Astral Knights chapter launches a suicidal assault, crashing their battle barge directly into the planet in a last ditch attempt to stop the World Engine. The Space Marine Battles series is built on the premise that the stories told are enjoyable, entertaining and fun, and with such a ridiculously over the top concept this should deliver all three in spades.

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QUICK REVIEW – Gotrek & Felix : Rememberers – David Guymer

David Guymer’s second contribution to the End Times short stories is Gotrek & Felix : Rememberers, a micro-short originally published in the Black Library Weekender III programme. Set in between the events of Kinslayer and Slayer, it sees Gotrek accompanied by past and present Rememberers as the three of them fight their way through Kurgan marauders on the way to reunite Felix with his wife in Altdorf.

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Johnny and the Dead – Terry Pratchett

The second in his Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and sixth young adult novel overall, Terry Pratchett’s Johnny and the Dead was published in 1993, twenty-two years after his first novel (The Carpet People) and ten years after his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic). Set in the village of Blackbury, a sort of Pratchett-ised standard of suburbia, it sees Johnny and his friends trying to carry on with the normal lives that most 12-year-olds live; hanging out in the mall, trying to avoid getting beaten up by older siblings, and coping with the well-meaning attention of parents. When Johnny starts seeing the dead (post-senior citizens, not ghosts) however, and they find themselves caught up in a campaign to save the local cemetery, life soon becomes more complicated.

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QUICK REVIEW : Bride of Khaine – Graeme Lyon

Another End Times short story, this time linking to The Curse of Khaine, Graeme Lyon’s Bride of Khaine looks at the relationship between the Hag Queen Hellebron and her champion, Tullaris Dreadbringer. Set on Death Night during the Chaos invasion of Har Ganeth, it sees Hellebron old and frail, watching Tullaris from afar as she waits for the ritual that will see her rejuvenated once more, while other powers conspire to strike while she is at her weakest.

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QUICK REVIEW : Marienburg’s Stand – David Guymer

In the first of his short story contributions to the End Times series, David Guymer steps away from Gotrek and Felix to pick up a thread from the Glottkin background book, in Marienburg’s Stand. Before they could march on Altdorf the brothers Glott needed to fight their way through the independent city state of Marienburg, whose powerful fleet and strong sea defences were bolstered by unexpected allies. Here we see how that engagement plays out, as the vampire Mundvard the Cruel emerges from the shadows to fight for the city alongside its human defenders.

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