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.
For issue nine of Hachette’s Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection, Black Library legend Gav Thorpe gets his first inclusion with Angels of Darkness. First published way back in 2003, this is one of the seminal 40k novels, widely credited with nailing down much of the Dark Angels’ backstory and regularly referenced as one of the best books from that period of Black Library’s output. Typically, I somehow missed it first time around – it was just one of those books that I always meant to read, but never did. Happily, its inclusion in this collection gave me the perfect opportunity to remedy that situation!
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.
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.
The third Dan Abnett novel to be included in the series so far, book eight in the Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection from Hachette and Black Library is First and Only. In 40k terms they don’t come much bigger or popular than Gaunt’s Ghosts, so the first book in the series is another complete no-brainer, the sort of book that long-running fans will enjoy revisiting and brand new fans will love reading for the first time. It’s also, fact fans, the first ever Black Library novel – previous books, including classic novels by the likes of Ian Watson, were published by various imprints before Black Library was launched.
One of the classic Warhammer 40,000 novels, Gav Thorpe’s Angels of Darkness was probably the first Black Library novel to really look at the Dark Angels in detail. The story of Interrogator Chaplain Boreas and Fallen Dark Angel Astelan, it cuts to the heart of this most secretive of chapters and shows how their ongoing hunt for the Fallen has come to consume them. Told across two strands, one sees Astelan captured and interrogated by Boreas in a clash of ironclad wills, while the other sees Boreas on the hunt for further Fallen in and around the Piscina system.
Guy Haley’s first contribution to Black Library’s The Horus Heresy Primarchs series is Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia, appropriately the fourth book in the series for the IVth Legion. For the first time in the series we get an origin story, with the narrative split between Perturabo’s early years on Olympia and the ongoing difficulties his sons face during a campaign against the time-manipulating hrud. With the additional viewpoints of Warsmith Dantioch and Fortreidon, a newly-inducted legionary, it’s a layered depiction of Perturabo, the events which moulded his character and that of his legion, and their inevitable fate.
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.
Author of the (in my opinion) wonderful Ahriman trilogy, as well as a few stories in something you might have heard of called the Horus Heresy, John French is back with the first novel of a brand new series – the Horusian Wars. You might have come across a few of the accompanying short stories already; we’re still pretty early days but it looks like there’s a lot of content coming out for this series. You can find my review of the first novel below, along with a link to a page with details of everything that’s been released so far.
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.