Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

QUICK REVIEW – Fabius Bile : Repairer of Ruin – Josh Reynolds

On the third day of Christmas Black Library gave to us…a Fabius Bile audio drama by Josh Reynolds. Fabius Bile : Repairer of Ruin follows the self-styled Primogenitor as he leads his malformed minions on a mission to steal the preserved body of Horus. With the assault on Lupercalia carrying on around him, Fabius has his eyes set on a bigger prize than merely punishing the Sons of Horus for the sins of their father; once he has Horus’ body in his possession he can once again turn his attention to replicating the genetic code of the Primarchs.

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QUICK REVIEW : Cold Roads – Joe Parrino

On the second day of Christmas Black Library gave to us…a Brazen Claws story by Joe Parrino. Cold Roads, so named for the vessel on which the story takes place, offers a snapshot of the chapter’s Eighth Company, deep in the Eye of Terror, battling Emperor’s Children and suffering from their long exposure to the Eye. With this and its predecessor, No Worse Sin (from the Angels of Death collection), Parrino is introducing readers to the Brazen Claws as a chapter, hinting at their shadowed history and their organisation, while setting the scene for what’s to come next in their story.

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Mephiston : Lord of Death – David Annandale

In a relatively short space of time David Annandale has amassed a sizeable body of work for the Black Library, writing for the Imperial Guard, Black Dragons, Iron Hands and Grey Knights amongst others. One of his earliest contributions was a limited-edition Blood Angels novella in the Lords of the Space Marines series; soon to be re-released in non-limited format, Mephiston : Lord of Death takes a detailed look at the Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, the only one of their number ever to overcome the Red Thirst. Following on directly from the short story Eclipse of Hope, this finds Mephiston accompanying 4th Company as they battle Chaos Space Marines, daemons and their very nature, drawn ever onwards towards the Pallevon system and whatever lies waiting for them there.

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Blood and Fire – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Helsreach, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s novel set during the Third War for Armageddon, was the second ever Space Marine Battles book. A couple of years after its release it was repackaged in a new edition entitled Armageddon along with a companion novella, Blood and Fire. That novella is now available as a standalone volume for those who already have Helsreach, and it picks up just days after the events that concluded the previous story. Reclusiarch Grimaldus is once again front and centre, this time investigating claims by the Celestial Lions, a fellow successor chapter of the Imperial Fists, that the Inquisition is deliberately driving them to destruction. Only a handful of the chapter remain, and Grimaldus is faced with the difficult decision of whether to support them in a last, glorious charge or find a way to help them rebuild their shattered forces.

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Honour of the Space Marines – Black Library Anthology

Black Library tend to release a short story anthology to coincide with each of their events. The 2014 Weekender was no different, with Honour of the Space Marines available, a six-story anthology featuring everyone’s favourite 41st-millennium super soldiers. As with the other ‘…of the Space Marines’ collections (except perhaps ‘Treacheries of…’) the title is a bit misleading, as this only loosely a themed anthology. It’s more about showing the next steps in story arcs that the authors are already known for, from long-established characters to newer, less familiar faces.

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Sabbat Crusade – edited by Dan Abnett

From humble beginnings back in the 1990s, there are now eighteen books set within the Sabbat Worlds, a region of space originally invented by Dan Abnett to provide a suitable setting for a story about a Commissar who was also a Colonel, and the ragtag bunch of soldiers he commanded. Look how it’s grown! With anticipation as high as ever for Warmaster, the long-awaited next novel in the Gaunt’s Ghosts series, Black Library are whetting our appetite with Sabbat Crusade, the second anthology of stories set within the wider crusade. Edited once again by Abnett and including stories from eight authors (Abnett included) along with previously out of print background on the crusade, it covers both sides of the story, not only the Ghosts and their Imperial allies but also the forces of the Archenemy at play in the region.

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Echoes of War – a Space Marine audio drama collection

As the Echoes of War fade (see what I did there?!), the Space Marines hang up their armour and the dreadnoughts are shuffled back into their long slumbers, it feels worth recapping on a week of excellent audio dramas from Black Library. For me, this collection came at a perfect time; the week before I had been digging around on my PC and found Hunter’s Moon and Thief of Revelations, neither of which I had previously listened to. Having devoured those in short order, it was with a sense of delightful serendipity that I saw Echoes of War listed on the Black Library website, and I didn’t need much persuading to get involved.

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True Name – David Annandale (audio drama)

The fifth and final audio drama of Black Library’s Echoes of War collection, David Annandale’s True Name brings us back to the forces of good, in this case the Grey Knights of Titan. Picking up immediately after the events of Maledictus, Annandale’s Sanctus Reach novella, we follow Epistolary Gared as he struggles against an insidious psychic attack from the daemon Ku’gath Plaguefather. Caught between the daemon and an inbound ork fleet, still bloodied and reeling from their last battle, the Grey Knights face a challenge that will test both their strength and their faith.

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Ahriman: The First Prince – John French (audio drama)

Originally released as part of Black Library’s Echoes of War collection, John French’s The First Prince is part of the wider Ahriman series and has since been released in prose as well. Running to 45 minutes, it’s set some time after the events of the novel Ahriman: Exile, and like most of the other shorter stories within that arc it’s not told from the perspective of Ahriman himself. Instead it focuses on Ctesias, another Thousand Sons sorcerer, who’s balanced precariously on death’s threshold. An unwise choice in the past has led him to a dangerous place, but Ahriman is determined not to see him fall.

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Accept No Failure – Gav Thorpe (audio drama)

Veteran Black Library author Gav Thorpe enters the fray on the third day of Echoes of War, the new collection of five Black Library audio dramas released over the course of this week. Accept No Failure continues his work on the Dark Angels and ties in with the Space Marine Battles novel The Purging of Kadillus, following Captain Belial as he returns to Piscina IV, a planet where once before he fought the orks of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Shamed by his failure to stop Ghazghkull when they met in combat, he now petitions Chapter Master Azrael to wipe Piscina IV clean of orks (and at the same time everything else) with Exterminatus in order to free the Chapter to seek out the warlord and stop him for good. As he does so he looks back on his confrontation with Ghazghkull and considers the actions of his younger, more headstrong self.

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