The fifth 2015 Advent Calendar story from Black Library, Ben Counter’s Gift of the Gods features the disgraced, exiled Chaos Lord Antonidas Hajos of the Dire Claws, abandoned on feudal jungle world after leading a failed coup within this chapter. Accompanied by a handful of his warriors and driven on by anger and pride, he sets out to turn the locals to the worship of the chaos gods, undertaking a series of tasks to prove his worth. The question remains though, will this be enough to set him on the path to revenge and glory?
There’s a neat, unusual idea here, taking a look at a Chaos Lord down on his luck and forced to improvise, and it’s nice to see something a bit different from the usual Army A vs Army B story. As a protagonist Hajos is a bit one dimensional, but is nonetheless quite an enjoyable character in the context of a story whose focus is more on providing a simple, fun narrative as opposed to giving much in the way of character development. The dialogue is a bit stilted in places, and there could maybe have been a bit more definition in the narrative, but overall while there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking here it’s entertaining enough to be worth a read.
Click here to go to the main Black Library Advent Calendar post and see the other reviews.
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