Nick Horth’s Age of Sigmar book City of Secrets, set in the city of Excelsis in the realm of Ghur, was the first to deal predominantly with mortal characters rather than Stormcast Eternals. Armand Callis is a corporal in the Coldguard, one of only three Freeguild regiments left behind to defend Excelsis while the majority of its forces march to deal with a vast gathering of Orruks. After stumbling upon a sinister plot and accidentally experiencing a powerful prophecy, Callis finds himself working alongside the Witch Hunter Hanniver Toll as they race against time to prevent the city’s destruction.
Callis is a solid, satisfying character; brave and capable but not exceptionally so, a relatable sort of everyman who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time but manages to just about survive through a mixture of skill and luck. Toll, meanwhile, is knowledgeable, well-equipped and connected, and driven by a fierce purpose…but far from infallible. Their enemies at first are human and very grounded, before more fantastical (and more Warhammer-y) antagonists appear later on. Nothing new with any of that, and they tread a path that’s pretty much what you expect, but there’s something really enjoyable about watching things play out in a comfortably familiar way.
What that does, beyond ensuring that the narrative is nicely moving along at all times, is allow Horth to spend a decent amount of time exploring Excelsis and looking at how the various groups of its inhabitants find ways to coexist and survive. It feels much more grounded than the Stormcast-focused Realmgate Wars series, pulling in influences from old-school Warhammer stories as well as non-Warhammer fiction – there’s even a hint of Ankh-Morpork in the cramped streets of the Veins. It’s a delightful breath of fresh air within Age of Sigmar, as is the way Horth incorporates the Stormcasts of the Knights Excelsior, painting them as distant, implacable figures who to the mortal citizens of Excelsis appear as dangerous and, at times, horrifying as any external enemy.
A novella masquerading as a novel, it’s really quite short…but the pace and the simple narrative help it feel satisfying despite its brevity. It all feels quite familiar, but enjoyably so, and while at times it’s somewhat predictable it’s always fun. There’s a clear sense that it was intended to deliberately veer away from the Realmgate Wars style of books and explore a little of Age of Sigmar that hadn’t been shown before, and it does that very well. There are occasional glimpses of tie-in mentionitis, especially when the Tzaangors and other Tzeentch Arcanites turn up, but it largely avoids the pitfalls of the earliest Age of Sigmar stories and manages to feel fresh and valid throughout. It’s not a complex story, but then it doesn’t need to be – straightforward adventures stories are often the most fun, after all!
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I really enjoyed this one as well as some of the latter Realmgate Wars novels. Recently I have also read Overlords of the Iron Dragon and Spear of Shadows. Both of these novels I think really show the potential & scale of the setting. Particularly Spear of Shadows.
I was as big a fan of the Old World as anyone – Warhammer Fantasy is what got me into GW back in the early 90’s but I hope GW and BL continue to develop AOS and that more fans get on board with it. I think the background and stories have been really strong of late – the aforementioned novels as well as new factions like the Kharadron and the Idoneth.
I’ve just finished Spear of Shadows today – couldn’t agree more, lots of the recent AoS books have done brilliant jobs expanding upon the setting and really showing the scope of AoS. Looking at what’s been confirmed to be coming up – The Tainted Heart, The Silver Shard, Blacktalon, Shadespire…it looks like there will be plenty more to enjoy 🙂