Black Library’s Summer of Reading campaign is a regular fixture on the calendar, a week full of brand new short stories released one a day. Now that this year’s campaign is over, and I’ve published my reviews for all seven short stories, I thought I would take a quick look back at the whole thing, and provide a single place to look for reviews and links for all of the stories. If this is the first you’ve seen about the Summer of Reading, don’t be put off by the distinctly not-very-Warhammer header image – it’s a bit bright and happy for Black Library, but that doesn’t reflect the tone of the stories!
I’ve been keeping track of things like this for five years, and I’m sure I’ve said this pretty much every year (especially considering the stories released in the previous couple of years), but I’ve been really impressed with the quality of storytelling in this batch of short stories. Across the seven titles we got two Horus Heresy tales, two Age of Sigmar stories and three 40k stories, from a fantastic mix of BL authors both well-established and less so. Amongst these tales there’s action, intrigue, mystery, history, creepy weirdness, unexpected humour, familiar characters, new favourites, and loads more.
Crucially, there’s also a bucket load of ambition. These aren’t necessarily straightforward stories – some are more complex than others, but even when they don’t quite work there’s so much to admire in how they stretch the boundaries of the settings and offer something a little different to what’s gone before. Whether that’s by way of unusual narrative structure, introducing an important new character or delving into the background of a brand new faction, focusing on awesome female characters (there are no fewer than three here, but we still need lots of these), or daring to portray a well-known character in an unexpected light, these are all tackling really interesting subjects and characters.
There’s also lots of connective tissue here, as is often the case with these campaigns. Both of the Heresy stories link in with wider plot strands running through the series, one of the 40k stories fills in a gap in an existing series, one of the Age of Sigmar stories features a character about to get a full novel, and from my scourings of the internet it looks like we’ll be seeing more of some of the other characters in due course. For each story I’ve added a comment about where to go for more of the same, or what to look out for.
Without further ado, here’s a roundup of the seven stories complete links to my review for each one…
Two Metaphysical Blades by Chris Wraight
The week opened on a strong, albeit strange, note with this tale of twinned weapons and the two warriors fated to wield them. Don’t let the slightly iffy title put you off – while this isn’t necessarily the easiest of reads, it’s endlessly fascinating and is just another one in a pretty long line of really, really great Chris Wraight Heresy tales.
See also: Wolfsbane by Guy Haley, for a different perspective on Leman Russ.
Click here to buy Two Metaphysical Blades.
Blacktalon: When Cornered by Andy Clark
Neave Blacktalon is the first named female Stormcast Eternal character in the Age of Sigmar game, so it’s only appropriate that she gets some attention in Black Library fiction. This makes a great introduction to her character within the confines of a typically entertaining and action-packed Clark story, and is well worth checking out for a slightly different style of Stormcast story.
See also: the upcoming novel Blacktalon: First Mark by Andy Clark.
Click here to buy Blacktalon: When Cornered.
A Company of Shadows by Rachel Harrison
Rachel Harrison’s previous Imperial Guard short story was one of my absolute highlights from 2017, and with this story she’s comfortably proved that it wasn’t a one-off. These characters are instantly memorable, and there’s a real sense that they’re part of something bigger which hasn’t yet been revealed. Seriously, if you’ve got any interest at all in Guard stories then this really should be high up on your list to check out.
See also: Execution by Rachel Harrison, which this follows on from. I also read in a recent interview that Rachel is working on a novel featuring the same characters, so keep an eye out for that!
Click here to buy A Company of Shadows.
The Armour of Fate by Guy Haley
We all enjoy reading Black Library fiction because we love the worlds of Warhammer, and a big part of that is, of course, war. Sometimes, however, it’s nice to read something a little less bombastic, with the opportunity to see characters in less aggressive situations. That’s exactly what this little gem of a story offers, with loads of great dialogue and a knowing glimpse of a side to Guilliman that we haven’t seen much of in the past.
See also: the Games Workshop background book The Rise of the Primarch, and Dark Imperium by Guy Haley – plus the upcoming Dark Imperium: Plague War.
Click here to buy The Armour of Fate.
The Learning by David Guymer
One of the intriguing things that the Age of Sigmar offers is the chance to explore completely brand new factions, something that simply wasn’t possible in the Old World and – for now at least – seems unlikely in 40k. This is Guymer’s second story featuring the Idoneth Deepkin and he’s continuing to do a great job of emphasising just how creepy this faction is, and how different they are to anything else in the setting. It was an inspired choice to focus on an embailor rather than one of the warrior caste for this story, as well.
See also: The Sea Taketh by David Guymer for a different perspective on the idoneth. From hints on Twitter, it looks like David’s working on an Idoneth Deepkin novel.
Click here to buy The Learning.
Lightning Run by Peter McLean
It’s a close call as there are so many good stories here, but I’d say this is my favourite out of the seven. McLean manages to be pacy and cram in loads of great action – it’s so much fun to right inside the cockpit alongside Sal as she races against the clock – but also set a tone that’s SO dark, as demonstrated by the horrifying choices Sal’s forced into making. A couple of moments here really had me shuddering, and it left me feeling that this is just such a great summation of what makes 40k so different to any other sci-fi universe. It’s really, really good.
See also: Baphomet by Night by Peter McLean for a Guard story that’s even darker than this. From Twitter, it sounds like Peter’s working on more Guard & Navy stories.
Click here to buy Lightning Run.
Prologue to Nikaea by David Annandale
The weak link in the campaign, for me personally this one was a bit of a disappointment. It’s not so much that it’s a fundamentally bad story, and in fact I think the concept – adding a little context to the decisions made regarding the Librarius at Nikaea – is really interesting and worth exploring. My biggest problem is simply that it doesn’t quite achieve its lofty goals, and I finished the story without feeling like I’d learned anything important.
See also: the short audio drama First Lord of the Imperium by LJ Goulding and maybe A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill and/or Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett.
Click here to buy Prologue to Nikaea.
So there you have it, the seven short stories from the 2018 Black Library Summer of Reading campaign. Off the back of these I’m more excited than ever to get hold of Blacktalon: First Mark and Dark Imperium: Plague War, to find out what’s coming next for the Horus Heresy, and to see what’s in the pipeline from Guymer, Harrison and McLean.
I’d love to hear what you think of these tales, so if you’ve got any comments or questions please do let me know either in the comments below, on Facebook or Twitter, or by emailing me at michael@trackofwords.com.