Somehow we’ve reached the start of October, and the final quarter of the year – how did that happen? Before September completely fades from memory, I’m having a good look back at everything I read (or listened to) and reviewed last month in order to pick out a few highlights. Planning out what I wanted to write this month, I realised that these Monthly Highlights posts have got a little bloated of late, so I’ve trimmed things down for this one. Also, rather than picking one top highlight and two notable mentions, this month I’m going with three top picks as I simply couldn’t choose between them.
For September’s highlights I’ve gone with three novels – two books published in the last few weeks, and another one a little less new. First up I’ve picked The Lords of Silence by Chris Wraight – the first ‘bad guy’ Black Library book from Chris and a typically fascinating, heavily researched and thought-provoking novel. Chris tends to really dig beneath the skin of whatever faction he’s writing about, and that’s exactly what he’s done with this book, which takes a long look at what life is like in and around the Death Guard. Before reading it that’s pretty much what I had been hoping for, but even so I wasn’t really prepared for just how deep this goes – there are all sorts of lovely little touches like the way in which the Death Guard refer to nurglings fondly as ‘Little Lords’, but beyond that it really goes into detail about the way they see themselves and their place in the galaxy.
What’s also interesting about The Lords of Silence is that it’s really not a conventional novel, neither in terms of Black Library overall or in terms of Chris’ usual writing style. Don’t get me wrong, it’s as well written and enjoyable as you’d expect from Chris, but it’s structured in a non-linear fashion which means that you don’t really find out exactly what’s going on until a fair way into the book. It’s a little bit like reading an Iain M. Banks book, in that you have to just relax and trust that everything’s going to be explained eventually. I really quite like that, but I don’t think I’ve read anything by Chris before which takes that approach. It’s also all told in present tense, which I think probably helps get into the Death Guard mindset, and paced in a way which to me cleverly reflected the pace at which the Death Guard do pretty much everything. Overall it’s a really smart book, albeit a touch strange; check out my review here, or my Rapid Fire interview with Chris here.
Mike Lee’s Crimson Fists novel Legacy of Dorn was one of those books that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. I don’t mean to say that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but rather that generally speaking I tend to prefer the more thought-provoking and characterful books to the full-on battlefield action stories, and for better or worse I’d assumed this would be largely in the latter camp. While Legacy of Dorn is undoubtedly a full-force war story jam packed with battles and violence, I was delighted to find that it was also brilliantly characterful, using the action to great effect alongside smart character development and a really interesting perspective on the relationship between Marines and ‘normal’ humans. Check out my review to read more, or my Rapid Fire interview with Mike.
The Crimson Fists’ attitude towards regular humans is explored a little in Rynn’s World, but in Legacy of Dorn there’s a great focus on it, as it deals with a small handful of Marines being forced to work alongside, protect and even train human soldiers in a guerilla war. The way in which the Fists find their attitudes changing over time is really nicely done, and there are a few moments of real unexpected humour as one character or another comes out with something entertainingly (and usually unintentionally) insightful. It’s also fascinating to read another perspective on the war that Rynn’s World dealt with, and while there’s absolutely no requirement to have read that one before tackling this, for me I found it a really rewarding experience to see another author’s take, and also see events through other characters’ eyes – especially as these characters aren’t well-known heroes.
The final book I’ve picked as a September highlight is Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies by Sandy Mitchell. You can read my review right here, or alternatively check out my Rapid Fire interview with Sandy here. Now, I love the Ciaphas Cain series – really love it. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want the default setting for 40k to be humorous, but to my tastes Mitchell manages to nail the tone of the Cain books to absolute perfection, and there’s definitely room in 40k for the occasional bit of humour. To me this series is the Black Library equivalent of AC/DC – it’s variations on the same riff pretty much every time, but it’s a DAMN GOOD riff so I don’t mind, as I know I’m going to enjoy it.
That’s what I expected with Choose Your Enemies, and that’s exactly what I got. It was like the five years since The Greater Good hadn’t happened, and I was reunited with good friends I’d seen only recently. Of course, to say that it was just another Cain story is doing it a bit of an injustice, as it’s a good story in its own right. All the elements that make these stories so good are present and correct, but there still needs to be a decent narrative to hang everything off, and with an entertaining mix of enemies (including hints of an old enemy for fans of the series), plus a welcome return of Amberley Vail to the narrative as well as the footnotes, I was very happy on that front. Mitchell must be one of the most reliable Black Library authors, as everything he’s written has been excellent – and this is no different.
So there you have it, my top three picks for September’s Monthly Highlights – The Lords of Silence by Chris Wraight, Legacy of Dorn by Mike Lee, and Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies by Sandy Mitchell. I’d love to know what you thought of these books if you’ve read any of them, so let me know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll hopefully write another one of these posts at the start of November, looking back at what I’ve read and reviewed in October!