Nick Kyme’s Motherlode is a cheeky, irreverent little Blackstone Fortress short story featuring the ratling brothers Rein and Raus, ex-Militarum auxiliaries who survive by virtue of nimble fingers, sharp wits and brotherly teamwork. After ditching their last client and returning to Precipice with valuables to sell, the brothers’ celebratory mood doesn’t last very long. When an attempt to offload their prize goes awry, it soon becomes clear that enemies from their shady past are returning to haunt them, and their survival instincts are going to be sorely tested if they’re to find a way out of this particular pickle.
A pair of ratling twins makes for a naturally strong double act, and Kyme gives them a mouthy and competitive camaraderie, veering rapidly from almost-endearing bickering to instinctive understanding as they stumble from one close shave to the next. There’s lots of fun to be had exploring Precipice from these characters’ mercenary viewpoints, and plenty of opportunities for them to get up to mischief and wriggle their way back out again. In a fairly convoluted plot with multiple antagonists there’s the occasional loose thread which doesn’t quite satisfy, but that notwithstanding this is an entertaining little story which benefits from not taking itself too seriously.
This was released as part of the 2018 Black Library Advent Calendar – click here to see the main page for the Advent Calendar, with links to all of the reviews.
