Andy Clark’s Age of Sigmar novel Gloomspite is straight-up disturbing…and the best thing he’s written yet. A tale of family, loyalty and heroism as the Bad Moon rises over Aqshy, it’s crammed full of insects, spiders, lurking horrors and stomach-churning fungus-based disgustingness. Grief-stricken Hendrick Saul and his Swords of Sigmar make for Draconium to deliver a hard-earned warning of dark omens and death to the city’s protectors, and honour a fallen comrade. Finding themselves trapped in a city beset by sinister disturbances and dire portents, the mercenaries begrudgingly join the defences but aren’t prepared for the darkness that’s rising to engulf Draconium.
It’s essentially a siege story crossed with a classic fantasy adventure, complete with brave band of disparate heroes – flawed leader, troubled priest, brilliant but distant engineer, etc. – alongside the stalwart, sometimes over-proud defenders of the city against an apparently overwhelming enemy. This enemy, however, starts off as just a looming sense of disquiet before evolving to become the deeply unpleasant spectacle of fairy tales brought to lethal, horrifying life. Clark builds the tension slowly, giving himself time to properly introduce his characters and set the stakes before unleashing the full disturbing panoply of Gloomspite horribleness on the city (and the reader). It really is disturbing, too – no specifics, for risk of spoilers, but Clark paints a vivid, unsettling picture of the icky, ‘I-think-I-need-a-shower-now’ effects the Bad Moon has on everything it touches. Suffice to say, you’ll never look at mushrooms the same way after reading this.
The sheer, overwhelming sense of wrongness and despair when everything comes to a head is particularly powerful, but the nastiness isn’t limited to the side-effects of the Bad Moon. The Gloomspite Gitz themselves – grots, troggoths, squiqs etc. – are largely kept as distant antagonists (no greenskin POV scenes, for example, although Skragrott himself does make an enjoyable appearance) but that gives them a real sense of danger and avoids any chance of them coming across as comedic. These are not cheeky little goblins – they’re murderous, insane monsters that bring with them fear and pain and death, and the toll they take on Draconium’s defenders is appalling. It’s not all grossness, though – Clark’s usual characterful, entertaining brand of storytelling is on display once again, so all the nastiness fits into a pacy, action-packed adventure complete with strong characters and a compelling narrative that goes beyond just providing a reason for a big scrap.
With all the icky nastiness on display, this really isn’t for the squeamish, but it doesn’t go too far either. It could have been easy for Clark to make it bugs and blood and horror from start to finish, but instead he’s applied the worrying contents of his imagination with judicious, effective care, balancing out the darkness by carrying on the trend in Age of Sigmar fiction of exploring the realities of mortal life (no Stormcasts here, for example) in the Realms, and making sure there’s a strong personal element on display. In particular, the relationships within the Swords of Sigmar allow him to explore themes of family and faith, and help ground the story and provide some impressive moments of genuine emotion amidst the carnage. Readers hoping for greenskin viewpoints won’t find them here, but anyone looking for a powerful, horror-tinged story exploring the impact of the Gloomspite Gitz should find an awful lot to enjoy. As Age of Sigmar stories go this is dark and disturbing and comfortably up there with the best.
Check out the main Age of Sigmar reviews page on Track of Words.
This is the only non-40K Black Library book I’ve bought so far; not yet read it – would you advise readers need to know much background of AoS / realms beforehand to understand it properly, or will it make sense with limited to little preknowledge?
Nah, I don’t think so. Knowledge of the background would probably help in some respects, but I wouldn’t say it’s *necessary*. This isn’t a book about the big picture of the Mortal Realms, so I think you should be able to enjoy it whether you’re familiar with the setting or not.
Thanks Michael! 🙂
Not a big fan of A. Clark work in 40K (too Hollywood-y) but bought this because it’s one of the best covers I’ve ever seen. Your review makes me excited to read.
Hope you enjoy it!
It’s hard for me to judge between this novel and scourge of fate for the best AOS book I’ve read but it’s close
It’s excellent, isn’t it? For me personally, I’d say it’s between Gloomspjte, Spear of Shadows, The Red Feast and Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods 🙂