A Kharadron Overlords novella for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Graeme Lyon’s Code of the Skies is a pacy, action-packed and well-observed tale of the conflict between head and heart. Admiral Borri Kraglan has a reputation for rash decisions, and when a strange duardin artefact is discovered in the treasury of a conquered Dreadhold, she convinces her crews to bend the Kharadron Code and follow her on a dangerous mission. Borri believes the artefact is a map to the location of the fabled lost sky-hold Barak-Zhoff, but she risks breaking more than just the Code on her journey to find it.
Warhammer dwarfs – now duardin – have always been defined by honour, pride, family and ancestry, concepts which for the Kharadron Overlords are processed through the lens of commerce and profitability. Lyon cleverly bakes those into this story by way of characters with a tangible sense of complicated history – Borri has among her crews a young arkanaut named Orrum Steelfist, who idolises the admiral but with whose father Borri has a strained relationship of old. As much as the mission to try and find Barak-Zhoff, this story is about these three characters variously bonding, clashing, reliving past grudges and coming to terms with their relationships.
Lyon builds a compelling narrative which balances the overarching mission and the ongoing character development with the opportunity to see a little of how Kharadron society operates both onboard and away from their ships, and to explore some of the fantastical locations in the Realm of Metal. It takes in action, emotion, a little bit of duardin deviousness and some careful calculations as Borri leads her followers to the gleaming decks of Barak-Nar and then out across Chamon, switching between a few different viewpoint characters but always coming back to the key pair of Borri and Orrum. Whether battling enemies in the air, on the ground or deep underground, the plot is always moving forward, and Lyons’ engaging, relaxed dialogue brings the characters to vivid life.
There’s a lot to fit in to just a 120-page novella, but overall the story feels like the right size for this length of book. If nitpicking then a little of the action could maybe have been trimmed, and the narrative is perhaps a little telegraphed – it’s not hard to see where the final third is going, in particular – but when the story is this much fun, none of that really matters. This does exactly what a Black Library novella should, telling a compact, characterful and hugely entertaining story with a compelling cast and an engaging sense of depth and history. It offers a fascinating glimpse of the wild flights of imagination that are possible in the Age of Sigmar setting, and leaves scope for plenty more stories in future.
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