Picking up after the novel Champion of the Gods, David Guymer’s short story The Age of Enlightenment sees Hamilcar, no longer a Lord-Castellent, led to the Unchained Lands in Ghur by his Knight-Questor geas. Arriving at a strange, shrouded fortress besieged by the endless forces of Nagash, he begrudgingly joins the dour, gloomy Lord-Celestant Settrus and his Imperishables in its defence. Electing to search for its secrets rather than stand on the walls alongside its defenders, Hamilcar unearths an ancient and troubling mystery at the heart of the fortress, which he’s then forced to protect against a worryingly powerful enemy.
Once again this shows just how good a handle Guymer has on Hamilcar’s unique voice, delivering laugh-out-loud humour and sharply observed commentary on the Age of Sigmar setting, history and characters while telling a compelling story. In a sense it’s what you’d expect from the series, with all the usual bravado, disarming honesty and reckless bravery – although that’s hardly a problem when it’s this much fun – but it also takes into account Hamilcar’s somewhat changed circumstances (to say much more risks spoilers, but it’s best to have read Champion of the Gods before this) and touches lightly on the enduring question of the price Stormcast pay for their immortality. Rather than a standalone episode this seems to be signposting the direction the series is going to take next, and it looks promising indeed!
This was released as part of the 2019 Black Library Advent Calendar – click here to see the main page for the Advent Calendar on Track of Words, with links to all of the reviews.
Check out the main Age of Sigmar reviews page on Track of Words.
