Not only have we reached the end of December, but we’ve come to the very end of 2019! I’ve talked recently about my personal favourite Black Library novels of the year, in my January to June and July to December articles as well as a post on the Warhammer Community site, but in this article I’m taking my usual look back at what I’ve been reading over the last few weeks. December is always an interesting month for me as it brings with it the Black Library Advent Calendar – 24 new short stories/audios – and I try to cram in as much reading as I possibly can before the end of the year.
For this particular Monthly Highlights article I’ve picked out a Black Library anthology, my favourite short story from the BL Advent series and an occult spy thriller, each of which has really caught my attention. Those three only scratch the surface of the great stories I’ve been reading in December though, so I’ve also highlighted a few more of my favourite stories from the Advent Calendar as well as a selection of the novels and novellas that I enjoyed the most. Without further ado, let’s get straight on with the highlights!
Inferno! Volume 4
As my first pick for December I’m slightly cheating, because I’ve gone for an anthology which I’ve been slowly reading since October, but which I finished in December. You might have seen that so far I’ve posted seven reviews of the stories featured in this anthology; I’m still planning to write reviews for the remaining five, but with Advent fast approaching I decided to abandon my usual process of reviewing each one as soon as I’ve read it and just blast through to finish the book. I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer, because finishing this book has confirmed a suspicion which started growing after just a few stories – it’s a tight call, but I think this is the best instalment of Inferno! of the four so far!
Don’t get me wrong, each of the previous three volumes have been fantastic, and have featured some genuinely brilliant stories. This one, however, raises the bar even higher. From Age of Sigmar to 40k by way of Necromunda, each and every story in this anthology is top notch, whether continuing existing series (The Sorcerer’s Tale, A Firstborn Exile and The Manse of Mirrors), kicking a new series off (The Karsharat Abomination*, The Hand of Harrow) or telling a standalone story (Journey of the Magi, The Serpent’s Bargain, Salvage Rites, Green and Grey, The Fourfold Wound, Where Dere’s Da Warp Dere’s A Way, Blackout). I can’t even pick a favourite, these are all so good, but it’s certainly interesting to read a story from a greenskin perspective (Mike Brooks’ Where Dere’s Da Warp…)!
If you’re yet to take the plunge with Inferno! I can’t think of a better place to start than this, and it would actually make a great place for someone to start with Black Library in general – despite three stories featuring existing characters, as they all work on their own too. With a mixture of settings, styles and characters and featuring a fantastic selection of authors – many of whom are up and coming but very much ones to keep an eye on – there really should be something for everyone here. Action, excitement, tension, drama, emotional gut-punches (looking at you, Edoardo Albert and Eric Gregory), desperation, politics, magic…it’s all here. It really, really is a damn fine collection.
* Ok, technically this one continues George Mann’s series of comics featuring Sabbathiel, but it’s the first actual Black Library story to feature her.
Check out my reviews of the first seven short stories in Inferno! Volume 4.
Skull Throne by Jake Ozga – from the Black Library Advent Calendar
I could have chosen several fantastic stories from this year’s BL Advent Calendar to pick out here, but I’ve gone for this one because it’s so clever, so well put together and, ultimately, so different to the vast majority of Black Library stories. A big attraction of the Warhammer Horror label is the opportunity it offers to explore low-key, strange corners of the Warhammer settings, which this story very much does – it’s set in a quiet, desolate part of Shyish, and features a virtually silent protagonist who’s about as far removed from the usual heroic Warhammer character as you can get.
I would say it goes beyond that as well, with a style and approach that requires a little patience but rewards you with thoughtful, clever storytelling. Melancholy and mournful, it’s a story which harks back to the ambiguity of some really old-school Warhammer stories, gradually giving you all the information you need but ultimately asking you to make your own decision as to exactly what it means in the end. I don’t imagine it’s going to be for everyone, but if you’re enjoying the Warhammer Horror range so far and you like stories that take their time and offer up fresh viewpoints, then this might just be what you’ve been looking for.
Check out my review of Skull Throne.
Just a quick note here as well to say that the Advent Calendar was excellent (as usual) this year, and included lots of fantastic stories. A few other personal highlights were Justin D. Hill’s The Sanguinalia Day Massacre (Necromunda), Michael R. Fletcher’s Strong Bones (Age of Sigmar – Ossiarch Bonereapers), Mike Brooks’ Serpents of Ardemis (40k – a prequel to Rites of Passage) and Danie Ware’s The Crystal Cathedral (40k – Sisters of Battle). I thought all of the audio dramas were fantastic as well – I’d say David Annandale’s The Revelation of the Word (Horus Heresy – Lorgar), Chris Dows’ Augur of Despair (Blackstone Fortress) and Alec Worley’s Broken Saints (40k – Sisters of Battle) were my highlights, but they were all excellent!
Check out my recap of the 2019 Black Library Advent Calendar.
The Spider Dance by Nick Setchfield
Way back in January I read Nick Setchfield’s debut novel The War in the Dark, which was a highly entertaining slice of occult thriller action, but the sequel – The Spider Dance – is even better! Imagine a 60’s era James Bond story (minus the troubling bigotry of those early classics) set to the backdrop of a hidden underworld of bone magic and demons, with all the globetrotting adventure you can throw a stick at, and you’d be roughly in the right ballpark for this novel. I very much enjoyed the first book, but this one felt simpler, more straightforward, and benefited from a slightly more focused narrative.
I do love a good thriller, whether it’s old-school Ian Fleming or something more modern like James Swallow’s Marc Dane series, and Setchfield does a brilliant job of making sure The Spider Dance hits all the right notes for what is essentially a spy novel. Once you start adding in all the intriguing occult/supernatural stuff as well – vampires, erovores (succubi and incubi), dark magic and sinister underworlds – you get a hugely engaging sense of darkness and mystery as well. The two elements combine beautifully, and come together to form a gripping, pacy and characterful novel that I really enjoyed.
I haven’t got a review for this one just yet, but keep an eye out for one coming soon via the British Fantasy Society. I’ve written it and sent it off, and I’ll link out to it once it’s published.
Highlights from everything else I’ve been reading
At this point I usually look ahead to what I’m excited about in the next month, but this time I’m going to take a quick look at a few other books I’ve read this month instead. I’ve been keeping busy writing Advent reviews so haven’t had the time to review all of these, but here are a few quick thoughts about some more excellent books:
- The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang: a fantastic introduction to an East Asian-derived fantasy setting, this is a gripping novella about twins being gradually drawn to opposite sides of a political divide, with magic, mythical creatures and questions of gender baked into the setting.
- The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman: imagine if Indiana Jones was a no-nonsense female librarian, sent out across multiple worlds to collect specific books and bring them back to a dimension-spanning Library. Add in an excitable mixture of dragons, sort-of magic and pulp literary references and you’d have something like this!
- Ragged Alice by Gareth L. Powell: no cigar-chomping simians or sentient spaceships this time, just a low-key supernatural crime novella set in a sleepy Welsh seaside town. I wish this had been longer and could have dug more into the uncanny elements which don’t quite get to shine, but even so it’s another great story from the excellent Powell.
- Low Lives by Denny Flowers: picking up where The Hand of Harrow (from Inferno! Volume 4) left off, this is a witty and action-packed Necromunda novella which does a fantastic job of bringing the underhive to vibrant life. It’s a lot of fun, but there’s more here than just jokes and sharp banter. It looks like Flowers is one to watch!
- The Court of the Blind King by David Guymer: a tale of privilege and intrigue amongst the dysfunctional Deepkin, this does an excellent job of adding detail and depth (excuse the pun) to this darkly compelling race of underwater aelves. Protagonist Prince Lurien might not be the most sympathetic character, but he grows on you. Eventually.
***
So those were my reading highlights from December – as usual, it’s been a busy month! I’d love to hear about what you’ve enjoyed reading or listening recently, so do drop me a line in the comments below, or get in touch on Twitter. I’ll be back with another roundup post towards the end of January, to look back at the best books from the start of 2020!