Featuring one of Warhammer 40,000’s most idiosyncratic characters, Robert Rath’s short story War In The Museum sees Trazyn the Infinite, necron overlord of dubious sanity but boundless curiosity, hard at work in his museum of living wonders. While rehydrating a tyranid Hive Tyrant ready for it to take pride of place in one of his installations, something seems amiss – and at first Trazyn approaches the problem with confidence, for what could possibly threaten him in his own galleries? When it becomes clear that a particularly dangerous specimen has got loose, however, he seeks out allies from amongst his exhibits.
What’s not to like about a story featuring an immortal robot curator battling (or at least fleeing from) vicious monsters in the halls of his own museum? It’s a great opportunity to see through Trazyn’s eyes for a brief glimpse of how he works and how he thinks about his exhibits, offering intriguing flashes of Solemnace and its inhabitants. Long-term 40k fans will relish the teasing little Easter eggs thrown in throughout (Trazyn has collected some very interesting specimens over the years), and overall it’s a clever, well-written and tremendously entertaining story that’s very much worth reading whether you’re a necron fan or not.
Many thanks to Robert Rath and Black Library for the review copy of this story, in exchange for an honest review.
