Available in Black Library’s The Successors anthology, The Sins of My Brothers is the 11th short story in Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil series, and serves as both a fascinating companion to his novel The Reverie and a revelatory extension of his short story The Crown of Thorns. High up on the walls of Kanvolis, the ancient fortress of the Angels Resplendent – now the Angels Penitent – a warrior walks alone, and recounts his story of betrayal, grief and determined purpose. Through his recollections he confesses the part he had to play in his Chapter’s fall, and reveals more of the truth behind this bleak tragedy.
This is a typically strange, introspective story that, in isolation without the context provided by the other interlocking tales that make up the Dark Coil, may not make a whole lot of sense – but is still beautifully crafted, dark and evocative. Taken as another part of the Dark Coil though, it comes into its own as a vital piece of the bigger puzzle, unlocking yet more connections between characters and stories in this series, and providing unexpected revelations and further questions in equal measure. It’s maybe a little less of an overt horror story than The Reverie or Nightbleed, but then Fehervari’s work is always at least horror-adjacent, whether it’s branded as such or not.
However it’s labelled, it’s a quintessential Fehervari story, deliberately ambiguous in places but laden with meaning, emphasising atmosphere and mystery over action and almost entirely eschewing the usual tropes that come with Space Marine-driven stories. To say anything more about the plot risks giving spoilers and detracting from the experience of reading this story and uncovering its truths along the way. Suffice to say it’s another fantastic addition to the Dark Coil, once again demonstrating why this is perhaps the single most compelling, thought-provoking series that Black Library has ever commissioned. It’s not typical BL fare, but it beautifully illustrates the inherent darkness and the sense of untold possibilities that the 40k setting possesses.
Just a word of warning, though. As with many Fehervari stories, this carries the risk of leading the reader down a rabbit hole of hidden meanings and subtle connections. It’s possibly not the ideal entry point to the Dark Coil, although it’s easy to imagine inquisitive readers enjoying this and wanting to understand what they’ve just read, but for experienced Coil Travellers this is likely to provoke an intense urge to revisit earlier stories and read them in the light of the new knowledge this tale provides. As the Sixteenth Psalm of the Testament of Thorns says though, “The pursuit of knowledge rivals the pursuit of beauty in its arrogance. Both quests are born of hubris, yet of the two, the sin of curiosity cuts deeper and leaves the greater wound.”
For more information about the Dark Coil, see my Traveller’s Guide to the Dark Coil article.
Check out the links below to order* The Successors:
*If you buy anything using these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.
If you enjoyed this review and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.
Great review, Michael! I haven’t had the chance to read any of Peter’s stories yet and, from what you’ve written here and elsewhere, I really want to try them. Where’s the best place to start when diving into the Dark Coil?
Thanks Edoardo 🙂 Peter’s work is definitely worth checking out, it’s really interesting! The Dark Coil isn’t really a chronological series so you could in theory start anywhere, but if I had to pick one place to start I would suggest the novel Requiem Infernal, as it spans quite a lot of the threads running throughout the Dark Coil.
If you haven’t already, you could have a look at my ‘Traveller’s Guide to the Dark Coil’ article for more information on some of the worlds and factions that connect the various stories of the Dark Coil 🙂 https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/10/31/a-travellers-guide-to-the-dark-coil/
Thank you, Michael! Great article and once I finish my backlog of books, I’ll dive into the Dark Coil!
Great review! I hope that some day Black Library will publish a Dark Coil omnibus with all of Peter’s novels and short stories collected – though it may take more than one omnibus.
After finishing the story I sat there for a few minutes at a loss of words. Although the start is a bit slow, to me it probably is his best short story yet.
Brilliant, isn’t it? I can 100% understand your response to having finished it!