The Triumph of Saint Katherine sees Danie Ware step away from her ongoing Sister Augusta storyline but remain with the Adepta Sororitas, exploring the life and exploits of the legendary Saint Katherine through tales told by the Sisters who bear her remains into battle. In the midst of a furious campaign, young Sister Avra finds herself chosen to take the place of a fallen Sister in the funerary procession of Saint Katherine. Over the course of the following night, each of her new sisters relates a tale of the saint that represents the ethos of each of the Major Orders of the Adepta Sororitas. While the armies of the Imperium prepare for war around them, the Sisters talk of the past and Avra wrestles with the questions of why she was chosen, and whether she is worthy of the honour.
Structured as a sort of portmanteau, with stories within a story framed by the broader narrative of Avra’s emotional turmoil and a brutal campaign to cleanse a city of cultists, this is a little different to your average 40k novel. There are elements of a regular narrative from Avra’s perspective, but broken up as it is into individual stories told by different narrators it definitely feels like a bit of a campfire tale – leaning into the oral tradition, full of allegory and steeped in legend (albeit with plenty of action to keep the blood pumping). Despite the absence of Sister Augusta, this is very much a continuation of Ware’s usual approach to the Sororitas – human and flawed but full of fire and brimstone, severe and hard-nosed but accompanied by glorious, defiant hymnals. As one of Black Library’s ‘short novels’ (i.e. about 50k words) it perhaps doesn’t have the room to truly dig deep into the identities of the various Major Orders as represented by Avra’s new sisters, but it does a decent job of exploring some of the different aspects of the Sororitas as a whole, and how potential flaws become great strengths when combined and balanced together.
It might not be for everyone with its unusual stylistic approach, and as is often the case with these ‘short novels’ it’s hard not to wish for a bit more of everything. As it stands though, for Adepta Sororitas fans who enjoy Ware’s powerful take on Battle Sisters and can appreciate the spoken word stylings (which probably work very well in audiobook format) this is definitely worth checking out.
See also: all of the other Danie Ware reviews and interviews on Track of Words.
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