Hello and welcome to the third instalment of Short and Sweet, my ongoing series of short review roundups. I’m using these roundups to gather together a few brief thoughts on books that I’ve been reading recently but haven’t been able to write full reviews for, concentrating as always on my usual SFF fare. If you’re a Black Library reader, it’s worth pointing out that this is where you’re likely to find most of my BL content in future! In this instalment I’m going to talk about a pair of Black Library books – an Age of Sigmar novel (sort of) and a 40k short story anthology – and a science fiction novella that’s a sequel to something I read and loved in 2019. I could have included more books in this roundup, but I’m going to try and stick to three each time as a nice balanced amount to write about (and for each one I’ve included buy-now links – I’ll receive a small affilliate fee for anything ordered via these links).
Grombrindal: Chronicles of the Wanderer by David Guymer
Incredibly, this is the first Black Library novel to explore the legend that is Grombrindal, the White Dwarf (well, technically the White Duardin now), and it’s a corker. It’s also a little unusual, as it’s actually six short stories (which were originally published in White Dwarf magazine) followed by a short novel called Lords of Stone, Fire and Sky, all bundled together into a single volume. Across the assorted stories therein, it explores a little of what Grombrindal’s purpose is, as he walks among the various strands of duardin-kind offering his unique brand of advice and guidance, and subtly steering events as he goes. It’s not a book where the titular character is front and centre on every page, and it’s not told from his point of view, but it does an excellent job of folding this fascinating, legendary character into the Mortal Realms.
I wasn’t actually planning on buying and/or reading this any time soon, but I happened across a copy while I was visiting Copenhagen and couldn’t resist – it’s a genuinely beautiful edition, with all the gold foiling on the cover, and it had been ages since I last read a Warhammer dwarf/duardin novel. I’m very glad I did pick it up too, as in my opinion this is top-tier David Guymer writing, up there with Hamilcar and Court of the Blind King. If I’m honest I’d have loved the novel part of the book to have been a bit longer so it could have really dug into the characters, but it’s still pretty damn good as it is, and the six short stories are genuinely excellent. Each one stands on its own as a great story, but taken as a whole – and with the sixth story cleverly bringing them all together – they brilliantly portray both the strengths and flaws of the various varieties of duardin. Highly recommended!
Also check out my interview with David Guymer discussing Grombrindal
Check out the links below to order Grombrindal:
Inferno! Presents The Emperor’s Finest
I haven’t actually finished the previous Inferno! Presents anthology (The Inquisition) but I fancied some short stories and this looked interesting, with a nice mix of familiar authors and new or new-ish names. At 380 pages in paperback it’s a decent-sized anthology, featuring a dozen stories that each explore a different Imperial perspective, mostly focusing on the elites of the armed forces – Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Imperial Knights, that sort of thing – although a few also tackle Imperial Assassins, Rogue Traders and even an Imperial Navigator. Unlike its predecessor there’s no connective text linking them together or introducing each story, so it’s definitely an anthology that you can dip in and out of and read in whatever order you like.
Overall (and perhaps unsurprisingly), I would say this will suit readers who like the more action-oriented side of 40k fiction, rather than the more domestic side of things covered by Warhammer Crime or Warhammer Horror. For me the standout stories are those that explore less conventional (for 40k) subjects: JS Collyer’s penal legion story-within-a-story In the Name of Victory, JC Stearns’ Freeblade Knight tale Blood Legacy, and Chris Wraight’s Cadia-set Cargo. There’s a bit too much generic Space Marine/Battle Sister action for my tastes really, and a couple of narrative choices that I can’t quite get behind, but even when things are a little generic it’s all still entertaining enough…just not always truly gripping. Go in expecting action galore though, and you’ll be fine.
Check out the links below to order Inferno! Presents The Emperor’s Finest:
Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather
I read the first novella in this series (duology? Not sure…) – Sisters of the Vast Black – in 2019, and absolutely adored it, and I’d been looking forward to the sequel for some time. Perhaps inevitably, given how much I loved the first book, the second one didn’t quite hit the spot for me in the same way. It’s quite different to the first book, both narratively and thematically, and notably darker right from the beginning. With all of the characters already established it’s less about getting to know them and slowly building up to a mystery, and more about each character being tested, questioning themselves and trying to recapture their faith, everyone at each other’s throats, afraid of the future and fearful of their past catching up.
It’s just as well written as the first, and the characters are still interesting and engaging, and it certainly isn’t bad. I think the nature of it as a sequel though, directly following on from the end of the first book and dealing with the consequences of what happened, just means that it naturally doesn’t have that special sense of wonder and hope that marked the start of the first book in particular. I understand why Rather made the choices she did, and I’ll still pick up another book in this series if she writes more, but while I did enjoy this overall, it definitely lost some of the magic compared to book one.
Check out the links below to order Sisters of the Forsaken Stars:
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That’s everything for this instalment of Short and Sweet. I’ll be back with another one of these review roundups in a few weeks, once I’ve got some more books to talk about! If you have any comments about these roundups, if there’s anything else you’d like to see me cover, or if you’ve read any of the books I’ve covered here, do let me know! You can drop me a line in the comments below, or find me over on Twitter.
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