Author Archives: Michael Dodd

QUICK REVIEW: The Lost King – Robbie MacNiven

Part one of another serialised Space Wolf novel, this time from Robbie MacNiven, The Lost King picks up the story where David Annandale left off in Curse of the Wulfen. While the immediate threat has been defeated, the embattled Wolves are still fighting on against the forces of Chaos across the entire Fenris system. With rumours circulating that Logan Grimnar has fallen, and an Imperial fleet led by the Dark Angels approaching in search of answers, the remaining Space Wolves are not out of danger. Something sinister is pulling strings from the shadows, but the players are not all out in the open yet.
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QUICK REVIEW : Allegiance – Chris Wraight

Available within either the Sedition’s Gate or War Without End anthologies [EDIT: and now as a standalone e-short], Chris Wraight’s short story Allegiance takes an interesting look at the concept of loyalty in a legionary by asking if it’s possible for a member of one legion to change his allegiance to another legion entirely. Following on directly from Scars it focuses on Revuel Arvida, the Thousand Sons legionary recuperating in the company of Yesugei and the White Scars. As he slowly heals, recovering his esoteric talents alongside his physical health, he realises Yesugei is both testing him and hoping to persuade him to join the White Scars permanently.
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Scars – Chris Wraight

First released as a twelve-part serialisation before being recombined as a standard novel, Chris Wraight’s Scars is the 28th novel in Black Library’s Horus Heresy series. It opens with the White Scars isolated on the fringes of the Great Crusade, only just beginning to receive contradictory reports of the events taking place elsewhere in the galaxy. Railing against the powers aiming to manipulate him – Russ’ Wolves request aid against the Alpha Legion in the Alaxxes Nebula, while a separate XXth Legion fleet blockades the Scars within the Chondax system – Jaghatai Khan chooses his own path and sets out to discover the truth of what’s really happening.
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Echoes of the Long War – David Guymer (The Beast Arises Book Six)

Echoes of the Long War, book six in the Beast Arises series and the first from David Guymer, sees the halfway point in this twelve book series. Picking things up after the events of Throneworld it focuses mostly on the Fists Exemplar, specifically newly-promoted First Captain Zerberyn as he he drags the Exemplar fleet into battle with the orks in support of Black Templar Marshal Magneric and his unusual allies. Elsewhere we see Koorland and Vangorich attempting to take control of the situation back on Terra, and Magos Urquidex conspiring against his Martian masters, feeding information back to Vangorich.
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Throneworld – Guy Haley (The Beast Arises Book Five)

IMPORTANT: This is book five in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter, Predator, Prey, The Emperor Expects or The Last Wall.

Black Library’s The Beast Arises series continues with book five, Throneworld by Guy Haley. Following on from the disastrous events of The Last Wall, it sees the ork attack moon still looming in orbit over Terra and the High Lords paralysed by fear, while a troupe of Harlequins emerges from the Webway into the Imperial Palace in search of an audience with The Emperor himself. Meanwhile in the Phall system the Imperial Fist successor chapters gather their strength to form the Last Wall, in preparation for striking back at the orks. As Koorland leads a largely unified force to the defence of a conflicted Terra, elsewhere Marshall Magneric of the Black Templars pursues the Iron Warriors of Warsmith Kalkatos right into the teeth of the oncoming orks.
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Blades of Damocles – Phil Kelly

The first full-length Space Marine Battles book from Black Library since 2015’s Damocles anthology, Phil Kelly’s Blades of Damocles takes us back to before the time of its predecessor to look at the events of the first Damocles Gulf Crusade. Here we see sergeants Numitor and Sicarius of the Ultramarines 8th Company, still young and prior to their ascension to company captaincy, taking the fight to the Tau on the sept world of Dal’yth. As the headstrong assault marine sergeants lead their forces into battle, Commander Farsight leads the Tau defence in the name of the Greater Good.
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Legends of the Dark Millennium : Space Wolves – Black Library Anthology

Originally serialised in eight separate short stories spread out over a period of months, Legends of the Dark Millennium – Space Wolves now collects together these stories from four Black Library authors into a single volume. Not so much an anthology as a collective novel, it focuses on Ulrik the Slayer and Krom Dragongaze as they embark on a desperate search for Logan Grimnar after the Great Wolf fails to return from his Great Hunt. Each author tackles two parts of the wider story, beginning with Ben Counter and moving through Steve Lyons and Rob Sanders before finishing off with CL Werner.
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QUICK REVIEW: Wrath of the Wolf – CL Werner

Black Library’s eight-part Space Wolf mini-series comes to an end with CL Werner’s second contribution, Wrath of the Wolf. Having prevented a chaos ritual with the unlikely assistance of the Alpha Legion, Ulrik the Slayer and Krom Dragongaze follow a new lead into the Eye of Terror as they continue to seek out Logan Grimnar. Reaching the planet Dargur, where Bjorn himself once searched for Leman Russ, they embark on the final leg of their long hunt with the small matter of a chaos world between them and Grimnar.
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Nomad – James Swallow

Perhaps best known for his work in sci-fi universes such as Star Trek and Warhammer 40k, James Swallow’s latest novel Nomad is book one in the Marc Dane series, a global spy thriller featuring a betrayed MI6 agent fighting to survive and clear his name. Marc Dane, a MI6 support agent used to a role away from the line of fire, finds himself the sole survivor of his team as they investigate a lead on a terrorist attack only to walk into a deadly trap. With the blame for the disaster laid at his feet he soon finds himself on the run, on a desperate mission to expose the real traitor in MI6’s ranks and prevent an even worse act of global terrorism.
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The Last Wall – David Annandale (The Beast Arises Book Four)

IMPORTANT: This is book four in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter, Predator, Prey or The Emperor Expects.

For book four in Black Library’s The Beast Arises series – The Last Wall – the baton passes to David Annandale to carry on the story started by Dan Abnett and continued by Rob Sanders and Gav Thorpe. At this point in the series Terra’s reeling from the shock of an ork moon appearing in orbit – with the Navy much too far away to intervene and the Imperial Fists wiped out, the home world is left essentially defenceless. Much to the relief of the population, and the bafflement of the High Lords, the orks don’t immediately attack, which gives Juskina Tull – Speaker for the Chartist Captains – the opportunity to put into action an audacious plan to arm the population and take on the attack moon with sheer weight of numbers.
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