Author Archives: Michael Dodd

QUICK REVIEW – Yarrick : The Wreckage – David Annandale

The sixth story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading campaign features another big-name character, this time Commissar Yarrick, in David Annandale’s The Wreckage. Previously only available in an event-only anthology, it’s a smart little story looking at what most will see as one of the core elements of being a commissar – the decision of whether or not to deliver the Emperor’s Judgement to an officer. In this case it’s an inspirational, much-loved Captain whose recklessness has led his men into a lethal trap and threatens to doom them all.

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Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett

Two years and three books after A Hat Full of Sky came Wintersmith, the thirty-fifth Discworld novel and the third in the Tiffany Aching storyline. Once again jumping forward in time it picks up the story with thirteen year-old Tiffany sharing the cottage of one hundred and thirteen year-old Miss Treason, who on the face of things appears to be the very picture of the typical witch – old, creepy and surrounded by tall tales. When Tiffany accidentally draws the attention of the spirit of Winter onto herself, her already busy life becomes a whole lot more interesting.

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A Hat Full of Sky – Terry Pratchett

The thirty-second novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, A Hat Full of Sky is the second to feature the young witch Tiffany Aching after the delight that was The Wee Free Men. Set eighteen months further on, it sees Tiffany leaving the Chalk for the first time and setting off on a sort of witches’ equivalent of an apprenticeship. Away from home for the first time she has to adjust to becoming part of the wider community of witches, all the while being pursued by something with no body or mind, just a great fear and hunger.

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QUICK REVIEW : Dishonoured – Ray Harrison

The fifth story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading is that rare beast, a 40k story where the Space Marines actually lose. In the case of Ray Harrison’s Dishonoured it’s High Marshal Helbrecht and the Black Templars on the receiving end of some serious punishment handed out by the soulless Necrons as they try, and fail, to recapture the outpost of Blight’s Edge. Outfought and outmanoeuvred at every turn, Helbrecht’s fury is directed at himself as much as the Necrons, as he and his men attempt to avert disaster and at least retain their honour.

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QUICK REVIEW : Hollow Beginnings – Mark Clapham

Four days into Black Library’s Summer of Reading and the Space Wolves are back, in Hollow Beginnings by Mark Clapham. Following on from In Hrondir’s Tomb (way back in 2012’s Hammer & Bolter 20, now released as an e-short) it sees Anvindr and his pack braving a burning ork fortress to make sure the warboss is really dead, unwilling to trust to the guns of the Imperial Guard. Billed as looking at the Wolves’ objectives and whether they’re really there to help the Guard, it’s actually much simpler than that – it’s a case of Marines doing what mortals can’t.

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QUICK REVIEW : Monolith – Chris Dows

The third short story in Black Library’s Summer of Reading, Monolith sees Chris Dows return with a second tale of Veteran Sergeant Zachariah and his Elysian Drop Troops (see Hammer & Bolter 21 for the first – The Mouth of Chaos). Here we see Zachariah and his squad attempting a daring high-altitude drop to reinforce a beleaguered Cadian outpost situated at the summit of the titular monolith, facing off against the Traitor Marine Raptors of the Blood Disciples. Forced to fight in the air and on the ground against superior opponents, things look bleak for the Elysians.

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Demon Road – Derek Landy

After nine novels in the successful Skullduggery Pleasant series, Derek Landy’s latest book – Demon Road – sees the start of a brand new series. Swapping wizards and talking skeletons for demons, vampires and a surprising amount of gore, it sees Landy retain much of his usual style while adding in an extra edge that will appeal to slightly older readers than his original series. We follow sixteen year-old Amber, an average American teenager (well, at first anyway) whose life turns upside down when her parents start trying to kill her. With demons on her trail she’s forced to accept help from unexpected quarters, and finds herself on the run through the dark roads of America.

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Tracer – Rob Boffard

In the world of Rob Boffard’s Tracer, mankind has long since abandoned the Earth, leaving behind a ruined planet and taking up residence in an orbiting space station called Outer Earth. Set 100 years into its lifespan we find Outer Earth overcrowded, rusting and faded, its government barely in control and many of its population only just scraping a living. The book follows Riley Hale, a young woman working as a tracer – a sort of courier/gang member – who finds herself and her friends in very real danger after a tricky delivery sees her on the wrong side of some very dangerous people as a crisis erupts which threatens the entire station.

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The Shipping News – Annie Proulx

Despite boasting a Pulitzer Prize and a big-name Hollywood adaptation, Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News is an unhurried and unconventional novel, a simple story which nonetheless requires a fair amount of thought to get the best out of. It follows the life of a man referred to only as Quoyle, one of life’s permanent losers, burdened with crippling self doubt and never quite able to succeed at anything he does. When his painful marriage comes to a harrowing end, he takes his daughters and joins his aunt in returning to the home of his ancestors in the wilderness of Newfoundland, where he tries to start his life over again.

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QUICK REVIEW : One Bullet – Ben Counter

Ben Counter’s contribution to a loose series of Deathwatch-themed stories from Black Library, One Bullet looks at the Ultramarines of Third Company as they face off against a vast army of orks among the wreckage of an industrial city. Led by the fiery rhetoric of a young Chaplain Cassius, and supported by a squad of experienced Sternguard veterans, the Ultramarines must make use of every weapon in their arsenal if they are to emerge victorious.

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