The Idoneth make their Black Library novel debut with David Guymer’s The Court of the Blind King, a tale of power, privilege and intrigue amongst the dysfunctional aelven families of the Deepkin. After the death of his mother, the spoiled and sheltered Prince Lurien naturally assumes that the throne of Briomdar will be his…right up until it’s taken from him. Escaping Briomdar with the unlikely assistance of a manipulative, ambitious namarti named Namaríel, he sets out in search of allies from distant enclaves, determined to take back what was his by right. To the isolated, suspicious Idoneth, however, Lurien is young and untested, and any offers of alliance come with steep prices.
Category Archives: Black Library
Alec Worley Talks Battle Sisters and Broken Saints
With a new three-part audio drama – Broken Saints – being released as part of Black Library’s 2019 Advent Calendar series, there’s no better time to hear from the fantastic Alec Worley about his ongoing series of Sister Adamanthea stories. If you haven’t read (or listened to) any of these stories so far, now is a perfect time to check out a series that’s continuing to grow and explore more angles of this intriguing character. I wanted to talk to Alec about this series, who Adamanthea is and what readers can expect from these stories, but also get his thoughts on the Sisters of Battle in general…
QUICK REVIEW: The Sanguinalia Day Massacre – Justin D. Hill
Justin D. Hill’s Necromunda short story The Sanguinalia Day Massacre tells a tale of greed, power and uprising in the underhive, a grimdark retelling of Spartacus with the violence and brutality turned up to 11. Pitboss Barras has everything in place for the big showdown, pitting Thrax’s crew of low-hive scummers against the pick of his prized Goliath fighters, but when things don’t go quite to plan a chain reaction is triggered that leads inexorably to rebellion. For Thrax, condemned to die in the pits for the killing of his parents, a lifetime of suffering is about to boil over.
QUICK REVIEW: The Age of Enlightenment – David Guymer
Picking up after the novel Champion of the Gods, David Guymer’s short story The Age of Enlightenment sees Hamilcar, no longer a Lord-Castellent, led to the Unchained Lands in Ghur by his Knight-Questor geas. Arriving at a strange, shrouded fortress besieged by the endless forces of Nagash, he begrudgingly joins the dour, gloomy Lord-Celestant Settrus and his Imperishables in its defence. Electing to search for its secrets rather than stand on the walls alongside its defenders, Hamilcar unearths an ancient and troubling mystery at the heart of the fortress, which he’s then forced to protect against a worryingly powerful enemy.
QUICK REVIEW: Champions, All – Marc Collins
A story of duty, faith, sacrifice and really big swords, Marc Collins’ Champions, All (his second short story for Black Library) is a tale of the Black Templars with bonus Sisters of Battle. As the battered remnants of the Edioch Crusade prepare a head-on assault against an ork-held fortress, once protected by the Order of the Valorous Heart, Emperor’s Champion Cenric receives a vision from the Emperor Himself. When he’s separated from his brothers during the battle he finds his faith tested, but his purpose is renewed by striking at the heart of the orks alongside a lone Sister Repentia.
Heirs of Grimnir – David Guymer
David Guymer’s three-part Age of Sigmar audio Heirs of Grimnir revisits a character from Realmslayer and explores the dynamic between the quarreling Runesons of the Unbaki. Disaster has struck the lodge, as its Runefather and eldest Runeson have been found murdered and Aruk-Grimnir’s legacy chest – the means for deciding succession – stolen. The Unbaki’s enemies are legion, but only a great power could have committed such a terrible crime. Alongside his remaining brothers and the elderly Battlesmith Firebrand, sixth and youngest Runeson Forn sets out to retrieve the chest, discover who is to become the new Runefather of the Unbak lodge, and take revenge for the dead.
RAPID FIRE: David Guymer Talks The Court of the Blind King
Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author David Guymer about his new Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel The Court of the Blind King, which is available to pre-order tomorrow in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats. It’s the first time the Deepkin have had a novel of their own, so if you’re interested in this (relatively) new breed of Warhammer aelves, this is the book to check out!
David Guymer and Steve Conlin Talk Dwarfs, Duardin and Heirs of Grimnir
With his latest Black Library audio drama being released as part of the 2019 Black Library Advent Calendar series, I got in touch with author David Guymer to find out a bit more about what we can expect from the three-part Age of Sigmar story Heirs of Grimnir. Seeing as David has written rather a lot about slayers, fyreslayers and various other varieties of dwarfs (and duardin) over the years, I asked if he would also offer some of his thoughts on Age of Sigmar duardin, old-school Warhammer dwarfs, and how this story fits in with the rest of his Realmslayer series.
As you might have guessed from the title of the interview, this also sees the debut appearance on Track of Words of voice actor extraordinaire Steve Conlin. As well as providing the public face of legendary Games Workshop founder James Workshop, Steve plays the lead role in Heirs of Grimnir and an important role in Realmslayer, so it only seemed appropriate that he should contribute…in his own inimitable style…some insights and additional thoughts to the interview. You’ll see some of Steve’s comments scattered throughout, and then a few specific questions for him at the end.
QUICK REVIEW: The Child Foretold – Nicholas Kaufmann
Nicholas Kaufmann’s debut for Black Library is a Warhammer Horror short story, a tale of loss, loneliness and belonging for an isolated man. Kavel Trake was once a soldier in the militia, until the orks came to Ballard’s Run. Since then, having lost his family, his leg and his purpose, he’s eked out a living as a farmer with little to do but work and drink. When a dying woman stumbles onto his secluded farm and begs him to care for a babe in arms, he finds both a surprising sense of newfound purpose and the beginnings of a dark path.
QUICK REVIEW: The Revelation of the Word – David Annandale
David Annandale’s 25-minute Horus Heresy audio drama The Revelation of the Word features a great cast of Black Library audio stalwarts and tackles one of the most delicious ironies of the series. During his Shadow Crusade against Guilliman’s 500 Worlds, Lorgar Aurelian’s meditations are disturbed by one of his sons bringing word of a strange discovery. Travelling to its source, Lorgar finds an underground church and a congregation basing their forbidden worship of the Emperor on the Lectitio Divinitatus. Aurelian’s initial rage as his words are turned against him soon gives way to further scorn of his distant father’s followers.