In a welcome return to the audio format for Hamilcar Bear-Eater, David Guymer’s The Palace of Memory sees the Lord Castellant of the Astral Templars venturing into Shadespire in search of secrets for Sigmar. Lost within the labyrinth of shadeglass, Hamilcar finds himself in the titular palace and confronted with ghosts of his past, facing obstacles even the mighty Bear-Eater can’t defeat with brute strength. Reliving moments of his life both before and after his reforging, Hamilcar is forced to consider that his faith in Sigmar might not be quite what he claims it to be.
Category Archives: Audio
QUICK REVIEW: The Deserter – Justin D Hill
Justin D. Hill’s 27-minute audio drama The Deserter holds the honour of being the first ever Necromunda audio drama from Black Library, and delivers a character-driven story that cuts to the heart of life in the underhive. Corenne and her mother have been driven out of their home and forced to scrape a living in Dust Falls, scrabbling in the dust and hawking what few possessions they still have. Starving and desperate, Corenne turns to a strange, barely-lucid ex-soldier in the hope that he can help her reclaim her home, but the Deserter seems bound to let her down.
Realmslayer – David Guymer
After the fateful events of Slayer, and the death of the Old World, it looked for a while as though we’d seen the end of Gotrek and Felix. In David Guymer’s Realmslayer, however, Gotrek steps into the Age of Sigmar, doom unfulfilled, angrier than ever, missing his axe, and wondering what’s going on. Oh, and voiced by Brian Blessed too! Across a four-part audio drama Gotrek battles his way through Aqshy and Shyish in the dubious company of fyreslayers, a Khainite aelf, a necromancer and even a manling or two, searching for his place in this new world…and also Felix.
QUICK REVIEW: Hallowed Knights: The Denied – Josh Reynolds
A short, twenty-ish minute ‘commuter audio’, Josh Reynolds’ The Denied is part of the wider Hallowed Knights series although it features new characters rather than familiar faces. Fulfilling an oath to the Collegiate Arcane, Knight-Questor Akastus has tracked down the aelf corsair Salekh after the theft of a dangerous artifact. Akastus plans to return to Hammerhal Ghyra and hand the corsair over for punishment, but as he marches Salekh in chains through the insalubrious docklands, it becomes clear that other forces are on the hunt for his prisoner as well, on behalf of ‘she who was denied’.
Taker of Heads – Ian St. Martin
Taker of Heads is a 70 (ish) minute Mortifactors audio drama which sees Ian St. Martin return to the character of Adoni from his short story Deathwatch: Swordwind. This time it’s a story of Adoni’s youth, as he and his fellow neophytes are deployed to the jungle world of Aztlan to aid the embattled, outclassed Imperial Guard in their fight against the cunning t’au. There’s more at stake for Adoni than just defeating the t’au however, as this mission offers him the opportunity to prove himself a taker of heads, and earn his name and his place within the Chapter.
QUICK REVIEW: The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov – Chris Wraight
Chris Wraight’s short audio drama The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov is a direct sequel to his excellent novel Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne, and as such is somewhat spoilerific (even in its title). It’s a dialogue-heavy two-hander, as Inquisitor Crowl and the captive traitor Salvor Lermentov – voiced by John Banks and David Seddon respectively – match wits in a surprisingly civilised manner. There are no thumbscrews here, just impassioned arguments as two men, both loyal and dedicated in their own way, debate doctrine, history, and the state of the Imperium.
QUICK REVIEW: Judge of the Wastes – David Annandale
David Annandale’s 22-minute audio drama Judge of the Wastes is at once a 40k ghost story, and a tale of a man whose rigid faith and fervour have left him ill-equipped to cope with doubt. Commissar Selander stands in judgement over the Imperial forces locked in a seemingly endless stalemate on Solennes, fighting and dying over a bleak wasteland. After the execution of an apparent deserter fails to provide sufficient motivation for a decisive advance, Selander begins to see the shade of the executed soldier, and finds doubt creeping in to undermine his certainty.
QUICK REVIEW: Kill Shot – Ben Counter
An Officio Assassinorum short audio drama from Ben Counter, Kill Shot sees Vindicare agent Deliva engaged in a mission to assassinate a heretic noblewoman, Seleuca Markovan. As she keeps her distant handler up to date with the progress of her mission, it becomes clear that she won’t be able to deal with Markovan with a single, clean kill shot, but will instead have to find a way to complete her task up close. Time is pressing, however, and Deliva knows she can’t let Markovan escape.
The Geld – George Mann
George Man continues his exploration of the Raven Guard in 40k with The Geld, a 70-minute audio drama which sees a small group of elite Space Marines infiltrate the besieged fortress of Chaos warlord Mazik the Unfixed. Desperate to find a way to eliminate Mazik, Chapter Master Strike draws four Shadowmasters – rare genetic throwbacks to the Mor Deythan of the old Legion – away from their usual companies and tasks them with this vital mission. Putting their unusual gifts to the test, Shadow Captain Qeld and his brothers soon find themselves hard pressed to survive the trials before them.
QUICK REVIEW: The Waaagh! Faker by Guy Haley
In The Waaagh! Faker by Guy Haley, the final instalment of the three-part Prophets of Waaagh! story, Uggrim and Bozgat are hard at work keeping Fat Mork walking so that they can join in with the Waaagh! as it gathers momentum. Snikgob and Talker, however, aren’t so sure it actually is a Waaagh! so decide take a closer look at just what’s causing a strange noise and weird ork behaviour. There they find a bunch of sneaky humies playing around with some strange technology, and realise that this isn’t a natural Waaagh! but an artificial one – it’s a humie trap!