The 2016 Black Library Advent Calendar hits day twelve with the fourth of six audio dramas, The Embrace of Pain by Ian St. Martin. A short prequel to the novel Lucius: The Faultless Blade it finds Lucius’ vessel The Diadem assaulted by a vast, plague-ridden daemonic entity deep within the Eye of Terror. With its geller field breached and corruption spreading through its corridors, Lucius faces off against the guiding intelligence of the attack, a daemon of Nurgle who was once a warrior of the Death Guard. Though supremely confident in his martial skills, has he underestimated the danger this time?
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Category Archives: Audio
QUICK REVIEW: The Soul, Severed – Chris Wraight
On the ninth day of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar we get another Horus Heresy audio drama, Chris Wraight’s The Soul, Severed, which sees Lord Commander Eidolon of the Emperor’s Children, much-altered since his first appearance in Horus Rising, leading part of his Legion in Fulgrim’s absence. Warped and twisted in the likeness of their commander, Eidolon’s warriors – the Kakophoni – are a powerful force indeed. When faced with opposition from a fellow officer as to the leadership of the Legion, Eidolon unleashes the Kakophoni to spectacular, if unexpected, effect against his fellow Emperor’s Children.
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QUICK REVIEW: The Calculus of Battle – David Guymer
For day five of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar it’s the turn of the Iron Hands, in a 40k audio drama by David Guymer – The Calculus of Battle. Viewing an Imperial world besieged by tyranids through the Iron Hands’ cold logic, Warleader Kardan Stronos weighs up the conflicting costs and benefits of intervening – does the potential cost in materiel usage and possible loss of Iron Hands life outweigh the benefits of evacuating even a tiny proportion of the planet’s 7 billion inhabitants? Constantly shifting with every action he takes, the battle calculus drives his decisions and determines whether the world lives or dies.
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QUICK REVIEW: Perpetual – Dan Abnett
It’s day one of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, and the first story is Perpetual by Dan Abnett, a Horus Heresy audio drama. Continuing the story of Oll Persson, first introduced in Know No Fear, it picks up where the short story Unmarked (in Mark of Calth) left off with Oll and his companions journeying through time and space in search of Terra, only now they’re becalmed, unable to go forward. Time is passing – not normally an issue for a Perpetual, but with his mission to complete and dangerous foes in pursuit, Oll knows he will have to find a way to keep moving eventually…
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Children of Sicarus – Anthony Reynolds
A Horus Heresy audio drama from Anthony Reynolds, Children of Sicarus follows on from the end of the graphic novel Macragge’s Honour to show a little of what happened when Kor Phaeron led his surviving followers to the daemon world of Sicarus. Surrounded by enemies and with ever-dwindling numbers, the Word Bearers find strange allies who promise to aid them against the malicious attentions of one of Sicarus’ daemonic warlords, the ‘Kairic Adept’ Larazzar. Along the way Kor Phaeron encounters a reincarnating priest, an ancient and worryingly precise prophecy, and a tangible link to his distant primarch Lorgar.
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QUICK REVIEW: The Heart of the Pharos – L.J. Goulding
Originally published as The Dark Between the Stars before being swiftly renamed, presumably for copyright reasons, L.J. Goulding’s Horus Heresy audio drama The Heart of the Pharos fits neatly between the novels The Unremembered Empire and Pharos, narratively. Set on Sotha, it sees the Ultramarine Scout Tebecai remembering the mission he was on with his fellow Scout Oberdeii, deep within the tunnels beneath Mount Pharos. Down there in the darkness with just each other for company, the two scouts find something…and Tebecai’s commanders want to know about it.
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Assassinorum : The Emperor’s Judgement – Joe Parrino (audio drama)
A recent trend in Black Library’s releases is for a linked audio drama to accompany a novel, novella or short story – in this case Joe Parrino’s novella Assassinorum : Execution Force is accompanied by The Emperor’s Judgement, a 75-minute audio drama centered around Klara Rhasc, the Callidus assassin from the novella. A direct prequel to the novella, this sees Rhasc tracking down a crazed Eversor assassin who beat her to a target and took the kill for himself. With new mission parameters and no time to lose she must find a way to subdue the Eversor while avoiding death at his hands.
Bloodspire – CZ Dunn (audio drama)
Released back in 2012, CZ Dunn’s Bloodspire was the very first Space Marine Battles audio drama that Black Library published, two years after the series began with the novel Rynn’s World. Based on a short paragraph in an old codex, it follows the Blood Angels’ assault on the hive world of Axonar; stymied by the hives’ defences, they turn to less conventional methods in order to gain entry and quell the insurrection, using scouts to infiltrate ahead of a massed drop assault.
Templar – John French (audio drama)
So far in the Horus Heresy series, the Imperial Fists haven’t had a huge amount of the spotlight. Presumably that’s going to change the closer things get to the Siege of Terra, but in the meantime there’s John French’s audio drama Templar to whet the appetite of 7th Legion fans. It follows First Captain Sigismund, leading a mission to cleanse an enclave of Word Bearers that still remains within the Solar system. As he faces the prospect of killing his own kind for the first time, he considers the nature of his duty in light of the changing face of the galaxy.
Master of the Hunt – Josh Reynolds (audio drama)
The 40k universe is all about suspension of disbelief, and perhaps the Space Marine Battles series especially so. After all, genetically engineered giants who can spit acid, absorb memories through eating their enemies. survive the loss of limbs and internal organs…and still prefer fighting with swords? It’s not exactly grounded in realism. Which is why it’s perfectly acceptable for the series to include Josh Reynolds’ audio drama Master of the Hunt, which follows Kor’sarro Khan of the White Scars as he pursues the daemon prince Doomrider – let’s face it, a story about a 10,000 year old, motorbike-riding daemon is unlikely to be very realistic.