Category Archives: Books

Inferno! Volume 5 – Black Library Anthology

After the name was resurrected by Black Library in 2018 for an ongoing series of short story anthologies (as opposed to the original bi-monthly magazines), Inferno! has now reached Volume 5 – featuring 12 brand new tales of action, adventure, death and destruction. With a mix of established BL authors and newer names, these stories span Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Warcry and Necromunda, ranging from pitched battles to struggles with very personal daemons, and from hardened warriors to weary healers. Whatever your interest in Warhammer and Black Library, chances are there’s a story or two for you here – and all 12 are brand new and never previously released, too.

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Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow – Chris Wraight

Book two in the Watchers of the Throne series, Chris Wraight’s novel The Regent’s Shadow picks up where 2017’s phenomenal The Emperor’s Legion left off, and delivers another brilliant slice of Warhammer 40,000 storytelling. In the wake of Roboute Guilliman’s departure to lead the Indomitus Crusade, Terra begins the process of returning to some kind of new normality. With a reshuffled council of High Lords and a populace still suffering, however, discontent and disorder is growing on the Throneworld. Sister of Silence Aleya, Custodian Valerian and new Imperial Chancellor Anna-Murza Jek each find their roles fundamentally changed in Guilliman’s wake, and set out in their own ways to understand what those changes mean.

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Lords of the Storm – Edoardo Albert

Edoardo Albert’s Warhammer 40,000 novella Lords of the Storm is his first longer-form story for Black Library, a tale of the Primaris-only Fulminators chapter of Space Marines exploring their relationship with the mortals whose lives they safeguard. On the shrine world of Chevreuse, home to the sacred bones of Saint Blaise, the forces of the Ruinous Powers move ever closer to victory. Montalte, of the loyal Faithful, is tasked with guiding a small force of Fulminators (Sergeant Augustin and his Reivers) to the saint’s remains, navigating the dangers of Chaos cultists, traitor Guard and a living storm apparently conjured up by the saint himself.

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Saturnine – Dan Abnett

Black Library’s Siege of Terra series reaches its halfway point with Saturnine by Dan Abnett, a 500+ page beast of a book in which secrets are revealed, big names start to fall, and the stakes – somehow – get even higher. Having taken Lion’s Gate spaceport, the traitor host marches on the fortifications of the Lion’s Gate itself while simultaneously driving at the Eternity Gate spaceport, stretching the loyalist defenders to breaking point. With battles raging on multiple fronts and resources dwindling, Dorn faces impossible questions of compromise and sacrifice, as he searches for a strategy that might tip the balance in his battle of wills and wits with Perturabo.

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Sanctuary – V.V. James

Combine a small-town suburban American drama with a crime thriller and add in a dash of magic, and you’ll get somewhere near the sort of territory V.V. James’ Sanctuary occupies – a gripping page-turner exploring how grief and pain can tear friendships and communities apart. The quiet town of Sanctuary hides a darkness beneath its calm facade, and tensions which come to light after the tragic death of a popular young man. As a mother grieves and an out-of-town detective investigates what happened, rumours start to swirl that magic was involved and bitter eyes turn to the town’s resident witch.

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Anthemas – Warhammer Horror Anthology

Black Library’s third Warhammer Horror short story anthology, Anthemas follows in the footsteps of Maledictions and Invocations not just in terms of the naming convention and visual design, but by offering up a compelling collection of low-key tales highlighting the strange, sinister fringes of the 40k and Age of Sigmar universes. Across fourteen stories from thirteen authors, all but two of which are published here for the first time, it’s an exploration of characters driven by fear and desperation, ordinary people just trying to survive in the midst of terrible, horrifying worlds. These are stories to unsettle, that keep you wondering where they’re going and leave you feeling uncomfortable afterwards.

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Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri – via the British Fantasy Society

I’m pleased to say that my review of Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri is now live on the British Fantasy Society website – pleased not just to have another review available but because it’s for a book which I absolutely adored! I generally try to choose books I think I’m going to enjoy, but this one was something quite special. Feel free to head straight over there and check out the review, or alternatively you can stick around here and read a bit more about why this is such a great book in a less formal/more rambling fashion (and then pop over to the BFS site afterwards, of course).

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The Oubliette – JC Stearns

Part of the growing Warhammer Horror range, The Oubliette is JC Stearns’ debut Black Library novel, a grim tale of bitter political rivalry on an isolated Imperial world. With her father and older brother dead in suspicious circumstances, Ashielle Matkosen takes up the mantle of Governor of Ceocan, trying to process her grief even as she fights to establish her reign with political enemies all around. When those enemies threaten her life, as well as her position, in desperation Ashielle turns to an ancient presence she encounters in the darkness under the palace; a creature with the power to protect her, but whose assistance comes with a high cost.

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The Horusian Wars: Divination – John French

The third book in John French’s Horusian Wars series, Divination is not a novel but rather a collection of short stories, exploring some of the key characters in Inquisitor Covenant’s warband to add depth and emotional weight to the series as a whole. Covenant himself remains a slightly distant figure, always seen through others’ eyes (as per the novels), but over the course of these eleven stories French delves into the backstory and/or mindset of all the inquisitor’s key companions, and even an old ally. Each story takes a very different approach, some more action-packed than others, but they’re all united in shedding light on these intriguing characters and through them Covenant’s philosophy.

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Neon Leviathan – T.R. Napper

Bringing together twelve bleak, powerful short stories into a single volume (published by Grimdark Magazine), T.R. Napper’s cyberpunk collection Neon Leviathan paints a suitably, at times harrowingly grim picture of a not too distant future. Across a deliberately jumbled, back-and-forth timeline Napper explores tales of desperation, survival, love, loss, corporate greed, oppression and fear, all set in a loosely defined world formed from a warring, conflicted melange of Australia, South and Southeast Asia. As nations, alliances and realities blur, as technology becomes increasingly pervasive and life ever more stratified, Napper asks questions of what’s real, what’s possible and what people will do to survive.

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