Category Archives: Reviews

A Few Thoughts On The Successors – Black Library Anthology

A collection of 13 short stories from 10 different authors, Black Library’s Warhammer 40,000 anthology The Successors looks beyond the usual First Founding Chapters of Space Marines and sets out to explore some of the Chapters who haven’t been seen as often in 40k fiction. It does actually feature some Chapters who have had plenty of their own stories before (Crimson Fists, Flesh Tearers, Soul Drinkers), but the majority of the stories focus on Chapters from the semi-familiar (Angels Penitent, Black Dragons, Carcharadons, Emperor’s Spears, Mortifactors) to the new or much more obscure (Consecrators, Iron Lords, Wolfspear). There’s even a rare Exorcists story, and most – although not all – of the stories take place in the ‘current’, post-Great Rift era of 40k.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Sins of My Brothers – Peter Fehervari

Available in Black Library’s The Successors anthology, The Sins of My Brothers is the 11th short story in Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil series, and serves as both a fascinating companion to his novel The Reverie and a revelatory extension of his short story The Crown of Thorns. High up on the walls of Kanvolis, the ancient fortress of the Angels Resplendent – now the Angels Penitent – a warrior walks alone, and recounts his story of betrayal, grief and determined purpose. Through his recollections he confesses the part he had to play in his Chapter’s fall, and reveals more of the truth behind this bleak tragedy.

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The Last Adventure of Constance Verity – A. Lee Martinez

If you’ve ever wondered how heroes feel about finding danger and adventure everywhere they look, about always just happening to be in the right place at the right time to stop the villains and monsters, then A. Lee Martinez’s The Last Adventure of Constance Verity may have some answers for you. In Constance Verity’s case, after having battled enemies since the age of seven and saving the world more times than she can remember, all she really wants now is to have a regular life. Bored of adventure and hankering after peace and quiet, she decides the best thing to do is to find and kill the fairy godmother who blessed – or perhaps cursed – her with her destiny. It’s the obvious answer, surely! As it turns out however, Connie’s fate is rather more complicated than she realised, and there’s a surprisingly large number of people who aren’t so keen on her giving up the adventuring life.

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You Sexy Thing – Cat Rambo

I love a good space opera, especially if it features a sentient spaceship, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a science fiction novel before in which food and cookery play such a big part as they do in Cat Rambo’s You Sexy Thing. A fun, action-packed SF adventure with a brilliantly diverse cast of characters and a pacy, page-turning plot, it opens on a remote space station with a group of ex-soldiers whose only way of escaping service to the Holy Hive Mind was to set up a restaurant and throw themselves into their new line of work. When TwiceFar station is destroyed, the soldiers-turned-restaurateurs escape on the aforementioned sentient spaceship (the titular You Sexy Thing, of course) only to find themselves in arguably even more trouble – involving a dead celebrity, a dubious food critic, pirates, an awkward ship and an unexpected new addition to the team.

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Day of Ascension – Adrian Tchaikovsky

Prolific, award-winning science fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky makes his long-form Black Library debut with Day of Ascension, a Warhammer 40,000 novel which pits the cold, academic machine logic of the Adeptus Mechanicus against the insidious alien threat of a Genestealer Cult. Genetor Gammat Triskellian is an ambitious man, but the organic focus of his work is out of favour with the priestly hierarchy of the forge world Morod, and Triskellian is frustrated at every turn by his superiors. When he stumbles across evidence of a xenos taint lurking amongst the poorest inhabitants of Morod he sees an opportunity to further his own goals and undermine his rivals. To the downtrodden members of the Congregation of the Divine Union though, Triskellian is merely another oppressor to be endured and overthrown on the path to their destiny.

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Volpone Glory – Nick Kyme

One of only a handful of non-Dan Abnett novels in Black Library’s Sabbat Worlds series (or is it maybe a setting now?), Nick Kyme’s Volpone Glory more than holds its own in this much-loved range – a gritty, powerful page-turner of a book that delves into the complex character of the Royal Volpone regiment of Imperial Guard. Set in 791.M41, so roughly the same time as The Warmaster, it sees the 50th Royal Volpone on Gnostes, bogged down in a protracted campaign attempting to push the Blood Pact out of an entrenched island chain, their vaunted pride dented by their lack of progress. As the prospect of victory hangs in the balance even while the archenemy develops its own devious plans for the war, politics within the ranks of the Volpone lead to division, mistrust and increasingly desperate tactics. Hope springs from an unexpected source, but will it be enough?

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Bleeding From Cold Sleep – Peter Fehervari

Available in the Sword & Planet anthology from Baen Books, Bleeding From Cold Sleep is Peter Fehervari’s first non-Warhammer short story, introducing a brand new setting that’s as rich and full of promise as you could imagine. Set in a bleak, distant future not entirely unlike (yet definitely not) the 40k universe, on the midwinter world of Iscarcha out in “the backwaters of human space”, a man calling himself Vikram is finally brought to heel by the hunters who have long been on his tail. Once an elite soldier for the Frontline, chosen and engineered to fight at the forefront of mankind’s pioneering exploration into space, over the long years of his flight he has taken many identities and lived many lives, accompanied only by his enigmatic shadow. Now, confronted by his hunters and tired of his long flight, Vikram faces the choice of whether to keep running, or stand and tell his side of the story.

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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – Rob Young Guest Review

Hello and welcome to this guest review on Track of Words, where today I’m handing over to author Rob Young to talk about The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Rob’s debut Black Library story The Roar of the Void is featured in the Inferno! Presents The Inquisition anthology, and it’s a genuinely fantastic debut, so I’m calling it now – Rob is a new BL author to watch! I’m delighted he has agreed to write this guest review, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, so when Rob suggested it as the subject for a review I jumped at the chance to get his thoughts on it…and now I’m even more determined to read this asap!

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Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill – Graham McNeill Guest Review

Hello and welcome to Track of Words, where I hope you’ll join me in welcoming legendary author Graham McNeill to the site for this guest review of apocalyptic adventure novel Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill. I imagine Graham will be very familiar to most readers, as the author of countless hugely popular books for Black Library from Nightbringer to Swords of Calth, not to mention Arkham Horror and Stargate novels and all manner of fantastic fiction for League of Legends. I couldn’t be happier to hand the reins of the site over to Graham for this guest review – I haven’t read Day Zero myself, but both this and Cargill’s 2017 novel Sea of Rust have been on my radar for a while now, and based on Graham’s review I definitely think I need to read this book!

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The Twice-dead King: Ruin by Nate Crowley – Victoria Hayward Guest Review

Hello and welcome to this guest review here on Track of Words, where I’m opening up the floor to author Victoria Hayward to talk about Nate Crowley’s novel The Twice-dead King: Ruin, which is out now from Black Library. 40k fans may well already be familiar with Victoria as the author of short stories The Carbis Incident and The Siege of Ismyr (featured in the Warhammer Crime anthology Sanction & Sin), both of which are excellent! I knew Victoria had read and loved The Twice-dead King: Ruin, and I was delighted when she agreed to write this review – I think it’s a fantastic review, which brilliantly illustrates what this book means to Victoria while painting a vivid (but spoiler-free) picture of the story as a whole. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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