Tag Archives: Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Ten Years of Black Library

It’s been almost 10 years since I started Track of Words, and over that time I’ve read somewhere north of 400 Black Library books (not to mention goodness knows how many short stories), and reviewed a large proportion of those! As I draw to the end of this 10-year period, I thought it might be interesting to look back at all those BL books and pick out my personal highlights from the last decade. I’ve gone through each year from 2014 to 2023 and, from the books that a) were published that year, and b) I actually read that year, selected a single book as my pick for each year – and I tell you, that was not an easy task!

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Short and Sweet: October 2022

Hello and welcome to the first in a new series of articles that I’m tentatively calling Short and Sweet, in which I’m going to write up a few quick, informal thoughts and observations about some of the SFF books that I’ve recently read, but which I’m not planning on reviewing more thoroughly. I’ve basically pinched this idea from a friend (check out Fabienne’s ‘Review Roundup’ posts on Libri Draconis), and I’m hoping it will work for me too as a way of still talking about books for which I don’t have the time or headspace to write full, in-depth reviews. The plan is for this to be an irregular series rather than committing to a specific frequency, so to begin with at least I’ll try to write one of these posts maybe once a month, or perhaps a bit less than that, depending on what I read.

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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: Bringer of Sorrow – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Following on from his novel The Master of Mankind, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Horus Heresy short story Bringer of Sorrow continues the story of two unlikely friends – the Technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land and the crippled Blood Angel Zephon. In the wake of the Webway War, as the Blood Angels and Sanguinius return to Terra, Land turns his genius to the problem of how to permanently repair Zephon’s failing bionics, which his own battlefield fix has further degraded. Ever the risk-taker, he’s supremely confident in his ability to succeed where all others have failed, but his solution is not without dangers of its own.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Rose Watered with Blood – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Picking up where LJ Goulding left off in Prince of Blood, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s A Rose Watered with Blood is a story of Lotara Sarrin and the Conqueror as the World Eaters – and what was once their primarch Angron – make for Terra. Twisting under the influence of the monster chained deep within its hold, its crew butchered by the legionaries who were once their protectors, it’s increasingly clear that the Conqueror has a mind of its own. As they inch closer to Terra, Lotara faces up to the ugly darkness growing within her ship and within the hearts of its crew.

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Spear of the Emperor – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The first novel in a new series, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Spear of the Emperor explores the grim realities of life for the defenders of Elara’s Veil, in Imperium Nihilus. Over a century after the Great Rift, the Imperium sends Amadeus Kaias Incarius of the Mentor Legion to assess the status of Elara’s Veil’s defences. The Star Scorpions are long gone, the Celestial Lions crippled, so the Spears of the Emperor hold the line almost alone. Despite a cold welcome from the Spears, Amadeus recognises that there’s no way back to the Imperium, so resolves to stay and fight, and help the Spears however he can.

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RAPID FIRE: Aaron Dembski-Bowden Talks Spear of the Emperor

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library 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 Aaron Dembski-Bowden about his latest 40k novel Spear of the Emperor, which was originally available to order as a stunning (albeit pricey) limited edition and is now available in standard formats.

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QUICK REVIEW: At Gaius Point – Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Flesh Tearers short story At Gaius Point was originally published in the Legends of the Space Marines anthology, and is one of his earliest Black Library contributions. In the aftermath of a Thunderhawk crash in which most of his squad is killed, Zavien sets off through the jungles of Armageddon in pursuit of one brother who’s lost not to injury but to the Black Rage. If he can’t find and stop his brother, there’s no telling what damage might be done to the human defenders of Armageddon, and the already tarnished name of his Chapter.

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Warhammer 40,000 Legends Issue Fourteen – Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Issue fourteen of the Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection is Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, the second Space Marine Battles novel to be included in this series. This one came fairly early in Dembski-Bowden’s career, and indeed early in the Space Marine Battles series (second, I think, after Rynn’s World), but it’s still largely considered something of a 40k classic. Set on the war-torn world of Armageddon – which, if you’ve read The Beast Arises, now has a little more resonance – it tackles the Black Templars’ defence of Hive Helsreach, headed up by Reclusiarch Grimaldus.

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Sons of the Emperor – Anthology

First released at the Horus Heresy & Necromunda Weekender in February 2018, Sons of the Emperor is a Horus Heresy Primarchs anthology comprising eight brand new short stories, one each from Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, John French, LJ Goulding, Guy Haley, Nick Kyme, Graham McNeill and Gav Thorpe. These tales range from the earliest days of the Great Crusade to long after the end of the Heresy, each taking a different approach to representing one (or more) of the primarchs and their legionary sons. Featuring eleven primarchs and even the Emperor, chances are there’s a story here for every Heresy fan.

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