Tag Archives: Siege of Terra

The Last Eight Years with John French – Part One

Hello and welcome to the first instalment of an extra-special author interview, where I’m delighted to welcome the fabulous John French back to the site to mark the 2,000th post on Track of Words! Author of the Ahriman series, the Horusian Wars, the Cado Ezechiar series, a host of Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra novels, and so much more, John has been a friend of the site for a long time. In fact, if you go way back to July 2016 John was the very first author I ever interviewed (about his Tallarn stories in the Horus Heresy)! With that in mind, to mark the milestone of post number 2,000 I sat down with John for an in-depth, retrospective interview looking back at his work and his career over the last eight years since we first spoke.

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Short and Sweet – November 2023

Hello and welcome to my Short and Sweet review roundup for November 2023, where as usual I’ve picked out a trio of books that I’ve recently read to talk a little about, in lieu of my usual longer reviews. For this month’s roundup I’ve gone for books with quite a range of page counts, from a novella all the way up to a 750+ page doorstopper! Across these three books you’ve got magic, demons, demigods, transhuman soldiers, immortal hunters, wizarding bureaucracy, mystical prophecies and loads more. There’s plenty to enjoy in all of them, although if I’m honest none of them entirely worked for me, personally.

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Short and Sweet – March 2023

Hello and welcome to my Short and Sweet review roundup for March 2023, here on Track of Words. I’ve picked out another three books to talk about this month, and I suspect I’ll be hard pressed in coming months to find another set with such a wide range – there’s a 650-page Warhammer novel that’s only actually half a book, a 130-page dystopian novella (I guess) about a spry 100+ year-old man in a future Japan, and an anthology of Star Wars short stories from no fewer than 40 authors! As always, these are books that are well worth talking about, but which for one reason or another I don’t have the time or headspace to cover in a full standalone review.

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RAPID FIRE: Dan Abnett Talks The End and the Death Volume 1

Hello and welcome to this Rapid Fire author interview, where I’m delighted to be joined by the brilliant Dan Abnett to discuss The End and the Death Volume 1, the first instalment of the final Siege of Terra novel from Black Library. It’s been a long time coming – Horus Rising, the first Horus Heresy novel, was published in 2006, then the Siege of Terra opened with The Solar War in 2019. Book 8 of the Siege is actually going to be multiple volumes, beginning with this one, but the end is almost upon us, so I felt like I really ought to speak to Dan about this momentous novel. Whether you’ve read it already or you’re looking forward to making a start, I’m sure you’re as excited as I am about the end of the Siege.

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Short and Sweet – January 2023

Hello and welcome to my first Short and Sweet reviews roundup of 2023, where today I’m taking a quick look at a trio of books I read in January. It’s quite a fun mixture this month, combining gothic horror, contemporary fantasy(ish) and Warhammer fiction (specifically Horus Heresy/Siege of Terra), so hopefully there’s something of interest to you in here! As always with these review roundups, the idea is to take a fairly brief look at a few SFF books that for one reason or another I’m not going to cover in full reviews, but which I’m still keen to talk about. I’ve included buy-now links for each book – I’ll receive a small affilliate fee for anything ordered via these links.

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RAPID FIRE: Graham McNeill Talks Fury of Magnus

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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.

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Sons of the Selenar – Graham McNeill

While Black Library’s Siege of Terra series is closing off the Horus Heresy with eight novels covering the major story beats, Graham McNeill’s Sons of the Selenar marks the first in an additional set of novellas which tackle slightly smaller subjects within the context of the Siege. In this case, the story of Sharrowkin, Wayland and the Sisypheum continues as, returning to the Sol System, loyalties within the crew begin to fracture. Drawn to embattled Luna, the few remaining Shattered Legionaries must put division aside and act as one if they’re to ensure vital secrets remain out of the traitors’ hands.

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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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RAPID FIRE: Dan Abnett Talks Saturnine

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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.

For this interview I spoke to legendary Black Library author Dan Abnett about his novel Saturnine, book four in the epic Siege of Terra series which is forming the conclusion to the Horus Heresy. If you’ve been following the Horus Heresy series then you’re going to want to read Saturnine – so read on to find out a little bit more about what you can expect…

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RAPID FIRE: Gav Thorpe Talks The First Wall

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with 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 veteran Black Library author Gav Thorpe about his new novel The First Wall, the third book in the Siege of Terra series. After its initial release in Limited Edition hardback in November 2019, it’s now available in standard formats, so if you want to find out what happens next in the concluding part of the Horus Heresy, now’s your chance. Here’s Gav to give you a head’s up on what to expect…

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