Tag Archives: Thousand Sons

QUICK REVIEW – Ahriman: Fortune’s Fool – John French

Part two of John French’s The Tale of Ctesias arc and available exclusively within the Ahriman: Exodus anthology, Fortune’s Fool sees Thousand Sons daemonologist Ctesias documenting the second task he was given upon joining Ahriman’s cabal. When a potential ally arrives bearing the key to finding a safe route out of the Eye of Terror, Ahriman sends Ctesias to greet and negotiate with his former Thousand Sons brother, Ichneumon. Matching his strength and his wits against the newcomer, Ctesias finds himself caught in a typically intricate plan of Ahriman’s, but to what end?
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QUICK REVIEW – Ahriman: The Dead Oracle – John French

In a chronological sense Ahriman: The Dead Oracle is the first short story in John French’s The Tale of Ctesias arc that accompanies and runs through the wider Ahriman series. Set between Exile and Sorcerer we meet daemonologist Ctesias as he first joins Ahriman’s resurgent cabal, taking his place in a mission in that takes him to the domain of Menkaura, the Blind Oracle. Preparing to sully his soul with yet another despicable act, Ctesias soon finds himself in deeper trouble than he expected.
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Ahriman: Unchanged – John French

The third and final novel in John French’s ambitious Ahriman trilogy, Ahriman: Unchanged sees the Thousand Son sorcerer firmly back at the peak of his powers. Using knowledge gleaned from the Athenaeum (see Ahriman: Sorcerer) he prepares to enact a new Rubric, a grand undertaking that will correct the mistakes of his past. To do so he has to lead his forces back to Prospero and the scene of his legion’s darkest hour, and from there to face their father Magnus deep within the Eye of Terror. Standing in his way are foes both seen and unseen, from within the Imperium and without. Keep reading…

Ahriman: Exile – John French

Released back in 2012, Ahriman: Exile was John French’s first novel for Black Library, and you’re unlikely to find a more assured, complex, detailed debut novel than this. The first in a trilogy regarding one of the most famous villains in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, when we first meet him Ahriman is at his lowest ebb, years after the failure of his Rubric and his exile from the Legion he tried to save. Masquerading as a lowly sorcerer serving a motley warband of Traitor Marines, he’s a far cry from the former Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons, resigned to his fate as an exile and hiding away from his past, his enemies and his own power.
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QUICK REVIEW – Ahriman: Gates of Ruin – John French

Overlapping slightly with the events of Ahriman: Sorcerer, and following on from several of the other short stories in the series, John French’s Ahriman: Gates of Ruin once more tells a tale of Thousand Sons sorcerer Ctesias. Here the weary daemonologist is looking back from a point far in the future, recalling the part he played in leading Ahriman and his followers out of the Eye of Terror. Ctesias’ knowledge of daemons is put to good use as he seeks the location of the Gates of Ruin, but can a daemon ever really be trusted?

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Ahriman: Sorcerer – John French

John French’s Ahriman series continues with the second novel, Ahriman: Sorcerer, in which the exiled Thousand Son sorcerer is still searching for knowledge, looking for a way to save his legion and repair the mistakes he has made in the past. Now firmly on this path after the events of Ahriman: Exile, he has gathered a vast warband to his banner as he seeks the Athenaeum of Kalimakus, a record made by Magnus the Red’s personal remembrancer, hoping to find a clue to where his rubric went wrong. A range of foes bar his path or dog his heels, from the Inquisition and the Grey Knights to a tireless pack of Space Wolves, not to mention his own treacherous allies.

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Ahriman: The First Prince – John French (audio drama)

Originally released as part of Black Library’s Echoes of War collection, John French’s The First Prince is part of the wider Ahriman series and has since been released in prose as well. Running to 45 minutes, it’s set some time after the events of the novel Ahriman: Exile, and like most of the other shorter stories within that arc it’s not told from the perspective of Ahriman himself. Instead it focuses on Ctesias, another Thousand Sons sorcerer, who’s balanced precariously on death’s threshold. An unwise choice in the past has led him to a dangerous place, but Ahriman is determined not to see him fall.

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Thief of Revelations – Graham McNeill (audio drama)

Released alongside Hunter’s Moon by Guy Haley, Thief of Revelations is Graham McNeill’s latest contribution to Black Library’s range of Horus Heresy audio dramas. Running to just under 40 minutes, it features the welcome return of Ahzek Ahriman, Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons, tragic hero (anti-hero?) and without a doubt one of Warhammer 40,000’s greatest characters. We see Ahriman post-the burning of Prospero, living on the Planet of Sorcerers and working on what will become the infamous Rubric of Ahriman.

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