Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

QUICK REVIEW: The Fissure – Nik Vincent

Another anthology tale given the e-short treatment, Nik Vincent’s The Fissure was previously only available in the Sabbat Crusade anthology. While set in the Dan Abnett-created/curated Sabbat Worlds this is an Iron Snakes story as opposed to the usual Gaunt’s Ghosts fare, and sees a squad of three Marines sent to Formal Prime when something evil is unearthed in the foundations of a new hive. Told in an unusual structure interspersing action scenes with Ithacan funeral rites, the story gradually unfolds as the full horror of what lurks beneath the hive is revealed and the Iron Snakes’ heroism is aptly displayed.
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Warhammer 40,000 Legends Issue Two – Xenos by Dan Abnett

Issue 2 of Hachette’s Warhammer 40,000 Legends partwork series features a stone-cold 40k classic in the shape of Xenos by Dan Abnett. Originally published way back in 2001 and intended to tie in with Games Workshop’s latest game Inquisitor, it subsequently spawned two more books to complete the Eisenhorn trilogy, several short stories and audio dramas, a further trilogy featuring Eisenhorn’s protégé Ravenor, one book of a potential further trilogy (Pariah, which may or may not end up with two more novels to form a third trilogy), and computer game. Suffice to say it’s been quite popular.
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QUICK REVIEW: In Service Eternal – Matt Smith

A new short story from a new Black Library author, Matt Smith’s In Service Eternal sees Wing Commander Arden Graves and the pilots of the 41st Antropia Aerial Division in action in the murky skies of the gas giant Antropia. Veterans pulled back from the front lines, the 41st act as both test pilots and air cover for Antropia’s Adeptus Mechanicus cohorts. Responding to reports of missing mining servitors in the depths of the planet’s rocky core, Graves leads his Valkyries in a reconnaissance flight which rapidly escalates into a much deadlier mission.
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QUICK REVIEW: Ork Hunter – Dan Abnett

An old short story first published in the Black Library anthology Words of Blood, Dan Abnett’s Ork Hunter follows Corporal Ondy Scalber of the Jopall Indentured as he and his fellow guardsmen blunder through the Armageddon swamps under the ‘guidance’ of the wild Sergeant Keyser and his Ork Hunters. As feral as the orks they hunt, indifferent to the fates of the ‘skinbait’ Jopall, Keyser and his men are ruthless killers compared to whom the Jopall are careless children. To survive, Scalber will have to adapt to his environment, the enemy he hunts, and the company he keeps.

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Black Library – What’s Coming Soon

Earlier today I posted a blog about upcoming Black Library releases, off the back of a load of new titles popping up briefly online. These releases didn’t stay visible for long, but I’d grabbed a few screenshots which I thought might be of interest to Black Library fans. Since then however, something unexpected has happened – Black Library have added an actual Coming Soon page to their website!
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Black Library – Upcoming Releases (Oct 2016)

EDIT: since I first posted this, a Coming Soon page has gone live on the Black Library website! I’ve put up an updated post with more information here.

For a short while this morning there was a whole host of upcoming releases showing up on the Black Library website – a plethora of 40k and Horus Heresy goodness, enough to set the heart of any Black Library fan racing. Since then everything has been removed from the site, but I was quick enough to snag a bunch of screenshots of most of the upcoming titles. Fancy a look? Read on…
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QUICK REVIEW: Massacre – Aaron Demsbki-Bowden

Also available in the Eye of Terra anthology, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Horus Heresy short story Massacre takes a quick look at the cast of the Night Lords trilogy in their pre-40k incarnations. That’s right, it shows Talos, Xarl, Cyrion and even the Exalted as they all were back in the days of the Heresy, pre- and during the Dropsite Massacre. Seen through Apothecary Talos’s eyes it’s a rare chance to see these fan-favourite characters in their prime – cynical, callous warriors given to black humour, snide commentary and an unfair fight.
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Legends of the Dark Millennium: Genestealer Cults – Peter Fehervari

The latest in this burgeoning series, Legends of the Dark Millennium: Genestealer Cults sees the welcome return of Peter Fehervari with his second Black Library novel after a three-year wait since his first, Fire Caste. Set on the troubled shrine world of Redemption, the coming of an insidious alien menace results in the rise of a strange religious sect in place of the planet’s previous defenders. When distant sect members make pilgrimage to the shrine world, instead of welcoming arms they’re met by harsh, paranoid guardsmen led by officers who treat the sect with deep suspicion.
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Fire and Ice – Peter Fehervari

EDIT (26th June 2017) – this is now available as a standalone ebook novella, branded as an ‘Inquisition and T’au Empire’ story…

Despite being only available in the Legends of the Dark Millennium: Shas’O (or Tau Empire, depending on which version you have) anthology, Peter Fehervari’s novella Fire and Ice is as much an Inquisition story as a tau one. Hunted by a conclave of his Inquisitorial masters, Interrogator Mordaine searches for evidence of a tau conspiracy that might clear his tarnished name. Though guided by the mysterious Calavera, and aided by the savage Iwujii Sharks regiment, time is not on Mordaine’s side with the Inquisition looming and a tau-inspired uprising about to erupt.

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The Last Son of Dorn – David Guymer (The Beast Arises Book Ten)

IMPORTANT: This is book ten in a series – there will be spoilers unless you’ve read I Am Slaughter, Predator, Prey, The Emperor Expects, The Last Wall, Throneworld, Echoes of the Long War, The Hunt for Vulkan, The Beast Must Die or Watchers in Death.

The Beast Arises reaches book ten of twelve with David Guymer’s The Last Son of Dorn, his second in the series. After the disastrous events of The Beast Must Die and the subsequent regrouping in Watchers in Death, Lord Commander Koorland now has a plan to defeat the Beast, albeit a desperate and as yet untested one. Making good use of the newly formed Deathwatch and the once-mythical Sisters of Silence he sets out on what is essentially a dry run, as his forces return to some familiar locations with something specific in mind.
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