Category: Audiobook

The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books3 Comments

Publisher: Orbit/Little Brown Audio (Audiobook – 22 October 2024)

Series: The Bloodsworn Saga – Book Three

Length: 19 hours and 30 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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John Gwynne brings his awesome Bloodsworn trilogy to a truly epic conclusion with the outstanding novel, The Fury of the Gods.

For the last few years one of the most compelling fantasy series has been the Bloodsworn Saga trilogy from acclaimed fantasy author John Gwynne.  This series is set in a Norse-inspired fantasy world shattered by warring gods and now filled with monsters, voyaging warriors and the human descendants of the gods whose power often see them collared and controlled as thralls.  The series started back in 2021 with the impressive read, The Shadow of the Gods, which introduced the main characters and set them on their quests.  I almost missed The Shadow of the Gods when it came out, but I was glad that I didn’t, as it turned out to be one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021.  Gwynne continued the series in a big way the next year with the excellent sequel, The Hunger of the Gods, which expertly continued the series and ended up also being a top book and audiobook of 2022.  Due to how amazing the first two entries in the trilogy proved to be, I have been eager for to the finale of the trilogy for a while, and I was so happy we got one in 2024.  One of my most anticipated books in the second half of 2024, The Fury of the Gods was everything I hoped it would be and more, and I listened to it the very first chance that I got.

The gods have returned, and all must pay the price!

After centuries of imprisonment following the last great war of the gods, the evil and crazed dragon-god Lik-Rifa has been released and now seeks to rule over the land of Vigrid.  With the cunning rat-god Rotta at her side, Lik-Rifa leads a vast army made up of her monstrous children, as well as ambitious mercenaries and Tainted warriors.  Determined to place the entire continent under her dark rule, Lik-Rifa turns her eyes to the stronghold of Snakavik and moves to destroy the last vestige of resistance against her.

However, not all is lost, as some seek to stand against Lik-Rifa.  Elvar, leader of the Battle-Grim, has killed her father and taken control of Snakavik.  Bound by fate and her oaths, Elvar must balance her new responsibilities as ruler while she plans for war against Lik-Rifa, a seemingly impossible task.  However, Elvar has done the impossible before by resurrecting Lik-Rifa’s hated brother, the wolf-god, Ulfrir, and binding him to her will.  Now her most potent weapon and the ultimate bait for Lik-Rifa, Elvar seeks to use Ulfrir to destroy the gods coming for her.  But even a giant wolf-god might not be enough to win the war, and Elvar needs even more allies to help her.

After scouring a bloody path across Vigrid, Orka Skullsplitter has rescued her son, but still seeks vengeance against Lik-Rifa’s forces.  To that end, Orka reunites with her old warband, the Bloodsworn, and sets them to join Elvar’s growing host.  Made up of deadly Tainted warriors, including their latest recruit, Varg No-Sense, the Bloodsworn have many reasons to fight against the dragon-god’s followers.  Together, the Bloodsworn, Battle-Grim and their various allies prepare to face Lik-Rifa’s army in the greatest battle the world has ever known.  But no-one is prepared for the chaos that is about to engulf Vigrid, as greater threats arise to devour all.

Gwynne continues to impress with this third and final Bloodsworn Saga novel.  The Fury of the Gods was another high-octane, character driven, dark fantasy novel, that takes the reader on a powerful adventure.  Loaded with fantastic moments and amazing action, The Fury of the Gods proved to be an outstanding conclusion to the Bloodsworn Saga, and I had such an awesome time getting through it.

The Fury of the Gods featured a spectacular and captivating narrative that starts off strong and refuses to slow down the entire way through.  Taking off immediately after The Hunger of the Gods, Gwynne effectively sets the stage for the oncoming battles as the various character arcs continue at breakneck pace.  Once again telling the story through the eyes of five distinctive protagonists (Orka, Elva, Varg, Biorr and Gudvarr), you get drawn into their intriguing personal tales as they recount the events they observe.  The first half of the book keeps these protagonists mostly separated, and their various storylines continued in similar directions to The Hunger of the Gods.  Orka is still set on her bloody revenge mission and must overcome her imprisonment by the rat-god Rotta.  Varg and the Bloodsworn journey back from their rescue mission in the neighbouring nation of Iskidan, encountering new threats along the way.  Elvar takes up the responsibility of ruling Snakavik after killing her father and finds herself leading the war against Lik-Rifa.  Finally, Biorr and Gudvarr provide intriguing insights into Lik-Rifa’s camp, as both the conflicted Biorr and the snivelling Gudvarr try to survive the rise of dragon-god in their own different ways.

Gwynne does a good amount of set-up in this first half of the book, and it was nice to see the various characters continue to breathe on their own for a bit, while also amping up the dangerous antagonists.  You once again get quickly drawn into each of the protagonists narratives, and I think that it is a testament to Gwynne’s writing that each of these storylines proved to be as entertaining and compelling as the rest.  Unlike other multiple-perspective novels I have read, I honestly loved every single character perspective in The Fury of the Gods, and I was excited to continue each of them.  Indeed, I find it hard to choose a favourite, as they were all fun while offering something a little different.  That being said, Elvar’s chapters moved the plot along the most, and Gwynne did his best character work with her in this book.

Everything leads up to a particularly epic final half, as Gwynne brings together all five point-of-view characters to the same location for the first time in the series.  With the protagonists spread out on each side of the conflict, you get a great view of the massive extended war as the god-led armies fight it out on several fronts, including in a brutal siege.  Gwynne kept the action going thick and fast here, and there are some great encounters and moments as the various characters meet on the battlefield.  Everything leads up to a massive confrontation nearly two-thirds of the way through, and there are some highly dramatic moments here, especially as the first big-death was a little unexpected.  This major fight ends in an interesting way, although details of it are spoiled a little by the awesome cover above.  This leads to some more fantastic moments, including the final battle between both sides.  The author chucks in a few more tragic moments in this final bit of the book, although I must admit that there weren’t a lot of surprises here, with many of the big reveals well telegraphed in advance.  I also thought that the various revenge arcs cluttered up the plot in a predictable manner, and I wish Gwynne had thrown a twist or two in here.  Still, everything ended on an extremely epic note, and readers who enjoyed the previous Bloodsworn Saga books will come away very satisfied and happy with the finalised character arcs.

As with the previous Bloodsworn Saga novels, Gwynne brings a distinctive style to The Fury of the Gods, which I felt greatly enhanced the story.  The blend of compelling Norse-inspired fantasy elements, great character work, and brutal action makes for awesome reading, and Gwynne presents it all in an accessible and enjoyable way.  I loved how the characters’ dialogue and inner thoughts fell in line with the book’s historical inspiration, and while this style might not be for everyone, elements of it, such as the repetition of certain thoughts and phrases, gives it a real saga feel.  As with the previous entries in the series, Gwynne makes excellent use of multiple character perspectives to tell his elaborate narrative, with his five point-of-view characters helming various chapters.  The split between these five characters worked extremely well, and you get some intriguing alternate perspectives of events that blend well as the book continues.  Gwynne makes excellent use of this split during some of the bigger combat scenes, and the use of shorter chapters when things get particularly exciting allows the reader to quickly switch amongst the action.  Talking of action, Gwynne ensures that the combat in The Fury of the Gods is as bloody and well-written as in the previous books, and his brilliant action scenes are so well described and bring you right into the midst of the fighting.

As The Fury of the Gods is the third and final book in an epic fantasy trilogy, it obviously isn’t the most ideal place for readers to dive into the overarching story, and you really should start at the beginning of the series for the full emotional impact.  However, for those who want to start with The Fury of the Gods, Gwynne does make this book somewhat accessible to new readers.  Between the detailed summary of the prior books, glossary of terms, character lists and the callbacks to the previous events during the plot, new readers can follow The Fury of the Gods easily enough and have fun.  This includes enjoying the full impact of the cool fantasy setting of Vigrid that Gwynne has lovingly set up during the three books.  The clever use of Norse-inspired elements really lends itself to the epic revenge driven narrative that Gwynne features, and the mixture of mythological, fantasy and historical elements proved to be a winning combination.  I still love seeing the various warbands using Viking war tactics against dark dangers and massive gods, and Gwynne really went all out making so many traditional Norse elements, such as weaponry, armour, ships and mentality, seem as realistic as possible.  At the same time, the book’s fantasy inclusions, such as the various monsters and Tainted, the human descendants of the gods, add so much to the story, through their vicious nature, intriguing descriptions, and underlying societal issues.  This was an overall pretty awesome setting, that Gwynne uses to full effect to tell his compelling tale.  I hope that Gwynne returns to this world at some point in the future, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the younger characters featured here get their own story.

In addition to The Fury of the Gods’ fantastic story and great writing, I also need to talk about the awesome characters.  Throughout the Bloodsworn Saga, Gwynne has put a lot of work into building up his various characters, and by this point in the trilogy you are highly invested in their respective stories.  As such, there aren’t a lot of new figures in this final book, and you generally know what to expect when one of the protagonists’ chapters begins.  However, it still proved awesome to see these figures in action again, and their compelling character arcs and differing personalities deeply increase the impact of the narrative.  Of the main cast, I would say that Elva steals the show the most in The Fury of the Gods.  While she has not always been the most exciting character in the series, this third and final book was where she really shined, primarily because she takes on the role of war leader against Lik-Rifa, and the increased responsibility changes her.  As such, it was outstanding to follow her storyline, and I appreciated seeing how conflicted she got at times, especially when it came to treating the Tainted in her domain.  Due to this, as well as some other badass scenes, Elva was one of the most compelling protagonists in The Fury of the Gods for me, and Gwynne provided an interesting conclusion to her narrative that I felt really worked.

The other four main characters all proved to be brilliant additions to the book, and their perspectives ensured quite an elaborate story.  The dangerous fighters, Orka and Varg, were both solid point-of-view characters in The Fury of the Gods, and I really enjoyed seeing how their respective arcs continued, especially as they were the main avenue to seeing the Bloodsworn warband.  Of all the protagonists, you were most likely to see action with Orka or Varg, and their various bloody sequences were a lot of fun.  That being said, Gwynne went a little light with the character development for these figures in this book, and while they have some moving moments (Orka comes out of her solitude to find people she cares about, while Varg finally cements his place in the Bloodsworn), I felt that Gwynne focused way too much on their respective hunts for revenge, which resulted in some of their stuff getting a little repetitive.

However, Gwynne more than overcomes any minor deficiencies with Orka and Varg through his use of the antagonistic perspective characters Biorr and Gudvarr, both of whom have joined Lik-Rifa’s cause.  Biorr proves to be a complex figure in The Fury of the Gods, and I loved how conflicted he become as his longstanding fanaticism slowly beings to wear away in the face of meeting his gods.  Gwynne did a really great job with Biorr, and his personal journey and attempted redemption made for some powerful moments.  On the other hand, we have the entertaining and despicable Gudvarr, whose chapters I always have fun with.  Gudvarr is an impressively annoying figure who has spent the last two books trying to avoid danger only to find himself getting stuck in progressively worse situations.  However, because he is naturally cowardly, weaselly and vindictive figure, you really don’t feel sorry for him, especially as every bad situation is the result of some failed ploy to gain influence or power.  While Gudvarr is a particularly contemptible figure, it honestly proves impossible not to enjoy his chapters, as they are generally the most amusing in the entire book thanks his snarky inner monologue, the deadly situations he barely escapes from, and the near certainty that he is going to come to a sticky end.  As such, I really enjoyed following Gudvarr and you can’t help but look forward to seeing what dangerous or manipulative situation he finds himself in next.

Finally, I must highlight all the awesome and impressive supporting characters that are featured in The Fury of the Gods.  Gwynne has built up an exceptional and massive cast of characters throughout the series, all of whom add something to book.  I loved seeing the many complex interactions that occurred between all these characters in The Fury of the Gods, and it was fun to see many of them meet for the first time in this final book, especially once all the perspective characters are together.  Highlights include the key members of the Battle-Grim and Bloodsworn warbands, all of whom have gone through so much throughout the trilogy.  Several of the best characters from both bands experience major tragedy in The Fury of the Gods, and it proves hard not the feel for them.  I also need to mention the main antagonists, Lik-Rifa and Rotta, two vengeful gods whose desire for revenge and control move much of the plot along.  I loved seeing the various human and Tainted characters interact with these dark gods, and Gywnne ensured they came across as a massive and dangerous threat.  Two entertaining giant ravens, a fun talking head, and so many other great characters ensured that The Fury of the Gods was a moving and deeply personal read, and I am so glad I got the opportunity to know them during the run of this trilogy.

As with the previous books in the Bloodsworn Saga, I chose to grab The Fury of the Gods on audiobook, which proved to be a particularly awesome way to enjoy this epic read.  Featuring a runtime just under 20 hours, The Fury of the Gods audiobook is a lengthy but highly exciting listening experience, and I found myself powering through this audiobook, namely because the format deeply enhances the intense story and intricate writing.  Narrator Colin Mace, who has lent his voice to the other Bloodsworn Saga books, did another brilliant job with The Fury of the Gods, and his impressive voicework leant some additional impact and gravitas to the book.  Mace perfectly portrays the Norse-inspired fantasy elements of the book, and I really loved how effectively he captured the various hard-nosed characters of the series.  I especially loved Mace’s take on the gigantic gods and other dark creatures haunting the lands, and I felt that the narrator was a key reason why I had so much fun with this audiobook.  Probably one of the best formats to enjoy The Fury of the Gods, listeners will have such an epic time with this audiobook.

With blood, fury and vengeance, the Bloodsworn Saga comes to a brilliant end that I could not get enough of.  The Fury of the Gods was another exceptional read from John Gwynne, and I was so very happy to see how this entire epic narrative concluded.  Loaded with action, excellent fantasy elements, and so many impressive characters, The Fury of the Gods was an outstanding book on its own, as well as an incredible conclusion to one of the most epic fantasy trilogies out there.  One of my favourite fantasy books of 2024, The Fury of the Gods was an excellent read that gets an easy five-star rating from me.

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Warhammer 40,000: Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 9 March 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 11 hours and 47 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Secrets, lies and devils from the past converge around the Dark Angels in this exceptional Warhammer 40,000 novel from Gary Kloster, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge.

I have been on a real roll with Warhammer 40,000 fiction this year, as books like Da Big Dakka by Mike Brooks, Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward, Oaths of Damnation by Robbie MacNiven and Renegades: Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick have all proven to be exceptional additions the Warhammer canon.  But despite how awesome the above books and others have proven to be, I am still keen for more.  That is why I made sure to listen to a copy of the early 2024 novel, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by new-to-me author Gary Kloster.  An interesting entry that follows members of the iconic Dark Angels chapter, Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge was a book I nearly didn’t read this year, but I was sure glad that I did.

For over 10,000 years the Space Marines of the Dark Angels chapter have defended the Imperium of Man from all manner of insidious threats, all while keeping their own terrible secrets hidden.  Maintaining watch for fallen members of their order, the Dark Angels are forced to balance their Chapter’s need for secrecy and revenge with their solemn duty to keep humanity safe from the monsters and heretics stalking the stars.  But not every member of the Dark Angel’s inner circle believes that the battles of the past should impact the Chapter’s future.

Lazarus, Master of the Dark Angels Fifth Company, knows the burden that history can have on the soul.  The first Primaris Marine to hold rank within the chapter’s inner circle, Lazarus finds himself haunted by the battle that killed him and forced him to undergo the Rubicon surgery.  Determined to rid the universe of all psykers and the foul forces of Chaos behind them, Lazarus is a dedicated warrior, although one that questions the secrets that impact his ability to fulfill his duty.  That is why, when an ancient beacon located on the planet Reis is activated, the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels, Azrael, summons Lazarus and his Fifth Company to fulfill an old debt of honour.

A thousand years before, the Imperial Knight world of Reis was nearly overwhelmed by a rampaging army of daemons, resulting in the destruction of the planet’s war machine guardians, and only through the intervention of the Dark Angels was Reis saved.  But now, after years of peace, Reis finds itself under attack from a new foe, one that may cause another daemonic incursion.  Determined to ensure the daemons stay in the warp, Lazarus arrives to assess the situation on Reis, but soon discover that not everything is as it seems.  The planet is a hotbed of sinister politics, ancient grudges, and long-buried secrets, all of which conspire to drag Reis closer to destruction.  Forced to navigate the planet’s complex history, Lazarus discovers a terrible enemy hiding deep within the planet’s jungles, one that, like Lazarus, refuses to die.  To save Reis and his brothers, Lazarus must uncover the true hidden past of the planet and understand the origin of the grudge that could turn the Dark Angels against the Imperium they are sworn to protect.

Wow, Warhammer 40,000 fiction is in peak form in 2024 as Gary Kloster deeply impressed me with Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge.  Featuring a particularly complex and captivating narrative that blended awesome action and great characters with a clever and well-written plot, Enmity’s Edge proved to be extremely addictive, and I found myself irreversibly hooked.  Exciting, intense and loaded with all manner of intrigue, Enmity’s Edge is one of the best Warhammer books of 2024 and gets a full five-star rating from me.

I must admit that when I first decided to check out Enmity’s Edge, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  Space Marine focused Warhammer 40,000 novels can sometimes be an overloaded, action slog colloquially known as “Bolter porn”, and I was initially slightly worried that was the direction Enmity’s Edge was going, especially as it started off with an intense war sequence against orks.  However, Kloster instead showcased a remarkably compelling and layered Warhammer 40,00 novel that made excellent use of its Dark Angel protagonists and a unique, secret-laden background setting.  The initial battle serves as a great introduction to the main protagonist, Lazarus, and his command staff, and you get a sense of his tactical skills, as well as his dislike of psykers and the secrets of his order.  This leads nicely to the more complex part of the book, as the reader is introduced to some interesting side characters, as well as the world of Reis, where Lazarus and his company are sent to.

Arriving on Reis, Lazarus discovers a unique world of secrets, lies and hidden history, with the populace attacked by a mysterious fungal infection that has taken over various host bodies.  Quickly diving into the fray to determine the full extent of the threat, the first half of the book sees the Dark Angels essentially taking on the zombies from The Last of Us with an intelligent malevolence behind them, and these unique antagonists prove an interesting alternative to the classic villains of the franchise.  From there the story devolves into an intriguing combination of sequences, as Lazarus attempts to uncover his true opponent, while also dealing with attacks on multiple fronts.  This leads to some compelling and occasionally brutal scenes, including a continued conflict inside an Adeptus Mechanicus base, as well as some other great sequences scattered throughout the planet.  The author spends some substantial time building up some impressive and moving character arcs, as various figures deal with the chaotic events in different ways.

The author does an excellent job building up a great hidden villain who the protagonist must uncover, and the secrets and mysterious surrounding the figure really adds to the intrigue of the story.  While the identity of some of the antagonists are a little predictable, the journey getting there is impressive, and I loved the setup to the answers that Kloster subtly hid through the earlier parts of the book, with the reliance on understanding the past to survive the future being a great recurring theme.  This leads up to a particularly intense and dark final third as the antagonist’s very long-term plot comes to dramatic fruition.  Kloster does a masterful job of building up tension and substantially upping the stakes in the leadup to this, and you find yourself deeply engaged as you wait to see how everything will unfold.  There are some brilliant moments here, including a ton of over-the-top action, some fantastic plot resolutions, and several particularly tragic moments as the protagonists face overwhelming foes.  The overall resolution is very clever and builds on some excellent prior story inclusions and character growth, that Kloster wraps up perfect.  The end result is an awesome, memorable and particularly enthralling standalone story, that really showcases just how cool and complex a Warhammer 40,000 story can be.

I really enjoyed how Enmity’s Edge came together, and I felt Kloster had a great writing style the ensured a powerful and intense story.  His entire complex narrative was a ton of fun from start to finish, and it proved to be well showcased through several compelling protagonist perspectives.  While there is a ton of awesome and intense action in this book, as is required for a Warhammer 40,000 novel (war is in the name for a reason), the focus on a more subtle threat ensured that Enmity’s Edge stood out from the pack.  I particularly appreciated how subtly Kloster set up a lot of key story elements early in the book and they all paid off extremely well, with a great theme on the lessons of the past recurring in an excellent way.  I also must highlight the great new setting of the planet Reis, which Kloster made fantastic use of.  The Warhammer 40,000 universe is home to a multitude of intriguing and unique worlds, but Reis really stood out to me thanks to Kloster’s vibrant descriptions and the clever way the planet’s complex history and disposition played into the narrative.  An Imperial Knight planet (a feudal world governed by mech pilots who take the whole knight thing way too seriously) that has fallen on hard times thanks to the destruction of the ruler’s battle suits, Reis is a hotbed of dark history, lingering secrets, and intense rivalries, covered with useful fungus.  Kloster perfectly introduces and then utilizes this planet throughout the narrative, and you find yourself getting really drawn into the revealed history, especially as it produces a particularly effective and dark antagonist.  These writing elements ensure that Kloster’s captivating narrative pops in the reader’s mind, and I was really impressed with how he presented this excellent Warhammer novel.

In addition to being an outstanding read, I also felt that Enmity’s Edge was an excellent piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and one that really emphasizes how clever and compelling a story in this canon can be.  Focusing on the Space Marine chapter, the Dark Angels, Kloster presents a gripping standalone narrative that makes great use of the franchise’s unique features and history without getting too bloated or lore heavy.  Thanks to how effectively the author covers these franchise inclusions, I felt that readers unfamiliar with Warhammer fiction could easily jump into Enmity’s Edge without too much pre-knowledge and still deeply enjoy the plot, especially as it really showcases how cool the iconic Space Marines can be.  More established Warhammer 40,000 fans will naturally get a lot more out of the story, especially as Kloster explored some particularly awesome aspects of the universe.  I personally loved how well he showcased the various squads featured within a specific Space Marines company, and it was fun to have a mixture of troop specializations and vehicles which reminded me of tabletop gameplay at times.  He also does an outstanding job showcasing the Dark Angels, who are one of the more popular Space Marine chapters for a reason.  This proved to be a very strong book for Dark Angels fans, and I appreciated how he veered away from the typical topics you’d expect for a Dark Angels novel (completely focused on the Fallen), and instead showed them facing a fresh foe with some excellent motivations to hate them.  As such, this is a highly recommend read for all Warhammer fans that might also attract a few new readers to the franchise.

One of Enmity’s Edge’s real strengths was the excellent batch of characters that Kloster set the narrative around.  This includes the titular protagonist, Lazarus, Master of the Dark Angels Fifth Company, who proves to be an intriguing central character.  A well-known tactician, secret holder, and one of the few commanding Primaris marines (an upgraded Space Marines) in the Chapter, Lazarus proves to be a great main figure for the plot.  While some Space Marine characters in fiction can be a little one-dimensional, I felt that Kloster did an excellent job turning Lazarus into a complex figure, haunted by his previous battles, concerned about the future of his chapter, and bitter about those friends he has lost to psykers.  There are some great scenes featuring Lazarus throughout Enmity’s Edge, especially as he showed a lot of humanity to a certain point-of-view character, and it was intriguing to see his tactical mind in action.  He also proves to be an excellent foil to the excellent main antagonist of the plot, and they had some compelling scenes together.

Aside from Lazarus, Enmity’s Edge featured a raft of notable support characters, including several major members of the Dark Angels Fifth Company.  I particularly enjoyed the imposing and unfailingly honorable figure of Ancient Jequn, the Fifth Company’s veteran standard bearer.  Jequn has a particularly tragic arc in this book, and I really grew attached to him and his resolve throughout the run of Enmity’s Edge.  Other enjoyable characters included members of Lazarus’s command squad, an Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priest whose technology reflects their obsession with birds, and the various key rulers of Reis.  The antagonists of Enmity’s Edge are also well set-up and utilized, and while I won’t got into too much detail of them here, they had some brilliant sequences, and really enhanced the overall narrative.

However, I felt that one of the best characters in Enmity’s Edge was Learned Ysentrud, an enhanced human of a type found only on Reis called a Wyrbuk, who finds themselves helping the Dark Angels.  Essentially a living repository of knowledge, Ysentrud becomes a key figure in the plot as she provides the Dark Angels with history and insights into Reis that allow them to uncover the plot’s big mystery.  Probably the book’s main point-of-view protagonist after Lazarus, Ysentrud had one of the more relatable character perspectives in Enmity’s Edge, as she finds herself surrounded by the demi-god figures of the Space Marines as they engage in combat.  Not only does Ysentrud’s perspective help to bring readers a little more into the plot, but I really enjoyed the compelling story arc Kloster wove around her as she attempted to find her courage and prove her worth to the Dark Angels.  Kloster’s entire arc around Ysentrud was really well written, and I felt that her complex personal narrative was a particularly strong part of the book.

Those familiar with this blog will be unsurprised that I chose to enjoy Enmity’s Edge on audiobook, which is how I primarily check out all my Warhammer content.  As with most Warhammer 40,000 books, Enmity’s Edge came across extremely well in this format, and you are in for a really good time listening to it.  Coming in with a runtime just short of 12 hours, listeners can get through Enmity’s Edge’s audiobook in no time at all, especially once you get caught up in its fantastic story.  The intense action, elaborate sequences and deep intrigue of the plot is perfectly enhanced by having it read out to you, and I loved hearing the elaborate descriptions of the setting and the unique characters within it.  I was also very impressed by narrator John Banks, who has lent his voice to several Warhammer audiobooks over the years.  Banks did a remarkable job diving into the various characters featured within Enmity’s Edge, and I also felt that his amazing voice lent a lot of gravitas to these figures.  While all the characters are given excellent and fitting voices, I particularly loved his take on the various Dark Angels characters featured throughout the plot.  He gives these genetically enhanced, ancient warriors the booming and commanding voices you would expect, and their emphatic declarations sound really cool here.  I absolutely powered through this excellent audiobook, and I would strongly recommend it as the very best way to enjoy Enmity’s Edge.

Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster was another excellent 2024 Warhammer 40,000 novel that I could not get enough of.  Featuring a complex and intense plot of betrayal, secrets and dark history, Enmity’s Edge grabs your attention early and ensures you can’t put it down as you rush towards the end.  One of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels of the year, Enmity’s Edge is a must read of all fans of the franchise, and I really loved its brilliant story.

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Warhammer 40,000: Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives by Mike Brooks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 27 July 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 5 hours and 59 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of the rising stars of Warhammer fiction, Mike Brooks, presents another exciting, character-focused narrative within the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe with awesome novel, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives.

Those familiar with the franchise will know that Warhammer 40,000 fiction is on fire at the moment.  There are some very talented authors out there writing exciting and compelling adventures based on the game’s various factions, and readers are finding out just how fun and complex stories written in this universe can be.  Out of all the fantastic authors writing Warhammer fiction in recent years, one of the most impressive is Mike Brooks, who is shaping up to be one of the franchise’s big writers.  A talented fantasy and science fiction author, Brooks has been producing some excellent books in recent years that either focus on unique Warhammer 40,000 characters or one of the game’s non-human factions.  Books like Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, The Lion: Son of the Forest (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), Brutal Kunnin, Warboss and Da Big Dakka (one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of 2024), have been extremely epic, and I am always down for more stuff from Brooks as a result.  As such, I made sure to grab a copy of his other 2024 Warhammer 40,000 novel, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives, which was another interesting and memorable addition to the canon.

In the far future, the fallen and capricious drukhari heal and hold back the grim prospect of death by inflicting pain on others.  The dark streets of their city, Commorragh, run red with blood as millions of prisoners are killed in their gladiatorial arenas to slake their citizens’ bloodlust and need for suffering.  To survive in this brutal city, a drukhari needs to be smart, deceitful or a natural killer, and no killer is more revered in Commorragh than Lelith Hesperax.

A legendary gladiator, Lelith Hesperax has long reigned as the Grand Succubus of the most powerful Wych Cult in Commorragh, her blades having carved through thousands of challengers, potential rivals and alien captives.  But after years of fighting for herself, Lelith has found a new cause to draw blood for.  Abandoning Commorragh, Lelith now fights against daemonic hordes alongside the nomadic cultists of the Ynnead, who seek a different way to survive as a species.  However, while she’s been away, new rivals strike at Lelith’s holdings back at Commorragh.

Warned by the mysterious Harlequins of a rising threat against her, Lelith returns to Commorragh to find that much has changed.  Her Cult of Strife is no longer feared or respected, and many of the city’s inhabitants openly plot against her and her followers.  Shocked at how far her status has fallen in her absence, Lelith knows that the only person capable of causing this much disruption to her empire is the undisputed ruler of Commorragh, Asdrubael Vect.  Forced to contend against the schemes of a master manipulator, Lelith believes that the only way to survive is to remind the city just how dangerous she is.  But with Vect’s web of manipulation surrounding her, can even Lelith cut herself free, especially when her opponent forces her to fight against the only person in Commorragh she doesn’t want to kill?

Mike Brooks continues to showcase just how good he is at bringing the various complex figures of the Warhammer 40,000 universe to life with this exciting new read.  Expertly capturing the legendary drukhari killer, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives was an awesome and captivating read I had a lot of fun getting through.

This latest book from Brooks is a quick but very intense and well-written read that successfully gets into the head of an iconic drukhari character from the games.  Told exclusively from the perspective of the main character, Lelith Hesperax, Queen of Knives moves at an extremely fast pace; after a fast introduction to set up how much Lelith’s life has changed since leaving to work with the cultists of the Ynnead, you are thrust into the action when a bored Lelith is warned about a rising threat back in Commorragh.  This effectively brings the reader back to the main setting, which is for the best, as Commorragh is a particularly awesome location for any Warhammer 40,000 novel.  The protagonist is soon embroiled in a sinister array of intrigue, as it becomes clear that the undisputed leader of the drukhari, Asdrubael Vect, is working against her, and is using a figure from Lelith’s past, Morghana Nathrax, as his catspaw.

Forced on the backfoot in a fight for the first time in her life, Lelith attempts to find a way to counter the moves of her shadowy opponent, while also trying to avoid a fight with Morghana.  This results in some excellent action set pieces and moments of intrigue, as Lelith gets back to her dread drukhari roots.  The fight sequences surrounding the protagonists are sharp, exciting, and necessarily brutal, and I appreciated how well Brooks balanced the action with overlying intrigue and plotting.  The author also spends a good chunk of time diving into the protagonist’s personality and past, and a few well-placed flashbacks help to provide additional emotional attachment and show Lelith’s complicated relationship with Morghana.  Everything leads up to the inevitable confrontation, which goes in some very interesting and emotionally charged directions.  While I felt that Brooks could have added in another layer of intrigue to the protagonist’s final ploy to make the book really stand out, the conclusion of the book was generally pretty satisfying, and Queen of Knives turned out to be an excellent standalone read.

Due to the book being deliberately focused on one iconic protagonist, Queen of Knives does by necessity have a character-driven plot, which revolves around some fantastic figures.  Naturally the most prominent of these is the book’s sole perspective character, Lelith Hesperax, who proved to be quite an awesome protagonist to follow.  Brooks chooses to jump readers right into the midst of Lelith’s current adventure at the start of Queen of Knives rather than immediately focusing on her backstory, which I think worked from a narrative perspective, as it brought readers quickly into the plot.  There is a useful drip feed of information about her past and her nature as the book continues, enough that reader’s unfamiliar with the protagonist can easily enjoy Queen of Knives, while also allowing Brooks to control the audience’s understanding of the protagonist’s motivations and feelings.  Readers soon come to appreciate that Lelith is a complex figure, torn between her love of violence and glory and the new path of redemption she finds herself on with the cult of Ynnead.  As such, Queen of Knives proves to be a key chapter in Lelith’s story, as she returns to her old ways, only to discover a new side to her life and a potential romance.  I loved seeing Brooks’ examination of the protagonist’s various complex layers, and it made for quite a moving book as a result.

The main protagonist is well balanced by several great supporting characters, each of whom have their own unique impact on the narrative.  The two I really want to focus on include new character Morghana Nathrax, a figure from Lelith’s past who develops a real love-hate relationship with the protagonist.  Morghana’s well-balanced admiration and hatred of Lelith ensures that conflict is inevitable between them, even though Lelith wants to keep her alive, and Brooks writes quite a complex relationship between them.  However, my favourite supporting character is the main antagonist of Queen of Knives, the notorious ruler of Commorragh, Asdrubael Vect.  Vect is a particularly awesome figure in the Warhammer 40,000 canon, so it was cool to see him utilised here in Queen of Knives.  Even though Vect only appears in one sequence at the end of the novel, Brooks does an outstanding job building him up as a brilliantly devious figure, effortlessly manipulating all the drukhari in the city, including Lelith and her followers.  You really come to appreciate the fear that all Commorragh has for Vect as the book continues, and his one appearance ensures that you understand why he commands such fear.  I really loved how well Brooks built up these characters, and it made for some awesome reading as a result.

I felt that Queen of Knives was a great Warhammer 40,000 novel, especially as Brooks expertly explores and utilises so many cool lore elements throughout his story.  It proves to be a deeply compelling look at the iconic and always enticing drukhari faction.  The drukhari, or the dark eldar, as older fans may know them, are the Warhammer 40,000 universe’s resident space elf murder pirates, and have a long history in the game.  Despite that, there isn’t a lot of fiction out there about them, with Brooks’s other 2024 novel, Da Big Dakka, being the only recent book to strongly feature their perspective that I can recall, and even then, more focus was given to the ork characters in that book.  As such, it was a real pleasure to have a novel completely dedicated to the drukhari, and Brooks does an outstanding job diving into the faction’s culture, mentality and other vital lore elements.  This includes a fantastic look at the iconic dark city of Commorragh, one of the most dangerous places in the Warhammer 40,000 canon.  A noted seat of deceit, bloodshed and easy death, Commorragh did not disappoint as a background setting from Queen of Knives, and Brooks ensures it plays a key part in the story.  Throw in some other interesting, if relatively brief, looks at the other Aeldari sub-factions (particularly the Ynnari), and there is a lot of interesting lore here for Warhammer 40,000 fans to appreciate.  As such, Queen of Knives is probably best enjoyed by those who already have an established connection to the franchise, although thanks to Brooks’s excellent writing, a new reader could probably come in and enjoy Queen of Knives without too much context.

As with most things Warhammer that I enjoy, I made sure to grab a copy of Queen of Knives on audiobook, which proved to be as epic as always.  The fast-paced plot, intense action and unique characters of Queen of Knives unsurprisingly came across extremely well in the audiobook format, and I really got absorbed into the story as a result, especially when it came to the elaborate depictions of the sinister city of Commorragh.  Coming in with a runtime of six hours, Queen of Knives is a relatively short Warhammer audiobook to get through, and I managed to knock it off quickly once I got stuck into it.  I really enjoyed how Queen of Knives came together, and I particularly enjoyed the narrator Antonia Beamish.  Beamish, whose work I previously enjoyed on the Warhammer Horror audiobook Sepulturum, was really impressive with her narration of Queen of Knives, and I liked her take on the main protagonist.  You really get a sense of the predatory nature of the various drukhari characters that Beamish voices throughout this audiobook, and I felt that these figures were all given fitting and impressive voices.  This great voice work helped ensure that the audiobook was once again the best way to enjoy this excellent book, and you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun listening to Queen of Knives.

Overall, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives was another amazing book from Mike Brooks, who once again showcases his ability to write complex Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  Combining a compelling and intrigue laden narrative with great character work and a particularly distinctive Warhammer 40,000 setting, Queen of Knives was so much fun, and I really powered through it.  A highly recommended read, I look forward to seeing what Brooks will write next.

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Warhammer 40,000: Double Eagle by Dan Abnett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer19 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 January 2004)

Series: Warhammer 40,000/Sabbat Worlds

Length: 10 hours and 16 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The master of Warhammer fiction, Dan Abnett, takes to the skies with the deeply addictive and ultra epic fighter pilot novel Double Eagle.

Readers familiar with this blog will know that I have been extremely damn obsessed with Warhammer fiction the last couple of years, having spent a substantial amount of time reading and reviewing numerous books from the franchise.  Of the many Warhammer fiction authors I have read during this period, one of the most impressive is the legendary Dan Abnett, who has written so many exceptional and powerful books around the franchise, including several series considered to be the seminal texts of the extended universe.  I have had a ton of fun with many of his books, including his brilliant Eisenhorn trilogy (Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus), and he has multiple entries in my current favourite Warhammer 40,000 books list.  However, his best-known series is the iconic Gaunt’s Ghosts books, which I am currently in the middle of reading.

The Gaunt’s Ghosts books are a beloved and key series of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that seeks to give readers a moving look at the lives of the frontline human soldier in this grimdark universe.  Set in an extended, multi-planet campaign, known as the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, the Gaunt’s Ghosts books follow a ragged regiment of soldiers as they attempt to survive the dark servants of Chaos coming for them.  I am having an exceptional time reading the Gaunt’s Ghosts series, and in 2024 alone I have read two particularly epic entries, Straight Silver and Sabbat Martyr.  However, before I dive any further into the series, I decided to read the spin-off novel, Double Eagle, which I have had on my to-read list for a while now.  Double Eagle was an interesting and unique novel that follows members of an airmen wing who were introduced in the fifth Gaunt’s Ghosts book, The Guns of Tanith.  Set after their mission with the Ghosts, Double Eagle follows these pilots, including a few characters from The Guns of Tanith, in a brutal new campaign.

War has engulfed the Sabbat World system as the forces of the Imperium of Man attempt to reclaim multiple worlds invaded by the forces of Chaos.  After years of fighting, the Imperium’s crusade has reached a tipping point, with victory or defeat for the entire campaign hanging on the results of a few key battles.  While the fighting is fierce throughout the system, nowhere is it more desperate than the beleaguered world of Enothis.

After failing to conquer the Chaos footholds on Enothis, the infantry and armoured forces of the Imperium are in full retreat, attempting to traverse miles of hostile terrain to return to safe territory, all while being harassed by relentless enemy aircraft.  With the fate of the planet in the balance, the commanders of the crusade deploy multiple squadrons of Imperial fighters and bombers to Enothis to turn the entire conflict into an air war.  If the Imperial pilots can hold back the advancing tides of Chaos and allow the ground forces to regroup the war for Enothis may be won.  But if the airmen fail, then Enothis and the entire Sabbat Worlds campaign is doomed.

Amongst the pilots sent to Enothis are the elite flyers of the Phantine Air Corps.  Veterans from the recent war to liberate their home planet of Phantine, the pilots of the Phantine Air Corps are determined to do their bit in this new conflict.  But the battle for Enothis will be unlike anything seen before, as thousands of Chaos aircraft descend on the planet, hoping to obliterate the defenders.  Severely outnumbered, can even the dogged Phantine pilots hold back the approaching tide of dark air machines before the planet is conquered, especially with an unnaturally skilled Chaos ace stalking the skies, determined to bring every opposing pilot down in flames?

Just when I think that Dan Abnett couldn’t impress me even more, I go and read Double Eagle.  A brilliant, intense, and exceptionally well-written novel that focuses on a particularly cool aspect of the Warhammer universe, Double Eagle blew me away with its great characters and elaborate air combat sequences.  I had an incredible time with Double Eagle, and it gets an easy five-star rating from me.

I deeply, deeply enjoyed Double Eagle, as Abnett took the brief of a Battle of Britain-inspired Warhammer 40,000 story and applied his usual impressively detailed style and powerful character-driven storytelling to produce an outstanding and addictive read.  Perfectly spinning off from the previous Gaunt’s Ghosts books and bringing the reader to another adventure in the expansive Sabbat World Crusades, Double Eagle has a brilliant narrative loaded with action that goes hard and fast for your feels and refuses to let go once it has you firmly in your grasp.

Double Eagle starts off quickly, getting the reader across the brutal new campaign and the importance of the aerial war that emerges, you are soon introduced to multiple characters and shown some initial awesome sequences with some explosive dogfights.  From there the story moves at a fast but smart pace, as you follow several distinctive and often overlapping character arcs throughout the length of the brutal campaign on Enothis.  You really get dragged into each major protagonist’s story as they attempt to survive the flying war.  There are some excellent battle scenes in this first half of the book and Abnett really shows how epic he can make a fighter pilot dogfight very early on.  The characters each experience some highs and lows in the first half of the book, and it doesn’t take you long to get attached the protagonists and their complex personal tales within the confines of the main story.

However, it is the second half of the book where everything comes together perfectly.  Each of the protagonists experience some version of personal loss or difficulty, and the impact of the war slowly drains them, taking them to some dark places.  Abnett sets up a brilliant underdog narrative around the protagonists, as the massive fleet of Chaos airships seek to crush them.  You can really see the parallels between this narrative and the Battle for Britain at this point, especially as the tired and severely outnumbered Phantine fighters and their local allies attempt to hold back the overwhelming and often Germanic-inspired forces coming for them.  Everything leads up to a massive final confrontation, as the protagonists engage in a series of brutal and drawn-out dogfights and aerial confrontations as we lead up to the finale.  While a couple of the character arcs leading up to this are a tad unsurprising, the way that Abnett writes them makes you love every second it.  The author brings everything to an epic close with continued and captivating action that honestly is impossible not to react to at times.  There are some very powerful moments at the closes, especially when some characters get everything they want, and you come away from Double Eagle wishing Abnett had made this book even longer.

Abnett once again masterfully crafts his compelling narrative together in such an effective way that I honestly just couldn’t stop listening to this book.  Making excellent use of multiple complex perspectives, you are swiftly drawn into the lives of several ordinary soldiers drafted into the deadly aerial war against a massive opposing fleet.  Featuring a range of complex characters arcs, Abnett expertly balances the character-driven plot between the various perspectives, while also featuring an epic war story that hits in all the right places.  Abnett’s use of quick-fire perspective changes works to create an excellent and fast-paced narrative, and it works especially well in some of the novel’s more intense sequences.  Speaking of action, you can’t talk about Double Eagle without discussing the amazing and epic aerial fight scenes and dogfights that make the book so damn distinctive.  Abnett did a remarkable job of harnessing the energy and feel of classic World War II fighter combat and bringing it into the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Featuring many, many awesome sequences of aerial combat, Double Eagle really feels like you’re in a futuristic Battle for Britain as you witness fights between small groups of fighters fending off mass raids from Chaos forces, as well as sequences from the perspective of Imperial bombers.  The resulting dogfights between advanced fighter craft works so damn well in the context of the story, and you are treated to some truly epic sequences.  I was constantly enthralled by the brilliant aerial combat and flight sequences, and Abnett did an exceptional job expressing the intensities of flight, the ultra-fast pace nature of the combat, and the craziness of a massed aerial battle.  I could have honestly spent many, many more hours listening to Abnett’s descriptions of aerial combat, and there are so many excellent writing elements to this book that drag you in.

Double Eagle also proved to be an interesting and particularly strong Warhammer 40,000 novel that is really going to appeal to a wide range of readers.  Spinning off from the Gaunt’s Ghosts books, Double Eagle is tailor made for fans of the original series, although familiarity with the Gaunt’s Ghosts books isn’t necessary to enjoy this epic book.  While there are a few references, returning characters, and discussions about the overarching Sabbat Worlds Crusade, for the most part any reader can easily dive into Double Eagle and follow the story with no issues at all.  As with most tie-in books in the franchise, Double Eagle is best enjoyed by existing Warhammer fans, who will once again enjoy Abnett’s compelling insights into the canon.  I know that I really loved the exploration of Warhammer 40,000 air combat, and I loved how Abnett explored the physics, as well as the reasons why aerial fighters are still utilised in a universe where space travel exists.  However, I also felt that Double Eagle would serve as a pretty good entry point to any new readers interested in finding out why the Warhammer 40,000 universe is so damn cool.  Indeed, readers who are a fan of aerial focused military fiction or World War II fighter combat fiction can very easily jump into the new world here, as Abnett really presents a tale they would enjoy.  I need to read more Warhammer books from Abnett (I have several currently in my queue), and I currently very excited to read the recently announced sequel to Double Eagle, Interceptor City, which is set to be released later this year.

I found that the writing element that really brought Double Eagle together where the excellent characters at the heart and soul of the plot.  Focusing on several intriguing pilot characters, Abnett dove into the mindset of these flyers and did an amazing job capturing their love of the air and their desire to be the best.  However, as the book continues, you see a darker side to many of these characters, as the toil of war drags them down into their own mental hells.  While it did take me a little while to get across every protagonist, I eventually got drawn into the excellent character-focused storylines that Abnett set up in Double Eagle, and it was great to see the return of several characters introduced in The Guns of Tanith.  This includes the Phantine flight commander, Bree Jagdea, and the bombardier Oskar Viltry.  Jagdea proves to be a great centre for much of the plot, and her steady determination to keep her flight together and survive the various rigors of war, really strike a chord with the reader.  Viltry’s narrative is a little more complex, as the veteran pilot is suffering from trauma after being shot down and captured in The Guns of Tanith.  Certain about his own impending death, Viltry spends much of the book as a morose and depressed figure, until he finds someone worth living for.  Viltry’s storyline proves to be particularly heartfelt, especially as he has a relatively nice romance angle, and I felt that Abnett really captured his trauma and desire for a better life.

Aside from Jagdea and Viltry, Double Eagle also features several other impressive perspective characters who really bring the narrative together.  This includes young Phantine pilot, Vander Marquall, who serves as a major protagonist.  A rookie pilot fighting in his first campaign, Marquall has a massive desire to prove himself.  His obsession with becoming an ace and being respected becomes an overwhelming part of his character, and you find yourself occasionally disliking him, while also simultaneously cheering him on.  Thanks to his interactions with the other characters, Marquall gets some much-needed perspective at times (that scene with his mechanic at the end was brilliant), and I felt he had one of the most complex, dark and relatable storylines in the entire book.  Abnett rounds out the characters with local pilots August Kaminsky, a wounded veteran no longer allowed to fly, and Enric Darrow, a rookie without a plane after getting shot down in the opening scenes by the novel’s big bad.  While parts of Kaminsky and Darrow’s storylines are a little predictable, you really get invested in their various battles, especially as Abnett produces some interesting character moments and interactions for them.  I especially loved the hilarious exchanges between Kaminsky and Jagdea during one fun sequence, and Darrow proves to be a very likeable and determined young character to get behind.  These main characters, plus an excellent supporting cast, were great to follow in Double Eagle, and it will be awesome to continue at least one survivor’s story in the upcoming sequel.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I ended up listening to Double Eagle on audiobook, as there is frankly no better way to enjoy an epic Warhammer 40,000 novel.  While I always gush about how much I enjoy a Warhammer audiobook, I frankly really need to emphasise just how impressive and exceptional Double Eagle was in this format.  The many, many aerial combat sequences come across so damn well when they are read out to you, and I loved how easily it was to visualise the fast-paced and exceptional flight scenes.  You really get lost in the battles when you listen to them, and I was frankly buzzing the entire time I was listening to Double Eagle.  Part of the reason this audiobook was so damn good was the inclusion of one of my favourite audiobook narrators Toby Longworth.  Longworth has lent his voice to most of Abnett’s Warhammer 40,000 novels in recent years, and frankly the two are a match made in heaven.  The story comes across so effectively in Longworth’s voice, and he really makes every scene, especially the exciting action sequences, that little more epic.  I also really love the fantastic and compelling voices he uses for the various characters.  While a couple of character voices sounded the same as those Longworth used in the Gaunt’s Ghosts audiobooks, I felt that they perfectly fit every figure they were assigned to, and you really get drawn into the matching character arcs as a result.  Frankly this audiobook was perfect, and I had so much fun listening to it.  With a run time of just over 10 hours, the Double Eagle audiobook is very easy to power through, and that is exactly what I did.

With an elaborate, powerful and addictive story about glorious battles in the sky, Double Eagle was a particularly epic Warhammer 40,000 novel that proves impossible not to fall in love with.  Another exceptional novel from Dan Abnett, who once again shows why he is one of the best authors of Warhammer fiction, Double Eagle had me hooked from the very first chapter, and I honestly couldn’t stop reading it until the very end.  This book comes very highly recommended, and I cannot wait to read the sequel later this year.

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Warhammer 40,000: Daemonbreaker by Jude Reid

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer3 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 24 August 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 7 hours and 27 minutes

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Gird yourself in faith, fury and fire, as fantastic author Jude Reid presents her latest Warhammer 40,000 novel, Daemonbreaker, which follows a complex figure as she blazes forth into the darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

After having a wonderful time with Warhammer 40,000 novels like Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward, Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick, Siege of Vraks by Steven Lyons and Oaths of Damnation by Robbie MacNiven, there was no way I was going to stop loving this franchise this year, so I eagerly dove into the cool new audiobook, Daemonbreaker by Jude Reid.  Reid, who really impressed me last year with Creed: Ashes of Cadia (one of my favourite debuts of 2023), presents an intriguing and dark novel that follows members of the Adepta Sororitas, the Warhammer 40,000’s resident nuns-with-guns.

On the battlefields of faith and fury, few warriors in the Imperium of Man can match the battle prowess of Celestian Sacresant Aveline of the Order of the Sacred Rose.  A deadly sister of the Adepta Sororitas, devoted to killing the mutants, witches, heretics and daemons that oppose the Emperor, Aveline is always eager for greater combat, and soon finds the ultimate opportunity she has been waiting for, defending the fortress world of Cadia from the ravening forces of Chaos as they embark on their 13th Black Crusade.

However, before Aveline can join her sisters in the massive battle for Cadia, she has been assigned final sacred duty.  Sent to Orrison VIII, a minor shrine world in the Cadia Gate system, Aveline is tasked with securing the desert world for the Emperor and scouring the forces of Chaos from its surface.

Desperate to find glory on Cadia, Aveline chafes at the slow speed of the mission on Orrison VIII, especially as their primary target, a deranged Chaos sorcerer, is content with playing a slow game of cat-and-mouse with her.  However, when Aveline finally gets her chance to face the enemy, she finds herself confronting a dark foe who knows her name and has a sinister scheme to destroy her and her sisters through her own arrogance.  If Aveline is unable to stop the dark Chaos forces before her, a deadly foe will be unleashed upon Holy Terra that could destroy the heart of humanity as it faces its darkest moment.

Daemonbreaker was a fantastic and compelling Warhammer 40,000 novel that expertly features an iconic faction and looks at the faith and emotions lying beneath their militant surface.  Jude Reid continues to impress with this cool novel and I had an excellent time getting through the intense and exciting story, which seeks to bring to life the figure of Celestian Sacresant Aveline who recently got her own model in the game.

I must admit, before diving too far into this review, that I sometimes found it a little hard to connect with Daemonbreaker at times, primarily because I’ve never been a massive fan of the Adepta Sororitas as a faction.  They’re honestly a little too one-note for me at times, and I never been especially drawn to their fiction as a result.  However, I felt that Reid was able to lift her narrative above some of the inherent limitations of this faction throughout the course of the book.  It helped that Daemonbreaker was a relatively shorter Warhammer 40,000 novel, so Reid sped up the plot, which in turn kept the reader from getting bogged down.  The resulting story is exciting and intriguing, as author quickly sets up the primary plot of the hunt for Chaos on Orrison VIII, while some initial compelling action set pieces help grab the reader’s attention.

The main narrative moves at a quick pace, with the protagonist leading her force into several encounters out in the desert while battling her own emotional turmoil and disappointment.  However, everything in the story changes around the halfway point of Daemonbreaker, when the author decides to throw the entire status-quo of the book on its head.  Thanks to a combination of the protagonist’s mistake and a major Warhammer 40,000 universe event, everything gets substantially more desperate for the protagonists, and Reid goes a little nuclear stacking the odds against them.  While there are a few gaps in the storytelling, the second half of Daemonbreaker is extremely fun and exciting, as the protagonists face impossible odds and encounter the very worst the universe has to offer.  There is a ton of tragedy and some horrifying moments as the reader races towards the end of the book, and it proves harder and harder to put it down as you near the conclusion.  Reid loads up some big final battles that showcase just how grim things can get in this universe, before the expected miracle brings things to a close.  Readers come away from Daemonbreaker feeling pretty satisfied with how things come to an end, although I did feel that part of the plot was a bit thin in places.

Reid has a great handle on writing Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and this is on display again in Daemonbreaker.  There is a notable cutdown in the exposition and Reid brings the reader right into the action and carnage which made it an easier book to get through, especially considering the faction focus.  The various action sequences come across as gritty and powerful, and you can feel the raw emotions of the protagonists as they encounter their dark opponents and the dreadful things they need to overcome.  Reid ensured that this was a concise and well-contained narrative through her use of two point-of-view characters, and I appreciated the excellent alternating perspectives.  Both protagonists were very well written, with the main story around Celestian Sacresant Aveline being the most prominent.  A deadly, if arrogant, sister of the Emperor, Aveline finds her devotion challenged by her own selfish desires and issues, which leads to dark things in the middle of the book.  While I didn’t always connect with Aveline as a character, I felt that Reid wrote a rather good redemption arc around her, and she becomes a lot more likeable and relatable in the second half of the book, especially as she comes to recognise her hubris and flaws.  Recognising these things allows her to fully appreciate her fellow sisters and leads her into the right place for the final arc of the plot to unfold.

Aveline is well balanced by the second perspective character, Novitate Gwineth, a young, keen and determined figure, whose eagerness to become a member of the Adepta Sororitas is drawn from her impending doom.  Reid writes an interesting and unique Warhammer storyline around Gwineth having haemophilia, which ensures that her days on the battlefield and in life are limited.  Wishing to die as a full sister, Gwineth’s keenness becomes a key part of the plot, and I loved seeing her grow into the role she wishes, especially as her innocence and determination are a driver for the rest of the cast.  The rest of the characters within Daemonbreaker are also very fun, if sparingly used.  I do perhaps wish that the author had added in additional perspective, preferably from a villain’s point of view, as I feel that would have enhanced the narrative to a degree, especially to provide some missing plot answers or explain the motivation and plans of the antagonists.  However, for the most part, this was a very well-written story with some intriguing protagonists, and one that I had an excellent time getting through.

The author has really gotten the hang of showcasing the grim and intriguing Warhammer 40,000 universe, and I loved some of the directions and figures that she featured within Daemonbreaker.  I especially felt that Reid does an excellent job examining Adepta Sororitas faction, the Sisters of Battle, within the book.  The various different units and figures of the faction are dropped into the plot fairly seamlessly, and even someone unfamiliar with the Adepta Sororitas unit types can easily appreciate their role in the plot.  I must also once again emphasise that Reid was able to overcome my disinterest in the classic Adepta Sororitas depictions with her clever narrative and compelling writing.  While this was a great Warhammer 40,000 novel, I feel that Daemonbreaker is perhaps a book best left to established Warhammer fans, as Reid does feature some heavy lore elements, and Adepta Sororitas players will probably get the most out of it.  Still, a new reader can easily come along and have a lot of fun with Daemonbreaker, as Reid’s story gets quite intense, personal and brutal.  You may have to ignore the fact that Daemonbreaker mainly written to promote a new model released in the tabletop game, but if you can get past that, this is a book well worth checking out.

Naturally, I ended up grabbing Daemonbreaker on audiobook, as this format is the absolute best way to enjoy a Warhammer book.  I really cannot emphasise how much more epic a Warhammer 40,000 tale comes across when it is read out to you, and I always have so much more fun listening to it.  This is particularly true when it comes to all the epic action, and I felt that the carnage in Daemonbreaker was very strongly enhanced by the audiobook format, with listeners also able to appreciate the compelling characters and intriguing lore while it’s being read out to you.  With a runtime of around seven and a half hours, this is a relatively short audiobook, and one that listeners can really power through, especially when they get caught up in the action and compelling character arcs.

One of the big highlights of this audiobook for me was the fact it was narrated by the appropriately named Faith Alabi, who really dives into the complex Adeptus Sororitas characters with her voice.  Each of the key protagonists is given their own unique voice, and I liked how well Alabi expressed their holy rage, and personal issues.  Alabi’s excellent voice work is cleverly supported by some fun additional audio enhancements, which I thought was a fun way to express some unique elements of the Warhammer 40,000 canon.  For example, the cybernetic figures, such as members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, have a noticeable robotic voice modulation that really tries to capture their machine nature, while communication occurring over vox-casters (radios), are filled with static and sound effects to emulate how the voices would sound in real life.  In addition, certain audio effects give dark and otherworldly voices to the antagonists, such as a particularly booming tone that makes the dialogue of a Chaos sorcerer antagonist that more impactful, or freaky vocal effects that make a major daemon seem even more powerful.  These audio effects work extremely well alongside Alabi’s narration, and I really appreciate the effort the producers made to drag listeners further into the story.  As such, those who decide to check out Daemonbreaker on audiobook are in for a very fun treat and this is such an awesome way to enjoy this fantastic addition to the Warhammer 40,000 canon.

Daemonbreaker was another amazing Warhammer 40,000 outing from Jude Reid, and one I was very glad I checked out.  The author effectively brings the main character to life in this book while also showcasing a compelling and intense Warhammer narrative of sacrifice, tragedy and holy war.  As such, Daemonbreaker is an excellent read for all fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and I cannot wait to see what Reid takes on in the future.

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Warhammer 40,000: Oaths of Damnation by Robbie MacNiven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer5 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 24 August 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 10 hours and 57 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to follow the most damned heroes in the Warhammer 40,000 canon in the impressive and intense new novel from Robbie MacNiven, Oaths of Damnation.

Recurring readers of this blog will know that I am constantly in the mood for fun and exciting Warhammer 40,000 action, which is why I listened to the awesome new book, Oaths of Damnation, the moment I could.  Written by new-to-me veteran Warhammer author Robbie MacNiven, a man with a lot of experience writing about complex Space Marines, Oaths of Damnation was one of the more intriguing Warhammer 40,000 books of 2024, and I really loved the opportunity to check out the infamous Exorcists Space Marines Chapter.

In the far, war-torn future, the Imperium of Man is under constant attack from the forces of the Chaos gods and their deadly daemon servants.  Few within the Imperium, even amongst the legendary Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes, can fight against the daemons of Chaos on an equal footing, but there is one Space Marines Chapter, the Exorcists, that takes the battle to them in the most unorthodox and heretical of ways.

The Exorcists are an elite and secretive Chapter of Space Marines who make the ultimate sacrifice to fight the forces of Chaos.  Willingly accepting daemonic possession as part of their initiation, prospective Exorcists need to banish the daemon within themselves to join the Chapter.  Those who succeed become fierce warriors who are now resistant to the corruption of Chaos at the cost of their own fractured souls.  However, those that fail suffer a fate worse than death as they become Broken Ones, living prisons for the daemons summoned and expelled by the rest of the Chapter.  Few in the Imperium know the sacrifices that this Chapter makes to fight the enemy; if it were to become common knowledge, all the Exorcists would be put to the flame as heretics.

As such, when a dark conspiracy sees a Broken One containing a powerful daemon, the Red Marshal, escape from the Exorcists custody, the Chapter sends a unit of its elite Hexbreakers to hunt it down before their secrets are exposed.  Led by the dogged Almoner-Lieutenant Daggan Zaidu and powerful psyker Codicier Torrin Vey, the Exorcists strike force journeys to Fidem IV, a planet littered with ancient battlefields, to hunt down the Broken One and destroy the daemons within.

But as the Exorcists battle across the planet looking for their prey, it soon becomes clear that members of the Word Bearers traitor Space Marines Legion are on Fidern IV, seeking the Broken One for their own sinister purposes.  Worse, a dangerous connection exists between Zaidu and the Red Marshal, one that could endanger the entire mission.  Can the Hexbreakers succeed and hunt down the Broken One before it is too late, or will their Chapter’s darkest secret be unleashed upon the entire Imperium in a wave of blood?

Oaths of Damnation was a particularly intriguing and intense Warhammer 40,000 novel that really showcased MacNiven’s skill as an author.  Featuring a detailed look at a particularly cool faction in the Warhammer 40,000 canon, Oaths of Damnation was an excellent and exciting read that constantly grabbed my attention and refused to let go.

I really enjoyed the fantastic narrative contained within Oaths of Damnation, especially as MacNiven was able to produce a book that allowed him to tell his own distinctive story while also expertly highlighting the Exorcists Chapter.  Oaths of Damnation’s story starts off strong, with a look at the Broken One’s bloody escape from the Exorcists’ custody, which effectively sets up the Red Marshal as a deadly antagonist.  The following story moves at a quick pace as. With only a minimal amount of exposition and introduction, the protagonists set forth to Fidern IV to find the escaped Broken One, only to encounter opposition from the desperate daemon and the Word Bearers.

What follows is a series of intense and well-written battle sequences as the Exorcists pursue their target across the planet and fight against the various forces of Chaos.  MacNiven ensures a compelling story structure, as the protagonists face determined opposition, brutal fights and unexpected setbacks on the way to victory.  The author also spends time diving into the psyche of several key characters, which adds some intriguing intensity of the plot, especially as many find themselves distracted or conflicted by the mission.  MacNiven anchors the end of story on two massive action set-pieces that push the Exorcists to the limit and force them to face their internal and external daemons.  I liked some of the fun, if not unexpected, twists that MacNiven threw in in the lead up to the final battle, and the constant prophetic hints about dark events to come really enhanced the intensity of the plot towards the end.  The final confrontation is particularly impactful and moving, especially as there are some major sacrifices being made and all manner of carnage to behold.  I really appreciated the dark ending that MacNiven left the story on, and no-one should come into Oaths of Damnation looking for a happy ending.

MacNiven did an outstanding job capturing the dark and grim nature of the Warhammer 40,000 universe with his writing, and I felt that this was an extremely strong read overall.  While there are some complex lore events contained within, for the most part Oaths of Damnations was an accessible novel, even for those readers unfamiliar with the canon (although some basic Warhammer 40,000 knowledge would be helpful).  The author does an excellent job exploring the plot through the perspective of multiple complex characters, which resulted in a very compelling read, as many of the protagonists are forced to continually overcome their literal inner daemons.  I felt that this focus on damaged characters, as well as the intriguing examination of some unique Warhammer lore, helped Oaths of Damnation escape the ‘bolter porn’ label that many Space Marine novels are painted with.  That being said, Oaths of Damnation does have some particularly striking action sequences that fans of Warhammer 40,000 battles will really enjoy.  MacNiven clearly has a gift for showcasing Space Marines in all their martial glory with his writing, and you really get a sense of their power, intensity, and sheer destructive capability.  I also deeply enjoyed how he richly depicted their fighting capability and style, and the way in which he detailed the impacts of the bolt shells, the durability of the power armour, and the strength of their attacks, was honestly some of the best representations of Space Marines in combat I have ever seen.  I really cannot emphasise how impactful MacNiven’s writing style was, and Oaths of Damnation is a great book for all Warhammer fans, especially those buzzing for some Adeptus Astartes action after playing Space Marine 2.

A major highlight of this book for Warhammer 40,000 fans is the inclusion of the very cool Space Marines Chapter, the Exorcists.  A band of secretive and hidden Space Marines who willingly allow themselves to be possessed so they can learn to fight daemons better is an awesome concept, and MacNiven did an outstanding job showcasing this to the readers of Oaths of Damnation.  With only minimal lore dumps at the start of the novel, MacNiven ensures that the reader gets a sufficient and intriguing idea of who the Exorcists are and how they become lethal daemon fighters, and it proves fascinating to dive deeper and deeper into their Chapter as the book continues.  Not only is there is a great focus on how and why they damn themselves, but I also really appreciated the comprehensive way in which MacNiven tried to explore the other side effects of becoming an Exorcists, as well as the unique culture that they share.  The concept of the lingering bond that each Exorcist holds with their Never-brother, the daemon that possessed them, so much so that they still hear fragments of their voices and gain personality traits or combat abilities reminiscent of their former possessor, was particularly cool, and the author does an excellent job of showcasing it.  MacNiven also expertly covers the concept of the Orison Cults, social and ceremonial cults of the Exorcists dedicated to specific rituals and combat styles, and which serve a vital part in the larger Exorcists culture.  It was fascinating to see the ways that the now practically soulless Exorcists try to retain their humanity throughout their day to day lives, and how they replace the holes in their being with ritual and false comradery.  This combination of Exorcists’ lore, and MacNiven’s compelling dive into the deeper motivations and minds of its members, made for outstanding reading and it fun to see this complex and damaged Chapter in action.

I also have a lot of love for the compelling main characters featured within Oaths of Damnation.  While Space Marine characters in Warhammer fiction can sometimes be a little dull, the main two protagonists of this book, Almoner-Lieutenant Daggan Zaidu and Codicier Torrin Vey, each has a complex background and connection to the target that ensures that the reader is drawn into their story.  Zaidu’s is particularly fun, as Zaidu feels substantial guilt and anger at the damage caused by the Red Marshal, as it was the daemon that formerly possessed him.  Determined to end the connection between them once and for all, Zaidu lets his recklessness control him in many parts of the book, and it was deeply compelling to see how obsessed he became.  Vey on the other hand is a veteran Space Marines librarian, who stands as the beacon of knowledge to the group.  The man responsible for Zaidu’s possession by the Red Marshal, Vey bears a lot of guilt within himself, and he works hard to keep Zaidu safe from his own anger, impatience and desperation to kill his Never-brother.  Vey and Zaidu play off each other perfectly throughout Oaths of Damnation with their troubled mentor/mentee relationship, and MacNiven makes sure to hit all the right emotional notes to get the reader involved in their tales of personal woe.

In addition to Zaidu and Vey, MacNiven provides some fantastic alternative perspectives from several other members of the Exorcists who journey to Fidem IV.  As with the main two characters, each of these Exorcists are deeply troubled and damaged because of their former daemonic possession, and each then battles with the side-effects of the process, as well as the lingering taint of their Never-brothers.  This ensures that Oaths of Damnation has a rather dour tone to it at times, but seeing these damaged, yet highly determined and loyal Space Marines in battle is powerful and really drags the reader in.  The Exorcist characters are well balanced by a raft of compelling and distinctive villains, including a darkly charismatic Dark Apostle with great ambitions and a weary veteran Word Bearer who has started to question his role in the universe.  However, the most important villain is the fallen daemon known as the Red Marshal, who hungers for freedom and a return to power.  You get several intriguing trips into the Red Marshal’s mind, and I enjoyed seeing his boiling rage and determination to regain his god’s dark favour.  These great characters really helped elevate Oaths of Damnation’s plot, and I enjoyed seeing all their respective narratives unfold.

As usual, I ended up grabbing this cool Warhammer 40,000 novel on audiobook, which is my preferred way to enjoy books from this franchise.  While all Warhammer audiobooks are great, I felt that Oaths of Damnation came across particularly well in this format, and you really got dragged into the action and excitement as it was read out to you.  I personally found myself absorbing the complex lore surrounding the Exorcists a little better while listening to it, which helped with the overall impact of the story.  Oaths of Damnation also strongly benefited from the excellent narration of Charles Armstrong.  Armstrong, who previously impressed me with his narration of the Warhammer Crime audiobook, Bloodlines by Chris Wraight, did another excellent job in Oaths of Damnation as he expertly showcased the elaborate story with his voice.  I particularly enjoyed his compelling take on the various characters featured within the novel, especially the main protagonists, and he really captured their dark inner feeling and dedication in multiple scenes.  This proved to be an epic audiobook, and, with a runtime of just under 11 hours, it is one that dedicated listeners can get through fairly quickly.  I personally would recommend this format as the best way to enjoy Oaths of Damnation, or indeed any Warhammer 40,000 novel.

Oaths of Damnation was a particularly strong and exciting piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that I had an incredible time getting through.  Robbie MacNiven has produced another gripping and intriguing read that cleverly dives into the complex lives of a unique Space Marines chapter, and I loved every second of it.  An intense, dark and action-packed read, Oaths of Damnation really expresses the grimdark nature of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and you’ll have a very hard time escaping once you get sucked in.

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Warhammer 40,000: Siege of Vraks by Steve Lyons

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer5 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 22 June 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 9 hours and 48 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The always impressive Steve Lyons once again dives into the wars of the legendary Death Korps of Krieg with this epic new novel that shows just how massive a Warhammer 40,000 campaign can be with the ultra-exciting and intense Siege of Vraks.

I have been having a ton of fun with Warhammer 40,000 fiction this year, as complex books like Da Big Dakka by Mike Brooks, Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward and Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick have greatly impressed me.  However, few have had the scale or pure brutality of the amazing new release, Siege of Vraks by Steve Lyons.  The third standalone book by Lyons that focuses on the Death Korps of Krieg (see my reviews for Dead Men Walking and Krieg), Siege of Vraks brings to life a massive event from the Warhammer 40,000 canon (as featured in several game books), with the long-running siege of the planet of Vraks.

In the far future, humanity has been forced to fight on many brutal battlefields, but none are as infamous as the slaughter that occurred on the planet Vraks.  Once a vital armoury world used to supply regiments throughout the Imperium of Man, Vraks has become tainted by humanity’s greatest enemy.  Thanks to a corrupted cardinal, the entirety of Vraks’s population has fallen under the sway of the Chaos Gods and have risen in rebellion against the rest of the Imperium, believing themselves to be fighting in the god Emperor’s name.

Desperate to reclaim the vital world, the Imperium has no choice but to send in a massive besieging invasion force to purge the traitors.  Only a completely relentless force has a chance of success on the bloody fields of Vraks, and to that end the stoic soldiers of the Death Korps of Krieg have been chosen to lead the attack.  Experts at sieges, fanatically stubborn, and desperate to wipe away the stain of their planet’s historical betrayal, the soldiers of Krieg are prepared to destroy their enemy no matter the cost.

However, even with the implacable Krieg soldiers leading the assault, Vraks is no simple planet to conquer.  Its massive central fortress is impregnable, and the entire population of planet has been mobilised to fight against the Krieg, equipped with the massive arsenal of weapons previously held in Vraks’s armoury.  To defeat their enemy, the Krieg will need to spend years and millions of soldiers to slowly approach and wear down Vraks’s fortresses.  But with the constant battle drawing the attention of other malign Chaos forces to Vraks, can even the massed forces of the Krieg win this impossible siege, or will these fearless soldiers finally face an army even their devotion and dedication to duty is unable to overcome?

Siege of Vraks was another particularly strong Warhammer 40,000 novel from Lyons, who excels at diving into the grimdark core of Warhammer fiction.  Filled with an insane amount of action, Siege of Vraks proves to be an intense and addictive siege novel that cleverly explores a well-established lore event and presents it in an outstanding and moving way to the reader.

The story of Siege of Vraks is one of action, sacrifice and self-discovery, as it recounts the events of the titular siege in its own compelling way.  Starting off with a quick prelude that covers the events that led up to the conflict, the main story starts a few years into the war and then goes all the way to the very conclusion of the siege which occurs after years of brutal fighting.  Rather than having one concise narrative thread, Siege of Vraks is instead made up of a series of connected storylines set around key events of the war.  Each of the initial chapters features a new central character caught up in a different battle and scenario of the war, and often focuses on them fighting in dangerous or impossible situations.  While these initial chapters are often linked by the inclusion of recurring character Confessor Ignea Tenaxus or by showing different sides to the same battle, for the most part they are unconnected and some of their messages and themes remain self-contained within the chapter.  However, as the book continues, a few point-of-view characters return for another chapter, often years removed from their last appearance.  These characters, especially Colonel Tyborc, will then continue their storylines from the previous appearances, which often play into the larger events of the overall siege in some interesting ways.  While I imagine the slightly disjointed way that Lyons tried to capture the siege might not be for everyone, especially those who would prefer seeing every event from one character’s eyes, I thought that it was extremely clever and fit into the unique mindset of the Krieg regiment.

The rest of the book takes places over a series of years as Lyons attempts to capture the entire epic and lengthy sieges.  The author includes multiple time skips here to showcase the dragging length of the battle, often interspersed with useful context inclusions that provide an overview of the carnage.  These time skips move the story along at a sensible pace and the reader is never lost, especially when it comes to the key recurring characters. While Lyons is primarily showing the carnage of war from the perspective of the fighter on the ground, you get a good understanding of just how big the scope of the fighting is, and really get drawn into the over-the-top action.  The loosely connected character arcs continue in the second half of Siege of Vraks, and there are some complex stories being featured here.  I particularly enjoyed the fascinating standalone chapter that followed the interrogation of a local inhabitant of Vraks after he defected and pretended to be a member of a Krieg regiment.  While other chapters featuring recurring character Colonel Tyborc provides some unique insights into the mindset of a Krieg soldier and what being a hero means to them.  All these chapters are loaded with some intense action, intriguing discussions, or shocking occurrences, as the horrors of war, and even darker things, take their toll on the Krieg soldiers.  Everything leads up to the conclusion of the siege, with final battles, deadly confrontations, and despair in the aftermath, leaving plenty for the reader to get drawn into.  This ended up being a particularly epic narrative which I personally really enjoyed.

As I mentioned above, Lyons features a more fractured narrative structure in Siege of Vraks that shows detailed snapshots of key parts of the larger war and the lives of certain protagonists.  Considering that the overall siege lasts many, many years and features a lot of smaller, pointless battles, this is honestly the best way of doing it, and I think that Lyons’s choice provided the best view of this conflict, while also taking the time to explore multiple characters and storylines.  The resulting book has an interesting flow to it, as you are introduced to new dark scenarios and figures in peril, and forced to watch them participate in a pointless, unrelenting conflict.  While some may not connect with the way in which Lyons dived the book between characters and time periods, I really appreciated the way it was told, and other readers’ dislike will be well bridged by the book’s awesome action.  There are so many impressive battle sequences featured throughout Siege of Vraks, and you see the Krieg soldiers and their allies face off against all manner of opposing forces, from corrupted civilians to daemons and traitor Space Marines.  All these scenes are particularly epic, as Lyons succeeds in showcasing the elaborate big battles of the franchise, and you really get drawn into the resulting carnage.  There is a palpable desperation in many of these sequences, as the Krieg soldiers face off against terrible odds, and Lyons also adds in a bit of horror in places, as Warhammer 40,000 zombies, disgusting daemons, and even more terrors enter the fray.

Due to all this cool action, Siege of Vraks is a highly accessible read to those readers unfamiliar to Warhammer fiction, and any general fans of science fiction and military fiction can have fun with the over-the-top battles featured in the book.  Indeed, I personally felt that Siege of Vraks was one of the few of the franchise novels that really captured the epic scope of a Warhammer 40,000 war, as this book captures a literal world-spanning conflict with millions upon millions of casualties.  Lyons really takes the time to explore just how devastating a full-on war in the franchise can be, and I appreciated seeing the extent of this slaughter here, compared to other Warhammer books that focus primarily on one regiment or relatively small-scale conflicts.  As such, long-term Warhammer fans will also get a lot out of Siege of Vraks, especially as Lyons really does a good job of capturing this event, which has been discussed in some of the games books for ages and showing it to the reader from the soldier’s perspective.  However, the thing that will appeal most to established Warhammer 40,000 readers, is Lyons’ portrayal of the awesome Krieg soldiers.

Due to their dour background, German World War I aesthetic, and the utter devotion to death and duty, the Krieg are a particularly popular faction in the Warhammer 40,000 games and extended fiction, and Lyons is the undisputed author of them.  His previous books have all explored different aspects of the faction, with Krieg looking at their history and the events that made them, while Dead Men Walking showed them as near-soulless automaton, especially through the eyes of the desperate civilians they were there to save.  In Siege of Vraks, Lyons goes a slightly different way and presents a more nuanced and complex portrayal  that fans of his previous works will really appreciate.  For the first time, Lyons features several Krieg perspective characters, and you are given some intriguing insights into their mind, which proves to be highly fascinating.  While on the surface they are dedicated and fanatical fighters, you do see some threads of humanity in several of the characters, such as ambition, fear and uncertainty.  I liked how Lyon tries to humanise the Krieg soldiers in places, especially around main character Colonel Tyborc who struggles with the notion of being a hero when all he wants is to fight the war and redeem his planet.  Tyborc’s arc proves to be particularly compelling in places, especially as his experiences cause him to doubt the war they are fighting in, and lead to an infamous showing of fear.  Despite this attempt at showcasing humanity, Lyons is clear that the Krieg have their own unique drive and take on human nature, such as when one Krieg character sends his older Commissar on a suicide mission because he believes its more merciful than letting him retire.  As such, there are some complex depictions of the Krieg here in Siege of Vrak, which serve as an interesting comparison to some of the author’s previous novels, and I felt that Lyons’ dive between different Krieg characters produced a very complex read.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has read one of my Warhammer 40,000 reviews, I chose to enjoy Siege of Vraks in its audiobook format.  I have waxed poetic many times about how awesome I find Warhammer audiobooks to be, and this proved to be the case again with Siege of Vraks.  The many intense and over-the-top battles really come across in an epic way when read to you, and I personally find that I can envision the action much more effectively this way.  I also find that the complex character interactions and personal developments that Lyons loads up into the story are expertly captured by this format, and I believe that I got a lot more out of the audiobook than reading a physical copy.  It helped that excellent narrator Timothy Watson returned for Siege of Vraks.  Watson has previously really impressed me with Lyons’ previous audiobooks, as well as in The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks, and it was great to see him continue to add his own spin these Krieg-focused books.  Watson is very effective at conveying the excessive violence and intensity of the Warhammer universe with his narration, and you really get drawn into the action as a result.  I also really love the Germanic accents that Watson attributes to the various Krieg characters, especially as it fits into their faction aesthetic.  While the various Krieg characters all sound a little similar (which does fit into their potential clone background), the narrator does a good job differentiating between these characters, and you are never in doubt about who is talking.  This excellent narration really helped to drag me into the Siege of Vraks audiobook, and I honestly flew through its near 10 hour long run.  There is honestly no better way to enjoy Siege of Vraks then on audiobook, and you are going to have a great time doing so.

Overall, Steve Lyons’s Siege of Vraks was a particularly epic and intense piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, that is going to appeal to a lot of different readers.  Loaded with massive and over-the-top action sequences, Siege of Vraks had me hooked from the very beginning, especially as the author once again expertly showcases the iconic Death Korps of Krieg.  This was such a great read, and all fans of Warhammer fiction and excessively massive science fiction battles, are in for an amazing treat with Siege of Vraks.

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Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy19 Comments

Publisher: Recorded Books (Audiobook – 7 May 2024)

Series: The Broken Blades – Book One

Length: 15 hours and 1 minute

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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I was in the mood for some awesome fantasy fiction, so I decided to check out something a little different for me, Five Broken Blades by new author Mai Corland.  The debut adult book from Corland, who previously wrote children’s and young adult fiction under the name Meredith Ireland, Five Broken Blades was an addictive and exciting fantasy novel with some tragic romance at its core.

In the kingdom of Yusan, the God King Joon is a tyrannical and despised figure whose rule has seen the lives of the poor and innocent disadvantaged even further.  There are many people who want Joon dead, but to even think about it is high treason, punished by the most painful of deaths.  Worse, killing the king is next to impossible, as he is immortal, granted extended life and invulnerability by his magical crown.  Despite this, a small group of desperate killers are about to try to take him down.

Mysteriously summoned from across the nation, five of the most dangerous killers and rogues in Yusan have been tasked with working together and doing the impossible, stealing Joon’s crown and killing him in public.  Each of the five has their own reason for taking part in this apparent suicide mission, including a hired hitman seeking the money he needs for his redemption, a trapped poison-maiden hoping to gain freedom for herself and her sister, the royal spymaster looking for revenge, a banished prince who wants his life back, and a slippery thief seeking to reconnect with her family.

As the group begin to put their plan into motion, these independent killers will need to learn to work together with the rest of the group if they have any hope of surviving.  However, each of them has their own deeper motivations regarding their planned mission, and none of them truly trusts the other rogues they have been tasked with working with.  As they get closer to their goal, the five experience setbacks, twisted romance and unexpected opportunities.  But can they succeed and kill a God King, especially when they have a traitor in their midst?

Five Broken Blades was an excellent and highly enjoyable novel from Corland, who produced an amazing debut adult fantasy novel.  A clever fantasy novel with some entertaining romance elements, Five Broken Blades has an outstanding story of deceit, betrayal and bloodshed set in a Korean-influenced fantasy realm, which really drew me in with its impressive and fun story.

I had an outstanding time with the elaborate story that Corland came up with for Five Broken Blades, and the author produces an intense and moving, character-driven story.  Despite the name and the discussion about the five killers in the synopsis, there are actually six protagonists in this book, which produces a well-balanced narrative with a variety of intriguing character perspectives, arcs and motivations.  Corland starts the book by initially focusing on three of the protagonists and working the reader into their own unique circumstances and backstory.  The author does a good job of quickly and effectively introducing these figures in the initial chapters of the book, and then pairing them off with an additional protagonist who seeks to bring them into the main assassination plot of the book.  These new characters generally serve as great foils for the initial protagonists, and Corland then works to expand their roles in the book, providing their own backgrounds and motivations for being there.  Once established together, these three pairs of characters, then set off to meet up with the other protagonists as they plan their attempted regicide.

The first half of the book primarily focuses on the three separate pairs as they set up their own storylines both individually and as a couple, which I felt worked to really hammer home the complex character arcs Corland was setting up.  There are some fantastic moments in these early pages, including fights against monstrous birds, pirate warfare, and some intense personal scenes.  While the romantic entanglements that emerge within all three of these initial pairs are very predictable and forced, you generally grow attached to all six protagonists, and it proves interesting to see the various hidden motivations and background, especially as Corland expertly trickles out their respective secrets to the reader.  While I quite enjoyed getting to know the characters separately, I felt that Five Broken Blades’s story really took off once all six characters joined together in one group.  The six protagonists all play off each other nicely, and it was intriguing to see the different opinions they had of the rest of the group.  The mismatched styles and motivations make for some compelling interactions, and Corland also works in a particularly intense fight sequence, that helps to cement the protagonists as a team.

While there is some excellent camaraderie, and more romantic tension, the second half of the narrative is strongly defined by mistrust and secrets.  Corland does an excellent job of showcasing the conflicting motivations and hidden desires of the protagonists to the reader, and it was entertaining seeing the various ways the characters all lied to each other as they progressed.  Everything leads up to an intense final act, where the assassination attempt is made, and everyone’s secrets are brought out into the light.  There are some excellent reveals here, and I loved the big twist that comes out as a result.  While I did feel that the identity of the traitor in the group was slightly predictable, the full extent of their motivations and the reasons why they are there was compelling, and it ties in well with all the other clever reveals.  The last few chapters of Five Broken Blades were so damn good, especially as nearly every big question from the book is answered, and I loved the excellent cliff-hanger that Corland left it on, as it really raises the bar for the sequel’s potential plot.

I really enjoyed how Corland set out Five Broken Blades, and the exciting narrative came across in an excellent way.  The key highlight of this is probably the use of six separate perspective characters to tell the complex story.  While too many narrators can sometimes ruin a story, I felt that Corland had the right balance, as Five Broken Blades’ story never felt too crowded or diluted.  While the author probably could have left out Tiyung’s perspective, for the most part the split and switch between narrators worked extremely well, and I loved how it enhanced the overall story and allowed the author to explore multiple compelling character arcs.  The way in which the specific character-focused chapters started off long at the start of the book, allowing for introductions and initial character development at the front, and then got shorter once all six protagonists were together, was very clever as well, and I appreciated how the sudden shift in perspectives with the shorter chapters helped with some of the books more intense or action-packed scenes.

Corland ensures that there is a great mixture of different story elements featured throughout Five Broken Blades, and I personally appreciated how the focus on the characters was balanced with action and so much intrigue.  All this is well surrounded by an intriguing new fantasy realm, Yusan, with some distinctive Korean influences.  While I did feel that parts of this world were a little basic, for the most part this was an excellent background setting, and I appreciate how well Corland worked her fantasy ideas into the larger narrative.

Another key aspect of Five Broken Blades was the inclusion of multiple romance arcs, due to this book being marketed as a romantasy.  I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of romantasy fiction, and while a good romance arc can greatly enhance a fantasy story, I don’t go out of my way for books that feature excessive romance added in purely to make it a mixed genre novel.  Still, I gave Five Broken Blades a chance, and I honestly thought that Corland did a great job with the romance elements.  While two of the main three romances are very forced (although Euyn and Mikail’s arc of betrayal and forgiveness was pretty strong), for the most part they were fun or interesting to see unfold.  It helped that they didn’t overwhelm the rest of the story and instead were well balanced against the constant machinations of the characters.  Indeed, the romances added an extra layer of heartbreak to some of the betrayals, which ensured a more intense plot.  As such, Five Broken Blades was a romantasy most fantasy fans can probably enjoy, although people will have issues with the predictable way that all three of the initial pairs of protagonists couple up.

While the excellent and twisty story is a great part of Five Broken Blades, the best part of this book is the well-crafted main characters who the narrative is set around.  Corland came up with six excellent protagonists for this book, all of whom have complex and tragic backstories that come into play throughout the course of the book.  Indeed, the narrative is strongly driven by each of their personal tales and experiences, and you really get drawn into the backgrounds and thoughts of the protagonists, especially as understanding their motivations and interactions with the other protagonists is key to working out the upcoming twists.

Of these characters, I felt that Royo and Sora were probably the best written, and I loved their complex stories filled with tragedy, regret and a loss of freedom.  Royo, the tough street thug with a severe need for redemption proves to be the heart of the story, especially as he has a particularly tragic backstory.  He is well matched by the beautiful Sora, a young woman who was forced into a life of death as a poison-maiden, whose poisonous body brings death to those who try to get close to her.  Required to perform assassinations to keep her sister safe, Sora longs for freedom, and will take any opportunity to get revenge and ensure her sister’s safety.  Royo and Sora and well matched by the entertaining pairing of Euyn and Mikail, whose respective arcs were nearly as complex as theirs.  Euyn, the former crown prince of Yusan, had been forced from his life of luxury due to his murderous predilections, and now seeks to become king after years on the run and a better understanding of the common people.  However, Euyn is constantly bedevilled by his former lover Mikail, the royal spymaster, who blows into his life once again to recruit Euyn for the plot against his brother.  Mikail is probably the most entertaining figure in the book, and I loved his constant manipulation of the others.  Corland did a good job of building up a complex backstory behind Mikail, and you grow to like him even more once you understand the reasons behind his inner rage and the lengths he wishes to go to resolve it.

While these four protagonists are pretty awesome, I did feel that the story was slightly let down by the other two protagonists Aeri and Tiyung.  Tiyung is underused (he’s not one of the titular five broken blades), and his unrequited love with Sora and rebellion against his father had some benefit for the story.  However, I had a hard time liking the character of Aeri.  While she did grow on you a little as Five Broken Blades continued, I honestly felt that Aeri’s bubbly personality really didn’t match the other figures in the book, and it was hard to take her seriously as a protagonist.  Corland makes her way too manic (and horny if we’re being honest), and her chapters are a bit too discordant to the rest of the book.  Still, she had some interesting background elements, and there were some compelling reveals around her that explain her unusual behaviours.  Throw in several great additional characters, including some villainous nobles, and this proved to be an outstanding cast, who really help to turn Five Broken Blades into a distinctive and powerful read.

I ended up grabbing the audiobook version of Five Broken Blades, which I always find to be a great medium to enjoy a fun fantasy book.  This proved particularly true for Five Broken Blades, and I loved how well the audiobook format enhanced its compelling and exciting story in some fun ways.  I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of six separate narrators, Greg Chun, Zion Jang, Roger Yeh, Donald Chang, Jaine Ye and Sophie Oda, each of whom voiced the chapters of a particular point of view character.  I really love audiobooks with multiple narrators, and when done right it can help to produce an epic listen.  I felt that the Five Broken Blades audiobook was a great example of this, as all six narrators did an amazing job voicing their protagonist throughout the novel, and you really saw them dive into the role of their specific character, capturing their essence and personality.  While this mixture of narrators does result in an interesting array of different takes on the main characters when they appear in other protagonist’s chapters (a natural side effect of having multiple narrators), I honestly felt the flow of this audiobook was extremely strong, and narrators came together extremely well to produce an excellent overall performance.

Audiobook highlights include Royo’s narration, which really captured the tortured and tough nature of the figure, as well as his exasperation of Aeri’s antics.  Sora was also perfectly showcased as a reluctant assassin in all her manipulative glory, and you really felt for her tragic story because of the voice work.  I was also a big fan of the audiobook’s main portrayal of Euyn, and I also loved his narrator’s take on Mikail, which I felt was a little better than that character’s own voice actor.  While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Aeri’s chapters, especially towards the beginning, for the most part this was an overall epic production, and I really loved how this elaborate audiobook came together.  With a runtime of 15 hours, this is a lengthy audiobook, but that really gave the six narrators the room they needed for their performance, and I managed to get through this audiobook relatively quickly.  This was an overall fantastic and elaborate audiobook, and I would strongly recommend this format to anyone interested in checking out Five Broken Blades.

I ended up having an outstanding time with Five Broken Blades, especially as Mai Corland came up with an excellent and captivating story of betrayal, intrigue and complex motivations.  An entertaining and addictive read from the very beginning, Five Broken Blades was a great fantasy read that makes excellent use of all its story elements, characters, and romantic inclusion.  An impressive debut adult novel from Corland, Five Broken Blades is really worth the read, and I am really keen for the sequel coming out early next year.

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Warhammer 40,000: Renegades: Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer10 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 6 April 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000: Renegades – Book Two

Length: 14 hours and 17 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to break the bounds of sensation, desire and treachery in the amazing Warhammer 40,000 novel, Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick, the second book in the fantastic Renegades series.

I have been having a great time with the huge variety of unique and elaborate Warhammer 40,000 books coming out in recent years, and it is always fun to see the impressive reads the franchise is producing.  One of the things I particularly enjoy about the Warhammer 40,000 fiction machine is the way in which it gives new authors the chance to shine, with several talented authors writing their very first book as part of the Warhammer canon.  I have already talked about one particularly good Warhammer 40,000 debut this year with Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward, but another incredible first novel I had the great pleasure of reading was Lord of Excess by new author Rich McCormick.

Lord of Excess was an exceptional book that was released as part of the loosely connected Renegades series that looks at a different band of traitor Space Marines as they make their dark way through the universe.  For example, the first Renegades book, Harrowmaster by Mike Brooks, looked at the nefarious Alpha Legion, and I am sure that future entries will dive into the other traitor legions with some fun stories.  Lord of Excess is the second Renegades book, and it provides the reader with an outstanding and unique story focussed on the ultimate beings of excess, the Emperor’s Children.

At the dawn of the Imperium, the Emperor’s Children were the master of mankind’s most loyal and revered Space Marine Legions, dedicated to the fight for humanity while seeking perfection in all things.  However, during the tumultuous events of the Horus Heresy, the Emperor’s Children followed their Primarch into treachery, and turned against their Emperor, falling into the service of the ruinous powers of Chaos.

Now, millennia later, the Emperor’s Children are a twisted remnant of their former glory.  Scattered into smaller warbands, the Emperor’s Children now only seek pleasure and sensation in hedonistic service to the Chaos God Slaanesh, the lord of obsession and excess.  One such band is the feared and infamous group known as the Adored.  Lead by the tainted Space Marine Xantine, the Adored has ravaged the galaxy for centuries, taking slaves and bringing untold torment, but Xantine has never found what he truly desires, until now.

Suddenly dropped out of the Warp, the Adored find themselves in orbit about the isolated planet of Serrine.  A wealthy and corrupt planet of the Imperium, Serrine has been long cut off from the rest of humanity due to corrupted currents of the Warp.  Sensing the opportunity to carve out a place for himself, Xantine decides to take control of Serrine, and turn it into the perfect society, dedicated to loving him.  However, making true perfection is an impossible task, and Xantine soon finds his rule challenged by both the population of Serrine and those closest to him.  Worse, there are darker forces at work within the bowels of Serrine, and soon the world will be engulfed in perfect destruction.

Lord of Excess was an exceptional and impressive Warhammer 40,000 novel that achieved so very much for the reader.  Featuring a complex and compelling tale of betrayal, deceit and corruption, loaded with fun characters and larger-than-life personalities, Lord of Excess was an entertaining and elaborate read from the very start, and I could not get enough of it.

I really loved the story contained with Lord of Excess, and I find it hard to believe that this was McCormick’s very first novel.  The plot of Lord of Excess is an elaborate and continuous tale of woe and failed ambition as it charts main character, Xantine of the Emperor’s Children, as he attempts to bring perfection to the world of Serrine.  Starting off by introducing Xantine and his renegade Space Marines, you are soon shown the world of Serrine, an isolated and mismanaged Hiveworld with plenty of its own problems, including an uprising from a genestealer cult.  Taking advantage of these chaotic events, an obsessive Xantine leads his mostly apathetic Emperor’s Children to the planet’s surface, telling the locals they are there to save them.  This proves to be an intriguing start, as the reader is shown a battle between two very different group of villains, which is essentially the equivalent of the cenobites from Hellraiser facing off against xenomorphs from Alien (with both sides using a lot of purple).  This fight against the genestealers is a fun first part of the book, and I honestly thought that McCormick was going to stretch that conflict out for the entirety of Lord of Excess.  However, the author instead chooses to cleverly end this conflict about a third of the way through the book, and the rest of the novel goes in some very interesting directions.

Following this introduction, Lord of Excess than goes through a series of time skips, as you follow the unlucky course of Serrine under the “benevolent” rule of the Emperor’s Children.  Each new version of Serrine you see is somehow worse the previous version, and it proves extremely entertaining to watch the inherent downsides of the protagonist’s twisted version of perfection.  The plot cleverly rotates between the machinations of Xantine and his Adored as they fight over the course of their warband, and several intriguing human inhabitants of Serrine, whose reaction to the fate of their planet varies across the emotional spectrum.  The plot goes in some very interesting and entertaining directions, as Xantine finds himself continuously beset by betrayal, mostly of his own making, while many others are driven to extreme lengths by Xantine’s actions, and other malign foes hiding beneath Serrine’s surface.  Things continuously get darker and darker as the plot continues, leading up to a brutal and amusing conclusion.  I loved the various elaborate twists and captivating revelations that McCormick cleverly worked into the plot, and his accompanying character work really helps to sell it.  The book ends on a fantastic note, with devilish and deserved endings for many members of the cast, and the ultimate fates of everyone really reminds you that Lord of Excess is a grimdark book focussing on deranged villains.

McCormick really showcased his effective and powerful writing style in Lord of Excess, and I loved the elaborate and multifaceted book that he ended up creating.  The fantastic story has so many deep elements to it, and it transcends the typical action-focused Warhammer fiction by providing nuanced portrayals of society, human nature, and the impossible search for perfection.  That’s not to say that there isn’t action in Lord of Excess, as McCormick loads the book with multiple over-the-top and entertaining fight sequences that prove hard not to love.  However, he also balances these battles with intriguing character work, long-running elaborate story elements, and complex depictions of intriguing Warhammer features.  The way in which the author cleverly shifts the narrative around several fantastic characters works to create a fun and layered story with many moving parts to it.  I also love how descriptive and visual McCormick got at times.  The author clearly had fun describing the many excesses and mutations of the Adored, and you really got a clear and vivid sense of the twisted nature of the beings involved.  This ended up being such an outstanding read, and McCormick did such a great job bringing his elaborate story to life in the absolute best way.

I felt that Lord of Excess was a pretty awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel, that will really appeal to a varied audience.  Established Warhammer fans will love the fantastic depictions of the Emperor’s Children featured within this book, and I love how well McCormick captured the complexities of these renegade Space Marines and the depths to which they have sunk.  While he doesn’t do a full deep dive into the history of the Emperor’s Children, McCormick provides some detailed flashbacks into their past, that Warhammer readers will appreciate, which also providing some good context for new readers.  While this book did spend a lot of time examining the Emperor’s Children, it also featured its own unique and clever narrative, which really utilised the grimdark nature of the wider Warhammer setting to its advantage.  Readers are gifted by a truly complex and intense read, and I felt that Lord of Excess is an amazing example of just how good a Warhammer 40,000 novel can be.  This would be a pretty good entry point for new readers keen to check out the elaborate Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe, especially as you can get an amazing sense of the overall cruel, deadly and often ironic nature of this fantastic overarching setting.

Easily the key strengths of Lord of Excess were the elaborate, distinctive and damaged characters that McCormick centred his story around.  There are some brilliant characters featured in this book, from ancient traitor Space Marines lost in their own obsessions, to the normal inhabitants of Serrine, whose lives are irrevocably turned upside down by the arrival of the Adored.  These elaborate character arcs are very intriguing, and McCormick expertly features them throughout his story, ensuring that the reader becomes intrigued by the fates of these various figures.  The most prominent character is the Adored leader, Xantine.  An ambitious and twisted being, Xantine finds himself drawn to the world of Serrine and sees it as an opportunity to create a perfect world, much like the previous planets the Emperor’s Children called home.  Xantine proves to be an intriguing central figure for the book, especially as you get drawn into his obsession and the disdain of his followers for his vision.  Thanks to the machinations of the daemon S’janth, who shares Xantine’s body, you get some fascinating insights into this character’s mind, and you soon appreciate the depths of his determination to be perfect, which stems from his daddy issues and dark personal history.  I loved seeing how the events of the book were driven with this figures love of perfection, and Xantine proved to be an excellent dark heart to this entire story.

In addition to Xantine, Lord of Excess features several other great characters, all of whom are damaged in fantastic and intriguing ways.  This includes the various members of the Adored, each of whom has their own unique obsessions and focuses.  McCormick really had fun when it came to these corrupted figures, and there are some delightfully over-the-top characters as a result.  These other members of the Adored often come into conflict with Xantine, primarily due to their incompatible obsessions, and I loved the barbed interactions that followed, especially as Xantine both loves and hates his fellow renegades.  While several of these characters stood out, the best one was probably Vavisk.  Vavisk, a Noise Marine, is obsessed with finding the perfect sound, and often finds himself lost in his horrifying music.  However, Vavisk is also Xantine’s closest friend, and the unique bond of brotherhood between these two figures, proves to be a key part of the book, especially as the potential for it to break is always there.

Other major characters include several inhabitants of Serrine who attempt to survive the actions of Xantine.  Due to a creation myth, many people on Serrine initially see Xantine as a destined saviour, and the eventual revelation of his true nature leads to much heartache for them.  These characters provide an outstanding alternative perspective to that of Xantine and the other Adored, and I loved seeing the various reactions to the evil that came to their planet.  Key figures include the young man Arqat, whose rage at the injustices performed against him drives him to some dark places.  The mysterious Cecily founds salvation and escape thanks to the patronage of Xantine, although her loyalty costs her deeply.  While the foppish noble Pierod, seeks to take advantage of the arrival of the Adored, which has blistering ups and downs for him.  I really enjoyed these three human characters, and their unique storylines, some of which were nearly as extensive as Xantine’s, helped to turn Lord of Excess into a particularly brilliant read as you get drawn into their various tales of woe and opportunity.  While Pierod’s story was probably the most entertaining, due to his naked ambition and greed, you honestly connect to all three of them, and it proves fascinating to see where their encounters with the Adored takes them.  McCormick writes some grim and fitting fates for all three of them, and the other humans of Serrine, and seeing the journey they take to get there, is so damn entertaining.

As with most Warhammer 40,000 novels I enjoy, I ended up grabbing Lord of Excess on audiobook, which is just the best way to appreciate a piece of Warhammer fiction.  Coming in with a runtime of over 14 hours, the Lord of Excess audiobook is a decent length, but one you can get through quickly once you become caught up in the outstanding plot.  I love how well this format highlighted the epic narrative featured with Lord of Excess, and you get a real sense of the plot’s chaotic delights, unnatural horrors, and devilish figures when they are read out to you.  It helped that the Lord of Excess audiobook was helmed by one of the very best Warhammer 40,000 narrators, Richard Reed.  Reed has been killing it in recent years with his work in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, including The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath, Ruin and Reign by Nate Crowley and Grim Repast by Marc Collins, all of which were greatly enhanced by his impressive voice work.  His work in Lord of Excess is particularly awesome, as he once again produces an impressive range of unique voices to fit the big personalities of the plot.  This includes multiple mutated and utterly corrupted Space Marines, and Reed provides very fitting voices for them, as well as the unlucky humans caught up in their machinations.  The over-the-top story comes out so much better because of Reed’s compelling narration, and I love how effectively he captured the various insane figures.  This amazing voice work turned the Lord of Excess audiobook into something very special, and I had an exceptional time getting through it.

Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick is an absolutely brilliant and amazing piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that I could not get enough of.  Expertly combining elaborate elements of the Warhammer 40,000 canon with a complex narrative and darkly damaged characters, Lord of Excess was so much fun to read, and it proves impossible not to get caught up in this epic debut.  This might be one of the smartest and most compelling pieces of Warhammer 40,000 fiction release so far in 2024.  A truly outstanding Warhammer 40,000 book from a particularly amazing new author, Lord of Excess comes very highly recommended, and Rich McCormick is an author with big things in his future.

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The Outsider by Stephen King

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Thriller, Throwback Thursday12 Comments

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Simon and Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 22 May 2018)

Series: Standalone/Holly Gibney series

Length: 18 hours and 41 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After years of having it on my to-read list, I finally got around to checking out The Outsider by Stephen King, and boy was it a particularly epic book.

Fans of this blog will know that I have been getting more and more into Stephen King lately, especially as I have been lucky enough to receive copies of his more recent books.  I have so far deeply enjoyed Mr Mercedes, Later, Billy Summers (one of my favourite books of 2021), Fairy Tale, Holly (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), and You Like it Darker (one of my favourite books from the first half of 2024).  These have all been amazing reads in their own way and I really enjoyed the elaborate stories, dark plots, and complex characters that King comes up with.  However, one of my new favourite King novels with a captivating scenario was the fantastic read The Outsider.

Released back in 2018, The Outsider was an intriguing novel that really caught my attention with its unique concept.  I immediately identified it as a book I wanted to read, but I was unable to fit it into my reading schedule back then, which I deeply regret now.  Despite not reading it when came out, The Outsider remained firmly in mind, especially as it had connections to the Bill Hodges trilogy, which I had also heard good things about.  This need to check out The Outsider was dramatically increased after I read Holly last year and was blown away by the elaborate and exceedingly dark story.  As such, I have been looking for an opportunity to enjoy The Outsider for a while, and a recent road trip gave me all the excuse I needed, and boy was I glad that I did.

It is the worst crime to ever occur in the history of Flint City.  A young boy, Frankie Peterson, has been brutally killed, raped and mutilated, his violated body left on display out in the local park.  The Flint City police, led by detective Ralph Anderson, are determined to find the monster responsible for Frankie Peterson’s death, and they soon zero in on a prime suspect, local sports coach and one of Flint City’s most respected citizens, Terrence Maitland.

With unassailable evidence and numerous witnesses placing him at the scene, the police have a watertight case against Maitland, and Anderson orders the public arrest of the coach in front of his family, friends, and the entire town.  However, despite the DNA, fingerprints, and numerous reliable witnesses indicating that Maitland killed Frankie, Maitland insists that he is innocent and has an airtight alibi for the time of the murder, having been in a major public conference in another city, surrounded by unimpeachable witnesses.

Determined to prove that Maitland committed the murder, Anderson and his colleagues attempt to destroy his alibi.  But the further they dig, the more apparent it becomes that Maitland was nowhere near the scene of the crime, and Anderson begins to believe Maitland’s pleas of innocence.  With lives being destroyed all around him and the citizens of Flint City baying for Maitland’s blood, Anderson is forced to figure out how a man can be in two places at once.  But when the situation takes a dark turn, both Anderson and Maitland’s supporters call in unusual investigator Holly Gibney, whose own experience with impossible cases will take them in the darkest of directions.

Well damn, that was particularly awesome.  I knew I was going to love The Outsider well before I read it, but even I was unprepared for how impressive and captivating this novel proved to be.  Featuring King’s typical elaborate storytelling, powerful characters, and unique insights into the human mind, The Outsider was a complex and sinister read that will have you hooked from the very beginning and which gets a very easy five-star rating from me.

King presents the reader with an incredibly, dark, complex and thoughtful narrative that burrows into your head and refuses to leave.  Starting off strong and proceeding into darker and more horror-lined territory, this complex narrative sucked me in almost instantly thanks to the very impressive initial story concept.  Introducing a particularly gruesome murder, The Outsider starts off in crime fiction/legal thriller territory, as King showcases the details of the initial arrest of Terrence Maitland, while also bringing in a few key characters.  These early chapters are cleverly offset by a series of short inclusions that showcase police interviews and forensic evidence for the main investigation, all of which firmly paints Maitland as the killer.  However, events take an outstanding turn shortly into the book, when Maitland reveals an impossibly airtight alibi that flies in the face of the substantial evidence of the police.  The full extent of this alibi is particularly compelling, especially with King name-dropping one of his peers, and it really turns the entire plot on its head.  The subsequent scenes are extremely intriguing, as the reader sees both sides of the case, and find themselves wondering if Maitland committed the crime, is completely innocent, or whether something far more sinister is going on.  I honestly love every second of this first half of The Outsider, and I cannot emphasise just how exceptional and thought-provoking this complex scenario proved to be.

At around the halfway point, The Outsider features a substantial moment that changes the entire tone and focus of the plot.  While I was initially a little disappointed with this, mainly because I was already loving the direction the story had been going up to that point, it helps turn The Outsider into a more typical King novel, loaded with complex horror elements that reflect dark human nature.  The author also deeply enhances the story’s emotional drama, placing several characters in terrible situations, and amping up the desperate tragedy of the plot.  Thanks to the introduction of recurring King protagonist Holly Gibney, the protagonists start to consider a more unnatural solution to the crime and begin to investigate accordingly.  I quite enjoyed the dive into the darker, supernatural side of the story, and the resulting investigation is quite unique, requiring the grounded protagonists to believe in the unknown.  King ensures that the supernatural investigation elements of the book come across in a compelling and sensible manner, and it was intriguing to see how the character’s reached their conclusions.  The case eventually leads the protagonists on an extended trip to Texas, which ends with a series of showdowns.  King keeps the intensity of the plot going all the way to the very end, and readers will be left guessing about who’s going to survive and how the story will unfold.  The chase for the culprit and the big showdown were a very solid conclusion to the entire narrative, and you will come away extremely satisfied with how The Outsider ended.

I really enjoyed how this book came together, and I personally think that this was one of the stronger King novels I have so far had the pleasure of reading.  A lot of this comes down to the initial clever scenario, which King does an extremely good job of setting up.  The whole idea of someone accused of a crime they are innocent of and have a perfect alibi for really makes you think, and King utilises it to perfection, diving into the thoughts of the police, the alleged perpetrator, and the various family members associated with it.  It helped that King once again returned to his favourite setting of a small American town, and he was able to capture the resulting chaos as rumour and fear spread throughout Flint City.  You can really feel the emotional turmoil of all the people in the town, especially the main characters, and it helped to deeply enhance the impact of every scene, especially when you have no idea whether Maitland committed the crime or not.  The way in which the author starts off as a more traditional crime fiction story also works extremely well and helps to drag the readers into the plot with its mystery.  However, the transition over to horror is particularly effective, and the way in which the darkness infecting the plot goes from that created by ordinary humans to something more supernatural, is an effective and powerful part of the book.  This proved to be a particularly haunting and moving read that will keep you up late at night thinking about how you would react in the exact same scenario.

While most of King’s books prove to be standalone reads, The Outsider is connected to the author’s previous Bill Hodges series due to the inclusion of a major supporting character.  I had heard in advance that readers needed to be familiar with the Bill Hodges books to fully appreciate this book, however, I felt that The Outsider stood on its own merits as a standalone novel.  New readers can easily dive into The Outsider’s excellent story without any issues and will become enthralled in King’s complex mystery and his excellent depictions of human nature.  Established fans of the Bill Hodges books will probably get the most out of The Outsider, especially as it is a continuation of King’s unique look at the crime fiction genre, and the return of a key character offers a lot of opportunities for those who loved his previous trilogy.  However, I would say that this is a book that pretty much all mystery, thriller or horror fans can really enjoy, as there is something for everyone here, although some readers should be warned about how dark and graphic this story can get.

I really need to highlight the outstanding character work that King featured within The Outsider.  This fantastic book featured a rich cast of complex small-town characters who find themselves caught up the twisted darkness of a small child’s murder and the subsequent revelations about who was behind it.  King does such an exceptional job of diving into the various mindscapes of the impacted characters, from the obsessed investigating detective who is taking the case personally, to the distressed wife of the apparent killer, and even the confused accused himself.  The complicated mindscapes of all these characters, and more, are shown in exquisite detail throughout The Outsider, and you really grow attached to their powerful personal tales.

While I don’t want to go into too much specific detail about the book’s primary cast here for spoiler reasons, I will say that the way the various characters deal with events and the many dark twists makes for quite a personal and emotionally charged read, and it was fascinating to watch so many characters try to let go of their conventional thinking and try to see the world in a different light.  I also must highlight the intriguing way in which King enhances his cast in the second half of The Outsider by bringing in investigator Holly Gibney from the Bill Hodges trilogy.  Holly, the slightly unusual but brilliant private eye, proved to be a compelling addition to the plot, and it proved very interesting to see her interact with the established cast, especially as Holly has a much more open mind due to her previous experiences.  Fans of the Bill Hodges books will really love seeing Holly return, and her compelling character development since her original appearance in Mr Mercedes proves to be a great part of the book.  I really cannot emphasise just how impressive the various characters, as well as their complex development, is in The Outsider, and you will have to check it out.  Be warned though, no one comes out of this book unscathed, including the reader when they become attached to these great figures.

As I mentioned above, I managed to enjoy The Outsider while out on a road trip, which meant that I listened to the audiobook version of it.  I have had some great success with Stephen King audiobooks in the past, and The Outsider was another impressive example of how this format can enhance the powerful story within.  Coming in with a substantial runtime of nearly 19 hours, listeners do require a bit of a time investment for The Outsider audiobook, but it is well worth it.  I felt that I got a fantastic sense of the story while listening to it, and I love the intense depictions of the characters, the small-town setting, and the dark deeds being done within.

In addition to the great way it brings to the story to life for the reader, one of the big highlights of The Outsider audiobook was the inclusion of veteran actor Will Patton as the narrator.  Patton, who has lent his voice to several of King’s previous audiobooks, does an outstanding job narrating The Outsider.  His softly spoken and measured voice really fits the dark and sinister story contained within The Outsider, and you get an excellent sense of the personal horror and complex emotions that the events of this book unleash.  Patton also does an outstanding job voicing the eclectic and damaged characters featured within The Outsider.  Patton infected many of these characters with his southern accent, which fit the small-town vibe of The Outsider extremely well, and you can really imagine King’s characters a lot better with Patton’s voice behind them.  Highlights for me include his take on the antagonist of The Outsider’s real voice, as well as an entertaining old lady found down in Texas, who steals all the scenes she’s in, especially with Patton’s exaggerated tones.  However, I did feel that Patton overplayed the awkward nature of Holly Gibney when she entered the plot.  Patton made all of Holly’s dialogue, as well as the description of events in the chapters told from her perspective, very subdued and halting, which messed with the flow of the audiobook.  While I know that he was trying to capture Holly’s ethereal and damaged nature with this narration, it was honestly a bit distracting.  Despite this slight annoyance, this ended up being an awesome way to enjoy The Outsider and I can personally guarantee that it is an incredible accompaniment to a long road-trip.

Overall, The Outsider proved to an outstanding and exceptional book from the always impressive Stephen King that I could not get enough off.  Featuring both an incredible mystery and some brilliant dark horror moments, The Outsider is a particularly gripping and intense read that will live rent free in the dark corners of your brain.  Highly recommended and one of my new favourite Stephen King books.

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