Near the end of July, Black Library released four Horus Heresy short story eBooks through their website. Naturally, as a real Heresy junky, I gobbled these up ASAP. All four are pretty different, offering alternative perspectives on different events and times during the galaxy-spanning civil war that dictates much of how mankind operates in the 41st Millennium (the ‘present’ for the game and system). So, here are four mini-reviews of these excellent stories…
Another Annandale book coming up, which I initially missed on Black Library’s website. This one seems to be a first novel in a whole new series from the publisher, “Lords of the Space Marines”, and focuses on Mephiston, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels.
Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, Master of the Black Rage, Lord of Death... By these titles is Mephiston known to his brother Space Marines. But deep within Mephiston’s tortured heart lurks another, the spectre of who he used to be before his death and rebirth on the war-torn world of Armageddon. As Mephiston leads the Blood Angels into battle in the Pallavon system against the might of mankind’s archenemy, he must grapple with his inner daemons as well as those around him, as the ghost of Brother Calistarius, the man he once was, returns to haunt him.
In a move that will no doubt bother some people, this will only be available in this format for seven days, from January 25th to February 1st. The book is presented in a “red leather-effect slip case”, comes with an exclusive short story chapbook for Annandale’s previous Mephiston story, Eclipse of Hope, and also an artwork postcard. I must admit to not being bowled over by Eclipse – while I thought Annandale had done a great job of giving the Blood Angels their own voice, it didn’t quite work for me. Perhaps it will be different in Mephiston.
A Blood Angels Short Story
When Mephiston and the Blood Angels discover a world slain in a massacre that defies reason, they must unearth the cause of this mass killing but risk their own sanity to do it.
I am of two minds about this story. First, it features the Blood Angels and their Chief Librarian, Mephiston (psyker, in case that needs clearing up for anyone), who also happens to be my favourite of the Legion heroes – at least, what I remember of him from years ago. Secondly, and this was a pity, I thought the prose-style Annandale chose was a little strange. I think I know what he was aiming to do, and it’s certainly a different voice to his previous fiction that I’ve read (a sign of a gifted author who’s willing to challenge himself). It’s a good story, but I’m not really sure what people will make of it.
The Blood Angels, at long last…
Since the earliest days of the Great Crusade, Sanguinius – angelic primarch of the IXth Legion – was ever among the closest and most loyal of Horus’s brothers. But the Blood Angels have long kept their true nature hidden from the rest of the Imperium, and when the Warmaster hints that the key to their salvation may lie in the ruins of a conquered world, the sons of Sanguinius race to claim it. Now, as the revelation of their betrayal dawns and the traitors’ hand is revealed, the Blood Angels must face all the warp-spawned armies of Chaos, as well their own personal daemons, upon the blasted plains of Signus Prime...
This novel has been highly anticipated by a great many WH40k and Horus Heresy fans. The Blood Angels, one of the most popular loyalist Astartes Legion, finally get some of their story told. And Swallow nails it. This is an epic sci-fi tale of honour, nobility, betrayal and a deadly, hidden flaw…
