Short Story Review: “Know Thyself” by Andy Smillie (Black Library)

More superb Flesh Tearers from Smillie

Sent to meet with Flesh Tearers Chapter Master Gabriel Seth to discuss a recent incident in which the Flesh Tearers and Space Wolves came to blows, Inquisitor Corvin Herrold boards the flagship of the Chapter, the mighty Victus. But when he discovers a shocking secret, Herrold finds himself a prisoner of Sanguinius’s most dangerous sons, and his audience with the Master of the Flesh Tearers proves more perilous than he could have ever imagined.

Andy Smillie has done it again: he has managed to portray characters that should be mindless, ferocious psychopaths in a nuanced, relatable, and not-unsympathetic manner. What Aaron Dembski-Bowden does in long-form, Smillie has mastered in this shorter-format.

It was really interesting to see how the Flesh Tearers’ command deal with the Inquisition, and their extreme means of conveying unto those who deem them heretics and corrupt what lies at the heart of their character. It’s not pretty, nor is it supposed to be. The Tearers are the way they are, a distillation of the more brutal aspect of their originator Primarch, Sanguinius.

This is a superb short story, and I can’t wait to read more by Smillie. I really must get caught up with Flesh of Cretacia…

More Flesh Tearers by Andy Smillie: Beneath The Flesh, Torturer’s Thirst

[This story was originally published in the Black Library Weekender Anthology 2012: Saturday.]

Audiobook: “Garro: Sword of Truth” by James Swallow (Black Library)

Performed by: John Banks, Toby Longworth & Ramon Tikaram

Nathaniel Garro, knight errant and agent of the Sigillite, returns from the battlefields of Calth to find a new mission already waiting for him – a ragged fleet of Space Marines from several Legions lingers at the edge of the Terran system. With the presence of the World Eaters and Emperor’s Children causing concerns among the loyalist defenders and drawing a grim parallel with his own frantic flight, Garro must look beneath the obvious if he is to determine friend from foe…

A new Horus Heresy tale is always welcome, and a Garro audiobook particularly so. In the first double-disc story, our newly-reassigned, loyal Death Guard must represent the Sigillite in an investigation of a surprise fleet that has appeared very close to Terra. Questioned loyalties, unflinching duty, and a deadly conspiracy await Garro and his companion Rubio. All is not what it seems. And in a time of civil war, tempers flare easily, and personal prejudice can overrule caution all too quickly.

“Atlas Infernal” by Rob Sanders (Black Library)

A new hero of the Inquisition?

Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak is a hunted man. Escaping from the Black Library of the eldar, Czevak steals the Atlas Infernal – a living map of the Webway. With this fabled artefact and his supreme intellect, Czevak foils the predations of the Harlequins sent to apprehend him and thwarts his enemies within the Inquisition who want to kill him. Czevak’s deadliest foe, however, is Ahriman – arch-sorcerer of the Thousand Sons. He desires the knowledge within the Black Library, knowledge that can exalt him to godhood, and is willing to destroy the inquisitor to obtain it.

A desperate chase that will bend the fabric of reality ensues, where Czevak’s only hope of survival is to outwit the chosen of Tzeentch, Lord of Chaos and Architect of Fate. Failure is unconscionable, the very cost to the Imperium unimaginable.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sanders’s first novel, Redemption Corps, and ever since hearing about this novel I’ve been eager to read it. I’m a big fan of the Inquisition, and Sanders has done some interesting things with Czevak. However, I’m sad to say I struggled with this novel, and didn’t love it as I had expected to.