Review: Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter by Richard Parks
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In an ancient Japan where the incursions of gods, ghosts, and demons into the living world is an everyday event, an impoverished nobleman named Yamada no Goji makes his living as a demon hunter for hire.

With the occasional assistance of the reprobate exorcist Kenji, whatever the difficulty — ogres, demons, fox-spirits — for a price Yamada will do what needs to be done, even and especially if the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as the edge of a sword.

Yet, no matter how many monsters he has to face, or how powerful and terrible they may be, the demons Yamada fears the most are his own!
I enjoy detective stories, and I enjoy japanese culture and glimpses of the country's tumultuous history. I've watched more anime than I'd care to count, and less than I'd like to, and always enjoyed the old timey feudal-era media. And, obviously, I like fantasy stories and the supernatural. So when I came across Yamada Monogatari, book four of which was recently released, I knew I had to dig into that. No regrets.

The Story:
"In an ancient Japan where the incursions of gods, ghosts, and demons into the living world is an everyday event, an impoverished nobleman named Yamada no Goji makes his living as a demon hunter for hire.

With the occasional assistance of the reprobate exorcist Kenji, whatever the difficulty — ogres, demons, fox-spirits — for a price Yamada will do what needs to be done, even and especially if the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as the edge of a sword.

Yet, no matter how many monsters he has to face, or how powerful and terrible they may be, the demons Yamada fears the most are his own!"

The Review:
Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter is an interesting blend of detective stories, pre-feudal Japan and supernatural folklore. It is a unique take on a setting usually overlooked in literature, and while not massively descriptive of the Heian era's architecture or society as a whole, it works.

The book consists of 10 individual short stories, all told in a first person perspective through Yamada no Goji, a professional hunter of supernatural beings and minor noble. Every story links back to previous ones, so reading them in order is heavily encouraged and will get you the most out of the book. While each could be read as a stand-alone piece, the full impact of Yamada-san's story grows as you progress through the individual pieces, up to a, to me, very satisfying close to it all - at least as far as Demon Hunter is concerned.

This linear, interconnected nature of the stories means that talking about each of the parts individually is tough, especially since I do not want to spoil key elements for you. One of the stories, for example, is a pivotal moment in Yamada's life, and influences the entire rest of the book to greater or lesser extent. To fully address the stories affected by these events, I'd have to talk about them, which would do a disservice to potential readers. The emotional impact of these sections was exciting to me as a reader, and I'd like you to be surprised by them as well.

Either way, the stories all follow a similar pattern: Yamada no Goji is called to "solve", or stumbles upon, a supernatural phenomenon and attempts to untangle the unfolding mystery. Often, this involves more than a simple exorcism, and leads to a more human root of the problem, which Yamada-san has to uncover to bring the perpetrator to justice.

The first story, for example, has him chase down a Fox Spirit, who, in japanese folklore, are shapeshifters. In another, a mysterious Oni barrs an important road, and the protagonist is hired to dispatch it. In yet another story, an important man of the Emperor's court suffers from a haunting, and Yamada needs to figure out who actually caused it. There's always a more emotional, spiritual twist to things, rather than the clinical, factual way of most detective stories.

Every single story is more than a simple hunt for a demon, killing it and collecting the rewards. This isn't like a japanese Witcher story or the likes. Often, the narrative is about very human problems, jealousy, power plays or grief. The supernatural spirits, demons or ogres are rarely openly menacing (well, the Oni are), and often come up in a supporting role to setting a record straight. I loved that Parks didn't go the easy route of demonizing the supernatural, and instead made it a very common, natural part of Heian Japan, the way it was supposed to be.

Heian Japan predates the feudal era of warlords, but you can see the rise of the samurai class and the warring clans from here. Various stories reference skirmishes and campaigns, though as of yet, Japan is still, mostly, at peace, as the name Heian implies. This time period saw a high of spirituality, with Buddhism and Taoism going strong, and people, especially those of higher stations, being more concerned with evil spirits and personal advancement than war and survival. A lot of that is reflected in Yamada Monogatari. The Fujiwara clan is constantly attempting to seize more power over the imperial court, including through inter-marriage with other houses.

Monks and priests appear in many of the stories, most notably Kenji the reprobate priest, who excells in exorcism and writing spirit wards, yet has a few... character flaws. He quickly becomes the Lord Yamada's confidant and, in a way, the Watson to his Sherlock, accompanying him to most assignments and offering support, for a share of the reward. It is often noted how much Kenji deviates from the teachings of his priesthood, yet there are some very neat tidbits about his history that make him more than the sinful, drinking and lustful priest he might be seen as.

The focus of it all, however, is Yamada no Goji's personal drama. His life situation isn't great. He lives in a cheap room at an inn, develops an alcohol problem and, being born the bastard son of a nobleman (who, thankfully, acknowledged him as his own), he has little political clout beyond the respect he earns (and loses) through his actions and abilities. He is a highly intelligent man, but not the youngest anymore, and has many regrets and secrets - and that's great!
Yamada no Goji is a flawed character with some amazing skills, but still very grounded in his humanity. He makes mistakes, and often wallows in self-pity. He isn't a master detective on the level of Sherlock Holmes, but he's got a touch of him for certain, even though he doesn't suffer from the same level of professional arrogance as the resident of Baker's Street.
Most importantly, Yamada-san is a character willing to learn and accept new things. His character develops throughout the book in both negative and positive ways, and ends up proving personal strength. He tip-toes the line between worlds, whether it be firm reality and the spirit realm or near-poverty and the high society of the imperial court. He gives us a good slice of the period's quirks and fantastical elements, as well as japanese philosophy. There's a lot to like about him, and his voice as the narrator is strong, self-aware and easy to follow along.

For me, the formula worked expertly well, to the point where I am a little sad to see the following books in the series being straight novels, rather than mosaic-style anthologies like this one. I am eager to read more about Yamada no Goji and Kenji the priest, their circumstances, and the Fujiwara clan's lust for power. Seeing how the final story here ended, I am in no doubt that the personal stakes will rise even more, resulting in compelling stories in their own right.
As a reader with quite an interest in and familiarity with japanese media and history, this hit right home. The underlying setting seemed respectfully approached to me, and evoked a satisfying atmosphere as a backdrop for the drama.

Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter is a solid, easy read that I'd recommend to anyone with an interest in detective stories, especially in combination with even a passing interest in japanese history and folklore. It is a winning concept that I am surprised wasn't touched on in literature before, but am happy to have stumbled upon now.

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Review: The Last Son of Dorn by David Guymer
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With their new Deathwatch kill-teams a resounding success, the forces of the Imperium return to the heart of the ork empire to finish what they started…

As the ork menace ravages the galaxy, the Imperium faces its darkest hour. Its fleets are in ruins, its armies devastated – amongst them the noble Imperial Fists – and even a primarch of myth has fallen against the Beast. As brute force fails, Koorland resorts to increasingly desperate tactics against the greenskins. A final hope lies in deploying the controversial Deathwatch and the Sisters of Silence in a deft strike at the heart of the ork empire. As the situation grows more dire, Koorland must live up to the symbol he has become as the last son of Dorn or all of humanity will be doomed.
This has to be my favorite book in the The Beast Arises series so far. It'll be hard to top with just two more novels to go. Likewise, it will be difficult to wrap up the story neatly from here. I felt my excitement for the series slip a bit, but David Guymer managed to pull it right back and I am eagerly anticipating the remaining two books and the series' conclusion.

The Story:
"With their new Deathwatch kill-teams a resounding success, the forces of the Imperium return to the heart of the ork empire to finish what they started…

As the ork menace ravages the galaxy, the Imperium faces its darkest hour. Its fleets are in ruins, its armies devastated – amongst them the noble Imperial Fists – and even a primarch of myth has fallen against the Beast. As brute force fails, Koorland resorts to increasingly desperate tactics against the greenskins. A final hope lies in deploying the controversial Deathwatch and the Sisters of Silence in a deft strike at the heart of the ork empire. As the situation grows more dire, Koorland must live up to the symbol he has become as the last son of Dorn or all of humanity will be doomed."

The Review:
The Last Son of Dorn is probably the best entry in the The Beast Arises series up to this point. It has politics, action, huge twists and gutwrenching scenes. It brings plotlines to their conclusion in a satisfying way and completely boggles the mind on how in hell the series is supposed to wrap up within the next two books.

The book continues on from where Watchers in Death left off, albeit on an increased scale. We are immediately plunged into multiple Deathwatch missions, all running parallel with similar goals, broken up by scenes set on Terra.
Those Kill Team scenes are to the point, introducing new characters and making up for the somewhat lackluster variety in Watchers; all manner of Space Marine Chapters are part of the Deathwatch now, from Flesh Tearers over Raven Guard to Doom Eagles and others. While most attention is paid to the Space Wolf Kjarvik Stormcrow as a new point of view character, I was happy to see the Deathwatch opening up from being just about Fists-successors, Dark and Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Space Wolves. That was a big criticism I leveled at Watchers in Death, and David Guymer doesn't repeat that mistake.

In general, The Last Son of Dorn offered a lot of variety. One of the Kill Team missions brings us back to Eidolica, giving us a much-needed look back for the Fists Exemplar, but the coolest thing was seeing Valhalla hands on. The Valhallans had harbored a deep hatred for the Orks ever since they first invaded their world, so seeing them in this series as one of the outposts resisting the Ork advance felt good, natural and brought a sense of galactic scale to the table that has been sidelined lately.

Looking back, a lot of the earlier novels in the series had split narratives that got us to different worlds and made us witness to their destruction. While I wasn't much of a fan of Predator, Prey overall, I appreciated the way it built up the Ork menace as an all-encompassing threat to the galaxy, especially with its fantastic first chapter. Somewhere along the way, the story got very focused on the more immediate threat of the attack moon above Terra, Ullanor and elements like the reunion with Vulkan. Fleshing out individual points of import like these, in a series with roughly 250 pages per book, meant that other side plots and the galaxy's general state of turmoil fell by the wayside, both for reasons of pacing and lack of room to tell more stories like those of Undine or Incus Maximal.
With this installment, we return to some of that at long last. Incus Maximal is revisited, giving us a direct view of what the orkupation did to the forgeworld. I liked the way Guymer incorporated stuff like that, as it makes previous events more relevant to the core narrative and shows the effects the War of the Beast had on mankind's dominion over the galaxy.

Likewise, this entry returns to the plotline of the errant Fists Exemplar and the Iron Warriors under Kalkator. This didn't have much room in the core narrative lately, and I wonder what it will lead to before the end. There wasn't terribly much about it here, but it gave a neat sense of foreboding and creeping corruption. Zerberyn is being set up here for something big, though I am not sure if the reveal will be able to contest the scale of his growing arrogance and delusion.

Back on Terra, we have another arrogant individual raving in madness: Ecclesiarch Mesring, with death finally upon him, after having endured longer than I had expected after his poisoning early in the series, shows himself clearly as the blaspheming, selfish individual that he is. His actions here speak of desperation and almost made me want to pity the man, if it wasn't for the fact that he was deserving of everything he received. His role in the story leads to the attempt of big reforms by Koorland. He tries to abolish the Imperial Creed and instead issue a return to the Imperial Truth, which had been ignored in favor of the cult of the Emperor-as-God. Vulkan lamented this in earlier books, and this was a good step in the series.

It also fueled the rivalry between Koorland and High Marshal Bohemond of the Black Templars. They had clashed before on various occassions, even on Ullanor, and seeing this theological disagreement between the two made me fear for a big fallout. What I got instead was a very rewarding tale of brotherhood and, dare I say love between the two that became clearer as the book progressed and ended with me appreciating Bohemond much more, despite his rashness and zealotry. Guymer managed to turn a character I disliked into one I could feel for.

On the subject of feeling for characters, there is more here, not least of all through Magos Laurentis, whose presence has always been interesting to me. He was there to witness the demise of the Imperial Fists and his blossoming friendship with Koorland was one of the best things of Abnett's I Am Slaughter. Here, there is a massive payoff to that. It had me stunned and in awe, and offered a very different view of the tragedies unfolding on Ullanor. The clinical, detached senses of the Adeptus Mechanicus lent themselves incredibly well to depict the numbness of the pivotal moments of the book, and the author handled it incredibly well. It jerks at one's heartstrings to see the personal struggle of the Magos, who has lost so much of his humanity already.

Wienand, too, receives some special attention in The Last Son of Dorn. Inevitably, she wrestles control of the Deathwatch from Koorland, as we all knew would happen, and part of the book shows her trying to earn the respect of the superhuman soldiers of the order. It felt right seeing her closer to the action again, rather than just scheming back on Terra. Of course, she continues her power plays, but in a more direct fashion than usual.
Beast Krule also gets to show off his skills - he impressed me, and showed for the first time just how dangerously powerful he really is. Before this entry, Krule has always felt more leashed and grounded by Vangorich, but on his second visit to Ullanor, he is finally loosened and reaps a heavy toll. I hope my predictions for the character's future will prove accurate, as this is a man who deserves some special attention in the series finale, The Beheading.

Overall I loved the novel. Seeing Koorland, Thane, Bohemond and co come into their own was amazing. Thane especially has some big shoes to fill, leading the main assault on Ullanor while Koorland takes a supposedly more direct route to the Beast. The Beast, too, is depicted as incredibly scary and makes you wonder just how the Imperium can prevail under the threat of such pure savagery and cunning. The final chapters were thick with action and emotions of all kinds. They drag you into the Beast's throne room and worry for the heroes, cheer for them, and despair with them. This installment is suspensful, raises the stakes even further, even if it shouldn't have been possible at this point, and marks a distinct turning point for the series.

‘The real work begins tomorrow and the day after. We will rebuild the Imperium, brother. [...] I would make our father proud.’

The Last Son of Dorn is literally two minutes before midnight. It channels the glorious heroism and the Astartes' willingness to sacrifice their own lives in their entirety to serving the Emperor and mankind. There's action of every scale, intrigue, character development that draws upon the whole series to convince, and a climax that takes the breath away. This is a novel that David Guymer should be proud of, even if it wasn't his favorite to write in this series. It deserves its spot on the pedestal for everything it does oh so right.

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Review: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
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People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
This is another Lovecraft-inspired story I wanted to tackle. Tor has been putting out a bunch of them, so I figured I should read a few more of them after finishing The Litany of Earth. The Ballad of Black Tom, in my opinion, was an excellent read. Which hopefully says much with me being an HPL/Mythos nut...

The Story:
"People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?"

The Review:
The Ballad of Black Tom is, in essence, a re-imagined The Horror at Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft. It aims to shift the focus of the tale, adds a different protagonist to the story and includes more Mythos-related themes than the original did.
Tonally, it is quite a different tale, while retaining the same core.

While I usually dislike dragging Lovecraft's xenophobic tendencies up in reviews, here they're worth noting. Red Hook was written from a position of ignorance of the cultural and ethnical melting pot in New York in the 1920s, and Lovecraft's own prejudices are reflected in his story. Victor LaValle, himself a black author who grew up enjoying Lovecraft's works, attempts here to both criticise HPL's narrow point of view in the story and to pay tribute to his legacy.

The resulting story is split into two sections: That of Charles Thomas Tester, and that of the original story's protagonist, detective Thomas F. Malone.

Tommy Tester is a 20-year young black man living in one of the non-white parts of New York, hustling to earn money to pay the bills and care for his sick father. He grew up seeing his father beaten down by life's circumstances and the racial prejudices and injustices. Of course, this also filters back to the duo, as they, in turn, are prejudiced against the white man as well.

LaValle managed to nail the time period well here. The social stigma of associating with the "Negroes" ("What would the neighbors say if this woman had Negroes coming freely into her home?") is put on blast here. The novella highlights the discrepancy between communities in the big city, and the different lifestyles between Harlem, Red Hook and the higher society in Queens and so on, and the extra scrutiny placed on non-whites as they pass from one district to another.

It manages to instill sympathy for Tom and his father, introduced them as genuinely good people down on their luck in a bad time in history, without exaggerating the situation or dragging it into the present. If anything, I felt that The Ballad of Black Tom put in context the high-class whining that is going on these days. Oh boy, I could write a whole essay on that matter...
Either way, LaValle created very human, genuine characters here, which stands in contrast to Lovecraft's characters who tended to dehumanize black people and looked at the other with large amounts of prejudice.

In the early chapters especially, Black Tom feels like a period piece, and would have been an easy-to-recommend tragedy about social issues about a hundred years ago. But then, the occult is an intrinsic part of the story, and that element only grows further as the author draws upon more and more of the Mythos themes, and a melancholic tale turns into an exciting thriller and sanity goes down a drain.

Enter Robert Suydam, antagonist of the original story and proprietor of many occult works and a wish of awaking the Sleeping King who lies dreaming at the bottom of the ocean. The name "Cthulhu" is only uttered once in the story, even though it is alluded to many times. That added another layer of mystery and tension for me, which is good, as a lot of new Mythos stories somehow demystify the cults and Outer Gods by throwing their names around too much. LaValle clearly understood that on some level, and his familiarity with HPL's works comes in handy when maintaining the shadowed, secretive nature of the themes.
Suydam wants to rule a post-apocalyptic world as a chosen of the Old Ones, and Tommy, who is taken in by the promises of money at first, quickly grows apprehensive at the prospect of bringing doom to the world. But then things change, tear at the reader's and character's heartstrings, and things turn towards detective Malone.

Malone, the protagonist of Lovecraft's original story, is depicted in a less prejudiced way than before. He is spiritually aware, which brings him in line with Lovecraft's character. The basic scenario that gets him involved remains in place, but Malone himself comes across as more genuine here.
While there were some changes to his traumatic experiences which were the basic premise of The Horror at Red Hook, I didn't think them bad by any means. Different, yet equally engaging.

A bigger theme I enjoyed reading in this novella was that of the "Outside", and the characters' fascination with it. They view a surreal, outside realm from a distance, afraid and captivated in equal measure. To me, that mirrors Lovecraft's own ideas. He was telling stories of horror, yet they all held some form of attraction for the characters, readers and the author himself. There was always a desire to get a hold of those unspeakable tomes, even as they shredded minds all around. In here, what was the "Outside" to Lovecraft, is taken into focus and turned around. Lovecraft, an outsider if there's ever been one, felt attracted to writing about things he didn't really understand, even feared, and Black Tom somehow crosses that barrier, for better or worse.

Seeing these previously established events occur through a different lens, and being moved so much closer to the root of the problem, turns a story that used to be inexplicable and strange, into one that remains strange yet also became much more personal, raising the stakes all around. There's more heart in here than you'd expect from familiarity with Red Hook, and while I strongly object to attempts to sanitize Lovecraft's cosmic horror to replace the inherent xenophobia of the whole Older-Gods-of-unspeakable-nature-will-return-to-bring-oblivion with sunshine and rainbows, which I have seen too often, none of that happens here. It is a genuinely good story, which respects what Lovecraft did right while commenting on his more extreme views.

Only one paragraph struck me as a more direct thump at HPL, though it made me chuckle and I took it with good humor, as a little easter egg.
A man originally from Rhode Island but now living in Brooklyn with his wife proved so persistent a pair of officers was sent to the man’s place to make clear he wasn’t welcome in New York. Perhaps his constitution was better suited to Providence. The man left the city soon afterward, never to return.

Those familiar with Lovecraft's life and history will obviously realize that this is a direct dig at the man himself, and his backwards views - even though they weren't quite so backwards in his days, as even The Ballad of Black Tom accounts for. What appears reprehensible through a modern lens might not have been, and indeed sadly was not, back when it was originally formed. LaValle doesn't attempt to either sweep that fact under the rug nor exaggerate it needlessly - and for that alone, he deserves my respect already.
But then, he also wrote a stellar novella of both cosmic and personal horror, which I am hugely thankful for.

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Review: Potentia by Mike Mason
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Within every noble intention there lurks the potential for corruption, with every pious ideal the possibility of falling into darkness... When a murderous cultist inexplicably turns himself in to the Inquisition, his acolyte-interrogator seeks to learn the reason for the murderer's surrender but ends up receiving a very different lesson...
I cannot tell you how excited I am about Black Library's return to form when it comes to more creative stories. After a drought of the likes in favor of glorified marketing brochures, there's a flood of cool new things seeing the light of day, and more to come. When Eisenhorn returned in The Keeler Image, and the same week saw Inquisitor Covenant star in The Purity of Ignorance, I was happy as can be.

Now, we've got another Inquisition story to talk about, written by Mike Mason, who has a history in pen & paper roleplaying games, including Fantasy Flight Games' Dark Heresy system for Warhammer 40,000. Here's the review of his Black Library debut!

The Story:
"Within every noble intention there lurks the potential for corruption, with every pious ideal the possibility of falling into darkness... When a murderous cultist inexplicably turns himself in to the Inquisition, his acolyte-interrogator seeks to learn the reason for the murderer's surrender but ends up receiving a very different lesson..."

The Review:
Potentia felt shorter than expected. Mike Mason's debut story for Black Library isn't entirely groundbreaking, and its briefness and lack of names for its two characters make it feel somewhat inconsequential.
But that is also, in a way, the point.

The story takes place during an Inquisitor's student's interrogation of a multiple murderer, who turned himself in. The Interrogator himself is firmly on the path of becoming an Inquisitor in his own right, and the murderer plays up the similarities between the two: killing for personal advancement and power. It is a familiar theme, especially with Inquisitors who straddle the line between righteous and extremist.

Due to the story's length, I felt that the topic wasn't explored as much as it deserved to be, in that particular arrangement. More could have been done with the murderer, who to me felt very much like the Joker taunting Batman, laughter included. He hopped between seeming unhinged and clear-headed, which I enjoyed a lot.

But again, neither of the two characters received a name, which makes the story more universally applicable to Interrogators across the Imperium, but also lowered the personal stakes of the story. There is no solid character to get invested in or want to see more of, as the Interrogator is a relatively blank slate, who, while put into a intriguing place by the story, won't be spoken of again. His personal development starts and ends here.

Even though I believe that to be the point Mason was attempting to make, and that the debate about a path lined with corpses is a good one to write about, it also lacked depth. The ending and twists were well done, and hammer the protagonist's questionable character home further, but in the end I felt lukewarm about the story.

It isn't bad, had a solid and worthwhile concept, but in my eyes, the story didn't quite reach its full potential.

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Review: The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys
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The state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with an offer she wishes she could refuse. "The Litany of Earth" is a dark fantasy story inspired by the Lovecraft mythos.
You probably know I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian Horror. Somehow, whenever I try to dabble in hobby writing myself, it turns into that type of story, and Lovecraft's dark visions of cosmic horror might have been as big an influence on my tastes in fiction as Tolkien and Poe were growing up. So yes, I'm excited to read new spins on his legacy, even though, sadly, a lot of authors miss the mark by an aeon and try to turn it upside down, or try to counter Lovecraft's often xenophobic tendencies in his works. Thankfully, this is a good one!

The Story:
"The state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with an offer she wishes she could refuse. "The Litany of Earth" is a dark fantasy story inspired by the Lovecraft mythos."
Disclaimer
After buying this story and procrastinating on getting started, the novel sequel to it appeared as an ARC in my mailbox. While I made the purchase independently, I read it with that knowledge in mind.

The Review:
The Litany of Earth is the first story written by Ruthanna Emrys that I've read so far. The idea of a somewhat-sequel to H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth caught my attention while browsing Amazon for Kindle short stories, and I picked it up.
However, this story was/is also available to read for free on Tor.com, in case you don't want to spend a buck on this story (though I'd say it is well worth that much, at least).

The Litany of Earth plays on Lovecraft's themes and the horrors of Innsmouth in way that feels familiar as far as the Mythos is concerned, yet is decidedly different from HPL's works. It puts us into the story of Aphra Marsh, a survivor of the raid of Innsmouth and the traumatic experiences resulting in it. She is a Deep One, has the "Innsmouth look" (long-limbed, ugly, bulging eyes etc) and suffered from the persecution of her kin.
Emrys aims to give the cults, described as Aeonism here, in a more sympathetic light, like a religion like any other with its nutters and good people searching for more. She succeeded in making the cultists here more than extremists willing to throw their lives away to doom the world, and give them more depth, which I liked a lot.

While not nearly as bleak or hopeless as a classic Lovecraft (nobody actually goes insane, or commits suicide out of desperation or paranoia, for example), it still expands on the Mythos in multiple directions, to the point of elaborating on the Yith and other Mythos beings, and the inevitable death of the Earth.
It is delivered in a way that doesn't feel out of place in the context of the story, or makes light of Lovecraft's ideas and concepts, like many stories by other authors I've read on the matter sadly did.
As a result I'd consider this a worthwhile extension to the Mythos, written by somebody with a noticeable degree of passion for the subject, even if it is a stylistic departure.

A bonus for me was the likeable cast of characters (which, with Lovecraft, I don't normally expect). Aphra herself is intriguing and gives the whole topic a more esoteric feeling, and tying her into the Innsmouth raids was a cool core concept. She lives with a japanese family who also suffered ethnical persecution, so there's a certain degree of understanding and trust there which makes Aphra's situation appear more grounded. Her employer, a bookstore owner and collector of occult books, gives the story the opening to delve into the matter of magic and talk about the Mythos's larger themes. The cultists, too, offer a look at the Aeonist movement, zealotry and desperation of the common human.

The one thing that I didn't enjoy as much was the abrupt ending. I was surprised to find that the story was over already. I didn't feel lost, or that plotlines weren't wrapped up sufficiently, but I'd have liked to see a little more happen before the curtain call. Still, I enjoyed the ambiguity in it, and figured that would be the logical conclusion, so I am satisfied with it.

Seeing how much I enjoyed The Litany of Earth, I am looking forward to reading more of Emrys's lovecraftian horror / Mythos stories in the future. I'll probably start with Winter Tide, since hey, it's already in my mailbox and continues the story of Aphra Marsh and co. If it is anything like this short story, it'll be a nice treat for Lovecraft fans like me.

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Review: Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan
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At the beginning—no—at the end—she appears, full of fury and bound by chains of prophecy.

Setting off on an unexplained quest from which she is compelled to complete, and facing unnatural challenges in a land that doesn’t seem to exist, she will discover the secrets of herself, or die trying. But along the way, the obstacles will grow to a seemingly insurmountable point, and the final choice will be the biggest sacrifice yet.

This is the story of a woman’s struggle against her very existence, an epic tale of the adventure and emotional upheaval on the way to face an ancient enigmatic foe. This could only spun from the imagination of Marie Brennan, award-winning author and beloved fantasist, beginning a new series about the consequences of war—and of fate.
I've been meaning to get to this one for a while, and sadly didn't make it in time for launch this week. I've enjoyed Marie Brennan's Lady Trent Memoirs greatly (and still wish to talk about the series in the future), so I was excited to see what else Miss Brennan had up her sleeve.

The Story:
"At the beginning—no—at the end—she appears, full of fury and bound by chains of prophecy.

Setting off on an unexplained quest from which she is compelled to complete, and facing unnatural challenges in a land that doesn’t seem to exist, she will discover the secrets of herself, or die trying. But along the way, the obstacles will grow to a seemingly insurmountable point, and the final choice will be the biggest sacrifice yet.

This is the story of a woman’s struggle against her very existence, an epic tale of the adventure and emotional upheaval on the way to face an ancient enigmatic foe. This could only spun from the imagination of Marie Brennan, award-winning author and beloved fantasist, beginning a new series about the consequences of war—and of fate."


Disclaimer
I received an ARC of this novella from the publisher. Keep that in mind while reading the review.

The Review:
Cold-Forged Flame is a very different story from Marie Brennan's Lady Trent Memoirs, which I adore (and eagerly await the final book of!). What the story does have in common with the series is that it is about a girl/woman on the journey to self-discovery - although in a different manner than the Lady Trent's.

The originally unnamed protagonist is summoned and bound to a task set for her: To retrieve a vial of blood from a cauldron in a cave, on an island that defies logic. She knows nothing about herself, or how she knows even things such as language. Forced to obey against her will, with the doubtful promise of freedom upon completion, she sets out to the mysterious island.

At first, I felt it difficult to connect with the story. It is very different from what I've come to expect from Marie Brennan (which doesn't say much, since I have only read one of her series, I admit). Having a blank slate character with a rebellious attitude worked against the story at first, in my eyes. Confronted with a new, unknown fantasy world, I find it easiest to use characters and their roles within their world to anchor myself while discovering the setting. This was difficult at first, as the protagonist was learning along with me, herself a stranger.
Once the adventure really began, and the plot kept rolling, and even introduced a supporting character to drip-feed answers as more questions opened up and the protagonist's identity seemed to return bit by bit, I fully settled into the tale. I got invested in the two's trials, and the woman's dilemma. By the final steps of their quest, I wanted more and was comfortable with the way Brennan constructed this novella.

The book plunges the reader into an unfamiliar situation, mirroring the protagonist's own position. We follow her, discovering things at a steady pace with her, ask the same questions about her summoners' motives and the task at hand, and as a result, fear for her when things get dicey. The story grows stronger along with the central characters, raising the stakes along with her knowledge of self, and ends on a note where I'd undoubtedly want to read more about them.
With growing knowledge of the setting and characters, I grew fond of the concepts Brennan presented. Granted, the adventure itself was fairly straightforward (if you can even say that about a mysterious island that tries to trick your mind!), but that allowed for more introspection and growth, discovering what kind of person the protagonist is. It worked, despite the shaky start for me.

I am curious to see where all of this is headed, and what magical aspects will come up in following works in the series. Cold-Forged Flame provides a solid foundation for hopefully many more adventures to come.

Cold-Forged Flame on Goodreads
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Review: Praetorian of Dorn by John French
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As the first assault on the Solar System begins, the strength of the Imperial Fists and the seemngly impregnable fastness they have built is tested at last…

Recalled from the Great Crusade after Ullanor, Rogal Dorn and the VIIth Legion were appointed as the Emperor’s praetorians – but only after the Warmaster’s treachery was revealed did the full extent of that sacred duty become apparent. Now, the Solar System comes under attack for the first time since the war began, and many of the seemingly impregnable defences wrought by the Imperial Fists prove inadequate. With all eyes fixed firmly upon this new threat beyond the gates of Terra, who in turn will protect Dorn from the enemy within?
Praetorian of Dorn is the latest, 39th installment to the Horus Heresy series - and it brings the war to the Sol system and Rogal Dorn. It brings us up to date on the situation back at Terra, and doesn't pull any punches with its Alpha Legion shenanigans. However, it did leave me somehow conflicted...


The Story:
"As the first assault on the Solar System begins, the strength of the Imperial Fists and the seemngly impregnable fastness they have built is tested at last…

Recalled from the Great Crusade after Ullanor, Rogal Dorn and the VIIth Legion were appointed as the Emperor’s praetorians – but only after the Warmaster’s treachery was revealed did the full extent of that sacred duty become apparent. Now, the Solar System comes under attack for the first time since the war began, and many of the seemingly impregnable defences wrought by the Imperial Fists prove inadequate. With all eyes fixed firmly upon this new threat beyond the gates of Terra, who in turn will protect Dorn from the enemy within?"

The Review
Praetorian of Dorn is in many ways a great - and much needed - entry to the Horus Heresy series. In some ways, however, it left me wanting. I didn't quite know how to feel about the overall book when I finished it. I loved many parts, while others left me surprisingly cold or even disappointed.

My main complaint will boil down to what the novel set out to be, and how it approached that. This is the first actual Imperial Fists installment. Yes, they have been featured here and there (Dorn as early as Horus Rising, or the extremely cool novella The Crimson Fist from Shadows of Treachery, also by John French), but never actually had a novel to name their own. This was down to their position within the Heresy War itself: Rather than being out fighting and denying the traitors at every turn, Dorn and co were stuck at Terra, turning the Palace into a fortress.

So this should, by all rights, have been the Imperial Fists book, until the Siege of Terra begins. Surprisingly, it was not that. Its scope was very limited, and the constant threads woven by the Alpha Legion and their operatives just took much-needed pagetime away from the Fists in favor of constructing a complex network of feints and subterfuge.

We are treated to some very, very gratifying scenes featuring Rogal Dorn and the book's protagonist Archamus, master of his Primarch's Huscarl retinue, and for all intents, Archamus personifies most of the best traits of the Imperial Fists. He is a shining example of his Legion, so insights we gain through his role in the book reflect well on his Legion - but he is just one Space Marine. Even adding sergeant Kestros to the range of protagonists, as Archamus recruits him for his mission, we don't get to see much of the wider Legion, or even their labours on Holy Terra itself.

Whereas many other Legion-focused books in the series, especially when it came to first full-length outings, (re)defined their Legions' roles within the Great Crusade and Heresy and added a distinct character to them, I felt that Praetorian kinda failed at doing the same. I read a well-made argument that the perceived "vanilla"-ness of the Fists here is down to the Legion identifying themselves not by their Primarch's origin world, but by their duty within the Crusade and Heresy, which I can get behind, but even then the detail is scarce and the sample mass is too tiny to really judge that one way or another.

Looking at the Dramatis Personae list at the start of the book again after having finished it, not even half the listed Fists characters were really relevant to the story being told. I thought we'd get a good look at the overall Sol system's defences and the various Lord Castellans under Dorn, but while they are listed and certainly named throughout, their appearances, if they even entered the stage personally, were brief and as a result frustrating to me.

I enjoyed Archamus (see right), and the interlude chapters focused on his rise throughout the Legion. Seeing his recruitment, his reaction to meeting Rogal of the house of Dorn for the first time, his defiant nature during implantation and first training, it all added up to create a good picture of Archamus. It gives a solid feel of his role, and his importance to Dorn himself. John wanted to make this novel about Archamus, and he succeeded in that to a praiseworthy degree. I liked the character, his baggage, his stoicism, and his fears.
Even his relationship with Demetrius Katafalque, who we've seen before, made me smile. There wasn't much overlap between their paths here, but what there was of it was well handled and gave me an impression of shared history and loyalty.

Kestros, I'm afraid, didn't shine nearly as well next to Archamus. He came across as blunt, which admittedly was part of why he was recruited, but it made me less interested in him. Especially in his arguments with Andromeda of the Selenar cult I was swayed more towards the female's position than Kestros's. She contributed a lot to the plot and Archamus's deliberations, and is responsible for some chuckles here and there. From how she was being set up, I wouldn't be surprised to find her as one of the founding members of Malcador's Inquisition, and would love to see more of her. Kestros meanwhile played third fiddle in the trio, and came across as relatively forgettable.

I was surprised to see how quickly the plot moved away from a direct threat to Terra and the Imperial Palace, just to move towards Pluto, too. It seemed odd to me just how quickly the Alpha Legion pulled their presence off Terra, when they had the knife at the Imperium's throat already - to the point of issuing a direct challenge to Rogal Dorn, within the Palace's inner sanctum.
I know, I know, the Alpha Legion is all sneaky and confusing, lies within lies within schemes and betrayels, but still. They were in, then were out, and while there are plot reasons that would indicate why that is, it still felt odd.

However, as negative as this review may sound so far - I really enjoyed Praetorian of Dorn. It had a lot of twists and turns that should be the hallmark of AL warfare by now, but also had some neat flashbacks to pre-Heresy events focusing around Archamus. Rogal Dorn comes across as the idealist he was supposed to be, and John did a marvelous job depicting his uncompromising nature, especially in the final chapters.
Dorn shone in every scene he was in, which made me wish he was in more parts of the book and didn't leave the stage in favor of Archamus trying to unravel the Alpha Legion plot at his request. I understand that French probably didn't want to expose us too much to the Primarch himself, and I can generally agree with that, but I'd also say that those sections were the best parts of the whole novel.

The author's passion for the Alpha Legion, dating back years even as far as his Black Library contributions are concerned, is clear as day. The Legion's schemes were constructed in an exciting manner, with many elements working together so perfectly that, while it requires a certain dispension of disbelief, it had me at the edge of my seat. The first few chapters start off extremely chaotic, almost disjointed, but soon intertwine and drip-feed the reader answers, steadily building up to twist after twist until the big reveals start dropping.
I'd go as far as to say that John's rendition of the Alpha Legion was brilliant. From the range of operatives, the small cogs assembling into a gigantic machine of treachery, to the eventual strike for the throat, I was happy with what he did, even if some fans are dismayed by the big climax at the end.

But that sheer brilliance when it comes to the Hydra is the big reason why I was disappointed by the Imperial Fists. I cannot say for certain, but it felt to me like more pages were dedicated to Alpharius and co than to the Fists, and the collective actions of the sons of Dorn paled in comparison to what the Alpha Legion accomplished here. "Alpharius" took the spotlight, and Dorn struggled to keep up.

Likewise, I would have liked to see more of Malcador and his agents, and the complete absence of the Adeptus Custodes felt jarring. On top of that, with the book ending parallel to where Chris Wraight's The Path of Heaven left off, and the novel being set firmly after Vengeful Spirit, the Space Wolves should still have been around Sol - yet no mention or appearance ever dropped in the book.

Yet still, the author pulled some pretty incredible void battles out of his hat, and fleshed out the Sol system in a variety of ways. Details from the ForgeWorld books were worked in, and some of his 40k Alpha Legion characters feature here - one being in an odd spot by the end that definitely needs following up on.
The book gave a good view of where the system stands, and the degree of readiness, weariness and sense of duty everybody involved in the fortification of Terra seems to feel.

I just wish there had been more of those things and some of the Alpha Legion involvement had been shorter, or less spread out. Every chapter jumps from place to place, often between the AL's many operatives, whereas I might have prefered a stronger focus on the Fists. I noticed that I enjoyed the book's first half considerably more than the second, despite, or maybe because of, the operative subplots. Once the threads converged and Dorn and co sprung into more decisive action, the plot was firmly rolling and couldn't really slow down to flesh out the Imperial Fists' Legion character much, whereas the Alpha Legion's characterizations shined because of said action. It is another instance where the Fists' static, robust nature works against them, I believe.

The more I think about the book, the more little points I spot that bug me. Overall the novel is very strong and full of good stuff, but these smaller misgivings add up for me. I wish I had enjoyed this more than I did. Heck, the night of release I could barely sleep because of how excited I was for it. I ended up listening to The Lightning Tower again, which features Dorn and Archamus and was one of John French's primary inspirations for this book. I've listened to it so often over the years, I can speak along chunks of dialogue without much trouble.
And where he tackled Dorn's idealistic nature, Archamus's defiance, or the Legion's history, French absolutely succeeded. I loved that. I loved seeing Dorn tell Alpharius off, pre-Isstvan. I loved seeing Dorn take charge and calm the rising panic of the Palace's defenders. I loved seeing him in action and explaining his father's vision to a young recruit.

If only the Alpha Legion hadn't been so dominantly represented and made up so much of the book's action that there was no choice but to react left for the Imperial Fists, I would have easily given this one a top spot in the series to date. It is still a really powerful book as far as the Horus Heresy is concerned. It is worth reading, and I recommend it. It just isn't what I expected it to be, and didn't cover all the bases of what the series needed this book to be for the Praetorian of Terra and his collective sons, even though it struck gold with Dorn's own Praetorian.

Praetorian of Dorn on Goodreads
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