Death and destruction follow the demon wherever he treads, and Gabriel is rarely far behind, waiting for his chance to extinguish the creature known as Temple once and for all.

But in Singapore during the Second World War, a lone soldier in possession of a shattering secret gets caught up in their battle. The knowledge he holds could change the course of their ancient conflict… and the fate of the world.

I've been meaning to get around to this for a while, and figured I'd try to start 2017 with another run of novella reads. Due to being sick and getting deep into Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy for most of the month, I didn't quite manage to get as much done as I was hoping, so expect more on that in February and March.

The Story:

"Death and destruction follow the demon wherever he treads, and Gabriel is rarely far behind, waiting for his chance to extinguish the creature known as Temple once and for all.

But in Singapore during the Second World War, a lone soldier in possession of a shattering secret gets caught up in their battle. The knowledge he holds could change the course of their ancient conflict… and the fate of the world."

Disclaimer

The publisher sent me a print ARC of this one last year, along with a book I had requested specifically.

The Review:

A Whisper of Southern Lights is billed as a stand-alone entry in Tim Lebbon's The Assassin series. However, I would still recommend reading the first installment first. While you can read this individually, things make a lot more sense with the things you learn in Pieces of Hate.

The previous book, Pieces of Hate, struck me as a good horror novella. The book actually consisted of two stories, however, the first being a short story called Dead Man's Hand. The difference between both of them was that DMH was narrated from the perspective of an outsider getting caught up with the protagonist, Gabriel, whereas Pieces of Hate gave us a story through Gabriel's own eyes.

A Whisper of Southern Lights mixes both perspectives, varying between the outsider's perspective and Gabriel from chapter to chapter. This works very well in my opinion, especially since I was more fond of the way Dead Man's Hand achieved its air of dark mystery and horror. Here, Tim Lebbon was able to intertwine the supernatural existence of his "hero" with that of a down on his luck war prisoner who just happened to stumble into events larger than himself and getting between Gabriel and his quarry, the assassin Temple. This even led to some cool misdirection as you follow the two characters, which was pulled off nicely in my eyes.

Plot-wise, things are similar enough to the previous book; Gabriel is still hunting Temple, still trying to get his revenge. This time they've ended up in Singapore during World War II, with the secondary protagonist being a soldier facing the japanese invasion. We get scenes in the jungles, in prison camps, and more background on Gabriel, more cool showings from our antagonist Temple, and even some overarching plot progression that has me curious for what's next for this series. While the general idea behind the story follows a similar formula to the other two stories before it, I don't think that's a bad thing. It keeps the feel of the series consistent while allowing Lebbon to provide more set-up and focus on the various settings in greater detail. It is a good compromise in my opinion, though I assume that the chase will come to a stop eventually, as hinted here.

I have to say, though: Where the first book wasn't pretty in any way, and especially gruesome in places, this one could be considered even nastier. The horrors of war are laid on thickly, and the japanese soldiers don't treat their prisoners of war well by any means. If you're a hygiene-freak, this book probably isn't for you, especially when it comes to one section about halfway through. Be prepared to feel grossed out. However, I appreciate that Lebbon did these things. War isn't clean, or pretty, and usually not even glorious. It is a miserable business of dealing death and being dealt your own in return. Where a lot of authors romanticize war, cowboys or pirates in fiction, Lebbon pays great attention to the more vile aspects of it all. Nobody is really a hero in this series, and things can always get a tad worse. I love that.

While A Whisper of Southern Lights isn't as bone-chilling as Dead Man's Hand was for me, it was a solid read that I enjoyed a great deal once I got to it. The author nailed the themes he was trying to gun for, and the feeling of utter misery that struck me with the first book is still as strong as ever. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series, whenever it sees the light of day.

A Whisper of Southern Lights on Goodreads

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The Red Planet has fallen. The Dark Mechanicum must be stopped to ensure Terra's safety. An agent is despatched with a single goal: exterminate all life on Mars.

Soon after word reached Terra of Horus's nascent rebellion, Mars fell. Rogue elements within the Mechanicum priesthood, stirred by the Warmaster's promises of independence and prosperity, turned against the Imperium and forced the primarch Rogal Dorn to order an impenetrable blockade of the Red Planet. Now it has become clear that the corruption has spread too deep, and that more drastic measures must be taken if the Forge World Principal is to be reclaimed. Calling upon the expertise of those who witnessed the so-called 'Death of Innocence' firsthand, Lord Dorn and Malcador the Sigillite consider their final solution - the complete extermination of all life on Mars.

This is a review that I found surprisingly easy to write, so I figured I'd use it to get back into action here. Still sick, I'm afraid, but I'm getting back into the groove day by day. I wish this book had turned out better, however.

The Story:

"The Red Planet has fallen. The Dark Mechanicum must be stopped to ensure Terra's safety. An agent is despatched with a single goal: exterminate all life on Mars.

Soon after word reached Terra of Horus's nascent rebellion, Mars fell. Rogue elements within the Mechanicum priesthood, stirred by the Warmaster's promises of independence and prosperity, turned against the Imperium and forced the primarch Rogal Dorn to order an impenetrable blockade of the Red Planet. Now it has become clear that the corruption has spread too deep, and that more drastic measures must be taken if the Forge World Principal is to be reclaimed. Calling upon the expertise of those who witnessed the so-called 'Death of Innocence' firsthand, Lord Dorn and Malcador the Sigillite consider their final solution - the complete extermination of all life on Mars."

Disclaimer

I have read & reviewed this novella while being sick. It is at least possible that my view on the book is harsher as a result of outside factors.

The Review:

Cybernetica is one of the few Horus Heresy books that I felt were more of a chore to read than a pleasant experience. I did not enjoy it. I had to re-read sections over and over because they just wouldn't sink in, or I'd go back to re-read parts out of a feeling I missed something vital, especially after seeing praise for said sections online. But in the end I still feel unimpressed and dissatisfied with the story and its characters, and the big amount of action sequences.

I've mentioned the "battle-fatigue" problem somewhere before, though I can't remember which review it was. The term strikes me as important with Cybernetica too. It is full of action setpieces, some even pretty good, but the sheer volume of them compared to character development, interaction between cast members, and actual ongoings outside of he-strikes-I-strike moments is so mind-numbing to me, that I feel turned off from reading altogether if I can't get through the rest sooner rather than later. I build up an apathy towards the book and while that can get reverted if the book improves, Cybernetica never did. It left me cold.

My biggest complaint about the book is that it had so much promise to be something cool, exciting and with plenty of depth, yet chose not to be such. It had ample opportunity to be more than the sum of its parts, yet discarded these opportunities early on. When looking at the book, I can see many ways it could have gone differently in more fulfilling directions, yet reality is different.

Even looking at the cover art I see a massive missed opportunity. The diverse-Legion-Techmarines-doing-shit-on-Mars angle that the book outwardly promises with its Raven Guard, Ultramarine, Salamander and co lineup is compressed to barely two chapters. By the end of chapter two, the Raven Guard protagonist is on his own. The rest are goners, and never even got out of their tower or the hangar that is the stage for the first big (present-day) action setpiece. Yes, there's more action in flashbacks right off the start too. Either way, the idea of a dirty dozen infiltration mission on the Red Planet is discarded barely a quarter through the book, and that is where my enjoyment increasingly evaporated.

I liked the initial banter between the Techmarine initiates. They were representatives of their individual Chapters, with their own quirks and specialties. They argued, they assessed the situation, they decided to get out. They died. The book died with them. Instead of taking this entire angle of Legiones Astartes loyal to the Emperor over their Legions or the Omnissiah due to spending 30 years in training, which could have offered plenty of conflict between the group, have discussion of loyalties and their beliefs in how to purge Mars, Sanders scrapped it so quickly, it boggles my mind.

The Carrion, the Raven Guard protagonist, survives and reaches Terra. His struggles to get off Mars are handled off-page, between chapters. So is his recruitment to the Knights Errant. So is his own emotional development. It felt like there was too much slipping through the cracks at this point already that I found myself disconnected from the protagonist by chapter three of seven, the last of which he is not even in.

It didn't help that the only other character with a speaking role on his mission back on Mars ended up being a madman-heretek with what seemed like 5 lines throughout the rest of the story, one of which was "Tick, tock, tick, tock". Don't get me wrong, I liked Octal Bool's appearance in early flashbacks from his trial, and the idea behind him. But he was severely underused and his madness didn't allow for organic back and forth between him and the Carrion. His role made the Knight Errant feel even more isolated among his combat servitors and robot cohort.

I'm a reader who appreciates characters and their actions probably beyond everything else. Give me dialogue over swordblows any day. In that regard, Cybernetica is an utter failure. The showcasing of lumbering, emotionless machines doing their masters' bidding just doesn't appeal to me. It robbed the book of the type of content I enjoy most. But even then there would have been ways around it! The Tabula Myriad, the abominable AI construct that Octal Bool makes such a fuss over, could have offered a lot of conflict here. Instead, it cannot talk, and its influence is barely felt until the very end. It thinks and directs the other constructs but that's about it for the most part. It has enough impact on action scenes but barely any on the reader or the protagonists up until the climax. I almost forgot it was even there at times.

This is where I have to ask myself how this even happened. You got an actual artificial intelligence that came to the conclusion all the meat-things need to be purged because of their weakness and predicted, at least in part, a schism between humanity's factions. It even made plans and arrangements to achieve said purge and can influence machines around it. This is a setup brimming with potential for excitement and conflict and moral deliberations. It seems like a rich opportunity for any storyteller. And yet it takes a passive role, being a tool to achieve the mission instead of feeling like an integral part to it. Even the mad heretek worshipping it is sidelined for yet another fight against the Mechanicum's constructs.

The fights were technically good, and could have served a good dramatic purpose, but instead their volume throughout felt overbearing. With the book's original publishing timeframe, I have to wonder if it suffered from the infamous time in Black Library's life where Games Workshop proper exerted too much influence over the publishing arm. 2015 saw the peak of marketing brochure-like releases, with short stories presenting the release of the week in a super positive light and what not. I got a similar feeling here. Kastelan, Castellax, Vorax etc, the book highlights a lot of 2015's releases very prominently, to the point of annoyance. It would not surprise me in the least if this was a corporate mandate in line with other policy changes back then, rather than Rob's own vision that had been in the creative stages for a long time before, as evidenced by the name of the book being declared years earlier at events.
Either way, the product that ended up on the market read too much like an action piece than a moe introspective, exploratory epic of the Horus Heresy variety. That's what happens when you spew lightning at opponents or use magnet fists and put an Astartes into a giant Imperial Knight-sized mecha-body.

Despite all the missed opportunities, this is also the longest Horus Heresy novella so far, I believe. It is noticeably longer than Aurelian, the Corax novellas or other. Referring to the audiobook runtimes given by Black Library (since they don't give actual page numbers for their releases anymore), it compares closest to Rob Sanders' own The Honoured short novel for Betrayal at Calth, and is barely 10 minutes shorter than Sanders' Shadow of Ullanor for The Beast Arises. Yet it achieves so little that I thought was actually of consequence or gave a different perspective on the war with Mars, it has been one of the few books I end up thinking wasted my time.

The prose is, as often with Sanders, a bit heavy for my taste. Some people will love it, others will find it needlessly complex in places. He conjures up thick imagery, but it also requires you to glue yourself to the page to not miss a beat. I admit that this was difficult for me this time, due to being sick and my head buzzing with scrap code as it is. Maybe my lack of enjoyment is at least in part down to that.

I can definitely say that one stylistic trait of Sanders is not to my taste at all, though: He barely ever gives you breathing room within any given chapter of his books. Where in most books you'll come across scene breaks, blank lines that invite a short break, or allow you to close the book at and get off your train, Sanders writes non-stop. You either finish a chapter or re-read sections just to get back to where you left off. This is the primary factor that has so far discouraged me from reading his Atlas Infernal, even though it has been sitting on my shelf since it released. If I have to get through about 40 pages without breaks just to get out of the prologue, my enthusiasm dwindles. Cybernetica is similar to that, and as a result felt exhausting to read.

Cybernetica lost me. Between the lack of more esoteric discussion, the battles that overstayed their welcome, the weird, out-of-character-despite-dark-code boss waiting at the end, the lack of poignant dialogue, the mission objective we all know from the start will not be achieved no matter what, and the disconnect from the characters, all presented in a relentless avalanche, this has to be one of my least favorite books in the entire Horus Heresy series. It didn't stimulate, it exhausted me.

Cybernetica on Goodreads

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Following the disastrous invasion of Sotha and the dimming of the Pharos' light, Gendor Skraivok languishes on board the VIII Legion flagship Nightfall. Distrusted by his allies and despised by his rivals, he nonetheless means to claw back leadership of the Night Lords from the pretender Captain Shang, by fair means or foul. And, rather than a portent of doom, the daemonic blade that seems to have chosen him as its bearer may be the answer…

Here's yet another Horus Heresy short story from the Black Library Advent Calendar. Getting there!

The Story:

"Following the disastrous invasion of Sotha and the dimming of the Pharos' light, Gendor Skraivok languishes on board the VIII Legion flagship Nightfall. Distrusted by his allies and despised by his rivals, he nonetheless means to claw back leadership of the Night Lords from the pretender Captain Shang, by fair means or foul. And, rather than a portent of doom, the daemonic blade that seems to have chosen him as its bearer may be the answer…"

The Review:

The Painted Count follows on shortly after the events of Pharos. The novel is mandatory reading before you go into this short story, otherwise you'd be missing out. The short story has many call-backs to the novel and even a slice of Vulkan Lives, which surprised me.

In general, this is a more direct character piece on Skraivok and his standing within the Night Lords Legion. Where Pharos left us with questions as to his fate, and that of the Nightfall, The Painted Count aims to give answers. Skraivok is forced to embrace uncomfortable truths and comes to heads with Konrad Curze's equerry Shang, who first appeared way back when in The Dark King. The two represent the different spectrums of the Legion; one clinging to Curze and wanting vengeance, the other looking forward and trying to make their own way. Of course, the inherent selfishness of the Legion gets in the way of a fair vote on the new leadership, so things take some turns left and right.

The story as a whole serves as a stepping stone between Pharos and the assault on the Sol System. The Night Lords are being maneuvered into place, and we get a good close-up of Skraivok and his own philosophy. I can't say I disliked the Painted Count by any means - Haley's writing puts him as insane in his sanity. My one disappointment with the story was that it didn't explore Captain Shang well enough for my liking. This was Skraivok's show, of course, but a bit more dialogue from Shang, or maybe a scene from his point of view, could have benefitted the story and made it into a great one for me.

As it stands, The Painted Count was an exciting and satisfying read, establishing Gendor Skraivok as a name to watch out for in future installments of the series. It is a worthy part in the overarching Night Lords storyline of the Horus Heresy, and Haley's portrayal of the Legion is, in my eyes, absolutely fitting.

The Painted Count on Goodreads

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The human Imperium is vast indeed, and not all worlds are happy with the terms that grant them the Emperor’s protection. When the Carcharadons land on the mining planet of Zartak, instead of being welcomed, they are treated with suspicion and hostility by its population of miners. What dark secrets does this planet hide, and how far will its inhabitants go to protect them, even if it means pitting themselves against such powerful adversaries as the Adeptus Astartes? With both sides pursuing their own agenda, bloody conflict can be the only outcome.

I know December is over, and with it Black Library's Advent Calendar, but since I was getting a bit overwhelmed towards the second half of December, I figured it is still worth continuing reviews of the new short stories regardless. Happy to finally get this one out of the way in particular!

The Story:

"The human Imperium is vast indeed, and not all worlds are happy with the terms that grant them the Emperor’s protection. When the Carcharadons land on the mining planet of Zartak, instead of being welcomed, they are treated with suspicion and hostility by its population of miners. What dark secrets does this planet hide, and how far will its inhabitants go to protect them, even if it means pitting themselves against such powerful adversaries as the Adeptus Astartes? With both sides pursuing their own agenda, bloody conflict can be the only outcome."

The Review:

Carcharodons: The Reaping Time serves as a bit of a lead-in to Robbie MacNiven's full-length novel Carcharodons: Red Tithe, which I am excited to dig into soon. This taster, at the very least, is promising in its mystery and violence.
The "Space Sharks" have long been a topic I felt needed more attention in Warhammer 40,000. They are butchers by any other name, their origins hidden and it often felt surprising to me to see them on the Loyalist side at all. Their biggest appearance to date must have been during the Badab War books by Forge World, which I believe to have sold out years ago.

So seeing Robbie MacNiven get the chance to tackle the mysterious Chapter of Space Marines had me excited for sure. Best of all, this short story nails the relentless hunter theme nicely. Once these Space Marines smell blood, there is no turning back, and all that is left in their wake are corpses.
Thematically, MacNiven also married them with Maori influences, down to the characters' names. Various things from gear to organization bear aquatic influences, such as the 'Coral Shields', or the various teeth charms the marines of First Squad are wearing. Chainblades are standard issue here, of course, and this short story is easily one of the more brutal ones to come out of this holiday season!
Chief protagonist of the story is Librarian Te Kahurangi, whose psychic powers follow the shark-theme as well. Called the Pale Nomad, he seems more level-headed than his Company Master Akia, who epitomizes the relentless beast in them all. While Te Kahurangi easily gets the best coverage here, the rest of the squad has me intrigued too, especially when their gene-seed origins are put into question. Already hotly-debated in fan-circles, Robbie's take will give fans a lot more fuel for their speculation.

Most importantly, however, MacNiven manages to build up a satisfying story in miniature that presents this Chapter in a natural way, highlighting the unique traits and opening more mysteries to be solved, while also moulding them in his image. It turned out to be a fast-paced read full of action that laid the groundwork for future works on the Chapter without compromising on its stand-alone potential.
If you're unsure about the novel yet, then this short story should hold your answer.

Carcharodons: The Reaping Time on Goodreads

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Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers―bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises―are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground.

Leading the charge are the soldiers―men and women, human and nonhuman―of the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company. Hard-bitten, war-weary, and ferociously loyal to one another, the members of this renegade outfit doggedly survive where others perish, and defiance is their most powerful weapon against the deadliest odds. When orders come down for the rebels to fall back in the face of superior opposition numbers and firepower, Twilight reluctantly complies. Then an unlikely ally radically changes the strategic equation―and gives the Alliance’s hardest-fighting warriors a crucial chance to turn retreat into resurgence.

Orders or not, alone and outgunned but unbowed, Twilight Company locks, loads, and prepares to make its boldest maneuver―trading down-and-dirty battle in the trenches for a game-changing strike at the ultimate target: the very heart of the Empire’s military machine.

I recently finished Twilight Company, getting me one step closer to being up-to-date on New Canon Star Wars (which is still a good ways off, to be honest, thanks to all those pesky Star Wars Insider short stories and comics...). Initially I was hesitant to even read it, thanks to the Battlefront tagline which is bigger than the actual name itself. Thankfully, this is anything but a shallow video game tie-in for a plotless and bland Battlefield reskin - it is high quality military scifi instead!

The Story:

"Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers―bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises―are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground.

Leading the charge are the soldiers―men and women, human and nonhuman―of the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company. Hard-bitten, war-weary, and ferociously loyal to one another, the members of this renegade outfit doggedly survive where others perish, and defiance is their most powerful weapon against the deadliest odds. When orders come down for the rebels to fall back in the face of superior opposition numbers and firepower, Twilight reluctantly complies. Then an unlikely ally radically changes the strategic equation―and gives the Alliance’s hardest-fighting warriors a crucial chance to turn retreat into resurgence.

Orders or not, alone and outgunned but unbowed, Twilight Company locks, loads, and prepares to make its boldest maneuver―trading down-and-dirty battle in the trenches for a game-changing strike at the ultimate target: the very heart of the Empire’s military machine."

The Review:

Twilight Company was a blast. It was action-packed, boots-on-the-ground Star Wars action the likes of which you rarely see. Instead of focusing on the Jedi vs Sith conflicts, this one hammered home the methods, heroism and failures of the Rebel Alliance's forward troops. This book proves that Star Wars does indeed work without big roles for lightsabers, and more focus on the wars.

To get one thing out of the way: Ignore the Battlefront logo on the cover. The only thing this novel shares with EA's Battlefield reskin is that both take you to various different locations, many of which are shared between both. You'll even see the Battle of Hoth, and more successfully than in the game at that. If the thought of a game tie-in novel turns you off (I know it almost did for me!), scratch all those thoughts and go in fresh.

The novel focuses on the Rebel Alliance's Twilight Company, a vanguard fighting force, now turned into a glorified rearguard during the retreat of other regiments. It presents us with a diverse cast featuring ex-bounty hunters, mercenaries, aliens and even teenagers and defecting imperials.
Our primary protagonist is, without a doubt, Hazram Namir, mercenary-turned-rebel, just not really because he's in it for his comrades in arms, not the lofty goals of the Rebellion's leadership. He has the ability, but not the faith, and, while generally respected, seems like the odd one out.
This leads him to connect more and more with defecting imperial governor Chalis, who joins and supports Twilight Company in her own manipulative way - resulting in an intriguing, ambiguous relationship between the two that lasts throughout almost the entire book and gives a different spin on the evils of the Empire and the righteous actions of the rebels.

As Namir gets more and more involved in the decision-making for Twilight Company's future, and governor Chalis offers the rebel leaders extensive inside information on the Empire's inner workings and infrastructure, things get ever more murky and Twilight Company becomes a priority target for the imperial antagonists. These come in the form of Prelate Verge, an ambitious, Palpatine-worshipping youth, and Tabor Seitaron, a veteran captain returned to duty alongside Verge. The two hunt Twilight Company to eliminate Chalis, but cause quite some chaos for the Rebellion as a whole.
I found Seitaron to be almost sympathetic; he seemed to be dismayed at being pulled back from his almost-retirement and comfortable teaching career at the academy, and still had qualms about extreme measures, whereas Verge was despicable by design. It was a cool pairing for the antagonist slot.

But the stars of it all are Twilight Company's soldiers, and the entire company itself. While Namir is the character we can connect with the easiest, seeing flashes of his way to become a rebel and following his rise through the ranks, his struggles and relationships, the rest of his squad and beyond added so much color and genuine humanity to the book, it was a pleasure to read, if not for the tragedies engulfing the group.
Early in the novel, Namir and co recruit a teenage girl for the rebels, who claims the name 'Roach' for herself, and, while a rookie, earns her keep alongside Namir's veterans. I found Roach to be among my favorite characters in the book, adding some humor and life to the downward spiral of the Rebellion. The Besalisk-alien Gadren, ever the believer and positive sod, balances the more cynical outlooks of Namir and others, and the ex-bounty hunter Brand adds a layer of professionalism and stealth to the group, often offering judgement to Namir.

The cast expands further out from Namir's own squad, of course, up to the higher echelons of the company, and I thought that things worked exceptionally well, all considered. Twilight Company felt like a coherent force with its own bonds, its haunts, and brotherhood despite their differences. They're loyal to one another and to the cause, resulting in plenty of dramatic scenes and tragic events. Alexander Freed really hit a homerun with making this book more about the grounded battles and real people within the war machine than the more esoteric aspects of the setting.

The individual missions of Twilight Company are just as diverse as the cast - taking you to jungle planets, mining colonies, or even boarding actions and, most notably maybe, the Battle of Hoth. The latter was a blast, and offered an entirely different experience than what we've seen before through the movies. We're in for a bunch of cameos and twists, and I felt that, if Freed had chosen to, this could have been easily the climax of the entire book. But instead it kept going for just as long again after this disastrous battle for the Rebel Alliance.
Things take a nosedive here, for all involved. We know that from the movies, of course, but it is something else entirely to actually see the affected troops and get a new perspective on Vader's hunt for the boy Skywalker and the senior staff of the rebellion. There's even glimpses of Snowspeeders ensnaring AT-ATs!

Looking back at it a couple of weeks after having read this, I still have a vivid memory of key scenes from the book, and the characters involved. It really is a top candidate for my favorite Canon novel I've read so far. It brings the familiar Original Trilogy setting to its pages while offering a fresh new spin, with plenty of intriguing characters coming and going. I'd love to read more about Namir and Chalis before long, and loved reading more about events that had an obvious impact on the victories of the Rebel Alliance in the movies while happening off-screen.

Twilight Company demonstrates the spirit of the Rebel Alliance, the inherent hope, the attrition, the desperation, but also the life and tragic martyrdom, to the point where I didn't want to put the book down. The plot is so packed of exciting content, I thought I got more out of it than I paid for.
It was amazing to see some more ambiguity introduced to the Rebel Alliance vs Galactic Empire dynamic, seeing even a regular Stormtrooper's perspective on the rebel terrorists in the process.
Freed manages to get you thinking about the moral grey areas the rebels have to dip into to achieve freedom from the Empire, and does so with expertly written characters.
The novel lives by its characters, and I'm pleased to say that Alexander Freed nailed them. From their actions in the mess halls to their battlefield heroics, or the funeral rites within the company, the cast felt alive and satisfying.

If you're a bit tired of lightsaber fights and want to see something different set during the Original Trilogy, then this is probably the book you're looking for.

Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company on Goodreads

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Dragons once soared in the skies, but that was before the Transformation, before they took human form. Now, demonic forces stand to obliterate them. When left mortally wounded, Darnuir, the Prince of Dragons, can only be saved through a dangerous rebirthing spell. He is left as a babe in human hands.

Twenty years later, Darnuir is of age to wield the Dragon's Blade. As the last member of his bloodline, he is the only one who can. He is plunged into a role he is not prepared for, to lead a people he does not know. Shadowy demons ravage his new home and the alliance between humans, dragons and fairies has fractured.

Time is short, for new threats and deadlier enemies are emerging...

Welcome back to the first review of the new year! This one's been simmering for a little while, and I was hoping to get it out in December originally. Things got too hectic for that, though, so we'll start the year with it instead.
Michael R. Miller contacted me via email back in July, while I was out of country visiting my girlfriend. I still remember first opening his email while sitting at the airport waiting for things to get going. He offered me a review copy of the novel, and I took that chance, though I also told him it'd take me a while to get around to it. But now it is here, so let's look at it!

The Story:

"Dragons once soared in the skies, but that was before the Transformation, before they took human form. Now, demonic forces stand to obliterate them. When left mortally wounded, Darnuir, the Prince of Dragons, can only be saved through a dangerous rebirthing spell. He is left as a babe in human hands.

Twenty years later, Darnuir is of age to wield the Dragon's Blade. As the last member of his bloodline, he is the only one who can. He is plunged into a role he is not prepared for, to lead a people he does not know. Shadowy demons ravage his new home and the alliance between humans, dragons and fairies has fractured.
Time is short, for new threats and deadlier enemies are emerging... "

Disclaimer

The author contacted me via email to offer a review copy back in July 2016. While reading it, I have also ordered a print copy for my shelf.

The Review:

The Dragon's Blade: The Reborn King is Michael R. Miller's debut novel, so I'll be trying to look more at his concepts and ideas and try giving constructive feedback. A fresh mind with cool ideas is, in my opinion, worth more than flawless execution that comes more easily with greater experience.

First off, I love dragons. I still have a bunch of figurines and even plushies standing in my living room to attest to that. Books like Andy Remic's The Dragon Engine attract me by default, by virtue of having dragons up front (and that one had metal dragons at that!), and I still have a few dragon-related books waiting for me in the near future. So my first impulse when it came to The Reborn King was that I wanted to read it. I was a little apprehensive at the idea of dragons-turned-humanoid, admittedly, but that idea, too, had promise in my eyes.

I think that actually hits the book on its head: It offers a lot of fresh ideas with plenty of promise to them. Whether it be blue-skinned fairies living in a caste system with roles assigned early on and stuck to, some with wings, others without, or demons unhappy at being ensnared by the dark lord and struggling in their chains, or, indeed, the idea of having the protagonist rewind back to being a baby, losing his memories in the process, all of those things have huge potential when handled well.

Thankfully, I believe that Miller did indeed handle them nicely. Some things are still bumpy and a little clumsy in places (more on that later), but the overall direction the plot took had me ever more intrigued, to the point where I ordered a retail copy after reaching the halfway point (which has yet to arrive or indeed be dispatched, I'm afraid. Bloody holidays!) and am eager to read the sequel, out in February. So yes, the story and characters did indeed work for me, to the point where I was dismayed by twists and deaths throughout.
Of course, a bunch of the twists were predictable, and sometimes fill the archetypical shoes of a high fantasy novel. But predictability isn't a bad thing in my eyes, not unless the signs are so on the nose that you have to ask yourself why the characters can't figure it out half the book earlier already. That isn't the case here, and even the somewhat predictable events were delivered with a fresh context that I could appreciate.

Seeing Darnuir's growth throughout the book was satisfying. At the core, this is his story, so it better be good. I didn't feel very fond of the character before his inevitable rejuvenation a few chapters in - and indeed, that was kind of the point! He was brash, foul-tempered, arrogant, in short: a douche. A powerful douche, maybe, but a douche nonetheless. He looked down on humans, thought he'd be a better king than his father and ever-eager for battle.
His new self, brought up among human hunters, is very different. He is caring, perceptive, modest and values his friends highly, where before he didn't have any to speak of. Ignorant of his true nature until the magical Dragon's Blade reappears before him as he reaches adulthood, and explanations are in order, he is likeable and offers a good deal of depth.

When the Dragon's Blade makes its influence known, the new Darnuir is thrown into turmoil, as parts of his old life spill over into the new. A priority of the novel is Darnuir's search for himself, the rediscovery of his old self, and the way he reconciles his two halves. Having to find his place in the world, suddenly much bigger than his cold mountain town, and figure out how to be the king of dragons after having lived as a human for two decades, is a tough road for the protagonist, but makes for exciting reading.
Things are complicated by the appearance of the Guardian, Blaine, who wields a sword twin to Darnuir's own Dragon's Blade, but aims to mold him to his own nebulous designs. Adding the misadventures of love and friendship as well as a loyalty to humankind that few dragons appear to share, Darnuir is in for a ride - as is the reader.

Where Darnuir undoubtedly forms the spine of the book, the supporting protagonists were intriguing and exciting as well, whether they had their own point of view chapters or not. Cassandra, a girl held captive by the treacherous wizard Castallan in his Bastion, provides new turns to the story, and Brackendon, the wizard who turned Darnuir into a baby again, adds the bulk of the magical component to the story.

Magic, here called Cascade energy, is highly toxic, addictive and can scorch your body severely. The costs of using magic are palpable everywhere, and even trees suffer from it in places. Magic needs to come at a cost and have its limits to be satisfying, in my eyes, and Miller achieved that very well with his Cascade. It introduced an element of risk while being rewarding too, and its users are anything but all-powerful, as exhaustion and intoxication take their tolls quickly. It was well-done.

On top of that, I ended up enjoying the differences between the three major races: Dragons, humans and fairies. Fairies are, as expected, more nature-bound than the others, while dragons are usually arrogant and revelling in their inherent strength and speed. They are presented with a strong history, their own gods, and their own downfalls. The author even made it a point to detail how they build their warcamps, traditionally, and in Blaine you got a stickler for tradition and disdain for humankind, who waged wars on dragons in ages past. While no, these aren't firebreathing, flying dragons anymore, they still epitomise the pride and grandeur of old, and the tensions between them and humans especially made for good reading.

I am also happy Miller didn't fall into the trap of unrelenting action for his debut. While action and battles are all here, they don't overwhelm the ongoing plot. They are used where it counts, underlining the characters and their motivations, rather than being self-serving sections to keep (and effectively lose) the reader's attention. While the book makes mention of massive armies ravaging the realms, what we see of that is still rooted around the relevant characters and their personal involvement, including the preparations for battle or the misery afterwards. These personal perspectives are valuable when used the way they are here, and the book is stronger for them.

The negative points I have for the novel have more to do with the ground-level execution, namely somewhat clumsy prose and a bunch of errors ranging from typos to little grammatical twists here and there. I'm not entirely clear if what I read was the retail copy, though a cursory check of release dates would indicate it, so I am a little disappointed by how many typos, or instances of a connecting word, slipped through. If you consider yourself a "grammar nazi" or take especial offense at things like these, I can see that as a turnoff for sure. A little more time proofing could have prevented most of these, and I don't expect the second novel to make the same mistakes here.

As for the "clumsy prose" part, this is something I felt a little uncertain of early on, but found got less noticeable later on in the book. Some paragraphs I felt could have been put more effectively, and some lines could have been condensed by using different vocab, but those are things that I'd expect from a debut novel like this, and is something that is best served through practice and writing more, gaining experience rather than ordering a thesaurus off Amazon and overcomplicating things. While I found some things phrased oddly, a lot of those instances seemed relatively easy to solve, and I trust that Miller's editor will grow along with him to catch this stuff while reading over the drafts.

The important thing is, in my eyes, that the building blocks of an exciting world with a rich history are all there, and the characters and their individual struggles within the bigger picture are compelling. They were, and so I can overlook the nagging growing pains of a fresh new author. The end result is one to be proud of, especially since it turned out to be a compelling novel full of depth and concepts I'd like to see expanded on in future installments. Miller has a bunch of bold ideas here, and offers the world building to back them up. What polish the book lacks is well made-up for in its themes and characters.

After some mighty-cool twists towards the end, I can definitely say that I am in for the second book. I am excited to see where all this is going, especially as some characters' motivations are put into doubt. With a lot of the groundwork done, I have high expectations for Veiled Intentions. Next time I won't be putting my read off for so long, that's for sure!

The Dragon's Blade: The Reborn King on Goodreads

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2016 has been a great year for me as far as books are concerned. I've gotten to read a lot of solid and amazing books over the past twelve months, and I am inclined to point fingers to a bunch of stories, from short to long, that I enjoyed most. It will come as no surprise that I've reviewed most of them in the past, which I am happy about; my review-output has drastically improved over 2016 as well.

To preface, though, I'll keep it to books that have released in 2016, at least in english. Some titles like Legend of the Galactic Heroes may be ancient, originally published in Japan over the 80s, but they've only now received international releases, so I am including those. If the book has been out in one format but gotten a paperback, audiobook or whichever else this year, that won't make the list, even if I may have read it this year. If a pre-release dropped in late 2015 but the general street date was in 2016, the book still qualifies.
I also tried to limit myself to one book per author, even though some of them had me wondering which I'd go with for a while.

With that out of the way, let's begin. Here's hoping some of these will find their way into your homes or onto your eReaders!

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka

You know I like science fiction/space operas and largely character-driven stories. This one's got those bases covered. I read books one to three over the course of 2016, and am eagerly waiting for my preorder of volume 4 in summer 2017. I've preordered all of the books since reading the 1st (in fact, I had preordered Ambition before I even finished Dawn), and despite Endurance arriving an entire month after its release date(!), which was half a month after e- and audiobook versions as it is, I am happy to continue to do so for the rest of the series.
I was so eager to dig into volume 2 this summer, I bought it at Barnes & Noble while visiting my girlfriend in the States, knowing that I'd have my copy the day after returning back home anyway, and left the book for her to read, as she was currently on Dawn.

All that speaks of commitment to the series and its stellar characters, spearheaded by admiral Yang Wenli and count Reinhard von Lohengramm. Their stories and the ongoing war between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, and their political shifts and switching of spots, have me excited every time, and listening to the audiobooks narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds just adds a cherry on top. The characters feel alive and engaging, growing with the tale.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Vol.1: Dawn on Goodreads

Legends of the Dark Millennium: Genestealer Cults by Peter Fehervari

I had long anticipated more stories, especially novels, by Peter Fehervari. Ever since reading Fire Caste, he's had me. Fehervari brings something to the table that most Black Library and 40k authors seem to miss more often than not: The bitter bleakness of the setting. There are no clear victories in his stories, no real hope for the future. Everything is a losing battle, driving characters insane and hopeless.

Genestealer Cults is no exception. If anything, it drives people insane in more ways than you'd expect, by reintroducing the alien cults back to the wider setting after returning to the tabletop for the first time in decades. Mind control, manipulation, vile zealotry, they're all in the book and result in an explosive combination. Once again he references his other works of the Dark Coil here and there, enriching the novel for those in the know and adding even more depth to his growing mythos.
The atmosphere is thick, the action leaving nothing to be desired, and his choice of battlefield is as intriguing and full of mystery as basically anything he writes. My only gripe was that it was a short novel, not a full length one, and that it left me wanting more.

I'm happy to see this book also catching on with the fans of the franchise on various forums, because this definitely deserves recognition. Fehervari is a genius when it comes to exposing the dark nature of the IP, and stare into the abyss of human hearts and minds. Genestealer Cults makes that abundantly clear once again. It is a psychological horror story the likes of which you'll rarely find in the franchise.

Legends of the Dark Millennium: Genestealer Cults on Goodreads

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

I read almost the entire book while staying at my girlfriend's over in the USA. The audiobook, narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds as well (like Sullivan's Riyria), kept me company on the way back home as well, while I was stuck at that annoying Chicago airport for a day. Surely I'd have gone even more insane without this novel's aid!

When I found Riyria a couple of years ago, I didn't know what to expect, but found something amazing. The Legends of the First Empire aim to be an independent, mythological prequel to the tales of Royce and Hadrian, set thousands of years earlier. Seeing certain things from Riyria gaining new context or a different spin was great, but even newcomers will be able to enjoy this greatly

Once again, Michael J. Sullivan scores with his easy to like and relate to characters, which also includes some very nifty female leads, a wolf and a lot of cleverly interwoven themes. This being a book that focuses on humanity's early existence, it doesn't miss a beat to remind us that these are more primitive, more superstitious and, in a way, more magical times. That brings a certain purity to the table which reminds me of Tolkien's expanded mythology around Beleriand and the First Age. But unlike Tolkien, Sullivan manages to squarely focus on the characters shaping the world, with little of what many readers found tedious about J.R.R.'s stories. The pacing felt great, the humor refreshing and with Sullivan having written almost the entire series besides some polishing work already, this will be a book I'll gladly re-read once the series is finished and I went through the first time.

Age of Myth on Goodreads

United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas

I read The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick in 2016, and look at that: A spiritual successor featuring giant mecha and political and military intrigue! This book was very exciting, owing to its kick-ass concept, the well-paced unravelling of mysteries surrounding the characters, and also the action sequences. There was much to enjoy (or avert your eyes from) here, and Tieryas certainly did not pull any punches!

This book won't be for everyone, and a certain maturity is needed to really pick up on the themes, so while giant robots may be exciting to kids and early teens (I know they were for me, though I always prefered Kaiju/Dinosaurs over robots), best not hand it to them without knowing what you're doing. This book is violent, and disturbing in places, but oh it all clicks together so well in part because of that.

If you've ever wondered what might have happened if the Axis forces had won World War II, and split the United States up among themselves, this is the book for you. It won't be pretty, but it will be one hell of a ride, and a ride through hell.

United States of Japan on Goodreads

The Emperor's Railroad by Guy Haley

Disclaimer: I got an early review copy for this book thanks to the author putting me in contact with the publisher.

This was the first review copy I received from Tor in 2016, surprisingly. I remember seeing it listed on Amazon before it even had a cover, and preordering it on the name on the page alone. Guy Haley's been one of my favorite authors in recent years, ever since I read his Skarsnik and Baneblade when he joined Black Library.

Seeing him kicking off a new series of novellas in his own, original fantasy post-apocalypse was incredibly satisfying. The first thing that caught my attention, of course, was the strong narrating voice. Written from the perspective of one character involved in the book, telling his story to an unknown audience many years after the fact, it felt eccentric and fresh. The story itself is set around Virginia in the future, long after what appears to be a nuclear war that brought mankind back to the middle-ages - including faith in the spiritual, weird technology-turned-magic and superstition. There's a lot to love here, which only got expanded in The Ghoul King, book two, and I hope to see many more stories in the series.

Haley really nailed this blend between traditional fantasy and science fiction, presenting the entire thing as a sort of travel tale, revealing us, the readers in the know, a world full of disasters that the characters cannot even begin to really understand. I was worried that the zombies in the novella would be dull or too much of a focus, but neither turned out to be true. Instead they were used just the right amount, complementing the world and events that Haley wanted to present.

The novella is still available for a buck or your regional equivalent on Amazon for Kindle, and I'd encourage you to give it a try. Heck, I want to see where this series can go in the future, so I bought a copy of both books even though I had access to the review copies. If the Kindle store wasn't stupidly region-locked, I'd have gifted copies to friends already...

The Emperor's Railroad on Goodreads

Manglers Never Lose by Josh Reynolds

Oh, Josh Reynolds. You magnificent bastard. I knew you were going to be on the list, but it took me some back and forth to pinpoint which of your works to put on here. To my shame, I haven't managed to get really into The Infernal Express yet (out of hope for a print release, actually), but Fabius Bile: Primogenitor was a strong contender for this spot. But then I decided to go with the Manglers instead, even though 'tis but a short story.

Because I loved it. It was fun. It was so silly, so stupid, but also oh so satisfying and nostalgic. Who'd have thought that the first new Blood Bowl story released by Black Library would be that tiny gateway back to the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, even if just through easter eggs and references to Josh's other works. The unadulterated humor found here is glorious. This short story plays to Josh's strengths, and it made me laugh out loud in many instances. The way he handles inherently silly circumstances and makes them seem mundane in the Blood Bowl setting had me in stitches.

The dialogue too is something that this story got perfectly right. There's back and forths between characters all over, and I actually ended up reading them in various voices to myself while trying not to laugh.

‘Served him right, after what he did to my sister… my brother… my cousins… our goat…’ He trailed off. ‘He was an honourless dog.’

Even if you don't have a clue about Blood Bowl, this story is worth reading. Fantasy Football with orcs, dwarves and humans, with all the madness and violence you'd expect, but also utterly ridiculous and self-aware. Lovely job, Josh!

Manglers Never Lose on Goodreads

Wrath by John Gwynne

Wrath is the final book I read and reviewed in 2016. It is also my favorite. It was an amazing, emotional finale to a series I've devoured between January and February 2016, and then had to wait seemingly forever for the conclusion to. John Gwynne did something amazing in wrapping everything up so magnificently, giving me so many characters to love and/or hate, and he made me go from cheering to weeping over the course of the book.

It does so many things right, I am actually really annoyed by the fact that the trade paperback release won't be in my home until May, which tempts me to rebuy the entire series in hardback. That's how good this book, and the series as a whole, were. The Faithful and the Fallen grew bigger and more impressive with every installment. Whereas Malice felt familiar and nostalgic, I didn't expect things to get so big and emotional. It surprised me, with many of those surprises, good and ill, coming with Wrath. And unlike a lot of ambitious fantasy series, Wrath ended exactly where it should have, with the perfect bittersweet tone it needed. It didn't overstay its welcome, it ended plotlines satisfyingly, and left the rest up to the reader's imagination, not overexplaining. Of course, a new trilogy is in the works, called Of Blood and Bone, with the first book in the editing stages, and you can bet I'll be there to devour that, too.

This was the perfect book to end the year on. An emotional rollercoaster, just like 2016 as a whole. Exciting, scratching all the itches, and leaving me with hope for 2017.

Wrath on Goodreads

And that's it, folks. These are the standout books 2016 had in stock for me. I've read a bunch more, of course, but I had to narrow it done a bunch. Books that didn't make the list just had to go up against some very strong and enjoyable stories this year.

Hopefully 2017 will be able to keep up! I know I got a bunch of releases on my radar already, and the list is only going to grow as more get revealed and I get invested in series that have passed me by so far.

I wish you all the best in the coming year, at any rate. If you'd like, let me know via the comments or Twitter or the likes what releases you liked best in 2016, and what your highly anticipated reads for 2017 are. Maybe I'll find some new gems that way too!

Happy New Year!

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