The Lord of Ravens, Master of Deliverance, Primarch Corus Corvax of the Raven Guard takes centre stage in a collection of works by Gav Thorpe that explore his campaign of vengeance against Horus' allies and his desperate attempts to hold his Legion together.

After Isstvan, after Deliverance, the Raven Guard still endure. Their primarch Corvus Corax has rallied countless warriors to his banner, striking back at the forces of the Warmaster on every front – from the degenerate hereteks of the Mechanicum to the cruel legionaries of the Sons of Horus, none shall escape his wrath. But although Corax has managed to stall the physical corruption of his own Space Marines, what of their spirit? And what sinister end must await those who dwell forever in the darkness?

Well, we've reached #40 in the Horus Heresy series now. Despite the naysayers in comment sections across the net, the series is definitely on its final approach to Terra - and Corax takes us close to it. In fact, it even goes beyond the Siege of Terra and shows us a glimpse of the Scouring-era Raven Guard, and their Primarch. This anthology wraps up the Raven Guard story arc started with Raven's Flight and Deliverance Lost, which I recently re-read and reviewed in preparation of this one.

The Story:

"The Lord of Ravens, Master of Deliverance, Primarch Corus Corvax of the Raven Guard takes centre stage in a collection of works by Gav Thorpe that explore his campaign of vengeance against Horus' allies and his desperate attempts to hold his Legion together.

After Isstvan, after Deliverance, the Raven Guard still endure. Their primarch Corvus Corax has rallied countless warriors to his banner, striking back at the forces of the Warmaster on every front – from the degenerate hereteks of the Mechanicum to the cruel legionaries of the Sons of Horus, none shall escape his wrath. But although Corax has managed to stall the physical corruption of his own Space Marines, what of their spirit? And what sinister end must await those who dwell forever in the darkness?"

The Review:

Corax is an anthology of three novellas and three short stories. With the exception of Weregeld, the exclusive final part to the Raven Guard story arc, I have read them all before, with somewhat lukewarm feelings on most. Re-reading them all so soon after re-reading Deliverance Lost, all in conjunction and without months if not years of wait between the installments, made me appreciate the whole thing a lot more than I did piecemeal. Every bit adds another piece to Corax as a character and the Raven Guard's struggles after the Dropsite Massacre. While not a sweeping, continuous narrative, the somewhat episodic nature of the novellas and shorts allowed Gav Thorpe to explore various defining elements of the Legion and their Primarch and keep piling up drama, before making it crash down on Corax in the finale.

I was contemplating just how to approach this review. With it being an anthology, reviewing the individual parts might be appropriate, but then I also think that a kind of strict separation would do the book a disservice. While yes, all pieces have been released individually over the years, they still form a compelling hole and carry character arcs throughout, and the satisfaction I got from it was in large parts down to seeing things flow from one to the next, whereas individually I wasn't sure about the novellas. So I am going to be all over the place with this write-up, trying to do both.

The book opens up with a prelude cut out of Weregeld, the new novella. It takes the reader right into the action of the finale, showing us a gravely-wounded Leman Russ, his Wolves and the Raven Guard surrounded by Alpha Legion, World Eaters and Thousand Sons. Now you may ask how that comes to be (and so does Corax, at the end of this prelude), the Thousand Sons haven't officially joined Horus yet, after all, and Russ has barely left Terra at the end of The Path of Heaven. The answer is simple: Weregeld is placed later in the timeline than anything else before it, with Horus about to take the key system to attack the Sol System in force.
What exactly Russ was up to isn't elaborated on, but various hints were and are given which make me look forward to whatever Chris Wraight may be up to with him (since it is a safe bet he'll be in charge of the next, and potentially final piece of the Wolves' plotline before the Siege, given his track record).

After this damn exciting prelude, the book goes back to the start: Corax: Soulforge, here without the prefix. It is set maybe a year after the conclusion of Deliverance Lost, and Corax and his Legion are still raiding supply lines, ships and freeing planets that had fallen to the traitors. One such boarding action gets Corax, Branne and Agapito onto a Word Bearers ship, and shows the mad hunger for vengeance Agapito has been harboring since Isstvan V. Due to his actions, the whole thing almost goes bust, and he becomes a central figure to the plot afterwards. His need for vengeance is a focal point in Soulforge, and stands in for the Raven Guard's collective need to get back at the Traitor Legions.
While this Agapito character arc was fairly predictable in its outcome (him getting over it and getting his priorities straight again), it was nice to see the collective trauma of the Legion being addressed in a personal manner. It also reinforced the whole "attack, retreat, attack again" mantra of the Raven Guard - Agapito was all too willing to commit to a fight unto death, rather than using the guerrilla tactics the ravens and liberators of Lycaeus have been known for.

The novella itself leads Corax and Agapito to a Mechanicum world. A delegation of Word Bearers has seemingly come to turn the highest-ranking Mechanicum adept and instigated a row of despicable experiments attempting to merge daemon and machine. Yep, this is where we see the first Defilers making their way into the universe. I liked that it wasn't just the more recent Chaos machine breeds, but the iconic spider-legged monstrosities. They have been relatively overlooked in recent years, whereas they've always been something monstrous and cool in my eyes, and set the Chaos Space Marines of 40k apart from the loyalist Chapters' tanks.
Either way, Corax is hell-bent on stopping the Word Bearers and Archmagos Delvere, and allies with the loyal/undecided adepts to achieve victory. First contact is made through Corax running in on a secret discussion between the adepts, trying to figure out a course of action for their barge-city, and whether or not to recognize Delvere's leadership and the Dark Mechanicum as a whole. Corax joins in and convinces them that they can take back the planet, and subsequently assumes command of the barge-city of Atlas.

This part of the book mostly shows off just how much of a tactical genius Corax is, commanding disparate forces from multiple sources and maximizing the effect every piece in the game has on the outcome. He stokes a civilian uprising, distracts the opposing forces with his own legionaries under Agapito, and then swoops into the action himself for the deciding decapitation. While I can see complaints of Corax not being shown as kick-ass like other Primarchs who engage more in open combat, I felt that the rebel leader role of Corvus and his Legion's guerrilla spirit are well-presented here. Corax, despite his close combat gear, is more interesting to me as a tactician, overseeing the greater whole of a war rather than stumbling into the thick of it.

When he finally makes his move, it is to great effect, even though he does get a bit of a beating before the end. On top of that, he gets confronted with the nature of the Warp once more, and sees its corrupting influence first hand and at a larger scale than before. This causes new doubts and fears in the Primarch, returning the plot back to the mutated Raptors and his experiments in Deliverance Lost. While the Raptors themselves only featured in the first chapters of the novella, their increasing degredation is undeniable, and Corax draws obvious parallels with the Word Bearers since Isstvan.


After this novella follows the short story The Shadowmasters, featuring and, in fact, introducing the Mor Deythan, an elite part of the Raven Guard, based on legionaries that seemingly inherited Corax's ability to make themselves near undetectable. It is an infiltration-type story that supports Soulforge from the shadows. It isn't necessary to the overall plot but still a nice bit that connects the additions from ForgeWorld's Horus Heresy line to the ongoing Raven Guard plot. Originally this story was part of the Limited Edition of Soulforge, so I'm glad to see it in print for everyone now.


Next up is Ravenlord (which always bugged me for not having the Corax:-prefix of its predecessor), the second novella. Where Soulforge tackled the vengeance topic and the abhorrent experiments of the Dark Mechanicum and Word Bearers, this one deals with the Legion's paranoia post-Deliverance Lost, and has Corax issuing a call to arms to re-unite the scattered loyalist forces under his banner. It also makes dealing with the Raptor-problem unavoidable for Corax, as it throws the experiments Fabius has been working on in the meantime right in his face.
It also shows the measures of psychic screening that the Raven Guard adapted after Deliverance, with Balsar Kuthuri, who featured before, taking on the task of mind-reading and, surprisingly, encountering barriers around secrets in a Raven Guard force that seemingly managed to escape Isstvan V long after the Primarch.

Ravenlord kept me guessing. Like Deliverance Lost, it threw the possibility of a traitor among the ranks into the air, and tried to mislead the reader. It works to reflect the Primarch's own paranoia and distrust, even when reunited with one of his closest sons. Secrets and shame, arrogance and betrayal all factor in here. Corax, with his "I don't need a bodyguard" bravado from Raven's Flight, is walking on a knife's edge here, and even when support arrives his paranoia starts to make him run in circles, second guessing the intentions of his lieutenants.
In many ways this novella threw me back to the pre-Imperium time of Lycaeus, with Corax reminiscing about it and reconsidering his actions, decisions and the way he granted some of his early supporters absolution for unworthy deeds, in recognition of their services to him and the rebellion. To me that just showed that Corax is willing to compromise justice and integrity in a bid for a greater good, and that this may lead to further troubles down the road.

Where Soulforge had Corax firmly on the path of vengeance, Ravenlord sees his doubt about everything he has done, every fibre of his nature, grow and almost consume him. He is haunted by his past, both of his life on Lycaeus and the Raptors experiment. Some people claim that Corax is just "emo", but I think differently. If Fulgrim, Ferrus, Angron, and even Horus have their vices, doubts and grudges, then Corax is in good company with his own struggles. He is as broken as all the rest, yet still getting back up for a greater good.

The vile experiments of Fabius and the Sons of Horus were nicely done here, and exemplified just how much of a risk this line of research poses to the Imperium. The "New Men" or "Astartes Superior" are brutal, and brutally efficient, and catch Corax off-guard. His own experiments might have led him to similar results, had he chosen to continue them. To the reader it also makes clear just how much of a cost the Primarch's arrogance had; without him losing the gene-tech to the Alpha Legion, these things would have never succeeded in the first place. While he himself is seemingly unaware of his own role in the matter, it shows him how close he came to his own corruption and loss of integrity.
On the flipside, the Raptors under Branne are confronted with the failed experiments in a very grim and regretful way, making them doubt their own origins and use to the Legion as well. While at the start of Soulforge, Navar Hef was doing relatively fine, his condition has worsened significantly here. They start to see the lie in Corax's attempts to integrate them as fully respected Raven Guard.

Other elements I enjoyed with Ravenlord were the overall structure, with each chapter being timestamped in relation to the "Day of Vengeance", Corax's attempt to free the war prisoners of Carandiru. It gave the whole plot a sense of scale, and made the planning stages more believable. It also gave room for the assimilated loyalist forces to join up and receive some training by the Raven Guard. To my delight, both Captain Noriz of the Imperial Fists and Arcatus of the Custodian Guard are back, though not the focus. Surprisingly, Arcatus has come to agree with the Primarch's decision of taking the war back to Horus, and plays a key role in convincing the loyalists to stick around. Seeing Soukhounou interacting with a youth on Carandiru, talking about the value and bravery of rebellion against oppressors also made me happy; the commander certainly received a lot of attention here, and as a Terran-born Raven Guard, these scenes made him feel more part of the Legion than I expected.

The relationship between Corax and his former bodyguard Gherith Arendi is explored nicely as well, giving us a lens through which to see the Primarch's mental struggles, arrogance and paranoia. I am not entirely certain, but this might also present the first occassion on which a Primarch has been called out for being an idiot in no uncertain terms. Arendi even highlights Corax's own hypocrisy, teaching his Legion to think and act independently, while forcing his own opinions and mistakes on them and rejecting their advice when he is clearly in the wrong. Had Arendi been around during Deliverance Lost, things might have turned out far better for the Legion - after all, every Primarch needs a naysayer, unafraid to object to their lord when needed.

My initial reading of this novella, on its own back in spring, left me a bit underwhelmed. But in context of everything else and with more awareness as to Corax's development from story to story, I felt it was rewarding and I kept wondering why exactly I didn't enjoy it that much back then. Corax takes a more active role in the fighting, gets whooped for his arrogant behavior and more problems and doubts are piling up, almost to breaking point. It is a good story that drives the tragedy of the ravens further home.


Before the final novella Weregeld, we have two more short stories to go through. The first is called The Value of Fear and presents a decent excursion following a Raven Guard supposedly "training" one of the loyalists Corax attracted in Ravenlord. It wasn't a world-changing story, but neatly played on the parallels between Night Lords and Raven Guard - something Corax has been contemplating since Isstvan V, where he faced the Night Haunter and fled. It is presented through an argument between both characters, on how to best flush out the traitors they're chasing. Their philosophies clash slightly, but the mesh of both turns out quite beneficial.

The second story is Raptor, originally released as an audio drama. It stars Navar Hef and his contingent of "Rough" and "Smooth" Raptors, investigating a Space Wolves ship in distress. The Wolves turn out to have made planetfall and are being bothered by the Sons of Horus, and prepared for a glorious last stand and suicide-bombing of their stronghold.
Here we get to see the Raptors' own abilities as Raven Guard in action, but also their problems with their suits, Hef's mounting speech problems and the fear they hold for being discarded or causing Corax ill by their mere existence.
Raptor is regretfully grim, showing Navar Hef making bad decisions out of good intentions, and causing a big problem for the future. It's a sad story about self-loathing and fear, and intolerance, and the hypocrisy of the Wolves regarding their own Wulfen.

With Hef being moved into place through this story, we can talk about Weregeld at last, the only new (but significant) story in this collection.

Weregeld is set many years into the Heresy, close to the Warmaster's strike on Terra, and starts out with the Raptors boarding a Night Lords ship, showing them as truly devolved. They are distorted creatures, and often losing themselves to their own bestiality. This is something that becomes more and more apparent through Hef, who is a truly tragic figure here in my opinion. Before long, he reveals his shameful acts to Corax, and as a result drags his entire brotherhood further into doubt and leads them to sacrifice. Hef, more and more, feels like an outsider, an inferior legionary, and in a way despises Corax's comforting lies. He longs for release, more than anything.

This tragedy and need for an end is prevalent with Corax as well, who descends further into nihilism as things come tumbling down. He seeks to continue his war of vengeance against Horus, yet is unwilling to commit his Legion to any large engagements. Cornered by a Night Lords fleet, he scatters his gathered forces instead of facing the threat, losing a commander's host in the process, and abandoning much-needed supplies. His commanders are appalled at Corax's indecision and avoidance of conflict, especially as he keeps turning down invitations from loyalist Iron Hands to join battle at Beta-Garmon, a vital system for Horus to take as it offers passage to the Sol System.

The Primarch's previous bravado is gone. He doesn't believe that Horus has been bled enough to stop him from reaching Terra. Everything is poised for the Warmaster's final assault, and Corax wants to stay behind the lines, pick off supply lines and the likes, rather than throwing his Legion away for lost causes like Beta-Garmon. He does, however, attempt to summon reinforcements, which reach him from as far as Deliverance.
A thousand new Raven Guard stand ready, as do Marcus Valerius and the Therion Cohort. We haven't seen Valerius since The Divine Word, set after Deliverance Lost. In said story, he found his way to the Lectitio Divinitatus, attributing his prophetic dreams to the Emperor. This is an important plot point here, though I feel more could have done with it. Valerius doesn't get as much attention as he would have deserved, and his involvement in the story basically adds the final nail in the Legion's coffin. At least Valerius's fate is going to be addressed in a short story later this year, as confirmed by Gav.

On top of it all, a delegation of Space Wolves arrive to meet with the Primarch, and ask about the Watch-Pack sent by Malcador and Russ to guard/observe Corax. This, of course, has never reached the Primarch, thanks to Navar Hef and co, and the latter feels obligated to confess his sins to his lord. While Corax plays it cool in front of the Wolves, he is clearly shaken by this new knowledge, confines the Raptors to their cells and decides to throw everything away, sending the non-Raven Guard loyalist elements home to Terra and travels to a system close to Beta-Garmon in a gamble to save his brother Russ from death at the hands of multiple Legions.

Weregeld really brings the whole Raven Guard arc to a close. It shows the end game of the Heresy, the loss of hope and morale, the spiralling fears and the result of all mistakes coming crashing down. It is Corax's darkest hour, his time of relinquishing all control and will to live. He wishes for a "good death", Wolves-style, and to purge his sins. He has come to very troubling conclusions about the Primarchs and his own connection to the Warp, and it takes some very touching, important scenes harking back to what we have seen in Deliverance Lost, to decide the Legion's fate.

In many ways, this novella is a crossroads for other plotlines too. Balsar Kuthuri's departure for Terra will likely see him join the Knights Errant, while the return of Noriz and Arcatus as well as the other "Long Shadows" will add some welcome diversity to the Siege of Terra when it arrives. Russ and co are obviously missing a piece to bridge their departure from Sol to where they are here, and The Crimson King might catch up the Thousand Sons for this one.
One odd thing stood out to me, though: The commanding officer of the World Eaters is named Delerax, who, as far as I remember, was executed by the Alpha Legion in the short story The Face of Treachery, which is set parallel to the opening chapters of Deliverance Lost. I wasn't too keen on his inclusion here, since it didn't really add anything and it was just a simple name-drop without facetime. [Edit: Gav just let me know via Twitter that it is a nod towards the Alpha Legion's presence, which makes sense. Guess poor Delerax was simply replaced ;)]

The worst thing I can say about Weregeld is that the ending was a bit abrupt, albeit reminiscent of Raven's Flight's escape from Isstvan V, which was also featured shortly in DL. The abruptness fit the story, however, and the prologue/epilogue combination wraps up a big plotline entirely while implying a lot for the rest of the Heresy.
Besides that, I was thoroughly engaged and satisfied with the novella. Corax finally loses control, Ephrenia gets a key role, the Raptors realize their inevitable fate, and all the secrets and lies from the story arc are revealed at last, resulting in massive character drama. There are more bits of information about the pre-Legion days, and the Wolves are shown as defiant even in doom. Heck, Gav even included the Spear of Russ and its meaning to the Wolf King!

One thing I am uncertain about though is the way an infested Night Lords ship is described, however. I took it as daemonic infestation, which makes sense in the scenes it appears (which is to say, it is wrapped up quickly), but Gav certainly dropped some hints and links to the Tyranids' coming. It doesn't feel like a Tyranid threat in any tangible way, though, so I consider these links more of easter eggs than anything else, until proven otherwise. [Edit: Confirmed as Not Tyranids by Gav. Put the pitchforks away!]

If The Path of Heaven showed the White Scars' weariness and grief, then Weregeld does the same for the Raven Guard. The way they express it is different, but very down to character of their Primarchs. It is the culmination of everything that has gone before, forming a logical conclusion to the story arc. Overwhelmed by his own failings and connection to the warp, Corax becomes a tragic figure full of misconceptions and pain, looking for a way out.
To me, Weregeld also presents yet another telling difference between Konrad Curze and Corvus Corax: Whereas the Night Haunter longs for his actions to be vindicated, for himself to be proven right by history and his enemies, Corax seeks to hide the results of his arrogance, and when everything goes belly-up, he seeks absolution. He realizes his failings and wants to atone, or at least escape them, whereas Curze owns them while also shedding responsibility by claiming that the Primarchs are puppets of the gods.

I have been talking a damn lot about Corax, the Primarch, haven't I? The reason for that is that in my eyes, Corax, like Deliverance Lost, appears as more of a character study spanning the whole Heresy. Where a lot of novels in the series make certain events, certain battles the narrative focus, with these stories I always felt that the Legion and their Primarchs themselves were the important point being explored, and the battles and warzones vehicles for further exploration. That is an approach that I wish other authors had taken with previous novels, rather than focusing overly much on the action. In Corax, the focus is clear and well-developed, and even if you've read the previous novellas individually, I would strongly suggest reading all three plus short stories in sequence with this book.

With the Raven Guard story of the Heresy firmly under wraps, I cannot wait to find out what Gav's next contribution to the Heresy series might be. After Angels of Caliban, I am honestly hoping for more Dark Angels...

Corax on Goodreads

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Three champions of Chaos are roused from the ongoing war against Sigmar's servants and compelled to journey into the heart of darkness. Their goal? To serve at the side of the Everchosen himself, Archaon, as one of his Varanguard. But the trials before them are many, and not all will survive...

Of the many champions of Chaos, none are as great or as feared as mighty Archaon. He is the Everchosen, Exalted Grand Marshal of the Apocalypse and Ender of Worlds, and it is a worthy warrior indeed who can fight by his side. Such Knights of Ruin are known as the Varanguard. Only by answering the call of Archaon can a warrior of Chaos ascend to their ranks, and acceptance is never guaranteed, for their mettle must first be proven. In this dark tale, three fell champions of the Chaos Gods all heed the call of the Everchosen. Each desires the ultimate prize: to become part of the Varanguard. But where one is chosen, others will fail, for Archaon’s will is cruel and his trials exacting...

Call of Archaon is the fourth book in the Age of Sigmar: The Realmgate Wars series. It is yet another anthology, and a mixed bag. I wrote the individual reviews over the course of months as I could be bothered to squeeze the stories into my schedule. As a result, length and depth of the individual sections will vary.

The Story:

"Three champions of Chaos are roused from the ongoing war against Sigmar's servants and compelled to journey into the heart of darkness. Their goal? To serve at the side of the Everchosen himself, Archaon, as one of his Varanguard. But the trials before them are many, and not all will survive...

Of the many champions of Chaos, none are as great or as feared as mighty Archaon. He is the Everchosen, Exalted Grand Marshal of the Apocalypse and Ender of Worlds, and it is a worthy warrior indeed who can fight by his side. Such Knights of Ruin are known as the Varanguard. Only by answering the call of Archaon can a warrior of Chaos ascend to their ranks, and acceptance is never guaranteed, for their mettle must first be proven. In this dark tale, three fell champions of the Chaos Gods all heed the call of the Everchosen. Each desires the ultimate prize: to become part of the Varanguard. But where one is chosen, others will fail, for Archaon’s will is cruel and his trials exacting..."

The Review:

Call of Archaon was originally released over the course of many months via 8 short stories by various authors. It isn't a novel as the publisher advertises, and more of an anthology.

Since I reviewed the short stories individually as I read them, I will just paste them here, and then add a full verdict down below. That seems the best way to do it to me.

Beneath the Black Thumb by David Guymer

Beneath the Black Thumb is another Age of Sigmar story that is almost completely dedicated to one single battle, with a tiny bit of plague-gardening in the first and last parts. The "Black Thumb" Copsys Bule's gardening efforts, stringing corpses up and digging the soil to spread Nurgle's rot, was a nice theme that I appreciated.

However, the battle felt disjointed, more confusing than it should have been.
At some point it is said that Bule's hordes numbered at around 100,000, with over half of them elsewhere at the time of battle. Still, even at 10,000 I'd have to wonder how losing a dozen of Blightkings here and there to meteorite magic would put any kind of dent into them.

Bule commanded the souls of a hundred thousand, and although more than half were scattered wide over the Corpse Marshes and beyond, what remained was a mighty host indeed.

Seeing how the Rotbringers were decimated during the battle with the Lizardmen (now called "Seraphon"), even though their numbers didn't seem to come even close to those of Bule's (their scout detachment of chameleonskinks numbed in the hundred, for example), made me shake my head as a result.
Not that I'd disagree that Lizardmen are mighty indeed - they are my favorite faction in WHFB and Blood Bowl, and got me into the hobby in the first place - but that was a bit much.
Adding to that the concept that the "Seraphon" now house starlight inside them (it is said to be shimmering between their scales, and breaking free upon death), I barely recognized my favorite faction. But then, the focus wasn't on them anyway.

But indeed, I would call this story "disjointed". There were many things not elaborated on that would have made me care more about the characters, but it also seemed unfocused and confusing. There were many hints and hooks pointing to more things possibly explored elsewhere, but for me those fell flat for the time being. Maybe future releases will clear things up.

On the positive side, I still think David has a solid grip on Skavendom. The characters here lacked the depth of characters like Queek and his rivals in the novel Headtaker, but they were amusing and readily apparent as skaven. Bule also felt like an intriguing character with a lot of potential, though the battle for his Realmgate distracted from more significant character development, and the closing of the story left me wondering.

At least this story had a certain amount of humor and atmosphere, which The Gates of Azyr lacked.
I would like to see Copsys Bule and his lieutenant Fistula back in another story. Hopefully that one won't be focusing as much on messy battlescenes, although that seems to be the core of every Age of Sigmar story I have flipped through so far. Battle for battle's sake, with negligible stakes and characters who feel powerful but not exactly relatable.

As it stands, I feel that Age of Sigmar, and the direction Games Workshop and Black Library are taking with it, doesn't play to their authors' strengths well, and indeed makes me think that they get hamstrung by the battle requirements when their talents lie in character development, dialogue and world building.

Eye of the Storm by Rob Sanders

Eye of the Storm is the first Age of Sigmar story I have finished to date that I would describe as good and enjoyable.
This is mostly due to the comparatively few and short battles in the short story, but also because it used them as a means to an end, rather than coming up with contrived reasons to get to the fighting. Featuring the Stormcast Eternals as targets to be slain did help, too, I admit.

Eye of the Storm tells of a Champion of Tzeentch, Zuvias, Prince of Embers, and his quest to be judged worthy by Archaon, Everchosen of Chaos, and join his ranks.
No, the being depicted on the cover of the book is not him, but the Many-Eyed, a servant of Archaon. Despite its incredibly creative name and very brief appearance at the start, it was intriguing. It seems to be a connecting factor in the Call of Archaon stories so far, which I like.

Getting back to Zuvias, our protagonist: I like him. He is treacherous, clever, twisted and has an actual silver tongue, a gift of his patron god. He proves that he knows to use it, too - by lying and cheating a Champion of Khorne (with a horde large enough to wipe the floor with him and his own retinue) into believing it is he who Archaon calls for to join him, rather than the Tzeentchian himself.
This leads to a curious chain of manipulations and half-truths, just how I've come to expect it from the followers of the Changer of Ways. The whole plot culminates in a confrontation between the followers of Chaos and Sigmar's Stormcasts, which would have been impossible to beat without the Khornates - delivering a direct payoff for the Prince of Embers' schemes.

Zuvias himself comes with a good look at his origin, and the root of his corruption. It comes in the form of the bird-like creature called Mallofax, who whispers Tzeentch's promises to the young prince's ears. Their dynamic throughout the story was a bit simple, especially taking into account that Mallofax showed no ill towards the Prince - something unusual for Tzeentch. Still, their relationship allowed for Zuvius to open up a little more by having a confidant outside of his warband of mutated knights and blind sorcerers.

The Khornates were... well, berserkers. Not too bright, easily manipulated despite their suspicions - you just don't turn down the Everchosen. Following a lie is far less risky than refusing Archaon's offers. The big bad, Skargan Fell-of-Heart (who was obviously a direct stand-in for the Exalted Deathbringer miniature), was enjoyable enough to read, despite his credulity.

The few battles in the short story were mostly brief (thankfully), although the final confrontation stretched a little longer. Still, it was handled well, and I found the length appropriate for its purpose and the story's pace. It did not detract from the story Sanders wanted to tell. He even explored the mortal realms in the Age of Sigmar setting a bit further, even though the world still feels barren and lifeless like the Chaos wastes in the Old World of WHFB.

Like with Beneath the Black Thumb's Copsys Bule, I would definitely like to see Orphaeo Zuvias and Mallofax in another story. They made for an entertaining read and showed that Rob Sanders does well with Chaos even if the protagonist isn't Archaon himself.
Although at the end of the day, I'd say that this is a story that did not really need Age of Sigmar to work. It could have been easily told as a Warhammer Fantasy story set in the Chaos wastes, with some minor adjustments and the exclusion of Stormcasts.

Either way, I enjoyed this read and would recommend it as one of the current top stories in this new franchise.

The Solace of Rage by Guy Haley

The Solace of Rage was a welcome surprise to me. I outwardly groaned about the repetitive use of Khorne characters in Age of Sigmar so far, but in the end, this was an... unusual tale about the bloody berserkers of the blood god. And I enjoyed it as a result.

In true Age of Sigmar fashion, this story has a high percentage of battle scenes. Unusually, it also features Khorne champions debating who should take up leadership of their tribe, after their previous warlord was slain in battle. When I say debating, I mean exactly that: Discussing, arguing with words, not blades. Well, they certainly do that, too, and plenty of it, but it feels much less mindless for the two rival Deathbringers than it usually does with anything related to the blood god.

The story continues the theme of having the Many-Eyed, servant of Archaon, searching the realms for worthy champions for his master. His gaze falls upon the Realm of Beasts and the spat between the deathbringers Mathror and Ushkar Mir, the two candidates for leadership which haven't already taken up a different position in the upper echelon of the Bloodslaves warband. Pretty much all the special character classes from the Khorne Bloodbound faction are in this story, with all their silly names - that's just the way it has to be now, I suppose.

Mathror and Mir are very different from one another. Where the former seems to be fighting for glory in Khorne's name, is ambitious and wears heavy plate armor, Mir, our protagonist, is a defiant, mute and blinded berserker wielding twin daemon axes. He hates what he has become, though he joined the Khornates willingly - for revenge against Khorne himself. The Chaos God struck him with muteness for his insolence, yet enjoys his defiance. It makes for an interesting character, and reflects Archaon himself in a way - a point that the Many-Eyed observer finds amusing himself.

The writing style feels somewhat top-down, like it is being told to the reader by a third party, describing monumental events, rather than making the reader an integral part of the action. The narrative voice is strong as a result, but people who prefer the more hands-on approach might need some getting used to it first. I personally enjoyed this style very much - especially since it reinforced the point of the Many-Eyed being our eyes on the events, rather than us being directly involved in the action. It fits the theme of the collection so far quite well.

The Many-Eyed himself received more attention and page time than in the previous two Call of Archaon stories so far, which I appreciate. David Guymer's Beneath the Black Thumb did very little with him, introducing him as a shadowy messenger, while Rob Sanders' Eye of the Storm gave him an identity. The Solace of Rage gives him a stronger purpose and the inklings of a character arc I am interested in following further.

True to form, the Many-Eyed also provides this third champion of Chaos with a challenge, not unlike Bule's or the Prince of Embers. This time it isn't Lizardmen/"Seraphon" or Stormcast Eternals, however. Instead we get to see our first slice of "Ogor" (Ogre) action in Age of Sigmar. There are some curious implications about the nature of the Great Maw, too, which I liked.

One point I was a little underwhelmed by was the Realm of Beasts. This, of course, has a lot to do with the way Age of Sigmar was designed. Unlike Haley's descriptions of the Realm of Metal, this one doesn't have too much going on yet. It is described as a realm of wide steppes, and while I liked the idea of the Bloodbloom Fields the story takes place on, and the initial setting of the stage had me wondering what could be done with this environment, the wider story didn't much interact with the world. Had this taken place in the Realm of Fire, it would have been quite the same regardless.

Overall, though, I'd very much like to recommend this as one of the top stories in the Age of Sigmar setting to date. It gave the usually-bland Khorne characters a great amount of depth and much-needed structure, while creating a compelling anti-hero in Ushkar Mir. There is a lot of promise in this character and his spokesman Skull, even though, yes, this was still a Khorne story at the core.

This story supposedly introduced the third and final of the champions the Call of Archaon series focuses on, and all in all, I like this trio of villains. Seeing that David Annandale's Knight of Corruption returns to Copsys Bule, I am confident that we will be seeing Ushkar Mir and Skull again soon. I welcome the reunion.

Knight of Corruption by David Annandale

Knight of Corruption takes the Call of Archaon series back to its first champion of Chaos: Plaguelord Copsys Bule. It leads on from shortly after David Guymer's Beneath the Black Thumb, so I'd suggest reading that first.

After escaping the Lizardmen/"Seraphon" through a Realmgate in the previous story, Bule and his warband arrive in an unknown realm (which I suspect to be the Realm of Life, as it is heavily corrupted by Nurgle).
Their lieutenant, Fistula, is unhappy about their flight from battle, yet Bule is convinced of a higher power calling for him.

Of course, we as the reader know that it is the Many-Eyed beckoning him through a cloud of flies, and issuing the Call of Archaon, but the plaguelord is oblivious to the true nature of it all. In this, he stands out from the other two champions in the series, who got rather clear ideas of who or what is expecting them.
In theory I quite like the different approach, yet somehow it also makes Bule appear a little bit... dense. I don't think that either of the two authors tackling his plotline is to fault for that, though - it just comes down to the contrast to the other two.
Thankfully, the Many-Eyed comments on this too, and even communicates with Archaon himself about it.

However, the true strength of this story is down to the featured human characters, although I was hoping for more of them than I got in the end. Through them, David Annandale got to introduce a very cool theme into the story: Faith, or rather the contrasting faiths in a savior god banishing the plagues of Nurgle, and Bule's own devotion to the Grandfather.

Now, religious themes and spirituality are a common theme in many, if not most of David's stories, whether it be for Black Library or others. His story in Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, for example, features a giant monster inspired by the bible, for example. The Death of Antagonis meanwhile tackles of the subject of divine retribution in a different way, and his Yarrick: Imperial Creed again plays with themes of spirituality, organized religion and has Yarrick become the living symbol of the God-Emperor's will.
Seeing this theme continue in Knight of Corruption didn't feel like a surprise to me, then, but I welcomed it nonetheless.

The story itself is at its best and most enjoyable early on, up until about the halfway mark. Up until that point, it plays with these themes more strongly, and puts the Chaos warband in direct opposition of the normal humans. These free people have come together after the Stormcast Eternals had scoured parts of the region from the blight of Nurgle, and build a temple to them, believing them to be demigods.
Bule and co, meanwhile, think the men and women easy prey - which, in a direct confrontation, they clearly would be. Things aren't quite as simple, however, as they lock themselves into their temple and pour pure, unblighted water onto Bule and friends. This, again, makes for an interesting contrast between Nurgle's and Sigmar's blessings.

But, just in time, the Stormcasts themselves arrive to lend the humans a hand before they'd be overwhelmed by corruption. I say lending a hand, but actually, it felt more like they sidelined the other characters for more of the typical combat we already had in spades.
However, at least it was Bule's first encounter with the, up to that point, mythical beings he believed to be a mere fancy. Both sides call upon their patrons' blessings throughout the melee, too.

While Copsys Bule is prepared to fight to the death, the Call of Archaon resonates more strongly as the battle progresses, and beckons him towards his unknown destination: An innate Realmgate. Once again Bule quits the field, abandoning the better part of his warband in favor of a higher calling.

Overall, I enjoyed this entry to the series. It had some shortcomings, though mostly down to my own ever-growing boredom with Stormcast Eternals being everywhere, when a different faction would have been far more interesting to read about. Where the human faithful in this story offered creative, if ultimately futile ways of combating Nurgle's servants, the Stormcasts just feel generic at this point.

There is bound to be at least one more, possibly two stories that will be featuring Bule and Fistula, so I am curious where the character will be taken next, now that revelation finally appeared to him...

The Trial of the Chosen by Guy Haley

The Trial of the Chosen carries on the Call of Archaon plotline centered on Ushkar Mir and his quest to join Archaon's ranks. This storyline was started in The Solace of Rage, which I enjoyed for its unusual take on Khorne warbands. This story continues with a pretty neat roulette of trials for Mir, one for each of the gods of Chaos.

Haley has thought up clever trials for the champion, which reflect the specific gods' area of expertise and make sense for the Everchosen's lieutenants to go through. It forces them to step out of their patron god's shadow and embrace Chaos Undivided.

The battles here are relatively light, which is good in my opinion. They are best used when they serve a purpose beyond trying to hold the reader's attention in the absence of something substantial as far as plot and character developments go. Ironically, they tend to lose me that way. Here, every battle has a point and is part of the Bloodslaves' journey to Archaon.

I think this was the most enjoyable story so far, at least as far as the three champions' individual tests go. It did well all around without overdoing the things that make Age of Sigmar fiction a chore in a lot of cases.

In the Lands of the Blind by Rob Sanders

In the Lands of the Blind was a surprising letdown after Sanders' previous Zuvius story in Call of Archaon, Eye of the Storm. It consists almost entirely of battle scenes and carnage, with little of the devious, tzeentchian spirit that made the former tale great.

The combat is visceral and involves all manner of Chaos champions and warbands, as well as daemon-entities, but then it just drowns the story with its need for violence and death. There is little opportunity for Zuvius to shine, like he did with his deceptions in Eye.

The twist at the very end almost makes it worth putting up with, however. It is a grim end, utterly fitting of the Everchosen of Chaos and his servants. This short story needed more of that, and less of murder, kill, awesome.

Blood and Plague by David David Annandale

Blood and Plague is, once more, a battle-focused story. Almost the entire thing is set in an arena for the Everchosen's amusement, with two of the three champions from the rest of the series meeting in battle at last. Unlike the previous story, it actually has some decent character development for Copsys Bule and Ushkar Mir as well as their warbands.

For the first time, Archaon actually appears in front of one of the champions - and two at once.

‘Champions,’ Archaon said, ‘I welcome you to the Ossuar Arena. You have fought well. Now you are at the end of a journey. One will be found worthy to join my Varanguard. One.’ Archaon paused. His great horned helm tilted downward. He was gazing at the two warbands.
‘You will exact your own judgement,’ he said.

This raised the excitement quite high, as not only does it mean that either Mir or Bule would have to die, but also that their entire leftover warbands would need to be culled from potential rivals. Tensions from previous parts in their respective plotlines flare up, and both champions are forced to find suitable ways of disposing of their rivals, while also keeping up with the opposing force and wrenches thrown at them by the Everchosen and his servants.
The ways the champions achieved the purge were amusing and proved good thinking on their parts, and are some of the highlights of the story.

I didn't know who to expect winning this battle. I liked both characters, and they are markedly different types. Bule is more laid back and trusting in his patron god, whereas Mir hates Khorne with a passion and is using his position as a way of getting revenge at him. Their attitudes are both enjoyable, and I wanted to see both of them succeed in their ambitions. Mir would have seemed like a better fit for the Varanguard, however, as Copsys is a gardener at heart, while Mir's defiance of his god meshes well with Archaon's own refusal to bow to any one Chaos entity.

In the end, though, I was surprised and a little bit disappointed. The twist was good, but the outcome felt odd to me, especially after how In the Lands of the Blind turned out. In parts, I felt it a little too dismissive, too quick and stereotypical, while the final scene was very satisfying and unexpected.
Had it been up to me, I would have chosen all three champions for the Varanguard. They all contribute their own strengths to the mix, and seeing how many of them drop dead in the final story of Call of Archaon, the numbers might be needed.

See No Evil by Rob Sanders

See No Evil is the final story of the Call of Archaon series. I'd be lying if I was saying I wasn't glad about that - the constant battles pushing character development and interactions aside are wearisome to me. But hey, this is another big battle - who would have thought?

This story returns to Orphaeo Zuvius, the Prince of Embers. As per the end of Blood and Plague, both other champion-candidates are dead and SURPRISE! Archaon had picked Zuvius all along anyway. So Zuvius is now Varanguard, and joining his brothers in arms for his first big battle under the Everchosen.

The story starts out showing Archaon and the Many-Eyed Servantin conversation: Sigmar's Stormcast Eternals have taken Cape Desolation, and the big bad does not like that one bit. He musters his armies to take it back and send the golden boys home crying. Thankfully, this marks the first time in the series that Archaon himself is taking to the field, and it is about time that he does.

‘Send word to my warlords, my champions and the fell kings of the surrounding regions. Summon my unholy Varanguard. I shall lead the Knights of Ruin myself in a counter invasion. Those bastions shall be mine again. The God-King’s light shall be banished and his warriors shall flee for the skies. I want Sigmar to know that he will find no purchase in lands forever dedicated to the Chaos gods.’

Following on from that, the short story reintroduces the changed Zuvius and the company he is in. It is a diverse bunch from all aspects of Chaos, minus Skaven, and they are bound for the cape. Archaon is leading a fleet of dreadships, riding his steed Dhorgar (which looks hideous now, thanks to Age of Sigmar redesigns...), and spearheading the assault. This sparks a lot of excitement for his Varanguard, and Zuvius is eager to make a name for himself.

This early part is probably the coolest of the story. The crash-landing of the Varanguard's dreadship was awesome, and Zuvius really is showing off, with the rest of the group close behind. However, none of the characters beyond the Prince of Embers actually get much spotlight, and usually just to die. The death count of Archaon's elite seems to go through the roof here, which makes me even more disappointed that he didn't recruit all three candidates.

Which also brings me to my next complaint: With so many new, blank slate characters introduced to accompany Zuvius into battle, it would have been preferable to see the Mir and Bule with him instead. That way readers would have had more familiar characters and found a greater payoff, while allowing for more character interactions that Zuvius never had access to - his journey was entirely isolated from those of the other two.
As a result of the overarching plot, however, this story suffers from having a cast that, while reasonably large, is pretty unrelatable and irrelevant.

Another disappointment to me was that Archaon himself is only seen fighting in passing, and in the distance. There is no PoV section for him, and usually it comes down to Orphaeo admiring the Everchosen. It might be a good idea to keep Archaon more aloof and enigmatic, but it also made for a lackluster climax for a series/novel called Call of Archaon.

The Stormcast Eternals were business as usual, with some kickass scenes involving Zuvius and the leaders of the golden boys. However, at this point, that too is business as usual. To me, the Stormcasts need some serious updates to their lore and plot to excite again. Been there, done that, and the likes.

At the end of See No Evil, I saw a lot of flaws, some cool scenes, but a noticeable let-down. While the action was competent, I was hoping for more. I was hoping for a bigger audience with the Everchosen, to see him being tackled hands-on - he's on the cover of the print collection! Instead, it was yet another massive battle piece of epic proportions. It had variety, yes, but the overall finale felt like more of the same rather than something unique and impressive. A shame.

To Sum It All Up

The book suffers from many problems. One of them is that it wasn't written as a novel, or even a trilogy of novellas with a cherry on top.
The serialized format is a killer to pacing and balance I find, and CoA proves that. The incessant need to provide bombastic battles takes away from the quiet time you could set aside for a longer story, something that is needed to provide character growth and let the reader anticipate the next big development. Instead this quiet time is relegated to the first few pages of a story, if even that.

Battles drown out things that could have been, had it not been written piecemeal. While there are some parts that were pretty good and creative, as well as well delivered, the pacing seems nightmarish to me. I read the stories over the course of many months with breaks between most installments, but even then reading this 8 part story felt exhausting. Especially the final three parts seemed to be hitting me around the head with murder-kill-death scenes. Even the clever and interesting ideas the authors put into the mix seemed hamstrung by the format restrictions.

I have been observing similar with Black Library's other serializations, including Legends of the Dark Millennium: Space Wolves or the other Age of Sigmar series. As a proponent of the first stand-alone serialization BL did with Scars, I am honestly disappointed that it turned out this way. Scars wasn't afraid of giving the reader time to contemplate and to build up the plot and characters, but then again, that serialization was always intended to be read as one novel, not as individual "Quick Reads" you could dive into out of order. Issues also released on a weekly basis rather than once a month, if subscribers were lucky.

Another big problem I found with this book was the lack of Archaon for 95% of the whole thing. He appeared in passing to the Many-Eyed Servant, and in person in the final two parts, but it still felt like too little, too late. While we have been told about the Call of Archaon sounding to the champions, it was all the Many-Eyed Servant's doing, at Archaon's command. He himself didn't seem to lift the finger until the very end. He lacked presence, and I am afraid dominating the cover artwork won't make up for it.

On top of that, the Lord of the End Times felt diminished. Stereotypical Dark Lord material. He was so much more than that in Archaon: Everchosen, Archaon: Lord of Chaos and The Lord of the End Times. There was more to him than a dominating presence and flying a three-headed dragon-daemon thingy into battle and laughing about his subordinates slaughtering one another for his amusement. I was really disappointed that Rob Sanders of all people didn't give him more attention in the finale, seeing how much I loved his depiction of the character's origin story.

Call of Archaon isn't the worst Age of Sigmar book I have read. Not by a long shot. It is even great at times. But it is so bogged down by more or less generic battle scenes and format-specific problems, that I felt exhausted and bummed out after being done with it. It turns out that if you hear the Call of Archaon, you're better off picking up the WHFB novels about him than this collection.

Call of Archaon on Goodreads

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Two centuries ago, the Imperium of Man and the upstart Tau Empire fought to a standstill in the Damocles Gulf. Now, as the 41st millennium draws to a close, the tau have returned. As the world of Agrellan falls under attack, the White Scars and Raven Guard rush to its defence, but with the skilled Commander Shadowsun leading the alien forces, the Space Marines and their allies are hard pressed. Kor’sarro Khan, Huntmaster of the White Scars, swears that he will win the day in the most direct way possible – by taking Shadowsun’s head.

This one was a difficult book for me to finish. The review may be a bit more on the rant-y side, but you'll see why.
Please note that the book will be re-released as a paperback early 2015, as part of the Space Marine Battles series.

The Story:

"Two centuries ago, the Imperium of Man and the upstart Tau Empire fought to a standstill in the Damocles Gulf. Now, as the 41st millennium draws to a close, the tau have returned. As the world of Agrellan falls under attack, the White Scars and Raven Guard rush to its defence, but with the skilled Commander Shadowsun leading the alien forces, the Space Marines and their allies are hard pressed. Kor’sarro Khan, Huntmaster of the White Scars, swears that he will win the day in the most direct way possible – by taking Shadowsun’s head.

Gathered within this volume are four novellas that focus on the events of the second Damocles Gulf Crusade. This book contains:
Blood Oath by Phil Kelly
Broken Sword by Guy Haley
Black Leviathan by Ben Counter
Hunter’s Snare by Josh Reynolds"

The Review

I'd be lying if I'd tell you Damocles was an easy read. It most assuredly was not, at least to me.

I started reading this anthology back in April, and it took me until late July to finish. Why, you ask? The easiest way to answer that would be to point towards the first of the four stories in this anthology.

Blood Oath by Phil Kelly

I absolutely could not enjoy this one. It made the White Scars feel flat, unlikeable, and even the focus on O'Shaserra, the famous Commander Shadowsun of the Tau Empire, could not fix the lack of substance in this novella.

Where Kor'sarro Khan felt often incompetent and out of character, especially when clashing with the other imperial forces on Agrellan (including Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken of the Catachan Devils and the head of a house of Imperial Knights), Shadowsun came across as a cliched female warrior who neither could not get over her old rival O'Shovah, Commander Farsight, nor get the respect of her subordinates. Even her shield/combat drones seemed disrespectful towards her, and the stealth team attached to her seemed badly misplaced. Her mutterings about Farsight felt especially jarring, as they occured way too often. If a scene centered on Shadowsun, you could bet she'd bring up "the traitor Shoh" again.

I did like the portrayal of Aun'Va, however. He came across as a prick, an arrogant self-aggrandizing prophet. It suited him.
Colonel Straken, who I have a soft spot for, was completely underwhelming in Blood Oath. He had a few lines of dialogue, and even those were mostly about telling Kor'sarro Khan off.

Overall, however, there was not much to gain from this story outside of fairly shallow action. On various occassions the story felt like bad marketing for Games Workshop's expensive, then-new Imperial Knight kit and the Tau Riptide. Yes, they're impressive warmachines, I get it, but this story felt like it was fawning over them way too much.
I did enjoy the Tau's coordinated strikes to bring down most Hives on Agrellan within hours, but those scenes were over so quickly, I felt disappointed overall.

Blood Oath felt wrong, and it is by far the weakest story in this collection. That I score Damocles at 4 stars is testament to how much I enjoyed the other stories by comparison.

Broken Sword by Guy Haley

Ah, Guy Haley. It won't be news to you that I adore his novels. He writes some of the best non-human characters out there, whether it be greenskins, eldar, artificial intelligences or, in this case, Tau.
Broken Sword is a totally different story from Blood Oath - and not just in terms of quality. It goes under the hood of Tau society, the indoctrination of humans into the Greater Good, and as such offers Guy Haley a lot of room to show off his skills at constructing the Tau as an advanced species, and an intergalactic empire.

Unlike Blood Oath, which depicted the Tau as ruthless conquerors and usurpers of mankind's right to rule the stars, Broken Sword depicts them as liberators, offering freedom to the oppressed people of the fringe worlds between Imperium and Tau Empire, and the kind of life they never knew was possible.

The main protagonist is one such man who joined the Tau'va, believing it superior to the imperial rule and embracing it fully. The story is, for the most part, presented as the protagonist's retelling of the events, which offers further commentary in retrospect. We follow him through certain points of the war for Agrellan, and see him forge bonds of friendship with a member of the Tau Water Caste, their diplomats. This offers a fairly unique spin on the Tau Empire topic, and I enjoyed it greatly.

On the other hand, we have the Raven Guard attempting to capture said Water Caste Tau, which is also told in an interesting fashion. The action in the story is rather light, and more akin to skirmishes with few Space Marines, rather than the large scale warfare seen in the first story. This is, in my opinion, a plus.

Overall I'd say this is my favorite story of the bunch. It offered plenty of insight as well as twists and turns, and kept me engaged as a reader.

Black Leviathan by Ben Counter

I struggled a bit with this story. It takes the war for Damocles from Agrellan to a neighboring world, which, until the Imperium's arrival, had been inhabited by nomad-savages.

The descendants of these tribes reject the Imperium's claim for the world, and ally with the Tau to rid themselves of their overlords and return to the good old ways.
Set to prevent the Tau from overtaking the planet are a squad of Ultramarines led by a Captain I've never heard of, and another squad of Jade Dragons, a Chapter created for this story.

While I did not quite like the Ultramarines in this story, the Jade Dragons made for an interesting story. Ben Counter did a fine job characterizing his new Chapter, lending them both their own traditions as well as superstitions, which both play into the overall story. They also give the two very different Chapters reason to mistrust one another, and rather than cooperate clash on various occassions.

On the Tau side, we see yet another Water Caste member who is busy spinning a net of subterfuge and traps around the Space Marines. This Tau made for a very good antagonist, even though direct confrontations were avoided. He played both the Space Marines, the Tribes and the general population as well as his own Tau Fire Warriors like pawns on a chess board.

Black Leviathan is a story about subterfuge, mistrust and good intentions that carve the way for bad results. It was more of a political tale than an action piece, but the bolter action pieces did not disappoint either.
A second good story in this collection.

Hunter's Snare by Josh Reynolds

This final story by Josh Reynolds of Warhammer Fantasy fame goes back to Agrellan and the White Scars, forming a sequel to Phil Kelly's Blood Oath. Thankfully, Josh managed to set things right and return the White Scars back where they belong: In the saddles of their bikes, laughing while they kill their Tau enemies.

Hunter's Snare is, at its core, a deadly dance between two very different yet so alike hunters - Kor'sarro Khan and Commander Shadowsun. After the events of Blood Oath, Kor'sarro returns to hunt down the Tau Commander, and the two characters dance a dangerous waltz of feints and snares.

Kor'sarro is back to the way I enjoy reading about him - a passionate, dedicated huntsmaster who does not lack humor and finds respect for a worthy enemy. I would also say that Josh Reynolds is a great pick for writing White Scars - he understands their character, and manages to put good humor into their mouths.

Unlike the first story, Shadowsun and the Tau are taking the backseat in Hunter's Snare. They do appear as antagonists, catching the Scars off-guard on various occassions, but we do not get an insight into them the way we did in previous stories. This works well for the story, and I enjoyed the focus on the Khan and his brothers.

I'd also like to point out that there are various nods to characters from Chris Wraight's Horus Heresy novel Scars, which I appreciated greatly.

Josh Reynolds, in my opinion, is an excellent writer with a sure hand when it comes to writing and placing humor. His characters, whether it be Gotrek and Felix from The Serpent Queen, the whole cast of Bernheimer's Gun or the protagonists of his original novel The Whitechapel Demon, all come across as interesting people, and manage to make me chuckle rather frequently. Most importantly, the humor always seems to fit the story's context, and Josh knows when to be serious instead.
I like this skill, and am looking forward to reading more of his stories, with The Whitechapel Demon being on my current reading pile.


All in all, Damocles is not a bad anthology. It actually was a fairly good read once I got past the initial disappointment, or even distaste, for Phil Kelly's contribution to the book.
The biggest flaw of the whole collection is that it frontloaded the worst it had to offer, making me put the whole thing down countless times, over the course of many weeks. If I had known how much I would like the other offerings, I would have forced myself to finish Blood Oath sooner.

Be that as it may, I would definitely recommend picking this anthology up early next year, when it gets re-released as part of the Space Marine Battles series - the paperback is already announced. Though I do disagree on this being a SMB candidate, considering that it is most assuredly a Tau collection.
But I digress.

A big thanks to Guy Haley, Ben Counter and Josh Reynolds for turning my initial distaste for Damocles into a good experience.

Damocles on Goodreads

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Architect of Fate is the first Space Marine Battles anthology. I am sure, it won't be the last we'll be seeing, since eShorts and audio dramas tend to end up in print rather sooner than later. However, AoF is special in one regard: all four novella-length stories are related to the anthology's core character, in one way or another.
Kairos Fateweaver, the Oracle of Tzeentch, is shaping the Space Marine's fate in this anthology, and slowly the pieces fall into place, revealing just another grand scheme of the Lord of Change...

The Story:

"The Space Marines stand against the darkness, and yet on countless battlefields they play unwitting roles in the schemes of Fateweaver. From the doomed world of Ilissus, through the embattled corridors of the Endeavour of Will, to the borders of the Eye of Terror itself – friend and foe alike follow the great plan that he set in motion many thousands of years ago. But not even the Architect of Fate himself can foresee the destiny that lies in wait for him..."

Collected for the first time, all four parts of the Architect of Fate novella series are presented in a single printed volume. The infamous Kairos Fateweaver, greater daemon of Tzeentch and master of manipulation, has discovered the limits of his power – even one so prescient as he cannot divine beyond the event horizon at the end of the 41st Millennium.

General Information

Architect of Fate is the first anthology in the Space Marine Battles series to date. It includes four novella-length stories, more or less linked to a central topic: Fate. It is fate that lets the Star Dragons and Blood Swords tread on the damned floors of the Accursed Eternity, just as it was the Relictors' fate to fall from grace. It was also fate that saw the space fortress Bastion Inviolate being violated by a powerful data-daemon. But even the Fateweaver is not exempted from the twisting threads of destiny, as this anthology shows.

Kairos Fateweaver, Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, his Oracle, able to stare into the future - something his Lord and Master could not do without doubt. One head always lies, while the other speaks the truth, but how to find out whose words will lead to salvation, and which mouth utters your death sentence?

All stories featured in this anthology are self-contained, picking up threads of the background and weaving new patterns into the lore. Most of the featured Space Marine Chapters have been barely explored by official sources and thus make for a nice introduction to the series, or even franchise, while the established Chapters and characters are getting nicely illustrated in ways which don't make it hard to get familiar with them at all. Aside from Space Marines, Imperial Guard and, of course, Daemons, three of the featured novellas also have Inquisitors joining the cast, all of which are interesting and show various aspects of the fractioned Ordos of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition.

Architect of Fate should be easily understandable to novices of the franchise, even though fans will of course get the greatest mileage out of reading it. I personally would even go as far as to say that this anthology is a fantastic introduction to the Imperium's struggle against the forces of Chaos.

Accursed Eternity

by Sarah Cawkwell

"Space Marines of the Blood Swords and Star Dragons Chapters are enlisted by Inquisitor Remigius of the Ordo Malleus to storm the infamous daemonship known as the Accursed Eternity. But all is not as it first appears, and what should have been a relatively simple mission rapidly devolves into a hellish warp-spawned nightmare – the stage is set for a galaxy-spanning tale of Chaotic intrigue and of a war which has lasted for ten-thousand years..."

Having this story introducing the anthology was a good decision. It quickly builds up a certain sense of conflict and tension which it sustained til the very end. My only regret regarding this story would be that the end came way too soon, leaving questions unanswered, or rather open to speculation. Accursed Eternity was such a good concept with satisfying execution, I'd have loved to read at least 50 more pages about the twisted horrors the ghost ship throws at its uninvited guests. The scenario's potential simply exceeded the story's roughly 100 pages.
In fact, speaking of horror is quite accurate, since the horror elements featured in the novella are one of its strongest points. From the moment the Star Dragons and Blood Swords enter the halls of the Accursed Eternity onwards, a psychological thriller unfolds, tying the reader to the pages (or screen). Questionable loyalties, distrust between allies and the nagging presence of something utterly wrong in the back of one's head drive this story on more than just one plane of existence. Of course, there surely was something utterly wrong on board the daemon ship in general...
Until the very end I did not know who, if any of the loyalists, would possibly survive, and as soon as it was over, I got stuck thinking about the novella's implications, especially the revelations regarding the Accursed Eternity, the warp-entity controlling it and the imperial Containment Fleet Kappa, that shaped the final chapters.

The cast of characters was quite excellent; an Inquisitor, two Astartes Chapters lacking everything beyond a few descriptive lines of background material and a bunch of daemons make this an exciting ride. I was a bit disappointed by some great characters, like the Star Dragons' Astropath, Kerys Jabiru, not having a greater role in the novella, and am hoping that Sarah will come back to these two Astartes Chapters somewhere along the line. I found myself instantly taking a liking to her characters and felt like they had a very enjoyable, fresh air around themselves. It was indeed very easy to get into the story, seeing the events unfold in my mind's eye without effort.

Sadly, due to the supposed novella-length, a few of those aspects didn't come across as well as they could have, if given enough room for exploration. But I guess that could not be helped, and was to be expected. It was still a damn good read, and I'd love to read more about Sarah's Star Dragons and Blood Swords rather sooner than later. Next up, however, will be Valkia the Bloody - I can't wait to find out how Sarah breathed life into the Gorequeen...

Sanctus

by Darius Hinks

"The Relictors are sent by the Inquisition to loot the repositories and libraries of a world on the cusp of annihilation. With the countdown to Exterminatus looming over them, they realise that even the Chaos Space Marines of the dreaded Black Legion are not the worst threat that they will have to face before they can escape, and that their true enemy may lie elsewhere."

Sanctus plays out on two layers, one telling of a squad of the Relictors Chapter of the Space Marines, down on the surface of a doomed planet bordering at the Eye of Terror. The Relictors, deemed traitors to many imperial authorities, are using whatever means necessary to fight the enemies of mankind. Alien technology, occult lore, they are actively searching for artifacts that would see even an Inquisitor branded a radical. No matter how good their intentions are, their Chapter has been paying the price for their obsession with forbidden knowledge, but they are not entirely without friends.
Inquisitor Mortmain, leading authority over fleet Sanctus, has given the Relictors a short timeframe to find out what really happened on the planet's surface. A terran navigator house has taken too much interest in seeing the planet destroyed, and Mortmain would not put a whole world to the torch without unveiling all of the mysteries surrounding its fall from grace. But when the daemon Cerbalus breaks free of his host, the Inquisitor is forced to act more quickly than expected, for the daemon learned of it all. Exterminatus cannot wait any longer. Cerbalus is unstoppable.
A battle against time itself ensues, with the Relictors hurrying towards their goal, oblivious to the events in orbit, and Mortmain hurrying to begin the orbital bombardement.

To date, I have only read Darius's story Cankerworm for Warhammer Fantasy, which was released during the Black Library's 15th Anniversary celebration. While his Warhammer Heroes novel Sigvald has been sitting on my shelf for far too long, I absolutely loved Cankerworm. Hinks got talent, and this also became apparent in Sanctus, although the story got overshadowed by the restrictions imposed upon it by being part of a thematical anthology like this one.
Sanctus plays with a very tzeentchian theme - the flow of time. The beginning of the story marks the end, with the chapters in-between telling the actual story which led to the events in the looped timeframe. Fittingly, Sanctus is written in present tense, leaving no hint on whether these events played in the past or are yet to happen - for all intents and purposes, it is happening, maybe not even for the first time, while the reader is flipping the pages. I felt that Hinks pulled this off very nicely, and especially the implications of the ending - or beginning - made it an enjoyable and satisfying read.

While I personally quite enjoyed Sanctus for all it delivered, I am not so sure that it fits well into the anthology. As Bane of Kings stated in his own review for The Founding Fields, this story could have easily filled a full-length novel or might even have worked better as a stand-alone novella due to its lack of actual references to Tzeentch, Kairos and their likes. Certainly not a bad story, but it got massively held back by the novella's restrictions and feeling out of place in this Space Marine Battles volume.

Endeavour of Will

by Ben Counter

"Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors Legion launch a devastating attack upon their hated foes the Imperial Fists, crippling one of their principal starforts. Unperturbed, the heroic Captain Darnath Lysander withdraws his warriors to a second stronghold, the Endeavour of Will, to weather the rest of the assault. But as the Iron Warriors’ methods are revealed, critical and desperate decisions must be made, lest their insidious techno-contagion spread throughout the Imperial Fists’ fleet and beyond..."

Without a doubt, Endeavour of Will was a good story. It had suspense, tension and was quite unpredictable. I dare say it was a bit too unpredictable, however, almost shouting 'Deus Ex Machina at the reader. While we all love plot-twists and surprises that break the mold, especially in action-heavy stories, I felt like some things about this story didn't match up as well as I had thought they would, and at times it seemed like Ben Counter was a bit too liberal with the background material. A few things simply irked me about it. Some of these things were rather silly mistakes, like describing the Imperial Fists' heraldry as a "red fist", when it has always been black on a white background (the Crimson Fists' heraldry is red, however). There were a few such inconsistencies to be found in Endeavour of Will, which makes me wonder; Ben Counter has written six whole novels about the Imperial Fists' successor Chapter, the Soul Drinkers, which heavily featured both Imperial and Crimson Fists, so I would expect him to have a complete grip on the Chapter.

Counter tries a range of things with Endeavour of Will.
The way the machine-spirits of the twin star-forts Bastion Inviolate and Endeavour of Will are depicted is entirely unique. I have never read a 40k story that showed the machine-spirit in such a way. Considering the vast amount of time both forts have spent in space, processing data and growing over the millenia, I can well believe that their artificial intelligences would develop a certain character, and bond with their crew. However, once again, this is a novella, so there was not much bonding between crew and machine, and in fact not much screentime for either of them, despite being a vital part of the story. The old rivalry between Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors is being shown mostly through the views of Darnath Lysander and the Iron Warrior's leader, Warsmith Shon'tu. Ben played these cards well, trying to show the similarities between the masters of fortification and those of siegecraft, and both sides outsmart each other throughout the novella just as much as they go toe-to-toe for thick action. Sadly, the story plays out mostly between the two leaders, with other Fists or Warriors getting little actual attention aside from notes on dropping dead during the battle. Interestingly, though, Lysander's past, namely his disappearance, got covered in an interesting way, bringing up both questions for the reader and making room for Shon'tu's daemonic allies, connecting the story to the tzeentchian theme of the anthology.

However, there are quite a few bits I did not like. While the other featured Architect of Fate stories felt limited by their permitted length, Endeavour of Will truly had too much going on. It seemed like Counter tried to cut-down a whole novel concept into a quarter of the usual pagecount while maintaining all key-elements but drastically shortening the overall level of detail, character development and buildup. I've never been into Imperial Fists, believing them to be the most boring loyalist faction of the Space Marines; while this Endeavour made me care a lot about Lysander, I couldn't find it in me to actually give a damn about all the other imperials. The only exception to that was the Tech-Marine Hestion, who didn't fare all that well.
Endeavour of Will had massive potential, but also wasted massive opportunities by the way it was executed.

Quite honestly, I am completely torn about this novella. I enjoyed it for the fast-paced action, the load of twists it delivered and the insights on Captain Darnath Lysander of the Imperial Fists, who had been a well-known special character on the tabletop for ages, but there were certain aspects about the story that made me want to put it away. Trying to do something rather unique, or adding new layers to existent pieces of the overall lore is something I usually appreciate, but this time it made for a bag of mixed feelings.
It is too bad that it turned out like this, since Endeavour of Will had a range of brilliant scenes and ties to other parts of the franchise. Don't worry too much about this story, however - it is certainly entertaining and worth reading, but better take it with a grain of salt.

Fateweaver

by John French

"The White Consuls Space Marine Chapter answers a distress call, only to discover that the source of the signal is far more terrifying than the message it relays. As a psychic backlash sweeps through their astropathic choir, the infamous Kairos Fateweaver, greater daemon of Tzeentch and master of manipulation, reveals his final hand in a game which has lasted since the beginning of time. Destiny awaits."

I felt like I really needed something great to recover from my disappointment regarding Endeavour of Will, and hoped for Fateweaver to deliver. Bearing the name of the Oracle of Tzeentch, this story just had to be worthwhile, I hoped.
The story mainly focuses on Epistolary Cyrus Aurelius of the White Consuls and how he leads his brothers into what might appear like a trap. Following in the wake of the Inquisition, witnessing dead worlds that fell victim to the judgement of Exterminatus and hearing whispered warnings uttering the word Fateweaver, the White Consuls set out to prevent fate repeating itself on the astropathic relay station Claros. Cyrus, however, does not just follow a distress signal, but also his own visions - visions of his own death, fighting warp-spawn. But when the Consuls arrive at Claros, nothing seems amiss.
Fate, however, is inevitable, so the daemonic incursions the signal reported and Cyrus dreamed of eventually begin taking their toll. It is a battle that would see the station destroyed without a doubt, if Cyrus cannot grasp the meaning of the false distress call before it is too late. 'Fateweaver' - what does that name mean and why did countless worlds utter it while breathing their last breaths?

Fateweaver is, without a doubt, the best of the featured stories. It has everything; from a perfect pacing, growing foreboding and excitement to a meaningful ending which is not only full of action and sacrifice but also incredibly satisfying to experience. I am impressed at how French managed to build up on Sarah's efforts while raising the stakes even higher and higher while his story progressed. His characters are incredibly interesting and easy to connect to, and even those poor souls that get sacrificed along the way were artfully crafted, making me, as the reader, regret their loss. For tabletop-generals fielding Daemons onto the battlefield, there's even a meet&greet with the Changeling, which got presented awe-inspiringly well and true to the lore.

There could not have been any better way to end this anthology.
John French successfully incorporated the events from Sarah's Accursed Eternity into his Fateweaver, turning this anthology into a full cycle. While neither Sanctus nor Endeavour of Will are being mentioned in any direct manner, I felt like the fate of Inquisitor Mortmain from Sanctus was being hinted at (but do not take my word for it, it might not have been intended), making this a perfectly fine selection of novellas.

"It is what we were made for", a line which describes this novella all too well. Fate has its hold on every character in Fateweaver, and while some struggle to resist falling prey to their future, others embrace it. But despite that, at no point did I feel like things were set in stone, like this novella was predicable or growing dull. Quite the contrary; it has been a ride I am all too eager to repeat in due time, and I am convinced that the revelations made will blow my mind again.
Call me biased, but this story earned a spot in my personal favorites, just as was fated to happen. I hereby bow my head and tip my hat to John French. This novella was absolutely fantastic, captivating and conclusive. I hope you will agree, once you reach this anthology's grandiose conclusion.

Final Words & Verdict

Overall I quite enjoyed this anthology. Some stories might have had their downsides, Endeavour of Will doubly so, but the package you get here is one I wouldn't want to pass on. Indeed, it has been worth reading for Accursed Eternity and Fateweaver alone, which make up the core of the anthology.
My only real negative points about the collection would be that the first two stories were way too short for what they could have delivered with their massive potential, while Ben Counter's contribution might just as well have been scrapped altogether, at least removed from this anthology. Fateweaver, however, dealt fantastically with its restrictions, and worked perfectly the way it played out. As I stated elsewhere in this review, giving both Sanctus and Accursed Eternity 50 more pages each would have made them shine much brighter, and leaving Endeavour of Will for a stand-alone release would have made that entirely possible. Don't get me wrong, I do not want to trample down on Ben's story, but it just didn't work here, and it disappoints me that the Space Marine Battles-logo on the anthology's spine wears the colors of the Imperial Fists, when the real diamond in here was John French's story featuring the White Consuls.

But alas, nothing I can do about it, and it certainly isn't anything that should scare you from picking this book up. You'll get your mileage out of it in any case. I clearly recommend getting your hands on Architect of Fate.

It's taken me a while to get another book done and reviewed, but I hope to finish Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The Emperor's Gift over the weekend. Yes, I know, yet another AD-B review is coming, but what can I do? I just cannot resist...

Architect of Fate on the Black Library Website

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