Inquisitor Covenant and his warband go on the hunt for a traitor within their holy order.

War rages in the Caradryad Sector. Worlds are falling to madness and rebellion, and the great war machine of the Imperium is moving to counter the threat. Amongst its agents is Inquisitor Covenant. Puritan, psyker, expert swordsman, he reserves an especial hatred for those of his order who would seek to harness the power of Ruin as a weapon. Summoned to an inquisitorial conclave, Covenant believes he has uncovered such a misguided agent and prepares to denounce the heretic Talicto before his fellows. But when the gathering is attacked and many left dead in its wake, Covenant vows to hunt down Talicto and discover the truth behind the mysterious cult apparently at the heart of the massacre. In the murky plot into which he is drawn, Covenant knows only one thing for certain: trust no one.

This one took me a while to get through, and a while to review. Like, you know, about everything these past six months or so. Apologies.

I'm not feeling too good about this review, to be honest. John French is a solid author overall and I've enjoyed most of his works. His Warmaster audio drama script is one of my favorite pieces of Black Library fiction ever. Reading over this review, I feel like a fusion of Negative Nancy and Debbie Downer. So I want to preface by saying that I still consider Resurrection worth reading, despite my many gripes.

The Story:

"Inquisitor Covenant and his warband go on the hunt for a traitor within their holy order.

War rages in the Caradryad Sector. Worlds are falling to madness and rebellion, and the great war machine of the Imperium is moving to counter the threat. Amongst its agents is Inquisitor Covenant. Puritan, psyker, expert swordsman, he reserves an especial hatred for those of his order who would seek to harness the power of Ruin as a weapon. Summoned to an inquisitorial conclave, Covenant believes he has uncovered such a misguided agent and prepares to denounce the heretic Talicto before his fellows. But when the gathering is attacked and many left dead in its wake, Covenant vows to hunt down Talicto and discover the truth behind the mysterious cult apparently at the heart of the massacre. In the murky plot into which he is drawn, Covenant knows only one thing for certain: trust no one."

The Review:

Resurrection feels like a tricky novel to rate and review. I was anticipating its release a great deal, it being one of the two new Inquisitor novels this year, and unlike Chris Wraight's The Carrion Throne with its original cast, John French's series promised to drag Inquisitor Covenant into the limelight. Covenant originally appeared in the Inquisitor specialist game by Games Workshop and, as a result, is about as venerable a character as Gregor Eisenhorn. Him and his henchmen deserved the best treatment possible, which I was sure John could deliver.

Sadly, I came away from it with mixed feelings all around. Resurrection was far from what I was hoping for, at times formulaic and at others pretty out there. Its biggest problem, especially when put up against the classic Eisenhorn: Xenos, is that it doesn't feel like a compelling, self-contained narrative. Many points set up future novels, like the sequel Incarnation, due in 2018. But in the process of setting up many branches, the core of the novel felt strangely out of focus. This I'd attribute mostly to how John chose to present "his" Inquisitor. Whereas Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy gives us a first person narrative from the man himself, and Wraight's Carrion Throne offers viewpoint chapters for Inquisitor Crowl, Resurrection places Covenant into an awkward position. He is a peripheral character in his own first novel outing, felt just beyond your field of vision, but rarely at its center. Understanding him as a character proves a difficult, nebulous endeavour - which I will assume was the author's intent. It just so happens that it did not manage to grip me as a result of that.

Now, I'm no stranger to having to puzzle things out on my own. Heck, that's one of the main reasons I adore Peter Fehervari's stories so much - they make the reader get involved and think through implications, hints and connect dots themselves. I just did not feel like French managed to pull it off here. There's too little to go on to form any halfway solid picture of Covenant. Even what is straight up said about him by his henchmen, like preacher Josef Khoriv, himself a character from Inquisitor, only gives the reader rough strokes while keeping his master mysterious. We find out tidbits about Covenant's past from second hand sources, biased ones at that, and everybody in his retinue seems to avoid discussing much of anything beyond the immediate action. What worked in short stories like The Purity of Ignorance, which I loved, or the Agent of the Throne: Blood and Lies audio drama, didn't really hit home here. Covenant is not the hero of his own novel, and that is a damned shame.

Likewise, Covenant's retinue didn't really appear to have a proper connection to the master. Josef would probably be the most interesting and fleshed-out character of the bunch, having been with Covenant for long enough to care for him, and even Idris, to a great degree. His character arc felt a bit stunted, though. It was still satisfying, but I expected certain things to happen that never did. The book also ended without really exploring the changes to his mindset properly, which I assume will be a larger point in the sequel.
Sister Repentia Severita meanwhile was, as is to be expected, almost entirely defined by her own zealotry and I never warmed up to her much. Koleg, in the Dramatis Personae only described as "Specialist", was a character I often forgot existed.
At least the Von Castellan siblings Cleander and Viola were great to read about for how they juxtaposed Cleander's selfdoubts and feeling of being out of place in his own role with Viola's inherent competence and meticulousness. I hope their roles will stay as interesting in the follow-ups.

On top of the issue of characters never feeling fully formed throughout, the plot has some problems as well. At the center, Covenant is hunting a radical colleague who has been creating daemonhosts left and right and may be part of the Horusian sect within the Inquisition itself. The Horusians share their origins with the Thorians, which Covenant himself counts himself among, but their purposes follow far more sinister lines. Where Thorianism concerns itself with the resurrection of the God-Emperor and follows more puritanical philosophies, the Horusians are radicals working towards harnessing Chaos to create an unholy avatar for the Emperor's soul. Resurrection tries to play off these two sides of the resurrectionist coin, and doesn't do a bad job at it when it takes center stage, but I felt that it could've used more time in the oven.
In fact, the whole Thorian angle didn't get put into the open until almost halfway through the book, and the Horusians only got declared as such, and their methods elaborated on, until later still.

Contrasting this with Eisenhorn again, where we saw various philosophies at play even in the first book, all feeling distinct and somewhat at odds with one another, all with their own methods, Resurrection felt relatively light on the matter. While it opens up with a great assembly of the Inquisition, telling us how everybody has his own perspectives, it fails to really show those ideas to the reader. It pays lip service to the concept, but doesn't spend the time to really drive the point home. Said assembly quickly devolves into rampant action due to a Horusian plot, forcing Covenant and co to make an emergency exit. Covenant also adopts his colleague Idris's acolyte Enna Gyrid in the process, as his old friend is lost in the radicals' plot.
This presents another problem to me, because we didn't get to spend much time with Idris and Enna at all, while the novel itself is overshadowed by Covenant's past alongside Idris. Again we learn very little about it all until absolutely necessary, which meant that I really didn't care as much about any of it as I should have.
While yes, I can see how fitting the lack of information would be in the wider shadow war theme within the Inquisition, it made for a bit of a frustrating read.

It didn't help that the initial action-heavy escape from traitor traps gets roughly repeated two more times throughout, one being at the very end. Every time we get close to some answers, some hints, some evidence, some revelations, things are cast in doubt again and force the protagonists to fight and run for their lives. In many ways, the book felt very reactive.
I don't mean to hold up Eisenhorn as the gold standard again, but both Resurrection and Xenos have their respective Inquisitors follow leads to uncover a great conspiracy. Both hunt their prey in their own ways, make alliances on the way, adopt new specialists to their retinues and have old friends and allies. Both end up in tough spots, but for some reason Covenant himself never really felt at risk to me. Gregor Eisenhorn got tortured in Xenos, while Covenant always seemed more or less aloof, in control, when I was hoping for more emotion even if he is a stoic bastard. Likewise, Eisenhorn hounded his quarry and got in its way on multiple occasions, figuring things out along the way. Covenant's findings seemed rather limited and most hints occured out of the blue, at the end of it all. He always felt just three steps behind his target until the climax. As a result, the Horusian antagonist felt even less substantial to me as the reader.

During the final chapters, there was also a big event taking place that, in the end, holds more implications for the setting as a whole than for the novel itself, and I am not entirely sure yet why it was in here to begin with. I assume it will be tied more closely into the resurrectionism theme in Incarnation, but right here, it felt like a jump from A to D rather than a more natural progression of events and character growth. It was one of the things that felt like they happened for some greater reason, rather than that the plot of this particular novel required it to be this way.

What I did like was how French managed to depict the inherent suspicion between colleagues within the Inquisition. Even Enna Gyrid isn't trusted into the inner circle, mind-probed by psyker Mylasa, kept at arm's length. Covenant's alliances with Lord Inquisitor Vult likewise are strained to the limit and riven by doubts. "Trust no one" really is the tagline here, and something that, thematically, Resurrection does better than Eisenhorn, where Gregor seems to have friends all around (outside of the more radical characters like Molitor). Resurrection showcases just how dysfunctional the Inquisition has become as an institution, how at odds with its own goals, how arrogant its members and associates. It presents us with the problems of giving a large group of individual agents nigh-unlimited authority while lacking a central, unifying purpose and code of conduct. In that regard, it is as grimdark as it gets.
I must also praise the use of "silver coins" throughout the book. Their symbolism wasn't lost on me, and gets only more important in hindsight. It is small details like these that add a lot of atmosphere to the book and underline the mystery without getting in the way of it.

But in the end, this is part one of what looks like it is going to be at least a trilogy, hopefully more. Many aspects here serve as setup for plotpoints down the line, and while that may prove to be a great strength as the series progresses, it hamstrings this particular novel as a one-off experience. I seriously enjoy the overall approach to the series that John has taken by spreading it out through various character-focused short stories, a mostly separate audio drama series in Agent of the Throne, and a core novel series. I just felt that the short stories did the nebulous mystery angle a good deal better than Resurrection, where I was hoping for a tighter, more insightful story.
Looking back once the series is over, it might turn out that my assessment isn't really fair anymore, in the broader scheme, but on its own, right now, I feel disappointed and disillusioned.

I sincerely hope that Incarnation proceeds to show us more, rather than handing us cliffnotes on the characters. I want to understand them on a greater level, get into their heads more thoroughly and anticipate plot developments a little better, rather than running up against twist A, B and C with little pretext. I wouldn't mind the sequel dialing back on action sequences either, as fun as they can be. Inquisition stories are most compelling to me when they focus on the investigations, the hunts, the philosophical dilemmas and individual conflicts between characters, be their friends or bitter foes.
Resurrection has a deal of all of this, but in my opinion needed to be tighter, more focused on making the cast feel real and well-rounded. It needed Covenant to stand up for himself more and dominate the pages rather than isolating himself in his office and remaining quiet and aloof. I have faith that John French will be hitting it out of the park with the sequel, now that the basics are mostly established, however. Growing pains, and all that. I'm sure that I will come to appreciate Resurrection more as John expands on his Horusian Wars in the coming years, and pieces fall into place. After all is said and done, it is undeniable that The Horusian Wars are going up against incredibly strong competition in its own niche of Black Library fiction, and doesn't do too badly in comparison either.

The Horusian Wars: Resurrection on Goodreads

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

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

Praetorian of Dorn is the latest, 39th installment to the Horus Heresy series - and it brings the war to the Sol system and Rogal Dorn. It brings us up to date on the situation back at Terra, and doesn't pull any punches with its Alpha Legion shenanigans. However, it did leave me somehow conflicted...

The Story:

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

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

The Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Inquisitor Covenant must hunt down the daemon at the heart of a planetary conspiracy, but how high a price will he and his team pay to defeat the evil, and are they even aware what the cost of success will be?

While the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard fight the myriad alien enemies that seek to overwhelm mankind, the Inquisition pursues a different kind of war. For theirs is a war fought in the dark places of man’s soul – a battle against the corruption of Chaos, a battle for the survival of humanity. Inquisitor Covenant must hunt down the daemon at the heart of a planetary conspiracy, but how high a price will he and his team pay to defeat the evil, and are they even aware what the cost of success will be?

This short story released in this year's Summer of Reading over at Black Library, and made me very happy. It seems they're turning it around with more creative and conceptually clever stories, so I felt the need to review this one quickly. It's quite a short review, I know, but I'd like to recommend this one anyway, without spoiling the fun in it.

The Story:

"Inquisitor Covenant must hunt down the daemon at the heart of a planetary conspiracy, but how high a price will he and his team pay to defeat the evil, and are they even aware what the cost of success will be?

While the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard fight the myriad alien enemies that seek to overwhelm mankind, the Inquisition pursues a different kind of war. For theirs is a war fought in the dark places of man’s soul – a battle against the corruption of Chaos, a battle for the survival of humanity. Inquisitor Covenant must hunt down the daemon at the heart of a planetary conspiracy, but how high a price will he and his team pay to defeat the evil, and are they even aware what the cost of success will be? "

The Review:

The Purity of Ignorance's subtitle as "A story of the Horusian Wars" is a misnomer in my eyes. There really is nothing about the Horusians here, or even inter-factional conflict within the Inquisition. I am a bit disappointed with that, since this seemed like a start to a new trilogy, or even series, focusing on Inquisitors. However, I am still pleased with how the story itself turned out, besides the cover's marketing.

This is the first story of hopefully many to feature Inquisitor Covenant, an old character from the Inquisitor specialist game. It doesn't exactly put him into the spotlight, but it is an impressive introduction to the man and his retainers. There's a preacher, a warrior-woman with ties to the Adepta Sororitas, and an array of stormtroopers in service of the big man. The squad leader, lieutenant Ianthe, is the primary focus here. She is being recruited for her first job with the Inquisition, and initially interrogated, before we get to see her and her squad in action. From this basic premise arises a very cool story that is conceptually great and well executed.

The antagonists are well written too, and while fans of the IP will know the twist right from the start, it is well handled and shows the core of corruption in an exciting way. Nobody plays the villain in their own mind, and French plays well with that idea here.

More than anything though, this type of story with all its twists and clever ideas is what I have been missing from Black Library in recent years. If this is the stuff we can expect more of going forward, then I am all in again. Let John write more about Covenant and co, because this was a highly promising start to something that grow into Eisenhorn/Ravenor-levels of Inquisitorial goodness.

The Purity of Ignorance on Goodreads

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The Battle of Tallarn grinds on to its climactic end, but what secret purpose drives the Iron Warriors to commit such mindless atrocities? The answer lies buried deep beneath the planet’s surface...

The battle for Tallarn rages between the traitor Iron Warriors and the Imperial Army. A carpet of armour covers the surface of the toxic planet: Dreadnoughts versus tanks versus Titans. But what secret purpose drives the Iron Warriors onwards to war?

This is the biggest armoured conflict in galactic history – there’s a million tanks! However, no one can leave the safety of their claustrophobic war machines for fear of melting into a toxic puddle. While this story supplies plenty of action, what brings the entire might of the Iron Warriors to battle is much more intriguing.

The book is advertised as being about the "biggest armoured conflict in galactic history", but when it comes down to it, it isn't that at all. I was hugely disappointed with this book. Be warned, this review contains a few SPOILERS!

The Story:

"The Battle of Tallarn grinds on to its climactic end, but what secret purpose drives the Iron Warriors to commit such mindless atrocities? The answer lies buried deep beneath the planet’s surface...

The battle for Tallarn rages between the traitor Iron Warriors and the Imperial Army. A carpet of armour covers the surface of the toxic planet: Dreadnoughts versus tanks versus Titans. But what secret purpose drives the Iron Warriors onwards to war?

This is the biggest armoured conflict in galactic history – there’s a million tanks! However, no one can leave the safety of their claustrophobic war machines for fear of melting into a toxic puddle. While this story supplies plenty of action, what brings the entire might of the Iron Warriors to battle is much more intriguing."

The Review:

After loving Tallarn: Executioner, I am thoroughly disappointed with Ironclad. The way it wrapped up is simply not enough.

Maybe it is down to the format, being a good 100+ pages shorter than the usual Horus Heresy novel, but there were so many things left open or forgotten, that I was left thinking "so this is all there is to Tallarn?" by the end of it. The big, decisive battles are only told of through interludes, which in general I enjoyed. Problem is, these are very short, and deliver a topdown view, with historical context, which, while I enjoyed these aspects, also isolate them from the rest of the story. This is especially obvious due to the minimal amount of crossover between interludes and main narrative.

Sure, the Battle of Khedive is going on towards the climax of the novel, but is only covered twice in interludes, which had no effect on the overall plot. It is said to be the decisive battle between loyalists and Iron Warriors, but we only see the opening bit, the chaos of arriving tanks, and at the very end the end result, "Imperium victor". That's it. And following the main chapter between, it doesn't seem like it was relevant at all. Perturabo isn't shown interacting with his forces on the ground. The loyalist characters from the main plot had no stake in Khedive.

Almost every single one of these interludes and the decisive battles and actions they describe only serve as a sideshow for the Iron Warriors' secret hunt for an old artifact Perturabo believes he needs to use as a weapon behind Horus' back, and a loyalist tank commander's obsession with finding out the real reason for Tallarn's destruction. Had these been two different stories, I don't think it would have mattered.

It is a shame, as the interludes hinted at some spectacular bits of warfare, which would be well-deserving of some closer looks via short stories.
To be frank, I very much enjoyed seeing the various pieces of Tallarn stories come together. From Executioner over Siren to Witness and even the audio dramas The Eagle' Talon and Iron Corpses, all of these contribute to the overall conflict and fleshing out some key events. In comparison, Ironclad feels disconnected from the rest, too concerned with its own conspiracy/counter-conspiracy shenanigans to pay attention to the surface war that was advertised as massive, featuring one million tanks or more.

What I enjoyed were the tank crew chapters. They weren't as good as in Executioner, but Kord and his peers were playing off one another and the situation reasonably well. I also liked Hrend the dreadnought Iron Warrior leading the search for Perturabo's artifact. His mental state and bodily condition, and the flashbacks to his "death" on Isstvan V, were well executed and provided a good character arc.

Disappointingly, the presence of Slaanesh daemons (which were even featured on the limited edition hardcover release's jacket) was basically nonexistent. There are some tiny glimpses at the very end, but people hoping for a big daemonic element to the story will be disappointed. While it does foreshadow the artifact's purpose and identity (as it featured long ago in an Imperial Guard Codex), it does very little for the story. And even being aware of what the thing does via said Codex, it isn't really explained just how Perturabo would use it as a weapon. If anything, recovering it in the first place seems to defeat the point.

On the other hand, the Alpha Legion's involvement is fairly ridiculous here. They are playing both sides, on the surface supporting the Iron Warriors while sabotaging their efforts. There are various implications tying them into the internal schism of the Alpha Legion, but even then, they're eating their own tail. I guess that is the point, in a way, but that also made their role frustrating to follow. Certain revelations around them also came out of the blue, like the Vanus assassin's sudden knowledge about an AL operative who had it out for her. A reveal just afterwards also felt like thrown in randomly.

The emissary of the warmaster plotline also had me wonder. There were many things that weren't explained, resulting in a lack of context in certain situations or conversations. It added more intrigue to the plot, something I feel was not required, and could have been handled way quicker, and wouldn't have needed to stretch through the whole short novel. To me, it took away more than it really added. Thankfully it ended with a big entrance from Horus, post-Molech, presumably, so at least there was some payoff.

Ironclad felt bogged down by conspiracies and intrigue and a constant desire to surprise the reader. A lot of twists were easy to anticipate, while others just seemed added to convolute the plot further. On the other side it almost forgot it was a novel about Tallarn, paying very little attention to the key events of the war. Large parts play in the loneliness of the surface deserts, with relatively minor engagements in the grand scheme of things.

It could have been so much more. Given the full, numbered HH novel treatment and a change of pacing and condensing of certain plotlines, instead connecting the events more closely to the war, it could have been the defining book about Tallarn. The way it is, however, there was more of the dead world's soul and character in Executioner than there is here.

Tallarn: Ironclad 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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