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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I apologize if this review is a bit lengthy and referencing other works in the franchise; my perspective is certainly based on being a long-time fan of the lore, and I feel that it will be most valuable to people already well-invested in the background material. As a newcomer to the franchise, please walk away and start elsewhere.

The Story:

"The daemon prince Mortarion has emerged from the Eye of Terror at the head of a vast plague-horde, intent upon the corruption of the Imperium he once served. Under Supreme Grand Master Geronitan, the Grey Knights finally meet the daemon army in battle on the plains of Kornovin – a mobilisation of the Chapter the likes of which few have ever seen. Kaldor Draigo and his fellow brotherhood masters lead from the front, trusting to their lord’s secretive plan... until Geronitan is unexpectedly struck down by the Death Lord. With the eyes of the Inquisition upon them and the arcane path of destiny broken forever, the Grey Knights must cast aside thoughts of anything so petty as revenge. The Supreme Grand Master’s successor must be named, or all may be lost."

The Review

Mortarion's Heart has been a hotly debated topic ever since the story surrounding it had been introduced in the 5th Edition Codex: Grey Knights, back in April 2011. The short new piece of lore involving Primarch Mortarion and newcomer Kaldor Draigo was deemed inplausible, unworthy of being considered canon to the Warhammer 40,000 lore.
I can understand the fans' outcry, for Kaldor Draigo's new history appeared nothing if not over the top; a wishlist of deeds added to a new character, who I often saw described as a silly Mary Sue.

Among other tales of glory, Draigo was told to have beaten the Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn (featured in Graham McNeill's The Chapters Due and his novella "Calth That Was" and Dan Abnett's "Unmarked" from the Mark of Calth Horus Heresy anthology) in single combat, repeating the feat centuries later. In the meantime, he also became the Supreme Grand Master of his Chapter, and carved the name of his predecessor into the Primarch Mortarion's heart. Nowadays he is travelling through dimensions and kicks mighty daemon butt in a realm outside of real time and space, saving his kin whenever necessary.

Many just considered it "fan-wanking" by the Codex's author, and I will not blame them, for a new character to the lore to make such an amount of buzz, defeating the big archenemies left and right, must certainly rustle some jimmies among fans.

With that context in mind, I was both excited and fearful of this release; it has been quite some time in the making, having been announced at the Black Library Weekender 2012.
Of course I hoped that L J Goulding, being one of Black Library's Editors and Loremasters, would take the tidbits of lore surrounding Kaldor Draigo and craft them into something more plausible, less ridiculous, and overall satisfying that fits into the universe.

Having listened to the audio drama twice since yesterday, I can confirm that, in my eyes and ears, Goulding has succeeded in delivering a story that easily beats what expectations I had, and may be even better than what I had hoped to receive.
Mortarion's Heart goes all-in on this piece of new lore. It shows the death of one Supreme Grand Master, the election of another and the victory of the latter. It roots itself into the background by referencing a lot of other works, including the Horus Heresy series. It even hints at future HH revelations, making me eager to learn more of specific side-plots of the long-running series.

Without spoiling the plot of the audio drama, I can tell you that the actual act of humbling Mortarion is not the single focus of the work. It is the character of Kaldor Draigo who, unsurprisingly, is the star of the drama; we get to hear how he ascended to the rank of Supreme Grand Master, and what aided his duel with the Death Lord.

As told by the Codex it would appear that Draigo, on his very own, crushed a whole force of daemons before banishing the Daemon Primarch - this is not what actually happens according to this audio drama. It was not as simple as that. While not physically aided in his task, Kaldor Draigo received other means of help from his fellow Grand Masters - all of which feature in the drama.

Above all, however, Mortarion's Heart makes sense of an odd and unexplained bit of lore. It turns the glory-tale of Kaldor Draigo into a relatable, believable thing, at least in context of the franchise. The humbling of the monstrous Primarch is not depicted as a one-sided battle, but as a struggle Draigo was fully equipped to subject himself to and stand a chance.

All of this is also presented by a big cast of voice actors, all of which did a fantastic job bringing life to the setting and characters. While I was not immediately convinced by the deep, rumbling (and a bit cliched) voice for Mortarion himself, it grew on me, as did Draigo's. The audio production was, once again, top notch, with a lot of sound effects throughout. Mortarion's Heart is a high quality product, continuing the upwards trend of Black Library's audio dramas.

I salute Laurie Goulding for turning this drama into a gem. He added a lot of nuance to a bland piece of writing, without contradicting the source material. Fans of Kaldor will still find a heroic tale, whereas disgruntled fans should be put more at ease through this work.
Considering Goulding also wrote an micro eShort for the Black Library Advent Calendar 2013, Kaldor Draigo: Knight of Titan, I hope to read more in the future.

Both C.Z. Dunn's Pandorax and L J Goulding's recent work have turned Kaldor Draigo from a ridiculously over the top character I would not ever have expected to like into one I can very well live with and appreciate.
While some gripes about his lore still exist in my mind, I hope they will be put at rest by an equally satisfying story as Mortarion's Heart at some point in the future.

Mortarion's Heart on Goodreads

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The Siege of Castellax is undoubtedly a bad boy of a book.
Not because it is bad, but because it features the BEST depiction of Chaos Space Marines I have seen in years! (Hold your butts, Night Lords fans...)

The Story:

"The Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors Legion have long been renowned as the masters of siege warfare, able to inflict devastating firepower and unimaginable cruelty upon their foes. On the world of Castellax, twisted Warsmith Andraaz builds his own empire even as a system-crushing ork Waaagh! approaches, and drives his own slaves ever harder to meet their production quotas and supply materiel for the Legion’s many warbands. Their walls are strong and their weapons ready, but how long can the planet hold out against the deadly greenskin invasion when whisperings of rebellion begin to pass between the Iron Warriors’ downtrodden vassals?"

The Review:

The Iron Warriors are bad, rotten to the core of their very being. Not a single chapter in The Siege of Castellax will make you doubt that these Space Marines are anything but traitorous bad guys, even if they are pitched against an alien species that revels in crude, brutal savagery, with the Orks.

Yet still, even though the book heaps "evil" characters upon the reader from very early on (the command structure of the Third Grand Company of the Iron Warriors on Castellax is quite extensive!), C.L. Werner really kicked it out of the park in terms of scale, action and intrigue.
You cannot help but root for Captain Rhodaan, the Iron Warrior the book focuses on the most. Even then, however, you will still find it in you to cheer for his bitter rival, Over-Captain Vallax, or the rebel uprising in the underground of the world. There are a lot of things going on in this book, and none of them failed to catch my interest.

This book is grim, very grim. If you have a faint heart, I may suggest being careful about picking this one up. Werner managed to one-up even the most cruel stories in Black Library's arsenal.
Some of those cruelties are fairly straightforward, like Skintaker Algol's habit of stitching nice cloaks out of the skin of human slaves. Others will serve as twists and turns throughout the book - and just when you think things may start to look up for the Flesh, the human slave population and military in the IW's service, the author will take the book and smack it around your head with the next big showcase of the sheer inhumanity of the Space Marines.
And even with the way the Iron Warriors cling to their honour and loyalty to the Legion, their internal rivalries will provide you with constant tension throughout the book. A knife in the back would be gentle, considering what happens in this novel!

It is an eventful ride, from start to finish. C.L. Werner, in my mind, almost perfected writing (40k) Iron Warriors here.

The way he spinned the Legion's mantra "Iron Within, Iron Without!" into the story felt very natural, providing character and conflict in equal measure. The story even deals with Obliterators in a more reasonable way than I have read anywhere else before, giving them motivation and character rather than showing them as mindless killing machines.
Even the human janissaries and slaves, as well as techpriests and Orks, felt so believable and relatable (well, maybe not the Orks..), it boggles my mind that this was the author's first full-length Warhammer 40,000 novel.


However, there are some things I did not quite like, or thought didn't get as much attention as they would have deserved. Nitpicks, more than anything.
One of them, a quite obvious thing, I feel, are the Chapters' timeframes.
Each chapter begins with a short note ala "I–Day Plus One Hundred and Four", to put the content into relation to the duration of the Siege of Castellax. It drags out, as things tend to do with Orks.
However, I often found myself wondering what happened in the weeks, or even months, between those chapter points. At times a chapter would flow neatly into the next, implying weeks have passed throughout the chapter's progress.
A few more notes could have offset this confusion, I feel. As well as the story flows, I did not really pay any attention to the exact dates given after a while, and just checked occassionally. So, the good thing is that they are not necessary to enjoy or understand the story. But resulting from that, they did not add as much as I hoped they would. A bit of wasted potential right there, though it did not let the book down.

Another thing I would like to see expanded upon is the fate of Admiral Nostraz, who was brushed over in the later parts of the book. Considering his and Skylord Morax's rivalry throughout the first half of the book, I felt a bit disappointed that it was handled like this. However, there are certain implications made in the book - it is just that we were never shown what actually happened.
In general, I feel C.L. Werner could get even MORE out of the Third Grand Company as it stands right now. There are certain hooks in the novel that would make a sequel story, maybe a novella, very appealing. Some things could be expanded upon via short stories (which has happened before, with his Steel Blood), thanks to the well-constructed character dynamics throughout the novel.

Overall, this is a incredibly grimdark novel that clearly shows what C.L. Werner is capable of.
He has mastered writing very dark stories years ago in the Warhammer Fantasy setting (Dead Winter, The Red Duke, Matthias Thulmann: Witch Hunter, and now proven that his genius also extends to the 41st Millenium and power armoured superhumans.

These are Chaos Marines as they should be. A very clear recommendation to fans of Warhammer 40,000 and macabre science fiction in general.

The Siege of Castellax on Goodreads

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This one, like the Skarsnik review, was posted on Goodreads earlier this year. It dates back to March 4, and does not care about previous structure on this blog.

The Story:

"The Black Dragons fall upon the world of Antagonis, summoned to combat the plague of undeath that has engulfed the planet. Allying themselves with Inquisitor Werner Lettinger and a force of Sisters of Battle, the Black Dragons endeavour to save the souls of the Imperial citizens who have succumbed to the contagion. But there is more than a mere infection at play – the dread forces of Chaos lie behind the outbreak, and the Black Dragons stand in the way of the Dark Gods’ victory…"

Review

Getting through this one was a breeze. It never bogged me down, no scene overstayed its welcome and before I knew it, I was getting mad at the Internet and my Computer for throwing games and videos at me again.
This was one of the few books that made me wish restarting the machine or booting up a game would take longer than it did, so I could read just another few pages...

But I digress.

The book provides a really fantastic view on the Black Dragons Chapter, from their non-Codex organization to the way they fight and the mutations they bear, but also shows the risks inherent in deviation from the Imperial norms. My knowledge about the Chapter was minimalistic at best, but the way the Dragons were presented really clicked with me.

The antagonists were fairly unique as well, not least due to their origin, and there was plenty of tension at all times. The main villain of the story is told to have a longer history with the Black Dragons, and the connection gets deepened throughout the book in various ways.
Once the Dragons realized who their enemy was, he became more than just a villain covered in mystery, but an everpresent threat.

But the titlegiving Death of Antagonis marks more than just the first of many genocides the reader gets to read about; it also opens the curtain for a schism within the Black Dragons themselves.
Especially in that regard did David Annandale score highly, in my opinion. He developed a very intriguing conflict between very contrasting characters, and made it the leading theme of the novel.

The book also gets you around a lot; from Antagonis itself to tiny moons and massive Hive Worlds. I might go as far as to call it the most diverse SMB novel yet, in terms of interesting locations. All locations were described tangible ways, no matter how exotic they were, without ever losing their charme.

The Death of Antagonis tells us a story about many Phyrric victories and how they wear a company of Space Marines down not only in strength of numbers but also erodes their confidence, convictions and unity of purpose.
It is not just a Space Marine Battles novel, but one about sacrifice, doubts and finding one's place and role in the service of the Emperor.

The book did have some rare lines that had me scratch my head, but nothing that broke it for me in any way, or took away from my enjoyment of the story.

If there's anything I can say about David Annandale, judging from The Carrion Anthem (printed in Treacheries of the Space Marines), Yarrick: Chains of Golgotha (and Evil Eye ) and now The Death of Antagonis, it is that he simply nails characters, settings, universe and the grimdark side of the franchise down.

This novel specifically presented the bleak side of the Imperium, the hopelessness inherent in a galaxy that has never been kind to humanity, in believable ways. There are no shining victories to be found here, and faith is a limited currency.
What it delivers, though, is a well-presented series of events that lead up to a satisfying, characterful climax, and a good balance between SMB-action and character interaction.

David clearly embraced the grandiose and the macabre once more, and I cannot wait for his next offering.

The Death of Antagonis 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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Another story by Chris Wraight. I think my review of Luthor Huss made it clear that I'm thinking very highly of Chris and his works for Warhammer Fantasy. Now, this isn't fantasy, but 40k - a Space Wolves story. Not having had time to read Wraight's Battle of the Fang, I was quite curious how Kraken would turn out.

"The Space Wolves forge new sagas as they hunt a monstrous beast of the oceans and battle the alien menace of the tyranids in a brand new tale by the author of Battle of the Fang."

The Space Wolves are a proud Space Marine Chapter. They almost appear savage to outsiders, with their long manes, sheer strength and prowess on display. It is no surprise that these proud Astartes treasure not only their own honour, but that of their whole pack, as their squads are called. Sometimes the bonds in between packmates are strong enough for the last survivor of the group to swear an oath of vengeance to restore the honour of his brethren by hunting alone, becoming a Lone Wolf.
Lone Wolves set out on many quests in search for a foe mighty enough to be worth slaying or in the attempt. Etching the names of his fallen brothers onto his armor, or even skin, the Wolf longs for the day he might return to Fenris, the head of his quarry in hands, proving that the honour of his pack has been restored.

Kraken tells the story of such a Space Wolf on his quest to hunt down a Tyranid leviathan in the hope of redeeming his brothers' honour. Following Aj Kvara on his quest has been quite a ride - a short one, I admit, but the story makes up for that with action and satisfaction. Not only does it present the wolf's battle against his Tyranid quarry, but also shows the reader key-moments in Kvara's life, from his first hunt on the seas of Fenris to the loss of his pack and the taking of his oath, granting us a complex picture of the Lone Wolf called Aj Kvara. What must Kvara sacrifice in order to restore his honour and rest in peace again?

I can't pretend to know much about the Wolves of Fenris, especially not as much as I'd like to, but the subject of these Lone Wolves has always interested me. They are an integral part of the Wolves' traditions and sagas, but are too often overlooked, so I gladly picked this one up.
The story has a really strong buildup to it; I quite honestly did not expect such depth from a short story of around 17,000 words. I should have known better, I admit, since the opening chapters of Chris Wraight's Battle of the Fang were giving a strong impression of Fenris and the Space Wolves already, but reading Kraken really felt like a story fitting of a Lone Wolf and the losses he'd be looking back on. As much as Kraken depicts the might of a Space Marine, showing off just how much even a single one of the defenders of the Imperium is capable of, I thought the core of the story was playing a much more tragic tune of regret, sacrifice and brotherhood. People say wolves are incredibly loyal and their howls feel like mourning, and I felt like this story mirrored that very nicely.

Interestingly, the people of Lyses, the world he delivers from the Tyranid menace, present a nice way of balancing the action-driven story. As little 'screen-time' as they had, the way they perceived the Space Wolf and compared him to the only other Marines they've seen before, the Ultramarines, made me chuckle. It made clear just how unique the sons of Russ truly are in their ways.
The presence of underwater action is another unique feature in the story which I haven't mentioned yet. I don't know of even a single story in the Black Library range that dealt with Space Marines combating their foes below the surface, especially not in the depths of an ocean. I'm impressed by how smoothly the story dealt with this type of action; it gave the story a cinematic atmosphere.

All things considered, I am pleased with this story. If you're a fan of the Wolves of Fenris, I clearly recommend reading Kraken. It has been an unexpectedly touching story that sucked me in and made me feel like I, as the reader, actually had a connection to the lost members of Kvara's pack. This one really was something else, a welcome distraction from the glorious defenders of humanity. Even if you're not a die-hard Space Wolves fan, you'll most likely appreciate this one.
The only thing I regret about this story would be its length, or lack thereof. I wouldn't mind it to be longer, since the final part in particular felt a bit rushed. Just a few more paragraphs and I'd have been even happier with Kraken.
Nonetheless, this was the fourth time Chris Wraight has managed to capture my interest with a story, and if it wasn't for Dead Winter lying next to me, I'd pick up Battle of the Fang right away. For the time being, however, I will just relish the thought that another Space Wolves story is waiting on my shelf. It won't rest there for long now...

Kraken on the Black Library Website

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