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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Alright, let's try this again, shall we? From here on out, I'll likely abolish the old review structure, in favor of quicker, shorter impressions. Curiously enough, I have not stopped writing reviews/impressions, not at all. I just could not bother to adhere to the structure I set for myself anymore, as it felt too formal for my brain. I did, however, keep writing the occassional review on Goodreads.com, which I will now use to get things going again.

I wrote this review right after finishing the book, back on July 11. I still stand by my opinion, so this was a no-brainer to repost here.

The Story:

"The goblin chieftain Skarsnik’s name is known and feared throughout the Old World. When a greenskin horde threatens the borders of the Empire, the greatest military minds in Altdorf seek assistance from a most unlikely source – the disgraced poet Jeremiah Bickenstadt. Though long since consumed by madness, he claims to have spent a great deal of time in the company of the feared Warlord of the Eight Peaks, and can offer a unique insight into what it is that drives and motivates him. From humble beginnings, a monstrous legend is born."

Review

Skarsnik, as it turns out, was a much needed breath of fresh air for me.

Its narrative style, the gobliny wit, wrapped in humorous banter, and the stunning competence of Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks, but also the incredible amount of detail put into describing the world under the mountains and greenskin society, make this novel one of my personal favorites of 2013.

The story is wrapped in multiple layers, from the overall point of view of the Doktor Wollendorp, who interviews a mad playwright in an asylum, to said madman's retelling of his experience in Skarsnik's realm, and the things the Goblin Warlord told him. Despite this, the book flows very nicely from one point of view and scene to the next.

Being a book about the life of Skarsnik at the core, this made sure that minor pieces in the story would not need to drag on unnecessarily, while still allowing for the creative freedom of the playwright.
In the end, it serves to blur the line between fact and fantasy, making Skarsnik appear like a real threat to be reckoned with, but also made sure to leave things ambiguous and leave room for interpretation.

Multiple times throughout the novel Wollendorp and his companion would discuss the veracity of the madman's tale, and agree that it must be truthful in some regard, yet is undoubtedly embellished by the poet's vivid mind, and not everything should be taken at face value.

This should very well please those people who voiced concerns over the Warhammer Heroes series demystifying the special characters they portray, by taking away from the tabletop players' own interpretation of the hero. It feels to me that Guy Haley did a fantastic job at disspelling those concerns by telling his story in this particular way.

This quote from the book frames the whole novel very accurately:

‘Make sure you tell all those humies, humie, make sure you tell ’em good, make sure you tell ’em about the king in da mountain. Tell ’em all about me, Skarsnik, tell ’em all about my life, leave nuffink out.’
[...]
‘And then, when you’ve told them all that,’ he whispered, his eyes blazing with menace, ‘tell all the other humies that I’m coming for them too.’

That being out of the way, it is safe to say that Skarsnik's life was more than just eventful. It was a joy to read, to see the runt develop into a warlord to rival Grom the Fat, and follow in his footsteps. There have been many occassions when I just could not help but laugh about the suitably mean presentation of the goblin race, and can do nothing but applaud Guy Haley for his spot-on representation of the greenskins.

As with Baneblade, Guy Haley impressed me once more. His in-depth take on the Warhammer universe is so well put, I cannot come up with a good reason not to pick this book up if you have any interest in Black Library's Fantasy range.

In clear greenskin fashion, I give this book lots of stars. Purchase recommendation!

Skarsnik on Goodreads

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A bit late, not just looking at the calendar, but also because I'm halfway through God King, the sequel, but I have to get this sorted now, at last.
Yes, I know, I've been slacking off, but try to understand - I'm also a gamer, and the last many weeks were hardcore, both in terms of entertainment value, challenges and on my pocket. Wish me luck that I can get back on track without too much trouble!

Either way, here's my review of Graham McNeill's Empire. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, and hope to convey the reasons well enough.

The Story:

"Having driven back the orc invaders, Sigmar unites the tribes of men and founds the Empire. The fledgling empire grows, but its prosperity is not assured. The lands are still wild and untamed, and many enemies lurk in the forests and the mountains. When a Chaos invasion sweeps down from Norsca, the ensuing conflict tests the abilities of Sigmar and his chieftains to the utmost."

Book Two of The Legend of Sigmar

General Information

There's hardly anything to say in general about Empire at this point. You should read Heldenhammer first, so check the earlier review of that novel first. The individual novels of the Sigmar trilogy will probably be out of stock everywhere by now, but don't worry - there's a newly released Omnibus readily available, collecting all three novels into one massive tome. If you consider the story interesting based on the reviews, go ahead and buy it. Not only do you save money, but it will also looks great on your bookshelf.

Note: This review might include spoilers due to being a sequel.

Structure & Plot

Empire follows directly after the end of Heldenhammer, which introduced Sigmar and the tribes that would form the biggest Empire in the world known to men. While Heldenhammer introduced the characters the Legend of Sigmar depends on, presenting the dream of Sigmar Heldenhammer up to its fruition, the sequel does paint a slightly different picture. The adult king of the Unberogen is taking up the crown of the Emperor, uniting his tribes under one banner and keeping their lands safe.

However glorious the ceremony of his coronation, or the dream itself might be, the task resting on Sigmar's shoulders is a heavy burden to bear. The Emperor soon realizes that mankind's enemies are many, ranging from the vile beastmen lurking in the forests right within the Empire, to the savage orcs or the restless dead. Sigmar has to fend off all kinds of forces that would see his work destroyed.

He cannot do this alone. Unity is the key to mankind's success. To show their allegiance to Sigmar as their Emperor, the former tribal kings shed their titles in favor of a less pompous title. They are counts of the Empire, equals under their Emperor's rule. Yet while they support Sigmar's dream, their internal struggles keep Sigmar on his toes. He has to learn to be just as skillful a diplomat as he is a warrior, appease rivalling counts, reassure loyalties and face his own fears.
However, one tribal king did not stand with him at Blackfire Pass to defend their realms against the orc invaders, and when all attempts on diplomacy fail, Sigmar's quest for unity takes him to the walls of Jutonsryk. After a long and depressing siege, he succeeds in bringing the Jutone merchant city to join his Empire.

The newfound wealth through trading lets the Empire grow far beyond its limits while ghosts of the past plan their schemes, forcing Sigmar's hand against the undead gathering near Middenheim, the city of the White Wolf. An artefact of incredible strength falls into Sigmar's hands, and he must resist temptations from beyond the grave to stay true to himself.
The book comes to its eventual conclusion after a massive invasion from the north, which sees Middenheim ravaged by Norsii tribes, beastmen and the minions of the Blood God. Upon the anvil of the Fauschlag Rock, old bonds of loyalty and friendship will be reaffirmed and new ones crafted, as the unity of the Empire is being put to a test.

Final Words & Verdict

I very much enjoyed Empire, maybe even more so than Heldenhammer. I can fully understand why this book won the David Gemmel Legend Award 2010 and believe that it absolutely deserved that honour.

Empire puts everything we've read about in its prequel to a test, puts the pieces into relation, shows us new characters we only heard about before, while keeping everything solidly connected. The first of the Empire's many counts are getting much more attention, the headaches that come with dealing with all their squabbles are comprehensible and actually reach the reader, and the risks, fears and dangers feel realistic enough to keep you hooked til the very end.

Graham McNeill managed to keep a fantastic balance between moments of hope and despair, glory and shame, life and death. Nothing here seemed wasted, overdone or lacked impact. While one can argue that the development of the Empire as a nation feels rushed, with incredible discoveries and construction projects being fulfilled in a manner which makes modern architecture feel like a sad, ineffective joke, it did not bother me in the slightest. The early years of the Empire are an age of prosperity, great developments and epic heroes - we can surely overlook those minor gripes in favor of a well-crafted world.

To me, Empire is the second extremely strong novel in the Sigmar trilogy, and the first 200 pages of God King I read this far is looking solid as well. If you haven't picked these books up yet, I want to ask you one simple question:
Why haven't you?

Empire on the Black Library Website

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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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