'Child of Chaos' – Chris Wraight (Black Library)



I've got about four books on the go at the moment but had no time yesterday to make headway on any of them. That's just how it is when you have two young daughters who enlist you to help turn the back garden into a venue for a cafe, it's hard work getting everything just right and that's not counting dealing with the invasion of snails (which gave me flashbacks of reading 'Breeding Ground', thanks for that Shaun Hutson...)
Hopefully I'll find a little time for reading later on today (after the cafe's grand opening of course) but in the meantime, I found a few minutes (last night) to read Chris Wraight's latest Black Library short story. You've probably heard a little too much, by now, about how much I enjoy Wraight's work so I'll try and tone that down here. Suffice it to say that when I heard there was a new Horus Heresy short story to be had, I was all over it.
And it's not just any old short story either. Oh no, this one is about the very architect of the Heresy himself. No, not Horus. We're talking about the man pulling strings behind the scenes; the Word Bearer Marine Erebus...

Whisper the name Erebus, for it is a curse and a beseechment to the dark gods. It is perhaps true that evil does not start out as such. Some tragedy, some error of judgement… Not so with Erebus. His evil has ever been ingrained. On Colchis, his story begins, the arch-heretic who turned his face from the Emperor to embrace the pantheon of Chaos.

It's way past time that Horus Heresy fans got something about the man who kicked it all off. Erebus has popped up in all kinds of places, mostly in the counsels of the main players, but for someone who engineered the fall of Horus himself, we don't actually know a lot about Erebus other than that he's pure evil and you really wouldn't want to cross him.
Well, now is our time to find out more and what we do find out is... Well, apart from one neat twist early on, nothing new really. 'Child of Chaos' is more a confirmation of Erebus' character instead of breaking any new ground and that confirmation is something that anyone could piece together for themselves if they read a few Horus Heresy books. So, is reading 'Child of Chaos' a waste of time then? Of course not.

Wraight makes sure that 'Child of Chaos' is worth the read by giving us little insights in Erebus' thoughts at key points before and during the Civil War. And it's the 'during the Civil War thoughts' that are the most eye catching. Erebus is down on his luck when the attack on Terra is due to begin, he has been cast from the councils of the mighty and has had his face flayed, does this bother him in the least? Erebus may be bitter but his own plans for advancing the glory of the Dark Gods have not altered at all. Do you find that a little scary? I do? Do you want to read more and find out what those plans are and whether they will come to fruition? I do. 'Child of Chaos' might not break new ground then but it is definitely setting up new ground to be broken and getting readers all excited about making that journey. And it does it very well. Well played 'Child of Chaos', well played.

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