‘Hatred’ – Ben Chessell


I’ve been itching for a chance to get into ‘Tales of the Old World’ (look at that cover and tell me you wouldn’t feel the same…) and I finally got the chance last night. Now I’ve cracked the book open, you can expect to see more posts covering the short stories within but, that’s for another time. Right now…

I had no idea where to kick things off but the great thing about anthologies is that you don’t necessarily have to start at the beginning. I mean, you can but I generally tend to go with whatever catches my eye and this time round, it was the deliciously ambiguous sounding ‘Hatred’. There’s a lot of scope for that in the Old World, whether it’s on the battlefield or elsewhere so I thought I’d give it a go and see where it took me… 

Murder has been committed, in the sleepy village of Kurtbad, the killer still lives and they might just be a mutant… A witch hunter is called but when the threat of Chaos meets the evil in men, anyone in Kurtbad could be guilty…

‘Hatred’ is a subtle reminder that in the Old World, the threat of Chaos is far more insidious than what is faced on the battlefield. It lurks everywhere and doesn’t need any encouragement to make its presence known. All you can do is try your hardest not to fall to its temptations… And even that effort may not prove to be enough.

So, what does that mean for the villagers of Kurtbad and the story as a whole? What we get is a little bit of a treat as Chessell weaves a paranoid little tale where people aren’t what they seem and an unseen voice murmurs darkness in the background; all combining into a tale that I couldn’t stop reading. The ending is signposted perhaps a little too clearly, as far as one character goes, but I was deep into the story, as a whole, by that point. Certain key questions remain open and the whole ‘tiny outpost on the edge of the wilderness’ atmosphere was almost tangible; Kurtbad is literally under siege from the unknown and it all adds to the tension.

I saw half of where ‘Hatred’ was going a little too earlier (and I’m not claiming any credit here, that’s entirely on the story) but the rest of it was brilliant and a little reminder of what the Old World is (was?) all about. Fear, paranoia and trying to make a stand against Chaos where you can, if you can…Not a bad place to start with this collection then, I’ve got high hopes for the rest of it.

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