‘The Shel’Tain Affair’ – Jude Reid (Black Library)


Page Count: 29 Pages.

Another short read today, I’m afraid, because damn that was a day I’ve just had… One of those days where you wish you had an extra set of arms (and maybe another head, I don’t know…) so you could work from two laptops at the same time and actually make a dent in all the work you have on. Oh well, it could be worse 😊 Anyway…

I’m always partial to a Black Library short read, especially on days like today, they keep the reading muscles exercised but they don’t demand too much out of your day. That’s a deal I can happily work with at the moment 😉 The main thrust of the ‘Horus Heresy’ series looks like it’s finally nearing an end but there are still more tales to be told, far away from the front lines and corridors of power, in places where only a former Oblivion Knight may walk without fear…

Amendera Kendel, Agentia Tertius, returns from the investigation of a noble family, finding no traces of guilt. That is, until, they destroy her groundcar in an attempt to have her assassinated.

I’m not going to lie… if I was a Terran Lord and I’d just managed to hide something from an Agent of the Throne, I’d let her go, not try and have her killed*. And why did the Sigilite send Kendel when he could just use his own powers to uncover… the mystery in question?** And then I remember that I’ve had a rough day and am feeling that special flavour of ‘middle-aged grumpy’… I’m not being fair.

‘The Shel’Tain Affair’ is an entertaining blend of mystery and action that would make for an excellent ‘Warhammer Crime’ tale if it wasn’t for the whole Galactic Civil War overshadowing everything. The mystery of Shel’Tain is an intriguing hook and Kendel has more than enough about her to keep the rest of the tale fresh and exciting as she goes about her business in the way that only she can, freaking people out on a primal level (the bit where the guy couldn’t see her, but she was still freaking him out, damn)… and then killing them. There’s a good balance between that and Kendel doubting her ability in this new arena.

I had a lot of fun with ‘The Shel’Tain Affair’ and it tickled me that in the middle of this galaxy spanning civil war, there’s still a little room for some ‘Man From Uncle’ style secret agent business (which I've just realised, makes Malcador the Sigilite Mr Waverly...). I’ll never say no to that so… fingers crossed 😉


*There is a good reason for this, to be fair. Like I said, middle-aged and grumpy.

** Still not a hundred percent sure about this one but I suspect that when you’re the second most powerful man in the galaxy, you get to play chess with real people as the pieces. That, and Kendel was probably still on probation.

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