A couple of Warhammer 40K short reads… ‘The Long Promise’ and ‘Eradicant’ (Black Library)




It’s the end of the week… finally. Just a few more hours to go but we’re pretty much there so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. It’s been a while since I’ve read any Warhammer 40K short stories, and payday wasn’t too long ago, so I thought I’d treat myself to a couple of reads as a way of winding down yesterday. The method behind the choosing was not scientific at all; it’s been years since I read an ‘Alpha Legion’ book, hence ‘The Long Promise’ and ‘Eradicant’ has a very cool cover (which blogger won't let me show here, check it out on Amazon), that’s all it took ;o)

Quick thoughts today as I’ve got a fair bit of work to get through. If you want an even quicker thought though… Both were great reads and if you’re a fan of the setting, you could do a lot worse than pick these up.

‘The Long Promise’ – Mike Brooks

Solomon Akurra, Chaos Lord of the insidious Alpha Legion, infiltrates a Deathwatch watch station. When this most elite and pious of kill teams returns, Akurra offers them the real truth…

I suspect you’re going to get a lot more out of this story if you’ve already read ‘Harrowmaster’ (and I haven’t, that’s on me) but for those of us who haven’t, there is still a lot here that’s worth getting your teeth into. In true Alpha Legion style, the story you think you’re reading isn’t actually the story you think you’re reading… or is it (sorry, couldn’t help myself)? Either way, it’s a joy watching two seemingly different strands of plot come together to form a story that’s part revenge but mostly loyalist Space Marines thinking that they’re hunting an Alpha Legionnaire when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s a bit creepy but somehow a little but heartening to see that even a heretic Space Marine can be trusted to keep his word… If it suits him to do so.

‘Eradicant’ – R.S. Wilt

A squad of Tempestus Scions is deployed on a covert mission to rescue the planetary governor of a planet fallen to Chaos.

This tale is a little more straighforward but still has a little sting in its tail that possibly hints that we haven’t seen the last of this Eradicant. I hope there’s more to come as quite apart from all the cool pyrotechnics (and regular humans, albeit highly trained, facing off against World Eaters, damn that was cool), there’s a really interesting discussion brewing about how the Emperor’s will should be divined and followed. I wouldn’t mind seeing that discussion play out a little more but for now, I’m more than happy with what we get in ‘Eradicant’. If you like your Imperial Guard (sorry, Astra Militarum…) then you really need to check out ‘Eradicant’ if you haven’t already.

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