I thought I'd switch things up, just a little bit :o) Instead of making the commute to work all about catching up with the Black Library stuff on my 'phone Kindle', I thought I'd treat myself to an hours reading when I got home, last night, after dropping my girls off with their Mum. The flat is always a lot quieter after they go, almost too quiet sometimes, so what better way to drown out the silence than with a hefty dose of gunfire and heroism? Nope, me neither ;o) So that's exactly what I went and did... And it worked. Let me tell you about it.
'The Strong Among Us' - Steve Lyons
Page Count: 33 Pages
Blackfire Forge is under siege. For seventeen days, faceless warriors have bombarded the walls of the forge, trying to break through its formidable defences and take the facility in the name of their god. Jarrah, a menial in the forge, may not know how to use the weapons that are attacking them, but he knows who built them: he and his fellow workers. For it is not an enemy of aliens or traitors who are at the walls: it is the Death Korps of Krieg, servants of the Imperium. Blackfire Forge has already fallen… and Jarrah prays the Emperor's forces can arrive in time to save him from those who would call themselves his allies.
I'm part-way through 'Siege of Vraks' at the moment so 'The Strong Among Us' intrigued me with its promise of showing us what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Death Korps siege. I was interested to see what spin, if any, Lyons gave the tale. After all, he is the 'Death Korps Guy' and there is only so much that you can say about a remorseless army that will happily die to atone for the sins of its ancestors, so... Is there anything new left to say?
The answer here is, 'no, not really, we're just seeing it from the other end of the las-rifle'. And that's ok because it gives Lyons the opportunity to show us how he handles the brief and bloody lives of Imperial citizens caught in the crossfire. Jarrah's terror lends urgency to the plot and develops the character in ways that you may see coming but are fair enough, given that sometimes, the only choice you can make is to survive.
Not a bad read at all.
Page Count: 30 Pages
On the doorstep of Holy Terra, the shadow of treachery still lurks. Upon a comet-shrine dedicated to the glory of Unity, a group of heretic Word Bearers prepare to return to the Solar System after being abandoned by their brethren - only the forces commanded by Sigismund, First Captain of the Imperial Fists, stand between the traitors and their goal. But will the legendary Templar's skill at arms be enough to prevail over this new enemy, or will the doubt in his heart prove ultimately to be his undoing?
I thoroughly enjoyed 'Cypher: Lord of the Fallen' and what I've managed to read of 'Mortis', so far, hasn't been bad either so I'm definitely up for reading more of John French's Warhammer 40K stuff. 'Templar' popped up and all of a sudden there it was on my Kindle ;o)
'Templar' is a lot more straightforward than 'Cypher' was and that's entirely fitting, given the nature of Sigismund's mission and the pragmatic nature of the Imperial Fists themselves. French does find room though for exploration of how the events of Istvaan V have rippled out into the wider cosmos and how this is fundamentally changing how the Astartes view their brothers. That and a nice little dose of 'demonic confrontation' that forces Sigismund to really face a question that he has been trying to avoid. Maybe 'Templar' is a little too straightforward for my tastes (although to be fair, there is a little room to manoeuvre in a story that's only 30 pages long) but it did its job well and that was all I was after.
Comments
Post a Comment