‘The Strength of Symbols’ & ‘Bitter Salvage’ (Black Library)

This week has been a better week for reading, better than last week anyway, but I’m still struggling a little for time so figured last night was a good time to open up my Kindle and have some time in the Grim, Dark Universe of the far future. Just a couple of short stories this time round; a little Space Marine action and a mission that will literally reunite Cadians under one banner.


‘The Strength of Symbols’ – Carrie Harris

Page Count: 36 Pages

Cadian medic Cathris Korr, a Valhallan transplant, is part of a squad sent on a special mission to retrieve a regimental banner stolen by the opposing ork army. When their Chimera is destroyed, Cathris must overcome her fear of the Orks and put her skills as a healer to good use in order to bring the banner where it is needed most, and earn her place amongst the Cadians.

The narrative could have been a little tighter (although that could just be me, I don’t need loads of background scenery) but the plot itself was a very effective mix of a high stakes mission and a look at how a fractured Cadian regiment might just be on the road to healing. And it’s all seen through the eyes of an army medic, a viewpoint that I personally haven’t seen enough in this setting. ‘The Strength of Symbols’ had enough going for it to be a very engaging read.


‘Bitter Salvage’ – Nick Kyme

Page Count: 12 Pages

In the aftermath of a savage battle against vicious greenskins, warriors of the Black Templars find themselves at odds with their Marines Malevolent allies over the spoils of war.

If I had to pick the Space Marines Chapter with the coolest name, it would definitely be the Marines Malevolent . I mean seriously, just say that name to yourself and you’ll see what I mean. The Marines Malevolent are also the Chapter that I know the least about so ‘Bitter Salvage’ seemed like a great opportunity to find out a little more.

And… At only 12 pages long, I was never going to find out an awful lot but this was an intriguing tale anyway; one that had me questioning whether the Marines Malevolent are just scavenging pirates or whether they are just trying to fight for the Emperor in the best way they can. Either way, Kyme makes it clear that it’s a grim old universe out there and even the Marines have to do whatever it takes to survive in it. I really enjoyed this one, especially how it ended. I’m not sure that there are any but I really want to read some longer works about the Marines Malevolent now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘The Way Out’ & ‘Perdition’s Flame’ (Warhammer Horror, Black Library)

Image
It’s Friday so you’d normally be looking at a post on whatever I read, on the bus to/from work, yesterday. Not today though… I had a touch of insomnia followed by a day in the office so while I had a book in my bag (I always have a book in my bag…), I was in no state to actually read it. Luckily, I had a couple of Black Library audiobooks on my phone so I listened to them instead. As a rule, I don’t tend to do too well with audiobooks that are hours long and just a narrator narrating. Black Library though, have a nice line in audiobooks that have a full cast, run for just over an hour and are full of immersive sound effects I thought I’d see how that worked with a couple of ‘Warhammer Horror’ tales… ‘The Way Out’ – Rachel Harrison In the midst of a vast gas nebula lies a remote watch-station, hanging silently against a tapestry of dying stars. It sits alone, patiently awaiting lost travellers adrift in the freezing vastness of the void. To such souls it appears as a blessing, a safe h...
Read more

‘Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth’ (1992)

Image
Every time Halloween comes round, I promise myself that I’ll watch more horror films and read more horror fiction; we’re halfway through the month and you can see how that’s going so far… There’s still plenty of October left though so lets see how I do from now until the end of the month ;o) First up is ‘Hellraiser 3’ which I watched last night, mostly because I love it (you can tell how this post is going to go, sorry…) but also because it was cheap on Prime and I’m still just on the wrong side of payday. Here goes… TV reporter Joey Summerskill’s life is changed forever when she witnesses the horrific death of a teenager, torn apart by bloody chains. Joey’s search for a story leads her to the Lament Configuration Box but it has already been opened, waking an old evil from its slumber… Now Pinhead walks the earth once more, creating a new army of Cenobites from the transmuted flesh of his victims; his one desire to reclaim the Box. Even with help from an unexpected source, Joey Summers...
Read more

'Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone’ – Zub, Scharf, Canola (Titan Comics, Heroic Signatures)

Image
It’s starting to look like this could be the week where I make a half decent dent in my ‘Comics TBR Pile’, lets see how we do... I’ve really been struggling with the ‘Savage Sword of Conan’ collection just recently (more than one reason but I want to finish the collection first before I talk about it) and I thought that I’d have to take a little step back from ‘Conan’ comics and come back when I was in a better mood for it. Until I realized that there was another ‘Conan’ comic lurking in the TBR pile and maybe I could give that a go instead. So that’s what I did. I’ve caught little glimpses of the ‘Black Stone’ storyline, in other ‘Conan’ comics, but I can’t help but feel that the event has kind of passed me by a little. That’s on me though to be fair, I’ve got the attention span of a goldfish right now and there are so many books that I just haven’t been able to focus on; I suspect a couple of them talk about a Black Stone… Oh well, I’m here now. Where better a place to catch up on ‘B...
Read more