Some More Warhammer Short Stories…
As a child, I used to hate going back to school, after the summer holidays, because… Well, it’s obvious, I was a kid and I hated school. Those days are long behind me now, thank goodness, but as a parent, I still hate it when school starts up after the summer. Nothing to do with the work etc, more a case of September & October being the months where I come down with at least one heavy cold that one of my daughters has brought home, from school, with them. My youngest daughter was the responsible party this time and so, pretty much all of yesterday was spent in the comfy chair, drinking Lemsips and generally feeling sorry for myself. Luckily for me, I’m already on sick leave ;o)
I’m working my way through ‘The End and the Death: Volume 1’ and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I really need to be on top of my game to stand any chance with this book. I’ll tell you more about that when I finally post my thoughts; for now, lets just say that I wasn’t on top of my game yesterday so retreated to the Kindle App and read some Warhammer short stories instead. Let me tell you about them.
‘Vigil’ – James Swallow
Page Count: 9 Pages
Brother-Sergeant Tarikus of the Doom Eagles waits. Standing vigil on a war-torn world, he reflects on a life of duty and service as he awaits his chance to strike at the foe.
I’m always up for learning about Space Marine Chapters, that I’ve never come across, so when I saw ‘Vigil’, I was keen to give it a go. I started reading, blinked, and that was it; ‘Vigil’ was done. I try not to moan too much, about short story length, but Black Library do like to test me when they can. I knew what I was getting myself into but when a story is only nine pages long, surely the pricing model can be a little more flexible?
Anyway…
There’s not a lot of story here so there’s not a lot I can say really. ‘Vigil’ is a nice little info-dump, for lore about the Doom Eagles, but is far too short to do anything else other than read like a prologue to a novel that I’m guessing was never written.
‘A Song for the Lost (Call of Chaos)’ – Robbie Macniven
Page Count: 19 Pages
In the Basilica of Himaeus the Justicar, nursing his latest beating from Bishop Eziah, young Ulix waits for Sister D’Fey to come and sing to him the only song that can ease his pain. He knows not why the other boys in the dorm hate her presence – nor does he care. When she sings the Song for the Lost, all his fears are soothed. As her voice lulls him to sleep, he cannot know that in his desire to escape the hardships of his life, he walks a path to an even darker future.
This was a bit more like it, it’s funny what a few extra pages can do for a story…
Coming off the back of a couple of Macniven’s ‘Carcharodons’ tales, I thought I’d read another one of his tales. ‘A Song for the Lost’ is a powerful tale of the inevitability of corruption, in a setting that breeds this, as well as adding a sense of tragedy to Ulix’s tale. The ‘rewards’ of Chaos are only ever fleeting…
‘The Old Ways (Callis & Toll) – Nick Horth
Agents Callis and Toll of the Order of Azyr venture into the vast marshlands east of the grand city of Excelcis to investigate the death of the noble son of one of two warring clans. Was his death a tragic accident or vicious murder? A full-scale uprising could result if they're not careful – and this would cause untold death if the Stormcast Eternals were called to end it. It falls to Callis and Toll then, to uncover the truths and save thousands of lives.
And finally, it was a quick jump over to the Mortal Realms of the ‘Age of Sigmar’ for some more detective work from Callis and Toll. I enjoyed this tale although at one point, the plot did feel like it got bogged down in its gloomy backdrop. And I was left wondering just how ‘urgent’ this case actually was… It felt like Toll solved it very early on but left things hanging in order to teach Callis a lesson so… Maybe not that urgent then?
There was a nice little twist, at the end, though (and a whole load of undead to fight) so on the whole, I was happy with what I read :o)
I’m working my way through ‘The End and the Death: Volume 1’ and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I really need to be on top of my game to stand any chance with this book. I’ll tell you more about that when I finally post my thoughts; for now, lets just say that I wasn’t on top of my game yesterday so retreated to the Kindle App and read some Warhammer short stories instead. Let me tell you about them.
Page Count: 9 Pages
Brother-Sergeant Tarikus of the Doom Eagles waits. Standing vigil on a war-torn world, he reflects on a life of duty and service as he awaits his chance to strike at the foe.
I’m always up for learning about Space Marine Chapters, that I’ve never come across, so when I saw ‘Vigil’, I was keen to give it a go. I started reading, blinked, and that was it; ‘Vigil’ was done. I try not to moan too much, about short story length, but Black Library do like to test me when they can. I knew what I was getting myself into but when a story is only nine pages long, surely the pricing model can be a little more flexible?
Anyway…
There’s not a lot of story here so there’s not a lot I can say really. ‘Vigil’ is a nice little info-dump, for lore about the Doom Eagles, but is far too short to do anything else other than read like a prologue to a novel that I’m guessing was never written.
‘A Song for the Lost (Call of Chaos)’ – Robbie Macniven
Page Count: 19 Pages
In the Basilica of Himaeus the Justicar, nursing his latest beating from Bishop Eziah, young Ulix waits for Sister D’Fey to come and sing to him the only song that can ease his pain. He knows not why the other boys in the dorm hate her presence – nor does he care. When she sings the Song for the Lost, all his fears are soothed. As her voice lulls him to sleep, he cannot know that in his desire to escape the hardships of his life, he walks a path to an even darker future.
This was a bit more like it, it’s funny what a few extra pages can do for a story…
Coming off the back of a couple of Macniven’s ‘Carcharodons’ tales, I thought I’d read another one of his tales. ‘A Song for the Lost’ is a powerful tale of the inevitability of corruption, in a setting that breeds this, as well as adding a sense of tragedy to Ulix’s tale. The ‘rewards’ of Chaos are only ever fleeting…
‘The Old Ways (Callis & Toll) – Nick Horth
Agents Callis and Toll of the Order of Azyr venture into the vast marshlands east of the grand city of Excelcis to investigate the death of the noble son of one of two warring clans. Was his death a tragic accident or vicious murder? A full-scale uprising could result if they're not careful – and this would cause untold death if the Stormcast Eternals were called to end it. It falls to Callis and Toll then, to uncover the truths and save thousands of lives.
And finally, it was a quick jump over to the Mortal Realms of the ‘Age of Sigmar’ for some more detective work from Callis and Toll. I enjoyed this tale although at one point, the plot did feel like it got bogged down in its gloomy backdrop. And I was left wondering just how ‘urgent’ this case actually was… It felt like Toll solved it very early on but left things hanging in order to teach Callis a lesson so… Maybe not that urgent then?
There was a nice little twist, at the end, though (and a whole load of undead to fight) so on the whole, I was happy with what I read :o)
Yeah, school starting is the number one reason for the spread of sickness this time of year. What can you do about it though, right? :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's just one of those things isn't it. My youngest daughter has given it to her sister and my ex-wife though so there's nothing else I can do at this point ;o)
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