40K Bits and Pieces… ‘The Wrath of Kharn’ (William King) & ‘Trials of Azrael’ (C.Z. Dunn)

I’ve spent the week trying to cheer up a depressed cat (Cat 1) while trying to keep a hyperactive kitten (Cat 2) from wrecking my ex-wife’s place. Lets just say it’s easier said than done and my reading has taken a bit of a knock, just at the time when I wanted to finally finish some ‘long unfinished’ stuff before the year wraps up. Also, while I’m in a much better place than I was a couple of months ago, this year has still been one hell of a slog and I’m really (really) tired and still forgetting all sorts. Like, reading books for example :o)

Oh well… I did manage to read a little yesterday and listened to a quick audio-book, both Warhammer 40K (to absolutely no-one’s surprise) Let me tell you all about it…

‘The Wrath of Kharn’ – William King (Black Library)

Page Count: 15 Pages

Of all the enemies that the Berzerkers of Khorne wage war against in the 41st Millennium, none are so hated by their blood-soaked god as the servants of his rival, Slaanesh. As Khârn, champion of the Blood God and renowned across the galaxy as 'the Betrayer', leads an assault on the Slaaneshi Temple of Superlative Indulgence, he knows his lord's blessing is with him – but will the insidious wiles of the servants of the god of excess prove a match for the Betrayer's fury?

Just a random thought… Khorne and Slaanesh are basically both gods of violent excess, why do they hate each other so much? You would have thought these two (and their followers) would be helping each other out with the ol’ indulging. Hmmm… Anyway :o)

Kharn is one of those characters, in the 40K setting, that you can’t really do much with as a writer; he has his narrative arc (racking up kills) and he is basically unstoppable. That does render things a little pointless here as we know how things will turn out. Having said that though, William King is as good at portraying grimdark war as he is showing us Gotrek squaring off against the ‘monster of the day’; the end result being an eye catching display of brutal combat, especially from our boy Kharn.

And King does have at least one surprise up his sleeve as well which makes makes for a nice twist towards the end. Not a bad read then and it has left me wondering how Kharn would do in his own full length book. There are a couple out there…

‘Trials of Azrael’ – C.Z. Dunn (Black Library)

Run Time: 70 Minutes

As war rages in the Pandorax system, the Imperial battleship Revenge comes under attack by the dread forces of Chaos.

As warriors of the Black Legion rampage through the venerable craft, Supreme Grand Master Azrael leads the First Company of the Dark Angels - the elite Deathwing - onto the vessel to eliminate the enemy. Separated from his men, Azrael finds himself trapped in the lower decks with only a tech-priest for company and one of the galaxy's most fearsome warriors hunting him: the infamous Khârn the Betrayer.

And the more I think about now, Kharn is a big deal in the setting but very much a supporting character in the fiction, very much like the Hulk in the MCU. That’s definitely what he is here and I’ve got to admit, it’s fun listening to him fight his way through an entire battleship of enemies and allies. Did he have to sound like Dracula though? I’m not so sure about that one ;o)

As for the story itself (which is what we’re here for), I think you’re going to get a lot more out of it if you’ve already read Dunn’s novel ‘Pandorax’. I haven’t read it and I feel like I missed out on some of the wider implications. What I got though was a great way of tuning out the antics of Cat 2 for just over an hour, I really can’t complain about that ;o) Things move along at a decent rate and I came away with some good insight into Azrael and the Death Wing (I still don’t know much about the Dark Angels so stories like these are always interesting). And because I wasn’t paying much attention to her, Cat 2 ended up falling asleep next to me, a win all round for me ;o)