‘Tales from the Dark Millennium’ – Various (Black Library)

 

Page Count: 253 Pages (I didn’t read them all though, not this time)

Before I kick this post off, I just want to start off by saying that I’m pretty proud of myself over here :o) Yep, I’ve made it through ten days of ‘cat-sitting’ without mistakenly calling out the emergency vet; you’d think that’s a low bar to aim for but it’s a surprisingly easy one for me to miss completely. And ‘Cat Number One’ really knows how to hold a grudge.

Anyway, lets actually talk about the book, shall we…? ;o)

When I’m trawling charity shop bookshelves, I will invariably grab any Black Library book that I come across, especially the older ones that seem to go for an absolute fortune on eBay. If you don’t take a chance right there, you might not get another one; it’s either that or I just really want to buy a book (any book…), both reasons are valid as far as I’m concerned ;o)

Now a lot of the time, this approach will more or less guarantee me a decent read but every now and then, I get one that doesn’t quite work. Not often (being a fan of Black Library helps) but every now and then. ‘Tales of the Dark Millennium’ was, unfortunately, one of those books. Let me tell you why…

The Pyrus Reach Sector is under attack from the vast hordes of Chaos, orks and eldar; it falls to the brave defenders of humanity to stem the tide. Many will be called upon to give their lives in the name of the God-Emperor, but it is a price that they are willing to pay!

‘Tales of the Dark Millennium’ is a collection of Warhammer 40K tales that was compiled to accompany the release of the ‘Dark Millennium’ collectible card game, from way back in the day. And if you’ve just read that sentence and know where I’m going with this one then, damn I’m becoming too predictable in my middle age ;o)

I won’t bang on about it too much then but it’s true, not every story is going to work for everyone (not unless you’re really lucky) and while I’m a big fan of anthologies, ‘Tales of the Dark Millennium’ had far too many entries that didn’t quite do it for me. Lets take a look at why that was…

‘The Falls of Marakross’ – Steve Parker

For all that I just said, ‘The Falls of Marakross’ was an effective opening salvo for this collection; telling a tale of the secret war that the Dark Angels fight while they’re also fighting for the Imperium. I’m coming to enjoy ‘Dark Angels’ tales more and more; ‘The Falls of Marakross’ was a good mix of intrigue and action playing off each other, all set against a backdrop that left you in no doubt as to where you were.

‘Vindicare’ – C.S. Goto

And then we came to ‘Vindicare’, a story that I had high hopes for, given that the Vindicare are easily the coolest assassins in the setting. While it’s awesome that they can hold the same position for days on end, that doesn’t translate well into a story when all your lead is doing is basically standing there, waiting for the perfect moment; especially when it looks like the Imperium are losing on the field. There isn’t a sense of tension here, not from me anyway (it’s clear how it will end). I was just left wishing that the sniper would hurry up and carry out the order. Maybe that was the ‘tension’ and I just missed it?

‘The Prisoner’ – Graham McNeill

Now this was much more like it, a special prisoner is delivered to an Imperial Penal Faciilty while a another prisoner is looking to escape. Again, McNeill gives us a real feel of the setting and uses this to highlight a mixture of intrigue and action that keeps the pages turning very easily. And all of that is rounded off with a cameo that I never saw coming.

‘The Invitation’ – Dan Abnett

Normally I’d say something like ‘Abnett has yet to write a poor Warhammer 40k story’ but I think he just did…

To be fair, ‘The Invitation’ does everyhing it sets out to do but somehow missed the mark (for me anyway) when it comes to grounding the reader in the setting. I’m always on hand for a good story but when it comes to Warhammer 40k, it’s just as important for me to feel like I’m in that ‘grimdark far future’. This time round, I felt like ‘The Invitation’ could have been a Star Wars tale for all the effort that went into the background detail. I guess that’s what comes of setting your tale in the countryside, in the middle of winter, it really could have taken place anywhere.

‘A Balance of Faith’ – Darren-Jon Ashmore

Now this was more like it regarding the setting, there’s no doubt that we’re reading a WH40k story here :o) Where things fell down for me was where the story chose to aim its focus. A Sister of Battle having a crisis of conscience is fair enough, having a chunk of your tale be about the resulting conversation between the Sister and a Space Marine just felt like a wasted opportunity, especially when its followed by a big old scrap that would have made for a much better backdrop. Having said that though, ‘A Balance of Faith’ is one of the few stories here that might benefit from a re-read, maybe I will go back to it and give it another go.

‘Gate of Souls’ – Mike Lee

Another cameo from everyones favourite/least favourite Heretic Astartes makes the difference in another tale that really could have been set in any number of universes otherwise. When you-know-who turns up, you know where you are and I liked the idea of the Word Bearers just ‘passing through’ on business of their own.

‘Fates Masters, Destinys Servants’ – Matt Keefe

I like the twist, at the end but damn, it felt like it took far too long to get there. I ended up skipping to a couple of pages, before the end, to see what happened, and I don’t feel like I missed out on anything by doing that.

I won’t go into C.S. Goto’s ‘Tears of Blood’ too much as while I didn’t finish it, I suspect that was on me more than the tale itself. As a faction, the Eldar have never really grabbed me, at all, and I think that fed into ‘Tears of Blood’. There was nothing there that grabbed me but maybe it just wasn’t written for me. That’s not the tale’s fault.

Bearing in mind that I have other stuff going on (that may have influenced the read), I don’t want to be too harsh but ‘Tales from the Dark Millennium’ sits very firmly in the ‘flashes of potential but ultimately didn’t achieve it’ camp, not for me anyway. Oh well, onto the next book… ;o)