2025 Booklog

White Dwarf 493

Riders of the Dead by Dan Abnett

White Dwarf 494

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn

The Siege of Terra: Era of Ruin (Anthology)

Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Dawn of Fire: The Silent King by Guy Haley

In the Grim Darkness by Guy Haley

His Will by Guy Haley

The Armour of Fate by Guy Haley

Arks of Omen: Farsight

Arks of Omen: The Lion 

2024 Booklog

Well, the end of the year snuck up on me. So I guess here is the final list of titles read for 2024. Over the winter break I began and continued a few others, but didn't finish anything further.

I'm not sure I care to pick a book of the year, but I'll go ahead and call it The End and the Death Volume III, the capstone of the Horus Heresy series. It was definitely momentous. For a runner-up, I'll say Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, which was a lot of fun, also. Special shout out to John Gray's The New Leviathans, one of the few dalliances into non-fiction I've taken lately, aside from articles online.

The Hunt for Vulkan by David Annandale

The Beast Must Die by Gav Thorpe

White Dwarf 483

White Scars: A Codex Space Marines Supplement

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy - Liber Mechanicum

The End and the Death Volume III by Dan Abnett

White Dwarf 484

White Dwarf 485

The Art of the Horus Heresy

The New Leviathans by John Gray

Watchers in Death by David Annandale

The Last Son of Dorn by David Guymer

Shadow of Ullanor by Rob Sanders

White Dwarf 486

The Beheading by Guy Haley

The Verdict of the Scythe by David Annandale

White Dwarf 487

Sanguinius: The Great Angel by Chris Wraight

Inquisitor: The War for the Emperor's Soul

Resurrection: The Horusian Wars

White Dwarf 488

White Dwarf 489

White Dwarf 490

White Dwarf 491

War Zone Octarius: Book 1: Rising Tide

War Zone Octarius: Book 2: Critical Mass

Arks of Omen: Vashtorr

Dawn of Fire: Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme

Defragmentation by Nick Kyme

White Dwarf 492

Prologue to Nikaea by David Annandale

The Prisoner by Graham McNiell

Dread Night by Nick Kyme

Crucible by John French

Kaldor Draigo: Knight of Titan by L J Goulding

Sacrifice by Ben Counter

Witness by Joe Parrino

Maledictus by David Annandale

True Name by David Annandale

Incorruptible by David Annandale

The Mourning Tower by David Annandale

Solemnity by Nick Kyme

Reading 2023

The Successors: A Space Marine Anthology
The Trial of the Mantis Warriors

The Fields of Abundance

The Shel'tain Affair

Garro: Knight of Grey

Arks of Omen: Abaddon

The End and the Death Vol. 1

Arks of Omen: Angron

White Dwarf 476

Dawn of Fire: The Iron Kingdom

Kin

White Dwarf 477

The Emperor's Gift

The Emperor Expects

White Dwarf 478

Dawn of Fire: The Martyr's Tomb

The Wolf's Hour

White Dwarf 479

Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader

The Last Wall

Primacy

Light of a Crystal Sun

A Memory of Tharsis

White Dwarf 480

Fabius Bile: Manflayer

The End and the Death Vol. 2

Genefather

Throneworld

Visage

The Long Promise

Dawn of Fire: Sea of Souls

Gruntwork

White Dwarf 481

The Nine

The Last Loyalist

White Dwarf 482

Echoes of the Long War

Again, a whole lot of Black Library (Warhammer) fiction. I guess I get all my non-fiction needs from news articles, social media, and podcasts. I do want to read more history books, though. I've got several I've been meaning to get to, or slowly progressing through.

2022 Reading

White Dwarf 467
Prophecy of the Wolf

Codex: Necrons

Severed

White Dwarf 468

Codex: Astra Militarum

White Dwarf 469

Codex: Craftworlds

Mark of Faith

Wolf King

War Zone Nachmund: Vigilus Alone

Wolves of Fenris

Battle of the Fang

The Hunt for Magnus

White Dwarf 470

Fist of the Imperium

Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader

Dawn of Fire: Throne of Light

The Divine Instrument

White Dwarf 471

Sanguine

War Zone Nachmund: Rift War

Vaults of Terra: The Hollow Mountain

The Librarian’s Acolyte

Fearful Symmetries

The Brightest and Best

A Small Cog

White Dwarf 472

Cthonia’s Reckoning

Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow

The Caligari Archivum: Burden

I am Slaughter

Vaults of Terra: The Dark City

The Siege of Terra: Echoes of Eternity

Fabius Bile: Primogenitor

Fire & Blood

Predator, Prey 

White Dwarf 473

Prodigal

The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal

The Iron Without

Renegades: Harrowmaster

Prince of Blood

The Path Unclear

White Dwarf 474

Fabius Bile: Clonelord

Confession of Pain

Aria Arcana

White Dwarf 475

And so another year of tons and tons of Black Library (Warhammer) fiction draws to an end. I did also plow through GRRM's Fire & Blood, which I highly enjoyed.

Book of the Year has to go to The Siege of Terra: Echoes of Eternity, hands down. 

I'll give my Honorable Mention status to both Fire & Blood and Watchers of the Throne: The Regent's Shadow, which stuck with me in the time since reading it more than most of these.

2021 Review and Awards

Games Played In 2021

AVSEQ

Aeronautica Imperialis: Flight Command
Animal Crossing New Horizon
Art of Rally
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
Assassin's Creed Origins
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
Bastion
Blood Bowl 2
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Crystalis
Diablo II Resurrected
Elite: Dangerous
Endless Legend
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Final Fantasy XIV
Forza Horizon 3
Grand Theft Auto V
Halo Infinite
Hunt: Showdown
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Metal Gear Solid
Might & Magic VI
Might & Magic X - Legacy
Project Triangle Strategy
Quake
Receiver
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
Shenzhen I/O
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Skyrim
Tetris 99
The Elder Srolls III: Morrowind
The Horus Heresy: Legions
The Signal from Tolva
The Ultimate Doom
The Witness
Total War: Shogun 2
Twilight Struggle
Valheim
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Warhammer Underworlds Online
Wilmot's Warehouse

Books Read In 2021

Alpharius: Head of the Hydra
Amor Fati
Ashes of Prospero
Auric Gods
Blood of the Emperor
Bloodhowl
By Your Command
Call of the Pack
Codex Adeptus Astartes: Grey Knights
Codex Supplement: Traitor Legions
Codex Supplement: Ultramarines
Codex: Grey Knights (2021)
Codex: Imperial Knights
Dark Imperium: Godblight
Dawn of Fire: The Gate of Bones
Dawn of Fire: The Wolftime
Dominion
Eater of Dreams
Endurance
How to Paint: Silver Templars
Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah
Inferno! Presents: The Inquisition
Knights of Macragge
Luther: First of the Fallen
Mortarion's Heart
Mortis
Pariah
Penitent
Psychic Awakening: Engine War
Psychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising
Psychic Awakening: Saga of the Beast
Psychic Awakening: The Collected Fiction
Rites of Passage
Sanctuary and Sacrifice
Serpents of Ardemis
Storm of Iron
The Ghost Halls
The Gildar Rift
The Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness Rulebook
The Labyrinth of Lost Souls
The Lords of Silence
The Tyrant's Champion
Titanicus
Unification
Vaults of Terra: Argent
Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne
War of Secrets
War Zone Charadon Act I: The Book of Rust
War Zone Charadon Act II: The Book of Fire
Warhammer 40,000: Titan
Warhawk
White Dwarf 458
White Dwarf 459
White Dwarf 460
White Dwarf 461
White Dwarf 462
White Dwarf 463
White Dwarf 464
White Dwarf 465
White Dwarf 466

I guess I've played some games over the last year, probably mostly on a whim or for the purposes of podcasting. 

GOTY: Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector

Honorable Mention: Valheim

I've continued to do a ton of reading in 2021, which is awesome. I probably should read more non-fiction, though. I may consider that a new year's resolution.

BOTY: Warhawk by Chris Wraight

Honorable Mention: Alpharius: Head of the Hydra by Mike Brooks, Penitent by Dan Abnett

2020 In Reading

 I have continued to voraciously consume Warhammer lore, in various forms, in 2020, and almost the entirety of this list is made up of such. Many of these are short stories I recorded individually, some are novels, some are complations of short stories, some are magazines, some are lore or rules supplements for the tabletop game, et cetera.

I don't really know how to express all of this in 'books read' or anything, nor do I have a wordcount, but the day this year when I haven't been reading something has been rare. And I feel like that is a good thing! So, here's to more of that going forward into 2021. If I have one resolution, it would be to read more non-fiction, as well. History, especially.

From this massive list below, I'd like to choose a book of the year, and it must fall to Dan Abnett's Saturnine, the incredible fourth novel in the Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra series. Other highlights include Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Spear of the Emperor, Chris Wraight's Valdor: Birth of the Imperium and Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion, Guy Haley's Devastation of Baal and Dawn of Fire: Avenging Son, Graham McNeill's Sons of the Selenar and Fury of Magnus, and oh, I'll stop now. Suffice it to say there is some really good stuff being written for Warhammer properties! 

Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal

White Dwarf 457

Bitter End

The Lightning Hall

Sacrifice

Primary Instinct

But Dust In The Wind

Exhumed

His Will

Heart of Rage

Codex Supplement: Iron Hands

Embers of Extinction

The Serpent’s Dance

White Dwarf 456

The Infinite and the Divine

Index Astartes Renegade Space Marine Chapters

Index Astartes Alpha Legion

White Dwarf 455

Honourbound

The Darkling Hours

Fire and Thunder

Trials

A Company of Shadows

Execution

Psychic Awakening: Sanguine

Psychic Awakening: The Shadow

Psychic Awakening: The Weak and the Strong

Psychic Awakening: Chase the Wind

Psychic Awakening: The Power of Belief

Psychic Awakening: Keeping Order

Psychic Awakening: A Test of Faith

Psychic Awakening: Into the Void

Psychic Awakening: The Gift of Hope

Psychic Awakening: The Path

The Walking Dead (Whisperer War to end)

Codex: Space Marines (2020)

Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First

First Legion

Fury of Magnus

A Witch's Fate

Dawn of Fire: Avenging Son

The Funeral

Voices in the Glass

Miracles

Runner

The Shadow Crown

Mud and Mist

The Thing in the Woods

A Deep and Steady Tread

Skin Man

Vox Daemonicus

Psychic Awakening: Ritual of the Damned

These Hands, These Wings

A Threnody for Kolchev

Suffer the Vision

Hab Fever Lockdown

The Summons of Shadows

Flesh and Blood

A Sending from the Grave

From the Halls, the Silence

Supplication

The Growing Seasons

Blood Sacrifice

The Healer

Stitches

He Feasts Forever

The Confession of Convict Kline

The Hunt

The Nothings

The Marauder Lives

A Darksome Place

Triggers

The Last Ascension of Dominic Seroff

Predation of the Eagle

The Long Games at Carcharias

Last of the Blood

The Chapo Guide to Revolution

No Good Deed

The Widow Tide

Nepenthe

Our Lord on Terra

Indomitus

Black Library: The Art of Warhammer 40,000

Black Dawn

Psychic Awakening: Pariah

The Edge of Silence

The Rewards of Tolerance

Runes

Daemonifuge

The Wonderworker

White Dwarf 454

The Devastation of Baal

Psychic Awakening: War of the Spider

Warhammer 40,000 Comics from Titan Publishing

Codex: Adeptus Custodes

Psychic Awakening: For Every End, a Beginning

Psychic Awakening: Consequences

Psychic Awakening: A Traitor's Trust

Devourer

The Word of the Silent King

Valdor: Birth of the Imperium

Codex Supplement: White Scars

Codex: Space Marines

At Gaius Point

Orphans of the Kraken

The Trial of the Mantis Warriors

The Last Detail

Consequences

The Returned

Twelve Wolves

The Teller of Tales

The God's Son

White Dwarf 453

White Dwarf 452

The First Primaris

Son of the Storm World

Blood Guilt

Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion

White Dwarf 451

Saturnine

Hunt for Voldorius

Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good

The Will of the Legion

Celestine: The Living Saint

Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter

White Dwarf 450

Spear of the Emperor

Sons of the Selenar

Sammael: Lord of the Eternal Hunt

Kor'sarro Khan: Huntmaster

White Dwarf (December)

Blood of Iax

White Dwarf (November)

Angron: Slave of Nuceria

Kill Team Annual 2019

2019 BOTY

I've continued to do quite a lot of reading in 2019. Here's what I have recorded as hobby/leisure relevant:

Corax: Lord of Shadows
White Dwarf (October)
The First Wall
Psychic Awakening: Faith and Fury
White Dwarf (September)
Imperium Nihilus: Vigilus Ablaze
White Dwarf (August)
Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work
Apocalypse
Codex Heretic Astartes: Daemonkin
Codex Adeptus Astartes: Vanguard Space Marines
Shadowspear
Imperium Nihilus: Vigilus Defiant
White Dwarf (July)
Savage Scars
Forsaken
How To Paint Space Marines
The Lost and the Damned
White Dwarf (June)
The Last Hunt
White Dwarf (May)
The Bloodied Rose
Mercy
Requiem Infernal
Macragge's Honour
White Dwarf (Apr)
Blood Oath
Legends of the Dark Millennium: Astra Militarum
White Dwarf (Mar)
The Solar War
A Company of Shadows
Endurance
White Dwarf (Feb)
Vigilus Ablaze shorts
Shadowspear shorts
Vigilus Defiant shorts
In the Grim Darkness
A Flash of Silver Among the Corroded Ghosts
The Wonderworker
The Buried Dagger
Ghost of Nuceria
Scions of the Emperor
Lantern's Light
Vulkan: Lord of Drakes
Bringer of Sorrow
Titandeath
White Dwarf (Jan)
The Herald of Doom
Warhammer 40,000 7th Ed. The Rules
Warhammer 40,000 7th Ed. Dark Millennium

That's 50 separate entries! These are a mixture of novels, short story anthologies, individual short stories and novellas, magazines, Codexes and campaign books, et cetera. That's a lot of Warhammer! I still have a lot to go, as well.

Highlights:

Book of the Year: Requiem Infernal
Honorable Mention: The Solar War/The Lost and the Damned/The First Wall

Peter Fehevari's Requiem Infernal was grim, and dark, and intensely interesting. I think it transcends the setting, as well. This could and should be enjoyed by anyone who likes dark fantasy, sci-fi, or horror fiction, as it's a mix of all three.

There's no way I could choose just one Siege of Terra novel as an Honorable Mention. They're all three great, and as a whole so far this sub-series has a different feel to it than the Horus Heresy series proper.

Overall I had another year packed full of reading about Warhammer (along with a lot of unremarkable non-fiction articles and such that I won't bang on about). I'm already started into 2020, as well, in the middle of one short story anthology and about to begin another novel.

Past years' totals:

2018: 40ish
2017: 20
2016: 20ish
2015: 4ish
2014: 18
2013: 9

Freedom '19

I may one day regret this, but I have done away with the video game and book backlog lists. They both just got too big, and I am no longer interested in consuming every single thing I have accumulated over the years for whatever reason or by whatever means.

I still mean to track the things I finish, and blog about those I enjoy, but I'm done with the odd guilt. Let them be tsundoita, I say.

2018 Books of the Year

I did a whole lot of reading in 2018. Nearly all of it was Warhammer related, though there were a few other books sprinkled in, some of which remain unfinished as yet.

Book of the Year: Slaves to Darkness
Honorable Mention: The Talon of Horus/Black Legion

I picked two Honorable Mentions last year, so why not. Aaron Dembski-Bowden's exploration of the emblematic Heretic Astartes faction is fantastic. I only had to give the BOTY nod to Slaves to Darkness for just how epic and primarch-studded it was.

This is a list of works I finished, including novels, short stories, and non-fiction books, with no real regard to how long any of them were, only that they were discrete purchases or documents. It makes a modicum of sense to me, at least.

There are 61 titles here in all:

Warhammer 40,000 7th Ed. A Galaxy of War
A Rose Watered With Blood
Getting Started With Warhammer 40,000
The Last Council
Child of Chaos
Champion of Oaths
The Atonement of Fire
A Lesson in Iron
Abyssal
Old Wounds, New Scars
Two Metaphysical Blades
Prologue to Nikaea
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign: Crusade of Fire
Restorer
Grandfather's Gift
Sons of the Emperor
Spear of Ultramar
Dreadwing
Heralds of the Siege
Dark Imperium: Plague War
Spelunky
Heroes of the Space Marines
The Armour of Fate
Warhammer 40,000 Gathering Storm: Rise of the Primarch
Warhammer 40,000 Codex Chaos Space Marines 2002
Warhammer 40,000 Codex Assassins 1999
Warhammer 40,000 Codex Space Marines 1998
The Last Son of Prospero
Treacheries of the Space Marines
Soft & Cuddly
Kingdom Hearts II
Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris
Slaves to Darkness
Sons of the Hydra
Unearthed
Truth Is My Weapon
We Are One
Hunted
Abaddon: Chosen of Chaos
Extinction
Born of Flame
Shroud of Night
The Red Path
Kharn: Eater of Worlds
The Weakness of Others
Enyalius, In Memoriam
Black Legion
The Talon of Horus
Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa
Wolfsbane
The Painted Count
Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix
Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero
Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar
The Burden of Loyalty
The Magos & The Definitive Casebook of Gregor Eisenhorn
Lorgar: Bearer of the Word
Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia
Leman Russ: The Great Wolf
Old Earth
Ruinstorm

37 whole books dusted off. If you compile all the short stories and other titles, 24 in all, I would put it near to 40 in all. Quite a bit more than usual, for me. Past years' totals follow.

2018: 40ish
2017: 20
2016: 20ish
2015: 4ish
2014: 18
2013: 9

I have a ton of books lined up to continue reading, as well. I don't know if I'll hit 2018 numbers again, but I will be turning pages for some time to come.

Codexes Warhammer and Other Another Game Book

I'm halfway through Heroes of the Space Marines at the moment, taking a diversion into Warhammer tabletop game Codexes, to both get the broad strokes of the lore behind major factions, and to check out how the lore has evolved over the years.

I went to ebay and bought a bunch of old 40K Codexes from past editions of the game. Most of the background here will still be applicable, but some has definitely been contradicted elsewhere, if not blatantly retconned. The nature of the setting is such that whether these changes are one or the other is up to interpretation. I prefer to think of the Codexes as being written (when it comes to the lore at least) from an in-universe perspective, and thus subject to mis- and dis-information, as well as the mundane twisting effect that the passage of time has on historical narrative.

So far I have read the Space Marines and Assassins Codexes, and have gotten into the Chaos Space Marines one. That leaves several more, including Necrons, Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Eye of Terror, Space Wolves, and Imperial Guard. Many more remain that I haven't bought yet, and that's before I start trying to address the different editions of these books, or other campaign books, like the Gathering Storm set I read previously. If I continue to find them in the neighborhood of $5, shipped, then I likely won't hesitate. I just can't get enough Warhammer 40,000.

I am also continuing to read Derek Yu's Spelunky book, which is a pretty interesting window into the development mind of the creator of one of my favorite games.

Books! Check 'em Out!

I'm in the middle of  several different books at the moment. I wound up reading the entirety of Boss Fight Books' Soft and Cuddly, which was damned entertaining, actually. I learned a lot about Sinclair computers of the 80s in the UK. For instance, they used cassette tapes as storage, and a fifteen-year-old could shake the foundations of the UK video game scene in that day, which a hacked together shock horror maso-core game inspired by Alice Cooper.

I have since moved on to Derek Yu's book about Spelunky in the same series. This one is much more about the development of the game, being by the game's creator rather than a third party. Spelunky is one of my favorite games, so the book is pretty interesting.

As a political dissident and leftist by American standards, I have had a good time listening to the Chapo Trap House podcast, and so I thought I would pick up their book. I can hear the podcasters' voices as I read through it, but I'm not sure the entirety of that raucus schtick plays as well in the medium of print. Sarcasm and bite come through much more clearly when spoken aloud, but the same statements just appear odd in print, minus the tone, inflection, and other context clues you get from a spoken statement. I think it's still worth a read, though.

With regards to the 41st millennium, I picked up a set of four anthologies of stories about Space Marines. I finished Treacheries of the Space Marines already, and have begun Heroes of the Space Marines. I have read comparatively few stories about Space Marines set in 40K as opposed to 30K. It's interesting to see how, for instance, the Night Lords or Iron Warriors have changed in 10,000 years, and the ways in which they have not. September has nothing new that I am interested in releasing from Black Library, but there are several things coming in October I want to get, so between now and then I want to get through as many of these ...Of the Space Marines anthologies as I can.

More Twaddling

On the reading front, which has really come to the fore this year, I have come to the end of my 30K supply, and for a while I will be reading 40K. That will, however, be somewhat backgrounded because of the fact that I'll be reading paperback anthologies, rather than on my Kindle phone app.

What I'll be reading there will instead be a bunch of non-fiction. For my first couple, I have decided to look in on the Boss Fight Books collection I picked up a while ago. I started with the two I thought I might never read, Kingdom Hearts II, and one about a game I had never heard of before, called Soft and Cuddly.

The Kingdom Hearts II book was a personal analysis of a game I could not care less about if I tried. The parts where the author described her experience playing the game and how that fit into her personal life were nice, but the parts where she summarized the game plot and characters were pretty dull, I must admit. I skimmed through a lot of that.

Soft and Cuddly, and I'm only a chapter in, seems to be about placing the game of the same name in time and context. It seems to have been an accidental inflection point in the interactions between UK games and politics. I'm eager to learn more of this game I know next to nothing of and will never play.

When it comes to games, I've kept waffling back and forth between things lately. At first I thought I was kind of in the mood for some Mega Man X, but rather than hook up my SNES Classic to play that, I thought I would reinstall A.R.E.S. Exctinction Agenda and play a little more of game very much inspired by the old Mega Man games. There are some differences, of course. Ares doesn't seem to come together as nicely. Polygonal 2D games pretty much always look awful, and this is no real exception.

Next, I thought I could maybe actually get into La-Mulana in a real way, but that game continues to elude me. I admire it a lot, but it turns out I'd rather play Spelunky, after all. So I did just that.

Waking Mars I tried out because it begins with W. It seems OK, but I'm not sure I'll play any further past the 25% mark that my save has me at. It plays with jetpacking around subterranian Mars, and encouraging native plant life to grow, but something about it just wasn't quite hooking me.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is free for new players at the moment, and so the multiplayer mode is experiencing a bit of a revival, which is nice. The last time I tried to play, no one else was. And that's a shame, because this is the best 40K action game out there. I got in a few rounds last night, and I'll continue checking in for as long as the audience holds out this time. It may be the last time the game is really playable online.

I have also begun a subscription to FFXIV. I haven't made much progress in the last couple of weeks, but I am committed to seeing it through to the endgame. Going into Labor Day weekend 2018, this is what I am most focused on.

The Khan in the Great Crusade

I read the eighth book in the Horus Heresy Primarchs series, Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris.

Like most in the sub-series, it explores the role of the titular primarch and his legion during the period of Imperial expansion before Horus fell, a period called the Great Crusade. The Khan was the fifteenth primarch to be found and reunited with the legion bred from his geneseed, the Star Hunters, which soon would be known as the White Scars, that moniker itself apparently a mis-hearing of their own term for themselves, Talskars.

Jaghatai and the Scars were always a group apart from the rest, preferring the wild and ragged edges of the Imperium, where they could be mostly left to themselves and their ways, some of which would come into conflict with those of their cousins in other legions. Chief among those was their use of Stormseers, those legionaries who were gifted and worked with psychic powers.

A good portion of the book deals with the early formation of the Librarius, a kind of joint venture between Jaghatai, Sanguinius, and Magnus the Red, to safeguard a place for psykers among the legions, which were scorned by some, Mortarion, Perturabo, and Leman Russ, especially. The Khan had been trying to sway Horus to their way of thinking on the matter, but the future Warmaster could not afford to take a side in the matter, maneuvering as he was for the promotion he knew was in the offing for one of the primarchs sooner or later.

The book also does a lot to set up the Khan's dilemma after the wider Heresy conflict has broken out--who to trust, the brother he admires and feels a tight kinship with, or the father he disagrees with but owes everything to? Who to side with?

Chris Wraight does a great job writing this one. He's quietly turned out some very good books and stories in the series, almost completely owning the White Scars, and doing a good amount of Space Wolves, as well.

Slaves to Darkness

I just finished book LI, or "51" of the Horus Heresy, a novel by John French entitled Slaves to Darkness. It was grand.

At this point in the story, Horus has broken open the path through space he needs to take to Terra, and now needs to consolidate his forces for the final push to confront the Emperor and cast him down. However, his coalition is really not one at all, and drastically needs marshaling and whipping into shape. Which is where his brothers Lorgar and Perturabo come in.

The primarchs of the XVII legion Word Bearers and the IV legion Iron Warriors, respectively, they are also the only ones Horus can turn to in order to track down and break (as one would a wild animal) his brothers, now ascended to daemonhood, Fulgrim and Angron. The wayward brothers have to be focused so that their respective legions can be gathered and controlled and brought together with the rest of the Warmaster's forces for the assault on Terra.

This book involves a lot of primarchs, but rarely is anything shown through one of their own points of view. Instead, we get to see through the eyes of several legionaries close to Horus, Lorgar, or Perturabo for various reasons, to observe how these titans deal with one another.

I was struck by how much Perturabo got to be cool this time out; he is usually being played or subordinated or humiliated in some way. I think French likes him. I do, too. He's (usually) cold, calm, stoic, and dependable. And loyal, in his own way. Iron within, iron without. Just don't let him feel neglected or unappreciated.

I'm impressed by French's works. First Praetorian of Dorn, and now this, not to mention Tallarn or his other stuff I've read.

Chaos Space Marines Research

Since finishing up my last Horus Heresy novel, book L, I have elected to read more about the Black and Alpha legions in the post-Heresy period of the Imperium of Man.

It can be hard to pin down when these take place, but its safe to assume the ones around the Black Legion are in the first few millennia of the post-Heresy period, and that the ones about the Alpha Legion are happening in M41, or perhaps even M42.

Extinction is set in the period where the Sons of Horus are being persecuted by the Emperor's Children and other traitor legions and warbands. Abaddon has abandoned them, and is making a pilgrimage across the Eye of Terror to find himself, as it were.

Abaddon: Chosen of Chaos is just a scene or two from the point of view of Khayon, the POV character of the Black Legion series. Curiously, it is set later in the timeline than either of the existing books, and likely even the next one in the series, since Abaddon appears to be in posession of the daemon sword Drach'nyen in this story.

Unearthed is the story of an interrogator in the Inquisition doing his best to foil an Alpha Legion warband that have decimated an imperial planet. In the end, he appears to have been able to remotely trigger a self-destruct sequence in his own ship, killing the Alpha Legion that have taken it over. Their leader is a character who was at least mentioned in the book I am reading now:

Sons of the Hydra. This is an interesting tale of an Alpha Legion warband made of entirely of space marines who were once members of other legions or chapters. One came from the Night Lords, one from the Dark Angels' Fallen faction, one from a now wiped out Ultramarines successor chapter, and so on. They are being led on a quest to steal a warp artefact of some sort from the Word Bearers to supposedly deliver it to whoever is currently leading the overall Alpha Legion. We'll see how that turns out, of course.

Truth is my Weapon was basically just an Inquisitor interrogating a captured Alpha Legionnaire, and eventually executing him, done stylistically, of course.

We are One is the story of an Inquisitor who is tracking the Alpha Legionnaire Phocron... to the end of his career.

Hunted is centered around an Imperial Guardsman who is being used in ways he doesn't quite understand by an Inquisitor to track down cultists from within their cells.

Words from the East

Most from as east as the UK, some about the Far East.

The Red Path - This story sees Kharn being sent an emissary from Abaddon. The Warmaster of Chaos apparently wants the Betrayer's help in his upcoming 13th Black Crusade. Kharn has no desire to follow the will of anyone but the Blood God, however, so Abaddon is forced to confront him in person, which goes about as well as you might imagine. It turns out, though, the for a time, the will of Khorne is aligning with the rest of the Chaos Gods through Abaddon. The Red Path will see Kharn act in concert with the Black Legion in the campaign to come.

Shroud of Night - This is mainly the story of an Alpha Legion warband, a harrow, in the newly split galaxy after the eruption of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the great rift of warp space to have spilt forth after Cadia fell to Abaddon in his 13th Black Crusade. They have been hired, in a way, by an Emperor's Children captain, sent to the world of Tsadrekha to corrupt the beacon there, a telepath witch the ability to act in a limited way like the Astronomican. However, a Khorne berzerker lord is also laying siege to the planet, and Kharn himself is in the mix, as well. This was a cool book, also featuring Primaris Imperial Fists, Sisters of Battle, and the Living Saint Celestine.

Born of Flame - Book 50 of the Horus Heresy. This is a compilation, though, of stories about the Salamanders legion before and during the galactic civil war. It's three novellas and a couple of short stories all by Nick Kyme, who has also written a trio of novels within the larger series around the legion and their primarch, Vulkan. The final novella in the collection, Sons of the Forge, has a cool flash-forward ending showing the 40K Salamanders chapter discovering the artefacts of Vulkan's creation that the story was centered around.

A History of Japan to 1334 - Just what the title says. I have only just begun this tome, but it's interesting so far. I know a decent amount about Japan's history from the Sengoku period through the Edo period, but not a ton outside of those.

Black Legion and Kharn

I've just come home from a week away on business, and I took the opportunity to dig deeper into Chaos Space Marines in 40K:

Black Legion - sequel to The Talon of Horus, and second book in the series of the same name. This one was all about the up and coming Black Legion breaking out of the Eye of Terror for the first time and starting their Long War on the Imperium. Rival traitor marine warbands in the Eye are a big threat, as are Sigismund and his Black Templars chapter keeping vigil over the Cadian Gate, awaiting the return of the traitor legions. Aaron Dembski-Bowden does not disappoint. And given the events of The Master of Mankind, I'm very much looking forward to the next book in this series, which it seems like will be about Abbadon claiming the demon blade Drach'nyen.

Kharn: Eater of Worlds - More than anything I was kind of shocked at how many beats this book shares with The Talon of Horus. In both books, the return of the legions former second in command is the centerpiece the whole thing swings around, in both the Emperor's Children are the main antagonists, in both a voidship is cast down as a projectile onto one of their cities, and both books are mostly focused on one warrior's point of view of the leader figure they are attempting to find or resurrect. From the looks of things both books must have been being written around the same time, as well, which is interesting. As for the Kharn book, it seems to have ended right at the climax. It's like it's missing a third of the book. What's here is pretty good, it just kind of ends, and there's no follow-up as far as I know. I would like to see what comes next at Skalathrax.

I didn't realize it until just now, but the short The Weakness of Others is from the POV of Kharn, and it is during the action on Skalathrax that earned him the moniker of Betrayer. It's just a short, though. A proper window into that event would have been nice, to see why it happened that way. It would still be possible, especially if told from the POV of the other characters in Kharn: Eater of Worlds.

One other short I read, Enyalius, In Memorium was about another onetime World Eater, dedicating the death of a massive Ultramarines voidship to a fallen brother Khorne berserker.

I still have a couple of Kharn/Chaos Space Marines books plotted out ahead of me, so I'll give an update on those when I finish them.

Talon of Horus, The

I've just finished Aaron Dembski-Bowden's 40K novel exploring the beginnings of the Black Legion, and the first in the series of the same name, entitled The Talon of Horus.

The book is set some indeterminate number of centuries after, but within a millennium of, the Horus Heresy. By this time the traitor legions defeated at Terra have all retreated into the Eye of Terror, and the Imperium has mostly forgotten about them and become accustomed to living under their undead god-emperor, now entombed on the Golden Throne.

It is told via the point of view of a onetime legionnaire of the Thousand Sons, Iskander Khayon, and has him laying out the story as a framing device to the Holy Inquisition on Terra, to whom he has willingly surrendured himself. Khayon begins the account with a short explanation of the state of the Nine Legions in the Eye, the ongoing Legion Wars, which pit them all against one another, for old grievances or for the glory of their respective Chaos gods, in some cases. We're introduced to Khayon's retinue, and before long he forms a loose band of other traitor space marines to go on a hunt for a weapon to foil the Emperor's Children and their plan to dominate the rest of the Nine Legions by cloning Horus, whose body has been kept by his former legion, until only recently having been taken in a raid by the Emperor's Children.

Over the course of the story, Khayon and crew come to meet Ezekyle Abbadon, former first captain of the Sons of Horus and right hand of the man himself, who goes on to be the main frontman of Chaos Space Marines in the 41st millennium, and the rest is fake history.

It was a pretty entertaining book for one somewhat versed in the overall lore of the setting, but I don't think I would recommend it as a place to begin for neophytes to 40K. Also, the Abbadon we see here is a wholly different person than the one present in the Horus Heresy series. Fair enough, it's eons later, and the man has been through some momentous things in the intervening years, but the only real explanation we have other than the obvious fact that time passes and things evolve and change is that at some point he went on a pilgrimage of worlds in the Eye, and through overcoming various trials basically reforged his personality, taking a lot of the edge off, while retaining and even bolstering his natural charisma and leadership abilities. He is able to compel loyalty and subordination here in a way not unlike how Horus and the other primarchs are described to so in their day.

Next up on my agenda is the next book in the series, simply called Black Legion.

The Iron Hand, Medusa's Gorgon Explained

Well, perhaps not fully explained. The Primarchs novel Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa explores a little of Ferrus' mindset in the later stages of the Great Crusade, as the Emperor mulls over deciding on someone to take command when he wants to retire to Terra for his next grand project.

Ferrus of course thinks it should be him given the honor and responsibility. At least, going into the Gardinaal compliance campaign, he does. By the end you get the sense that he doesn't really want to bother with command of more than one legion, and all the coordination and patience that goes with that kind of role.

Despite being a book centered around the primarch, there are a ton of other characters present here, several of which are from other legions, with a lot being Emperor's Children legionaries. We even get the rare POV of the enemy force, in this instance a not-yet-compliant branch of recently rediscovered humanity that has mastered it's own local star system, but nothing further. They are recalcitrant to join the Imperium, and are in general a real trial of Ferrus' temper.

It was a pretty decent story, but perhaps the least focused on its title character of the bunch so far, or perhaps sharing that distinction with the Guilliman book. These two are as much about the character of the legions present or the events of the campaign they take place during.

Next up, having come completely current with all of the released full numbered volumes of both the Horus Heresy and Primarchs series, I'm going to take a diversion over to 40K to read the two books currently released in the Black Legion series by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, who is without a doubt a top-tier author in 30K. I'm excited for these.

Wolfsbane

I just finished Guy Haley's Wolfsbane, book 49 of The Horus Heresy.

The great galactic civil war is drawing toward a conclusion. This is the story of how, late in the war, Space Wolves Primarch Leman Russ takes his legion from the defense of Terra and strikes out on a doomed attempt to kill the archtraitor, the Warmaster Horus Lupercal himself, before he can lead his forces to an assault on the Sol system.

We know going in that he is not able to kill Horus of course, and that the attempt destroys a large portion of the Space Wolves legion. These are future historical facts, after all. The tale is in the telling, though, and Haley spins a fast-moving one covering a lot of ground and featuring a lot of important characters and momentous events in what felt like a pretty tightly wound novel.

Coming out of Wolfsbane, we know that the surviving Space Wolves are bound for Yarant, pursued by a joint-traitor legions force led by Horus' right hand, Ezekyle Abbadon, and that Horus himself is rounding up the rest of his forces to move on Beta-Garmon, which is a big and important strategic location on the way to Terra. I understand a major battle takes place there. That may be addressed in the next book to move the overall story forward, which should be book 51, Slaves to Darkness.

Book 50, titled Born of Flame, is an anthology of to this point uncollected novellas and short stories around the Salamanders. Also coming up on the release list are the Primarchs books for Jaghatai Khan and Vulkan. Up next for me is a Horus Heresy short story I have not yet read but own from a recent humble bundle, and the Primarchs book on Ferrus Manus. I haven't settled on what's after that one yet.