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A review by vigneswara_prabhu
The Watcher in the Rain by Alec Worley
4.0
It is refreshing to read a Warhammer 40K story, where the bad guy is the Chaos, the Mutant or the heretic. Rather, it is .
The story, set in a world being gradually flooded in perpetual apocalyptic storms, sets a great horror tone, with its gothic cyclopean architecture, which is the staple for any world in the Imperium.
An upcoming Warp storm which threatens to engulf the planet, as well as one that is responsible for steadily submerging it, also provides a sense of urgency to the mission of Stefan Crucius, our POV character.
The climax is mostly unexpected; if only due to the bias we have as readers to wanting to trust our POV characters. The tail ending, after the climax is even more out of the left field, but nonetheless fills you with a sense of righteous commuppance.
But it's only after reading the whole story, that you begin to contemplate the motivations of the characters, ones which are largely shaped by the Imperium that they were born and trained in. And you begin to wonder whether the authoritarian, fanatical, techno stagnant, quagmire of red tape that is the Imperium is the real villain.
Then you remember the horrors that the Warp hides within in, the terror of chaos, the dangers posed by the Xenos, mutant and heretic. Then you put aside these blasphemous thoughts aside, sing benedictions for the God Emperor, and pray to him for deliverance from this cruel, cruel world. Anything else, would net you a personnel visit from the neighborhood Inquisitor.
Spoiler
humanity as the Imperium has made it intoThe story, set in a world being gradually flooded in perpetual apocalyptic storms, sets a great horror tone, with its gothic cyclopean architecture, which is the staple for any world in the Imperium.
An upcoming Warp storm which threatens to engulf the planet, as well as one that is responsible for steadily submerging it, also provides a sense of urgency to the mission of Stefan Crucius, our POV character.
The climax is mostly unexpected; if only due to the bias we have as readers to wanting to trust our POV characters. The tail ending, after the climax is even more out of the left field, but nonetheless fills you with a sense of righteous commuppance.
But it's only after reading the whole story, that you begin to contemplate the motivations of the characters, ones which are largely shaped by the Imperium that they were born and trained in. And you begin to wonder whether the authoritarian, fanatical, techno stagnant, quagmire of red tape that is the Imperium is the real villain.
Then you remember the horrors that the Warp hides within in, the terror of chaos, the dangers posed by the Xenos, mutant and heretic. Then you put aside these blasphemous thoughts aside, sing benedictions for the God Emperor, and pray to him for deliverance from this cruel, cruel world. Anything else, would net you a personnel visit from the neighborhood Inquisitor.