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A review by simonmee
Age of Darkness by C.Z. Dunn
4.0
Of course, once they reattached his face, all he ever really looked was angry.
I started out thinking this was a miss. Tedious gap filling. References to events that haven’t occurred yet, such as the attack on Calth and Imperium Secundus.
So Roboute Gulliman is aware the Codex Astartes might not cover every situation? Yawn.
The Alpha Legion sure are sneaky. Boring.
Rogal Dorn sure is sad that things didn’t turn out the way he hoped. Give me a break.
Only the reappearance of Iacton Qruze, “The Half-Heard”, interests me. I like all three authors (McNeill, Swallow and French respectively) and the writing is good. Yet, they just don’t serve goals that I find interesting.
The Ascent
Nestled amongst these early stories is an effort by Kyme about a Salamander and Ultramarine performing diplomacy. The story asks too much from you. Space Marines suck at diplomacy and there isn’t really a way to write them to make them good, because why would they be good at it? The Traitors’ plan is a gibbering, contradictory mess. The Loyalists’ plan is possibly worse. But…
It was a fact the Ultramarine didn’t take well. ‘The Legiones Astartes do not surrender their arms. Prise my weapon from my cold, dead fingers – that is the only way a warrior of Ultramar would give up his bolter, so says my Lord Guilliman.’‘And my Lord Vulkan counsels temperance in the face of impasse. That pragmatism not pride is the solution to seemingly irreconcilable discord.’
…he gets across what it is like to be an Ultramarine who cannot serve in the front line. He makes the Salamander interesting beyond their default and over-repeated “I like the humans” character trait. And Kyme also shows why the Imperium aren’t quite the good guys of the Horus Heresy, as portrayed by the Traitors:
(i) The destruction of Monarchia because the EMPEROR OF MANKIND had a tizzy about divine worship of him.
(ii) Isstvan Three is a scrap between his unloved and unattended sons.
(iii) Dagonet is an attempted murder by deranged assassins.
(iv) Prospero is, well:
Wolves unleashed on a cultured world and a son that desired only to please his father. The subsequent razing of the planet was made to show the Emperor’s inability to forgive or grant mercy.
It’s not that you can counter these portrayals, it’s that these portrayals plausibly exist within the universe. It’s a dark form of liberalism – in Warhammer 40K, every individual has his own defensible viewpoint about the atrocities they commit.
Moving on, the sojourn of the World Eaters on Prospero by Wraight and the saving of the Raven Guard at Isstvan Five by Thorpe are also better without being outstanding. While they are box ticking exercises – Khârn needs to become mean and Corax needs to be rescued – the elements of misdirection (the Alpha Legion actually do something interesting) and reflection (was there a chance that Khârn could have been saved?), mean they work, if not much more than workmanlike.
The Ascension
Is it a good idea to put the best stories at the end? Are they meant to be a treat for working through the shuffling of pieces on the chessboard?
“Little” Horus Aximund has been on the sidelines since the original trilogy. He was the least interesting of the Mournival. Now back in the hands of Black Library’s best(?) author, Abnett, he is redeemed.
By having his face cut off.
It was the visor and snout section of his own helmet, the entire faceplate. It had been sheared off, peeled cleanly away, as though shaved by an industrial slicer. And it was not empty.
It’s a simple story, but Little Horus, haunted in his dreams by a faceless man until his own face is restored (conceded, Warhammer 40K will never have subtle or complicated analogies) becomes an interesting and talented villain worth killing. Abnett reveals who will (eventually) kill him at the same moment Little Horus is reassured of the impossibility of that person killing him:
A man could not be afraid of the dead.
Penultimately, Sanders’ handling of a renegade unit of Iron Warriors manages to be faithful to the nature of that Legion (siege experts), fun (blowing up a fortress and seizing the besiegers’ flagship) and touching (the interactions between hrud survivors Dantioch and Vastopol nearly brought tears – a commendable effort in a pressurised cabin at 30,000 feet).
‘Our honoured brother is taking his leave,’ Dantioch said. His words were hollow and shot through with loneliness and the simple sadness of loss.
Then again, once they reattached his face, all he ever really looked was invincible.
I’m not sure how to describe Dembski-Bowden’s effort, which closes the collection.
‘I am Alajos,’ he told them. ‘Captain of the Ninth Order of the First Legion. Brother to all knights, son to one world, sworn to one lord.’ Sevatar lowered his halberd with a lance’s intent. The whirring teeth chewed air with a petulant whine. ‘I am Sevatar the Condemned,’ he growled, ‘and I will wear your skin as a cloak before dawn ruins the sky.’
It’s a talk. It’s two talks. It’s a fight. It’s two fights. It’s between a knight and a murderer, but it’s the knight who cheats.
‘For such a dishonourable blow,’ the Lion whispered into Curze’s pale, bleeding face. ‘I do not care who knows the truth now, tomorrow, or in ten thousand years. Loyalty is its own reward.’
…and it’s the knight who loses, saved only by a subordinate who fled his own fight, who condemned his own comrade to death in doing so. The set up; the horrific wit of Curze and Servatar; the execution; the callbacks to Dembski-Bowden’s [b:trilogy|18775059|Night Lords The Omnibus (Night Lords #1-3)|Aaron Dembski-Bowden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392575627l/18775059._SY75_.jpg|26680184]; the absoluteness that the Lion and Curze are fated by the laws of good storytelling to face off once more, carrying the weight of this battle with them…
…it’s fantastic.
‘So which are you, a traitor or a fool?’
The Night Lord’s voice revealed his own smile, even if his soulless helm did not.
‘Both.’
I started out thinking this was a miss. Tedious gap filling. References to events that haven’t occurred yet, such as the attack on Calth and Imperium Secundus.
So Roboute Gulliman is aware the Codex Astartes might not cover every situation? Yawn.
The Alpha Legion sure are sneaky. Boring.
Rogal Dorn sure is sad that things didn’t turn out the way he hoped. Give me a break.
Only the reappearance of Iacton Qruze, “The Half-Heard”, interests me. I like all three authors (McNeill, Swallow and French respectively) and the writing is good. Yet, they just don’t serve goals that I find interesting.
The Ascent
Nestled amongst these early stories is an effort by Kyme about a Salamander and Ultramarine performing diplomacy. The story asks too much from you. Space Marines suck at diplomacy and there isn’t really a way to write them to make them good, because why would they be good at it? The Traitors’ plan is a gibbering, contradictory mess. The Loyalists’ plan is possibly worse. But…
It was a fact the Ultramarine didn’t take well. ‘The Legiones Astartes do not surrender their arms. Prise my weapon from my cold, dead fingers – that is the only way a warrior of Ultramar would give up his bolter, so says my Lord Guilliman.’‘And my Lord Vulkan counsels temperance in the face of impasse. That pragmatism not pride is the solution to seemingly irreconcilable discord.’
…he gets across what it is like to be an Ultramarine who cannot serve in the front line. He makes the Salamander interesting beyond their default and over-repeated “I like the humans” character trait. And Kyme also shows why the Imperium aren’t quite the good guys of the Horus Heresy, as portrayed by the Traitors:
(i) The destruction of Monarchia because the EMPEROR OF MANKIND had a tizzy about divine worship of him.
(ii) Isstvan Three is a scrap between his unloved and unattended sons.
(iii) Dagonet is an attempted murder by deranged assassins.
(iv) Prospero is, well:
Wolves unleashed on a cultured world and a son that desired only to please his father. The subsequent razing of the planet was made to show the Emperor’s inability to forgive or grant mercy.
It’s not that you can counter these portrayals, it’s that these portrayals plausibly exist within the universe. It’s a dark form of liberalism – in Warhammer 40K, every individual has his own defensible viewpoint about the atrocities they commit.
Moving on, the sojourn of the World Eaters on Prospero by Wraight and the saving of the Raven Guard at Isstvan Five by Thorpe are also better without being outstanding. While they are box ticking exercises – Khârn needs to become mean and Corax needs to be rescued – the elements of misdirection (the Alpha Legion actually do something interesting) and reflection (was there a chance that Khârn could have been saved?), mean they work, if not much more than workmanlike.
The Ascension
Is it a good idea to put the best stories at the end? Are they meant to be a treat for working through the shuffling of pieces on the chessboard?
“Little” Horus Aximund has been on the sidelines since the original trilogy. He was the least interesting of the Mournival. Now back in the hands of Black Library’s best(?) author, Abnett, he is redeemed.
By having his face cut off.
It was the visor and snout section of his own helmet, the entire faceplate. It had been sheared off, peeled cleanly away, as though shaved by an industrial slicer. And it was not empty.
It’s a simple story, but Little Horus, haunted in his dreams by a faceless man until his own face is restored (conceded, Warhammer 40K will never have subtle or complicated analogies) becomes an interesting and talented villain worth killing. Abnett reveals who will (eventually) kill him at the same moment Little Horus is reassured of the impossibility of that person killing him:
A man could not be afraid of the dead.
Penultimately, Sanders’ handling of a renegade unit of Iron Warriors manages to be faithful to the nature of that Legion (siege experts), fun (blowing up a fortress and seizing the besiegers’ flagship) and touching (the interactions between hrud survivors Dantioch and Vastopol nearly brought tears – a commendable effort in a pressurised cabin at 30,000 feet).
‘Our honoured brother is taking his leave,’ Dantioch said. His words were hollow and shot through with loneliness and the simple sadness of loss.
Then again, once they reattached his face, all he ever really looked was invincible.
I’m not sure how to describe Dembski-Bowden’s effort, which closes the collection.
‘I am Alajos,’ he told them. ‘Captain of the Ninth Order of the First Legion. Brother to all knights, son to one world, sworn to one lord.’ Sevatar lowered his halberd with a lance’s intent. The whirring teeth chewed air with a petulant whine. ‘I am Sevatar the Condemned,’ he growled, ‘and I will wear your skin as a cloak before dawn ruins the sky.’
It’s a talk. It’s two talks. It’s a fight. It’s two fights. It’s between a knight and a murderer, but it’s the knight who cheats.
‘For such a dishonourable blow,’ the Lion whispered into Curze’s pale, bleeding face. ‘I do not care who knows the truth now, tomorrow, or in ten thousand years. Loyalty is its own reward.’
…and it’s the knight who loses, saved only by a subordinate who fled his own fight, who condemned his own comrade to death in doing so. The set up; the horrific wit of Curze and Servatar; the execution; the callbacks to Dembski-Bowden’s [b:trilogy|18775059|Night Lords The Omnibus (Night Lords #1-3)|Aaron Dembski-Bowden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392575627l/18775059._SY75_.jpg|26680184]; the absoluteness that the Lion and Curze are fated by the laws of good storytelling to face off once more, carrying the weight of this battle with them…
…it’s fantastic.
‘So which are you, a traitor or a fool?’
The Night Lord’s voice revealed his own smile, even if his soulless helm did not.
‘Both.’