Warhammer Horror (v2)

[theSpirea]

Not happy to hear. Can't really say I had high expectations for this one though.

 

There's one thing I don't understand, what made the BL decide to go with hardcover for the Oubliette and not for Dark Harvest. Stearns is fairly new to WH. I haven't read any of his stories so can't comment on the quality, it just seems little off in their strategy.

[Shinros]

Not happy to hear. Can't really say I had high expectations for this one though.

 

There's one thing I don't understand, what made the BL decide to go with hardcover for the Oubliette and not for Dark Harvest. Stearns is fairly new to WH. I haven't read any of his stories so can't comment on the quality, it just seems little off in their strategy.

That's the strange thing isn't it? When it came out they plastered the court of the blind king on their website and gave it a hard back. The book was poor and I kicked myself for buying it over dark harvest.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Definitely agree with DarkChaplain. Just finished it, and

for the climax of the story to happen almost entirely off-camera was disappointing. I get that they're trying to go with "the real horror is her going along with it", but it was such a dramatic shift from "no, the mandrake should only be used in self-defense" to "let's unleash the mandrake and all his friends to butcher an entire household". It was a good book, just definitely not much of a Horror story.

[caladancid]

 

Not happy to hear. Can't really say I had high expectations for this one though.

 

There's one thing I don't understand, what made the BL decide to go with hardcover for the Oubliette and not for Dark Harvest. Stearns is fairly new to WH. I haven't read any of his stories so can't comment on the quality, it just seems little off in their strategy.

That's the strange thing isn't it? When it came out they plastered the court of the blind king on their website and gave it a hard back. The book was poor and I kicked myself for buying it over dark harvest.

Dark Harvest is so good.

 

I bought Court of the Blind King right away. Still haven’t read it because that way, in my head, it can be a sequel to The Sea Taketh (outstanding) instead of The Learning (really very extremely bad).

[Red_Shift]

Dark Harvest is hands down the best horror book so far, imo. I do think gw have less confidence in AoS titles in general though which might explain why it wasn't hardback. The texture of the paper and the green tint helps the athmosphere in some of the horror titles though and I think that is lost in hardback.

[DarkChaplain]

The confidence thing doesn't really hold up considering Castle of Blood was the first hardback WHH entry, mind. They`re just really arbitrary about it all. Dark Harvest also didn't have an audiobook for like 2-3 months after release, for whatever reasons.

[Shinros]

 

 

Not happy to hear. Can't really say I had high expectations for this one though.

 

There's one thing I don't understand, what made the BL decide to go with hardcover for the Oubliette and not for Dark Harvest. Stearns is fairly new to WH. I haven't read any of his stories so can't comment on the quality, it just seems little off in their strategy.

That's the strange thing isn't it? When it came out they plastered the court of the blind king on their website and gave it a hard back. The book was poor and I kicked myself for buying it over dark harvest.

Dark Harvest is so good.

 

I bought Court of the Blind King right away. Still haven’t read it because that way, in my head, it can be a sequel to The Sea Taketh (outstanding) instead of The Learning (really very extremely bad).

The annoying thing about the book was the fact it's plainly obvious he hasn't read the battletome and really wanted to write a discount Malus Darkblade story.

 

Dark Harvest was pretty much a fresh shower for me when I read it.

[caladancid]

 

 

 

Not happy to hear. Can't really say I had high expectations for this one though.

 

There's one thing I don't understand, what made the BL decide to go with hardcover for the Oubliette and not for Dark Harvest. Stearns is fairly new to WH. I haven't read any of his stories so can't comment on the quality, it just seems little off in their strategy.

That's the strange thing isn't it? When it came out they plastered the court of the blind king on their website and gave it a hard back. The book was poor and I kicked myself for buying it over dark harvest.

Dark Harvest is so good.

 

I bought Court of the Blind King right away. Still haven’t read it because that way, in my head, it can be a sequel to The Sea Taketh (outstanding) instead of The Learning (really very extremely bad).

The annoying thing about the book was the fact it's plainly obvious he hasn't read the battletome and really wanted to write a discount Malus Darkblade story.

 

Dark Harvest was pretty much a fresh shower for me when I read it.

 

So exactly the same as The Learning.  I wonder why he does that.  Incredibly hit or miss.

 

I think the Age of Sigmar/Old World Horror stories have been by the far the better Horror subgenres so far.

[DarkChaplain]

Sepulturum is out today. Finally.

 

I wonder if they'll announce the next Horror book at the Adepticon replacement streams. There's nothing announced so far from here on, and I'm slightly worried that Crime will put Horror on the back burner just when it was gathering so much momentum in its second year.

[cheywood]

Sepulturum is out today. Finally.

 

I wonder if they'll announce the next Horror book at the Adepticon replacement streams. There's nothing announced so far from here on, and I'm slightly worried that Crime will put Horror on the back burner just when it was gathering so much momentum in its second year.

Supposedly a member of BL’s marketing team mentioned in a BL Facebook group that Horror titles will be releasing from October to March every year from now on. No mention of whether Crime’s going to be active for the other six months or what, and I have no idea if it’s accurate. This comes from a reply I saw to Track of Words on Twitter.

 

The group is called Black Library Nutters but I stay away from Facebook so I can’t confirm much more than its existence.

Edited March 14, 2020 by cheywood

[DarkChaplain]

I feel ya, never had a facebook account myself, beyond a dummy that got killed off, that I needed for logging in on third party sites years back. Terrible site, I'd like to keep my data, thank you very much. All the more frustrating that it is still the only way to reach out to BL on social media these days.

 

Having WHH kick off during the "darker" months of the year makes sense, I guess, but frankly, it's a bummer. They're currently the most consistently enjoyable thing in BL's catalog as far as I'm concerned, so summers just got less interesting again.

[cheywood]

I feel ya, never had a facebook account myself, beyond a dummy that got killed off, that I needed for logging in on third party sites years back. Terrible site, I'd like to keep my data, thank you very much. All the more frustrating that it is still the only way to reach out to BL on social media these days.

 

Having WHH kick off during the "darker" months of the year makes sense, I guess, but frankly, it's a bummer. They're currently the most consistently enjoyable thing in BL's catalog as far as I'm concerned, so summers just got less interesting again.

Agreed on both points. Unless there’s an established trend of horror selling better in the colder months it seems rather arbitrary.

[KhorneFlakes]

anyone read Sepulturum? 

 

aside from Dark Harvest, one of the best Horror novels so far. a straight up horror - people being torn limb from limb whilst alive, proper swearing!, maggots, people torched alive...

 

Dark Harvest felt like a slow build supernatural horror (kinda thinking The Changling with George C Scott or The Woman in Black (book and play not the film)

 

Sepulturum was a flat out horror - splatter movie style

[DarkChaplain]

I'm only a chapter in so far, but like the buildup for what I assume are the two main protagonists. Been trying to get through some other stuff over the weekend, so I'll probably kick Sepulturum into gear towards the weekend.

 

Here's hoping for some big hints towards Varghast!

[aa.logan]

Overall, I really enjoyed The Oubliette.

 

Some of the best world-building I’ve seen in any 40k story, th little details really sang and the way that some were turned into plot points impressed me.

 

I enjoyed the gradual reveal of the antagonist’s (?) nature, though I do agree that incorporating some of the above suggestions would make for a more satisfying denouement.

 

I’m glad I waited for the audio rather than reading it, not sure if the narrator, Katy Maw, is the voice of Amazon’s Alexa in the UK, but she shares that almost inhuman quality, which is quite fitting for the text.

 

What I would politely request of BL though is that they take a break from haunted planetary governors uncovering dark secrets upon their unexpected ascension to office- one is refreshing, two a trend but three would get pretty dull pretty fast. Let some other social group suffer at the hands of the inhuman galaxy next time please

[DukeLeto69]

Overall, I really enjoyed The Oubliette.

 

Some of the best world-building I’ve seen in any 40k story, th little details really sang and the way that some were turned into plot points impressed me.

 

I enjoyed the gradual reveal of the antagonist’s (?) nature, though I do agree that incorporating some of the above suggestions would make for a more satisfying denouement.

 

I’m glad I waited for the audio rather than reading it, not sure if the narrator, Katy Maw, is the voice of Amazon’s Alexa in the UK, but she shares that almost inhuman quality, which is quite fitting for the text.

 

What I would politely request of BL though is that they take a break from haunted planetary governors uncovering dark secrets upon their unexpected ascension to office- one is refreshing, two a trend but three would get pretty dull pretty fast. Let some other social group suffer at the hands of the inhuman galaxy next time please

Been in two minds about The Oubliette. Really liked the blurb/premise and great to hear about the world building being solid. But it does share similarities with Annandale’s HoNaC (which I really enjoyed). So I agree we need more variety.

 

Will prob wait for paperback.

 

On that point strikes me as odd that HoNaC debuted in paperback when Annandale is established name but Oubliette by debut JC Sterns gets a hardback?

 

Kyme’s Sepulturum debuts in hardback (reading it now - really good) but he is known author.

Edited April 3, 2020 by DukeLeto69

[DukeLeto69]

Finshed Nick Kyme's Sepulturum today. Wow! What a great book. Seriously good!

 

I know a lot of folks do not like Nick Kyme's work (certainly in the HH series). Personally while I have always enjoyed his work, he isn't in my top tier of BL authors. However...

 

I cannot recommend Sepulturum enough. It really is excellent.

 

I was originally a little put off by the premise, ie Plague Zombies. I mean they really have been done to death (sorry for the pun) in the last few years (not BL but more widely - Walking Dead, 28 Day/Weeks Later, World War Z, countless computer games etc).

 

BUT this book is actually so much more than zombies, in fact they are merely the backdrop to a really intriguing (and mysterious) story/plot. The characters are great (though there are a few tropes) and I did find myself caring about them and rooting for them. The twists and turns are really good. The tone is spot on and certainly more "adult" than a lot of BL fiction. It is a fast paced book and in places it is genuinely scary (certainly for me the scariest of the WH Horror books so far). I couldn't put it down.

 

To say more would be to take away from the excellent story and I would recommend going in cold and without spoilers if you can.

[theSpirea]

Finished The Oubliette.

 

I like how it started, the world-building was well done, lots of background info about the planet/families, etc. That was all entertaining and the whole time I was thinking why is this novel marked as horror? It's more of a political thriller and, I believe, would fit more into the upcoming imprint Crime.

 

Sadly, after everything was set, characters/families introduced, it all ended. Things started picking up in the last 40 pages (chapter 12-15) but if felt the ending was either rushed; the writer reached the word count or he simply didn't know how to nicely wrap everything up. The whole set up of the world/politics and side characters suddenly felt meaningless.

 

If I was to rate the book I would probably give it 6/10. Now, since the book was branded as Horror but it failed to be so (just because there's a creature/monster lurking in the shadows doesn't make the book horror) I have to give it 5/10.

 

I hope Stearns is going to write more for BL, this was a good novel and I don't regret reading it. It was entertaining 5 hours. I'm definitely going to buy his next novel and I hope with more experience it's going to be better.

[Beren]

Finished Sepulturum. Honestly cant say I was that impressed. It didn't read like a bad book, but I never developed a particular interest in many of the characters, nor did the plot feel particularly engaging. For a Valgaast phenomenon, it even managed to make the zombie thing seem relatively mundane. The secondary plot didn't seem to contribute much or interlink at all except for staging a particular ending element of dubious value, nor did any of the 'reveals' seem to pack the punches they should have first time round, though it does read better the second time round.

 

The one part that did interest me a bit relates to the Valgaast phenomena

I had initially assumed that the House of Malveil was the 'root' of the Valgaast connection, especially given its ability to rewrite the past and snatch someone from the other side of the Galaxy. The way the Valgaast is described here makes me reconsider this, with Malveil being perhaps just another 'manifestation' of it, albeit one of the more powerful examples to date. Though it is possible for a bottle of wine to be from the city Valgaast, having a Valgaast theartre on Terra is less likely to be connected. Valgaast itself seems to be something more akin to Fehervari's Dark Coil, though without the same amount of interweaving between incidents. Another thing to be noted is that the name Valgaast usually appears to be tangential to the story. It happens to be the name of a theatre, a city, a planet or a bottle of wine connected to what happens, but though a Valgaast might be nearby it is not directly related. Sepulturum, is as far as I am aware, the first story where Valgaast has been given an agency of itself and seems directly related to what has happened. I think it perhaps could also have benefited form a more subtle touch than being as directly exposited in the manner that it was.

[Roomsky]

I just noticed Paul Kearney has a short in Anathemas. I'm glad the guy's still writing for BL, I enjoyed his Calgar stuff well enough, and would like to see him get some more interesting things to write about.

 

Maybe they'll even resolve the Umbra Sumus debacle one day.

[theSpirea]

Just finished Dark Harvest and I'm not sure is everyone praising it. It's a generic fantasy story with barely, if any, horror elements, and rushed, almost golly gee, ending.

 

Most of the plot you could figure out after 150 pages. The only somewhat interesting character was Gint. The main protagonist was a bit too much. Acting like an ahole to everyone, ignoring everyone's questions yet still getting answers to all his.

 

This is the weakest Reynold's book I've read so far and I usually can't recommend his books enough.

 

I actually gave this book to read to two of my friends (based on my previous experience with Reynold's work and the positive reviews this books has been getting). One of them gave up amd couldn't even finish it, the other finished it at least but now wants to stay away from WH if this is the best it can offer. When I heard their reactions I was surprised but after reading it myself I'm not anymore.

[Roomsky]

The Oubliette – JC Stearns

 

Well if this don’t just tick all my personal boxes. Yes, I know, it’s not especially scary (though that’s a feat I’d say even the best Warhammer Horror novels I’ve read to date largely fail at), but Warhammer Politics isn’t getting an imprint any time soon.

 

Here is a book that uses the Horror imprint to dodge the trappings and mandates of your average Black Library fair to tell a political thriller through and through, using effectively the horror elements common to any work set in the dark grimness of futures far. It’s a cast of squishy humans constantly reminded of their inherent squishiness but for whom whom war isn’t even a threat. The action is rare but feels real and always has consequences, and again, I just love me some 40k politics.

 

I was a tad worried at first: it almost leaned too far away from the setting’s trappings; at times seeming like a political novel with a 40k coat of paint rather than something that embodies the spirit of the setting, but as the plot progresses we slot nicely into place. The nobility is short sighted at best, sadistic at worse, and the exception can only afford to be so by having The Oubliette. My fears of things being far too reasonable were quickly allayed by where the story takes us. There’s even a lovely scene of a character’s woes over the hardships that come with being a peasant – with the following scenes of the “friendly” nobility never once acknowledging any such sorrows, despite their apparently high regard for the individual.

 

Stearn’s prose too is very nice, it flows well and is exceptionally atmospheric and tense when it needs to be. The plot moves along at a breakneck pace, with almost no fat or filler material. The last few chapters are perhaps a tad over-compressed, but I could look at that just as easily as me wanting more.

 

This is definitely worth a read if you know what you’re getting into, it’s very much a political thriller with horror elements. If that doesn’t bother you, and you don’t need Inquisitors, Daemons, Astartes or Psychic bombast in your 40k, it’s well worth a read.

 

ANR: 9/10

Edited June 19, 2020 by Roomsky