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Warhammer Horror #Anthology
The Resting Places
A Warhammer Horror Anthology
The Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar settings are rife with danger, both immediate and subtle. These stories take you to dark places, where citizens and soldiers must confront their fears to survive.
READ IT BECAUSE
This anthology compiles two years of Horror Week eShorts, along with two new stories written for this volume. If you like your Warhammer stories dark and twisted, strap in for a wild ride.
THE STORY
An irascible veteran conceals a monstrous secret. A young victim of tragedy seeks the protection of their mysterious lord. On a feudal world, two men plot against a governor suspected of heresy. And in the pitch-dark skies, a malign entity preys upon a navigator.
From the slaughterhouses of Imperial hive cities to the war-torn streets of the Mortal Realms, superstition and deceit runs rampant. Twisted sacrifices, beguiling foes, the lies we tell ourselves – these horrors drag their victims, blind or screaming, down sinister paths to a final place of rest.
CONTENTS
The following short stories were originally published digitally in the 2021 Horror Week eShort bundle:
– The Vintage, by David Annandale
– The Isenbrach Horror, by Darius Hinks
– Aberration, by Jake Ozga
– Blood Drinker, by James Brogden
– Bird of Change, by Richard Strachan
The following short stories were originally published digitally in the 2022 Horror Week eShort bundle:
– The Pharisene Paradox, by R S Wilt
– The Stacks, by Chris Winterton
– King of Pigs, by J H Archer
– The Somewhere Sister, by Jeremy Lambert
– The Gnarled Bough, by Jamie Mistry-Evans
– Pain Engine, by Chris Thursten
The following two short stories are brand new for this volume:
– Collapse, by J H Archer
– Old Soldiers, by Richard Strachan
The Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar settings are rife with danger, both immediate and subtle. These stories take you to dark places, where citizens and soldiers must confront their fears to survive.
READ IT BECAUSE
This anthology compiles two years of Horror Week eShorts, along with two new stories written for this volume. If you like your Warhammer stories dark and twisted, strap in for a wild ride.
THE STORY
An irascible veteran conceals a monstrous secret. A young victim of tragedy seeks the protection of their mysterious lord. On a feudal world, two men plot against a governor suspected of heresy. And in the pitch-dark skies, a malign entity preys upon a navigator.
From the slaughterhouses of Imperial hive cities to the war-torn streets of the Mortal Realms, superstition and deceit runs rampant. Twisted sacrifices, beguiling foes, the lies we tell ourselves – these horrors drag their victims, blind or screaming, down sinister paths to a final place of rest.
CONTENTS
The following short stories were originally published digitally in the 2021 Horror Week eShort bundle:
– The Vintage, by David Annandale
– The Isenbrach Horror, by Darius Hinks
– Aberration, by Jake Ozga
– Blood Drinker, by James Brogden
– Bird of Change, by Richard Strachan
The following short stories were originally published digitally in the 2022 Horror Week eShort bundle:
– The Pharisene Paradox, by R S Wilt
– The Stacks, by Chris Winterton
– King of Pigs, by J H Archer
– The Somewhere Sister, by Jeremy Lambert
– The Gnarled Bough, by Jamie Mistry-Evans
– Pain Engine, by Chris Thursten
The following two short stories are brand new for this volume:
– Collapse, by J H Archer
– Old Soldiers, by Richard Strachan
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2023
34 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 16, 2023
The Resting Places
I’m largely unfamiliar with horror as a genre( as such I can’t really comment on these stories as examples of that. What I *am* familiar with is the output of Black Library, and as a consequence I’m in position to reflect upon these stories by that criteria. They certainly feel different to much of the regular output, with if not a higher body count (acts of Extetminatus, killing the populations of entire planets, for example are not unknown in regular 40k stories), they certainly are more bloody and graphic. Equally, there is a more distinct focus on the unsettling aspects of the settings, as you’d expect, in this anthology. The following reviews are perhaps briefer than usual due to a desire to avoid any real spoilers as they would impact *my* enjoyment so I’m assuming other readers are the same.
Collapse by J H Archer (40k)
A Navigator finds himself unexpectedly adrift in space. The causes of this are gradually revealed. A fantastic depiction of the desperation of those in the Imperium Nihilus, a subject that hasn’t been that much explored. Gorst, the Navigator, is a powerful individual, but taking him out of his regular circumstances and stripping him of status and support this story emphasizes how insignificant humanity can be in the face of the Warp.
The Pharisine Paradox by R S Wilt (40k)
First person, which always makes a nice surprise. Like the previous story, featuring an isolated human, deep in space, in this case manning a watch station with only servitors for company. I think it’s the first BL story to explore this particular subject, and it does it justice.
The Stacks by Chris Winterton (40k)
The Imperium had perhaps the most horrifying bureaucracy in fiction; while this isn’t a story about stony-faced Administratum horrors, the library it is set in is a testament to the terrifying scale and nature of record-keeping there. The practicalities of maintaining millennia-spanning archives but not allowing free access to them is highlighted by neat details like near-literal mountains of melted wax from candles in the depths of the titular stacks.
King of Pigs by J H Archer (40k)
The premise of this story is perhaps the one I was most looking forward to reading. Modern industrial-scale food production has the potential for horror, so how will the dialed-past-11 equivalent in 40k suit it? Of course. This is one of the best shorts published by BL in recent years, judged as part of the WH imprint or within the wider cannon. Fantastically unsettling and as dark and grim as it gets, it’s worth the price of the anthology alone.
The Somewhere Sister by Jeremy Lambert (AoS)
A ghost story in a setting where ghosts (or rather, ghiests) and worse canonically exist is always going to pose some challenges, but scary, unsettling things that are *real* still manage to be both scary and unsettling. It’s good, and features what I think is a gay Duardin, which is a lovely detail amongst the strangeness.
The Gnarled Bough by Jamie Mistry-Evans (AoS)
The title makes it pretty clear that this story is about Sylvaneth, so I feel ok writing about them in my review. It’s all too easy to think of the subjects of the Everqueen as benign plants and harmless forest spirits but it’s in the Warhammer Horror stories that they feature that the redness of tooth and claw is allowed to shine- that nature cannot be harnessed by humans, even in the Mortal Realms, makes for quite an unsettling story.
Pain Engine by Chris Thursten (40k)
Much like the Sylvaneth, there is so much potential for horror with the Drukhari. This story is written with florid , detached prose that fits the subject perfectly. It eschews outright gore and body horror, however, and is more an exploration of the Dark Eldar psyche- it’s a good story, but one that wouldn’t be out of place in a regular 40k anthology if I’m honest.
Old Soldiers by Richard Strachan (AoS)
If I say what I especially enjoyed about this one, I fear I’ll spoil it. It confounds expectations and really is very good.
The Vintage by David Annandale (AoS)
A really good, and really very creepy, vampire story. It feels like a regular AoS story to begin with, but as it progresses the horror elements rise to the fore.
The Isenbrach Horror by Darius Hinks (40k)
You can kind of tell, much like the last entry, that this was written by one of the setting’s veteran writers- it nails the vibe perfectly. Hinks’ long-standing may or may not also have influenced how much of a deep dive into the lore this short is.
Aberration by Jake Ozga (AoS)
I’m very hopeful that it’s ‘when’, rather than ‘if’ Jake Ozga gets commissioned to write a full novel for BL as this is another excellent short story from him.
Blood Drinker by James Brogden (40k)
The title very heavily implies vampires, so I think confirming that this is another vampire story doesn’t constitute a spoiler. Tense and claustrophobic, the horror comes from a very apt source.
Bird of Change by Richard Strachan (AoS)
A return for Richard Strachan rounds off the anthology nicely; once again the title is a big enough hint that I feel I can say this take on horror is Tzeentchian, and so good for the attendant weirdness rubbing in against normal domesticity. As good as anything else in the book- it’s really brilliant.
I’m largely unfamiliar with horror as a genre( as such I can’t really comment on these stories as examples of that. What I *am* familiar with is the output of Black Library, and as a consequence I’m in position to reflect upon these stories by that criteria. They certainly feel different to much of the regular output, with if not a higher body count (acts of Extetminatus, killing the populations of entire planets, for example are not unknown in regular 40k stories), they certainly are more bloody and graphic. Equally, there is a more distinct focus on the unsettling aspects of the settings, as you’d expect, in this anthology. The following reviews are perhaps briefer than usual due to a desire to avoid any real spoilers as they would impact *my* enjoyment so I’m assuming other readers are the same.
Collapse by J H Archer (40k)
A Navigator finds himself unexpectedly adrift in space. The causes of this are gradually revealed. A fantastic depiction of the desperation of those in the Imperium Nihilus, a subject that hasn’t been that much explored. Gorst, the Navigator, is a powerful individual, but taking him out of his regular circumstances and stripping him of status and support this story emphasizes how insignificant humanity can be in the face of the Warp.
The Pharisine Paradox by R S Wilt (40k)
First person, which always makes a nice surprise. Like the previous story, featuring an isolated human, deep in space, in this case manning a watch station with only servitors for company. I think it’s the first BL story to explore this particular subject, and it does it justice.
The Stacks by Chris Winterton (40k)
The Imperium had perhaps the most horrifying bureaucracy in fiction; while this isn’t a story about stony-faced Administratum horrors, the library it is set in is a testament to the terrifying scale and nature of record-keeping there. The practicalities of maintaining millennia-spanning archives but not allowing free access to them is highlighted by neat details like near-literal mountains of melted wax from candles in the depths of the titular stacks.
King of Pigs by J H Archer (40k)
The premise of this story is perhaps the one I was most looking forward to reading. Modern industrial-scale food production has the potential for horror, so how will the dialed-past-11 equivalent in 40k suit it? Of course. This is one of the best shorts published by BL in recent years, judged as part of the WH imprint or within the wider cannon. Fantastically unsettling and as dark and grim as it gets, it’s worth the price of the anthology alone.
The Somewhere Sister by Jeremy Lambert (AoS)
A ghost story in a setting where ghosts (or rather, ghiests) and worse canonically exist is always going to pose some challenges, but scary, unsettling things that are *real* still manage to be both scary and unsettling. It’s good, and features what I think is a gay Duardin, which is a lovely detail amongst the strangeness.
The Gnarled Bough by Jamie Mistry-Evans (AoS)
The title makes it pretty clear that this story is about Sylvaneth, so I feel ok writing about them in my review. It’s all too easy to think of the subjects of the Everqueen as benign plants and harmless forest spirits but it’s in the Warhammer Horror stories that they feature that the redness of tooth and claw is allowed to shine- that nature cannot be harnessed by humans, even in the Mortal Realms, makes for quite an unsettling story.
Pain Engine by Chris Thursten (40k)
Much like the Sylvaneth, there is so much potential for horror with the Drukhari. This story is written with florid , detached prose that fits the subject perfectly. It eschews outright gore and body horror, however, and is more an exploration of the Dark Eldar psyche- it’s a good story, but one that wouldn’t be out of place in a regular 40k anthology if I’m honest.
Old Soldiers by Richard Strachan (AoS)
If I say what I especially enjoyed about this one, I fear I’ll spoil it. It confounds expectations and really is very good.
The Vintage by David Annandale (AoS)
A really good, and really very creepy, vampire story. It feels like a regular AoS story to begin with, but as it progresses the horror elements rise to the fore.
The Isenbrach Horror by Darius Hinks (40k)
You can kind of tell, much like the last entry, that this was written by one of the setting’s veteran writers- it nails the vibe perfectly. Hinks’ long-standing may or may not also have influenced how much of a deep dive into the lore this short is.
Aberration by Jake Ozga (AoS)
I’m very hopeful that it’s ‘when’, rather than ‘if’ Jake Ozga gets commissioned to write a full novel for BL as this is another excellent short story from him.
Blood Drinker by James Brogden (40k)
The title very heavily implies vampires, so I think confirming that this is another vampire story doesn’t constitute a spoiler. Tense and claustrophobic, the horror comes from a very apt source.
Bird of Change by Richard Strachan (AoS)
A return for Richard Strachan rounds off the anthology nicely; once again the title is a big enough hint that I feel I can say this take on horror is Tzeentchian, and so good for the attendant weirdness rubbing in against normal domesticity. As good as anything else in the book- it’s really brilliant.
March 8, 2024
review to come, maybe... I was disappointed with it. Most of stories I couldn't connect, maybe because I have no connection with Sigmar world Not that spooky stuff to be fair. But there were good ones. To be quite fair it's a shame. I've been enjoying almost all horror stuff but this one was a miss for me.
July 13, 2023
A lot of these stories built incredible environments and plots that I was begging to read entire novels of to explore them further, I found the last few stories especially to be incredible.
March 12, 2025
"He is here. He is coming. He has breached the gate. Find the tome and our salvation, lest we burn."
Collapse is a fun little tale of a Navigator dealing with a Daemon. In a short space of time the writer manages to develop the character and make him sympathetic. A story of desperation and terror in the face of something powerful and terrible.
The Pharisene Paradox concerns a ship that staggers out of warp space. Nothing unusual about that, but this ship departure date is three months in the future. A first person story of isolation and the unknown. I particularly enjoyed this creepy tale
The Stacks takes place in a library. One could easily become buried under the weight of the many tomes occurred over the Millenia. So much knowledge you could easily become lost in it. Unsettling and unnerving. The weight of the Imperium's bureaucracy weighs heavily upon our protagonist as they race to find a hidden tome.
King of Pigs is an upsetting and disturbing series of diary entries by a worker in a slaughter factory, feeding the armies of the Imperium. The mundanity of the life of a factory worker highlights the horror of the story. A haunting and even emotional story. Perhaps the best in the collection.
The Somewhere Sister deals with fear, terror and grief. It was the first story to take place in the Age of Sigmar setting. My heart raced with this story. Although that likely stems from my own fear of dark cellars! A great haunting tale.
The Gnarled Bough also takes place in the Age of Sigmar. A young servant is abused and mistreated in a manor in the Realm of Shyish. The Lord of the Manor is a collector of rarity and oddities, using wealth to take what he wants and believing he has complete control. Of course things turn awry and terror ensues.
Pain Engine. The haemonculi of the Dark Eldar are masters of pain and flesh. Crafting horrific terrrors for their masters. This story delves into the twisted grotesque nature of the Dark Eldar and the culture of Commoragh.
Old Soldiers as the title implies tells the tale of an aged veteran, his mind haunted by comrades long lost. The details of the fallen are gruesome and overwhelming. Incredibly well-written and compelling.
The Vintage tells the story of a Freeguild captain, tasked with defending a fortress, but he cannot rest, haunted by the nightmares of his past. Short but effective.
The Isenbrach Horror is atmospheric and tense. Efficient story-telling.
Aberration is an almost Beauty and the Beast style story of a young village girl and a Vykros. Fantastic and intense storytelling. Unusually sensual for a Warhammer story but that makes it memorable. Very well written. Hopefully Jake Ozga gets to write more for the Black Library.
Blood Drinkers is a tense, claustrophobic horror story. Some cool world building involving life aboard a stranded space-craft and divisions between the crew living on board.
Bird of Change is a nightmare of a tale, playing with the old trope of a village sacrificing their young as part of an annual festival. I liked the twists on this trope, and the writer made something old feel fresh.
Collapse is a fun little tale of a Navigator dealing with a Daemon. In a short space of time the writer manages to develop the character and make him sympathetic. A story of desperation and terror in the face of something powerful and terrible.
The Pharisene Paradox concerns a ship that staggers out of warp space. Nothing unusual about that, but this ship departure date is three months in the future. A first person story of isolation and the unknown. I particularly enjoyed this creepy tale
The Stacks takes place in a library. One could easily become buried under the weight of the many tomes occurred over the Millenia. So much knowledge you could easily become lost in it. Unsettling and unnerving. The weight of the Imperium's bureaucracy weighs heavily upon our protagonist as they race to find a hidden tome.
King of Pigs is an upsetting and disturbing series of diary entries by a worker in a slaughter factory, feeding the armies of the Imperium. The mundanity of the life of a factory worker highlights the horror of the story. A haunting and even emotional story. Perhaps the best in the collection.
The Somewhere Sister deals with fear, terror and grief. It was the first story to take place in the Age of Sigmar setting. My heart raced with this story. Although that likely stems from my own fear of dark cellars! A great haunting tale.
The Gnarled Bough also takes place in the Age of Sigmar. A young servant is abused and mistreated in a manor in the Realm of Shyish. The Lord of the Manor is a collector of rarity and oddities, using wealth to take what he wants and believing he has complete control. Of course things turn awry and terror ensues.
Pain Engine. The haemonculi of the Dark Eldar are masters of pain and flesh. Crafting horrific terrrors for their masters. This story delves into the twisted grotesque nature of the Dark Eldar and the culture of Commoragh.
Old Soldiers as the title implies tells the tale of an aged veteran, his mind haunted by comrades long lost. The details of the fallen are gruesome and overwhelming. Incredibly well-written and compelling.
The Vintage tells the story of a Freeguild captain, tasked with defending a fortress, but he cannot rest, haunted by the nightmares of his past. Short but effective.
The Isenbrach Horror is atmospheric and tense. Efficient story-telling.
Aberration is an almost Beauty and the Beast style story of a young village girl and a Vykros. Fantastic and intense storytelling. Unusually sensual for a Warhammer story but that makes it memorable. Very well written. Hopefully Jake Ozga gets to write more for the Black Library.
Blood Drinkers is a tense, claustrophobic horror story. Some cool world building involving life aboard a stranded space-craft and divisions between the crew living on board.
Bird of Change is a nightmare of a tale, playing with the old trope of a village sacrificing their young as part of an annual festival. I liked the twists on this trope, and the writer made something old feel fresh.
June 28, 2023
The Resting Places is a very solid collection of horror stories, ranging both in the 40k setting and the Age of Sigmar, as well as horror type such as body horror, cosmic, vampire, ghost etc. All the creepy, beautiful purple prose you'd expect in two settings that frankly at face value are already just a few steps away from being horror.
Of the stories I read, I would say at the very worst, they were passable though still leaving me glad I read it, never not enjoying my time with them, though most were very good, making me kind of hope some get adapted for some Halloween event for Hammer and Bolter or the likes. My personal favorites were "Old Soldiers," "King of Pigs" and "Collapse," but each of them had enough twists and turns that I could see anyone being someone's favorite, it being entirely up to any one individual's tastes. The fact I am normally not an Age of Sigmar fan and I enjoyed it as much as I did definitively speaks to the quality of the works here.
Conclusion: Overall, if you are interested in sci-fi or fantasy horror, you could read this and get by 'mostly' fine, though some references might be lost on you, the horror mostly transcending the in universe terms and lingo. If you are a Warhammer fan and familiar with either settings, even if only a basic way (such as myself with Age of Sigmar), this is an easy recommend to check out.
4/5, a good collection of reads with a couple real gems hidden in between.
Recommendations: If you are looking for more horror in the Warhammer field, my go to is always the progenitor it seems for the subject (though if we're being honest, considering the setting, its always kind of been there), is Peter Fehervari's dark coil stories, especially Fire Caste or Requiem Infernal, though the quality I have found for these stories is quite high, so you usually can't go wrong. If you are interested in the fantasy/AoS side, while I haven't read one by itself yet (soon though), Dark Harvest would be my suggestion as I have heard a lot of really good things about it, and have enjoyed Josh Reynold's stories before I have read in other collections.
Of the stories I read, I would say at the very worst, they were passable though still leaving me glad I read it, never not enjoying my time with them, though most were very good, making me kind of hope some get adapted for some Halloween event for Hammer and Bolter or the likes. My personal favorites were "Old Soldiers," "King of Pigs" and "Collapse," but each of them had enough twists and turns that I could see anyone being someone's favorite, it being entirely up to any one individual's tastes. The fact I am normally not an Age of Sigmar fan and I enjoyed it as much as I did definitively speaks to the quality of the works here.
Conclusion: Overall, if you are interested in sci-fi or fantasy horror, you could read this and get by 'mostly' fine, though some references might be lost on you, the horror mostly transcending the in universe terms and lingo. If you are a Warhammer fan and familiar with either settings, even if only a basic way (such as myself with Age of Sigmar), this is an easy recommend to check out.
4/5, a good collection of reads with a couple real gems hidden in between.
Recommendations: If you are looking for more horror in the Warhammer field, my go to is always the progenitor it seems for the subject (though if we're being honest, considering the setting, its always kind of been there), is Peter Fehervari's dark coil stories, especially Fire Caste or Requiem Infernal, though the quality I have found for these stories is quite high, so you usually can't go wrong. If you are interested in the fantasy/AoS side, while I haven't read one by itself yet (soon though), Dark Harvest would be my suggestion as I have heard a lot of really good things about it, and have enjoyed Josh Reynold's stories before I have read in other collections.
April 14, 2023
Like with any bundle of stories there are those you like better then others.
To be fair the ones set in the warhammer 40k universe I like considerably more then I did the ones in the age of sigmar setting. The grim grounded reality of warhammer 40k just make it more appropriate for a horror setting whilst the more epic adventure background that is age of sigmar never quite hits the mark.
Stories that stood out for me where; the stacks/ the king of pigs and blood drinker; but there wasn't one I genuinely did not like, perhaps pain engine was the one got the least into as a story.
fun bundle for the collection.
To be fair the ones set in the warhammer 40k universe I like considerably more then I did the ones in the age of sigmar setting. The grim grounded reality of warhammer 40k just make it more appropriate for a horror setting whilst the more epic adventure background that is age of sigmar never quite hits the mark.
Stories that stood out for me where; the stacks/ the king of pigs and blood drinker; but there wasn't one I genuinely did not like, perhaps pain engine was the one got the least into as a story.
fun bundle for the collection.
May 17, 2023
Really wanted to like this one as I really enjoyed a lot of the other warhammer horror stuff.
Unfortunately I just felt like there just wasn’t enough pages to flesh out some of the better stories so I kept feeling a bit lacking and wanting more from a lot of them. Shame because some of them were really good but just felt like they were forced to rush and cram stuff in due to the nature of the book as a whole.
And I understand it’s a collection of horror stories but I just feel like some of them almost deserved their own book in a way to really flesh out the ‘why’ of what’s happening and their characters
Unfortunately I just felt like there just wasn’t enough pages to flesh out some of the better stories so I kept feeling a bit lacking and wanting more from a lot of them. Shame because some of them were really good but just felt like they were forced to rush and cram stuff in due to the nature of the book as a whole.
And I understand it’s a collection of horror stories but I just feel like some of them almost deserved their own book in a way to really flesh out the ‘why’ of what’s happening and their characters
February 10, 2024
i picked this up at my local game store a while back and was reading a story at a time for a while. i decided to finish it up finally after not having picked it back up in a looong time. i overall enjoyed it! most of the stories don't feel like they need prior knowledge of the lore, although i found pain engine hard to follow. not having a lot of background for the age of sigmar setting, i was worried that i'd be confused by those stories but didn't really find that to be the case. plenty of them were even my faves in the book!
my top stories are probably the pharisene paradox, aberration, blood drinker, the vintage, old soldiers, and bird of change, not necessarily in that order!
my top stories are probably the pharisene paradox, aberration, blood drinker, the vintage, old soldiers, and bird of change, not necessarily in that order!
April 5, 2023
I love Warhammer Horror and Crime, and have greatly enjoyed all the anthologies to this point. Unfortunately, this is a step back. Collapse starts the book out strong. King of Pigs was good, Old Soldiers was good. The Horror is ok. The Vintage was probably the best. The rest fall short. I out right quicky skimmed through several. Just not the same quality of the other anthologies.
March 20, 2023
Another excellent anthology with great stories by the ever top-drawer Richard Strachan, the always grimdank Jake Ozga and a cracking wee tale from David Annandale that almost makes up for the Damnation of Pythos.
April 13, 2023
The best stories:
Aberration by Jake Ozga (can we please get a full novel?)
Bird of Change by Richard Strachan
Blood Drinker by James Brogden
The Vintage by David Annandale
The Somewhere Sister by Jeremy Lambert
Aberration by Jake Ozga (can we please get a full novel?)
Bird of Change by Richard Strachan
Blood Drinker by James Brogden
The Vintage by David Annandale
The Somewhere Sister by Jeremy Lambert
February 22, 2024
A few standouts here, but an equal amount of duds and several middling tales kept me reading this one longer than I'd wanted to. The Accursed was the better collection, so I'd read this one first for sure.
April 4, 2024
A fantastic collection of shorts horror stories, all no more than 20 pages, each one a window into another dark corner of the worlds of Warhammer.
Best anthology yet to come out of Warhammer Horror
Best anthology yet to come out of Warhammer Horror
November 30, 2024
Good read
January 24, 2025
Middling read. Too much AoS for me.
August 27, 2025
Some were decent
February 7, 2024
I wrote a detailed review of this book: a paragraph for each of the thirteen short stories and then a wrap-up for the whole book. Then I accidentally deleted it. So here is a much shorter review instead.
This is a typical Warhammer horror anthology - some stories are better than others, but all have a nice base level of creepiness.
Collapse, The Stacks and King of Pigs depict your average 40k inhabitants going about their job, until some unfortunate and nicely creepy event befalls them. The Stacks was the best of these for me and gave a great look at the library. While King of Pigs gave me the same sort of vibes as Tender is the Flesh; set in an abattoir where the one of the workers gets a bit too attached to the meat.
I wasn't too sold on Pharisene Paradox until I reached the interesting little twist at the end that made it quite enjoyable. I have enjoyed all of the Sylvaneth horror stories I've read so far and The Gnarled Bough was no exception. This was a fun little creepy tale.
Pain Engine was the story that I really wanted to read, and was very tempted to buy separately before this anthology was released, as I like anything that features the Drukhari. The story was pretty average, but it gave a really good insight to the world of the haemonculi.
Old Soldiers was a very military story and needn't have been set in the Warhammer universe, but I liked it. Aberration was very atmospheric, although slow and not particularly horrific, it had a nice feeling to the story. Bird of Change was kinda cool and creepy with an interesting ending.
Overall, I had a good time reading this anthology and am looking forward to seeing what comes to the Warhammer horror collection next.
This is a typical Warhammer horror anthology - some stories are better than others, but all have a nice base level of creepiness.
Collapse, The Stacks and King of Pigs depict your average 40k inhabitants going about their job, until some unfortunate and nicely creepy event befalls them. The Stacks was the best of these for me and gave a great look at the library. While King of Pigs gave me the same sort of vibes as Tender is the Flesh; set in an abattoir where the one of the workers gets a bit too attached to the meat.
I wasn't too sold on Pharisene Paradox until I reached the interesting little twist at the end that made it quite enjoyable. I have enjoyed all of the Sylvaneth horror stories I've read so far and The Gnarled Bough was no exception. This was a fun little creepy tale.
Pain Engine was the story that I really wanted to read, and was very tempted to buy separately before this anthology was released, as I like anything that features the Drukhari. The story was pretty average, but it gave a really good insight to the world of the haemonculi.
Old Soldiers was a very military story and needn't have been set in the Warhammer universe, but I liked it. Aberration was very atmospheric, although slow and not particularly horrific, it had a nice feeling to the story. Bird of Change was kinda cool and creepy with an interesting ending.
Overall, I had a good time reading this anthology and am looking forward to seeing what comes to the Warhammer horror collection next.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews