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Legion of the Damned Shorts
From the Flames
Battle-brother Seoc of the Invaders is alone. With his brothers dead around him, killed by the avatar of an alien war god, he prepares to sell his life dearly and join the Emperor in eternity. Until something emerges from the flames… Spectral Space Marines, their black armour adorned with symbols of fire and death, move to engage the enemy, but can Seoc survive the battle between the bloody-handed horror and the terrible revenants?
Read it because
It's a short and punchy tale from the death of an eldar craftworld that pits a warrior of the Invaders and a host of mysterious Legion of the Damned against the daemonic might of an eldar Avatar. What will god-like alien power or the ghosts of the Imperium?
9 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2013
18 people want to read
About the author
Graeme Lyon
37 books16 followersGraeme Lyon is the author of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar novella Code of the Skies and the Warhammer 40,000 novella Armour of Faith. He has also written a host of short stories set in the worlds of Warhammer, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000 and Blood Bowl. He lives and works in Glasgow.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 26, 2013
The third story from this Legion of the Damned collection feels like a waste. While each story had their own flaws, they were at least stories with an obvious arc and acts to them. This one? It barely seems to even try to do that, and ultimately comes across as more insulting, especially to the eldar, than it does as a true tale.
Taking place during the Invaders assault upon Craftworld Idharae, the story follows the survivor of a squad unlucky enough to bump into the city ship’s Avatar. Having most of his squad killed, Brother Seoc witnesses other astartes emerging to combat the Warp creature…
Now, this sounds like a somewhat promising setting. Ignoring the gaping flaws which exist within its source material, an eldar craftworld is a battlefield rarely seen within Warhammer literature and the book opens up by treating the Avatar with some dignity for once. You know it won’t last, like every previous Avatar in these things it’s just there to die and buff up someone else, but it’s at least built up as a challenge throughout the first third of the story. Then it dies and it’s over. Really, that’s about it.
This is what makes it so very hard to comment upon the writing strength, pacing and such: The story itself is not even a third of the length of the other two, unlikely even a quarter of The Dark Hollows of Memory. It begins and then is over so fast that there is barely any characterisation let alone fighting against the avatar, with the story itself perhaps a thousand words in total. It just feels like a waste and that its slot among the stories here could have been spent on something lengthy or more meaningful.
What the story can be credited for is that for what it is, it’s not bad. It’s still vastly too short and ends almost as soon as it begins, but some details are actually okay. There’s an effort here to give some emotive descriptions and certain details of note are present, such as an author remembering the nuclear plant on the backs of space marine armour for once. The actual effort to present the Avatar as a major threat is also good, with it being described as “striking a starship” when in close combat. The actual conclusion has a good stylistic presentation to it as well, and does work to some degree to show the impact upon the Legion of the Damned’s arrival.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to credit this when so many corners have obviously been cut to create an extremely short tale. There is little to nothing beyond bare basics used to describe such a truly alien place as a Craftworld, or even give some insight into the Invaders themselves. They fail to really act like space marines for the short time that there is, with even a first person account not helping, and the sudden acceptance of the Legion is questionable at best. Seoc, the protagonist, sees several obviously undead marines walking through fire towards him, but then immediately ignores them regarding the Avatar as the true threat. He effectively turns his back on several beings obviously affected by the Warp itself, and doesn’t expect to be gunned down or even truly question their presence for even a second.
The actual fight itself also proves to be extremely lacklustre, with neither the Avatar nor Legion able to hurt one another. This results in a conclusion to the battle which was likely intended to be intelligent or subversive, but just opens up far too many questions and seems insulting to both sides at how easily they are defeated. Not to mention the question of whether physics would actually work on Warp created flames, or why two creatures of the Warp couldn’t hope to harm one another.
There is some obvious talent present within the story and Graeme Lyon does work with what he is given, so a bad author is hardly to blame for the faults. However, the story is very obviously cut down and compressed into as small a space as imaginable, and yet again just feels like a poor rereading of Legion of the Damned. This time cutting right to the Legion’s arrival with no build-up, but also making a poor effort to show their abilities. It seems more like a tale intended for the Angels of Death series which was hijacked and instead passed off as a part of this collection.
There’s just not enough here to warrant buying unless you’re curious enough about the battle against Idharae, but even then From The Flames is still very hard to recommend.
Taking place during the Invaders assault upon Craftworld Idharae, the story follows the survivor of a squad unlucky enough to bump into the city ship’s Avatar. Having most of his squad killed, Brother Seoc witnesses other astartes emerging to combat the Warp creature…
Now, this sounds like a somewhat promising setting. Ignoring the gaping flaws which exist within its source material, an eldar craftworld is a battlefield rarely seen within Warhammer literature and the book opens up by treating the Avatar with some dignity for once. You know it won’t last, like every previous Avatar in these things it’s just there to die and buff up someone else, but it’s at least built up as a challenge throughout the first third of the story. Then it dies and it’s over. Really, that’s about it.
This is what makes it so very hard to comment upon the writing strength, pacing and such: The story itself is not even a third of the length of the other two, unlikely even a quarter of The Dark Hollows of Memory. It begins and then is over so fast that there is barely any characterisation let alone fighting against the avatar, with the story itself perhaps a thousand words in total. It just feels like a waste and that its slot among the stories here could have been spent on something lengthy or more meaningful.
What the story can be credited for is that for what it is, it’s not bad. It’s still vastly too short and ends almost as soon as it begins, but some details are actually okay. There’s an effort here to give some emotive descriptions and certain details of note are present, such as an author remembering the nuclear plant on the backs of space marine armour for once. The actual effort to present the Avatar as a major threat is also good, with it being described as “striking a starship” when in close combat. The actual conclusion has a good stylistic presentation to it as well, and does work to some degree to show the impact upon the Legion of the Damned’s arrival.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to credit this when so many corners have obviously been cut to create an extremely short tale. There is little to nothing beyond bare basics used to describe such a truly alien place as a Craftworld, or even give some insight into the Invaders themselves. They fail to really act like space marines for the short time that there is, with even a first person account not helping, and the sudden acceptance of the Legion is questionable at best. Seoc, the protagonist, sees several obviously undead marines walking through fire towards him, but then immediately ignores them regarding the Avatar as the true threat. He effectively turns his back on several beings obviously affected by the Warp itself, and doesn’t expect to be gunned down or even truly question their presence for even a second.
The actual fight itself also proves to be extremely lacklustre, with neither the Avatar nor Legion able to hurt one another. This results in a conclusion to the battle which was likely intended to be intelligent or subversive, but just opens up far too many questions and seems insulting to both sides at how easily they are defeated. Not to mention the question of whether physics would actually work on Warp created flames, or why two creatures of the Warp couldn’t hope to harm one another.
There is some obvious talent present within the story and Graeme Lyon does work with what he is given, so a bad author is hardly to blame for the faults. However, the story is very obviously cut down and compressed into as small a space as imaginable, and yet again just feels like a poor rereading of Legion of the Damned. This time cutting right to the Legion’s arrival with no build-up, but also making a poor effort to show their abilities. It seems more like a tale intended for the Angels of Death series which was hijacked and instead passed off as a part of this collection.
There’s just not enough here to warrant buying unless you’re curious enough about the battle against Idharae, but even then From The Flames is still very hard to recommend.
October 17, 2014
"The effect is very satisfying. It also helps that, even in this compact word count, Lyon makes Seoc into a solid protagonist, the epitome of Astartes fortitude (even if this warrior, genetically engineered to know no fear, can get a shiver down his spine at the arrival of his ghostly saviors). Even though the Legion feature, he is still the emotional core of the story.
Other factors in the story are handled to a perfectly satisfactory level. Lyon paints the background with fast, broad strokes of a colorful brush. The action scenes dictate the action effectively. The scope of the size of the Avatar is conveyed."
you can read the whole review of this short story here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
Other factors in the story are handled to a perfectly satisfactory level. Lyon paints the background with fast, broad strokes of a colorful brush. The action scenes dictate the action effectively. The scope of the size of the Avatar is conveyed."
you can read the whole review of this short story here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
March 20, 2016
An interesting short(and I MEAN SHORT) about the Invaders...(wait for it)... invading an Eldar Craftworld and fighting an Eldar Avatar of Khaine, and losing quite badly.
Their "rescuers" were awesome, though I wish we got see a little more about them.
Their "rescuers" were awesome, though I wish we got see a little more about them.
November 12, 2013
Short. Amazingly SHORT. So short that the story must have broken a new cents-per-word record :-(
Which does not have to be bad in and of itself, but after Remorseless, this story was a real letdown.
Which does not have to be bad in and of itself, but after Remorseless, this story was a real letdown.
November 30, 2013
Super short!
June 27, 2014
Shortest short story I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews