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Sister Agentha #2
Ship of the Damned
Far from home, Sister Agentha travels aboard an ancient pilgrim vessel, providing a sacred light in the vast darkness of the void. However, on answering a mysterious distress signal, she soon finds herself with far more to contend with than the ignorance of children as plague zombies flood the decks and wreak bloody havoc on the faithful. Trapped in the belly of the ship with death on all sides, Agentha’s only hope is a mysterious black object taken from a group of refugees...but will it send help, and what will be left of them when it does?
Read it because
A brand new Legion of the Damned short story by C Z Dunn.
35 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2013
4 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Christian Z. Dunn
140 books62 followersChristian Dunn, sometimes credited as C.Z. Dunn, is a senior editor for Black Library.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 4, 2023
primer libro que lei de Agentha, por ahora mi hermana de batalla favorita xDD
me gusta el submundo que puede llegar a haber en un nave transgeneracional
me gusta el submundo que puede llegar a haber en un nave transgeneracional
February 11, 2024
Sister Agentha, linguist, librarian, historian, and recently teacher has to protect the children of a pilgrimage ship. Sweet and protective of the civilians, this is a rarity in W40K. Liked it a lot.
December 22, 2013
What makes Ship of the Damned unique is the approach of the author. While many of the short tales released together as a Legion of the Damned collection are directed more towards open battlefields and combat, this one looks away. Taking place within a lone vessel isolated in the void of space, it attempts to emphasise more upon themes of horror than of battle.
A lone pilgrim ship is traversing through the Warp, filled to the brim with the faithful and guided by a lone member of the Adeptus Sororiatas Order of the Fractured Cipher, Agentha. Despite remaining on good terms with the crew and the near fanatical devotion to the Sister Dialogus, things soon prove to be far from well. Drawn off course by a distress signal, the vessel soon finds itself being overrun by a foe they cannot hope to combat. However, even as the ship is overrun, talk of seeing mysterious black clad space marines continues among some passengers of the ship…
Along with retaining an effective three act structure despite a very short page count, the tale’s benefit is that it tries to show events outside of conflict. However brief it might be, the beginning sections portray a very effective insight into how some of these pilgrim ships operate and just how monumental their task truly is. Unlike what some portrayals would have, these are generational vessels with much of their populace being born in the stars and few ever returning to their homeworld. The idea of how driven these people are by their faith and the lengths they will go to is strongly impressed upon the reader, as is the importance of a Sororitas to such faith. While the tale does suffer from contradicting a few established ideas from books, such as all pilgrim ships being non-Warp capable, and a skewed idea of numbers, such as it only taking decades to go from system to system, it gives a good portrayal of religious life. A look into the Ecclesiarchy which isn’t utterly driven by showing them in a positive or negative light, showing the problems behind their attitudes while at the same time showing a few benefits.
Along with such a well-handled portrayal, the short story also manages to quickly introduce a decent ensemble of figures of the tale. While none have especially deep in characterisation, they are likable and varied enough to give life to the tale. This manages to successfully keep the tale going and is successful enough to not let the lack of a “face” with the villains negatively affect the narrative. By the time the bullets start flying, everything is well established and it’s almost enough to wish the novel had stuck with just showing life on-board the vessel.
All that said, the fighting isn’t that bad either. While the characters witnessing the aftermath of fighting and the build-up towards the villains is what makes it truly effective, it does provide enough action to keep the story going. It has the right moments to make the tale carry the vibe of a B-movie horror flick or Hammer film, and contains all the right story elements for anything in that general vibe.
With all that said, it’s also with the combat that the story’s critical problems become clear. While he might be fine with structure, C Z Dunn lacks the emotive terms and visceral descriptions which can make many other author’s works so fun to read. While it doesn’t make his work dead or lifeless, there’s nothing so thrilling here as the combat seen in Dark Hollows of Memory, Remorseless or even a massive number of tales beyond this short one. This especially undermines the late involvement of the Legion. While the tale was going for another “arrives at the last second and saves the day” approach, their arrival and actions lack the emotion and real emphasis upon their actions to make them feel meaningful. Instead we get perhaps a sentence a most with the rest of their involvement either being passed over or the pages more interested in oddly vague descriptions of their nature.
Atop of the problem with the Legion’s involvement, a major mystery which it sets up is never really resolved. While there are a few hints as to its true meaning, it needed a little more to really make its presence feel worthwhile. Otherwise it’s something which feels as if it’s there purely as an excuse to fill out a few somewhat interesting pages and the Legion’s sudden appearance.
While Ship of the Damned has its problems, it’s still a decent read for a brief look through. The main problem is the descriptive shortcomings when it comes to the author, but he still manages to keep the tale interesting and engaging until the end. While you probably won’t read this one through more than once or twice, it’s still a tale which will keep a person interested until it closes out. Buy it if you’re a Legion fan looking for something a bit different involving them, but otherwise stick with the better tales of the collection.
A lone pilgrim ship is traversing through the Warp, filled to the brim with the faithful and guided by a lone member of the Adeptus Sororiatas Order of the Fractured Cipher, Agentha. Despite remaining on good terms with the crew and the near fanatical devotion to the Sister Dialogus, things soon prove to be far from well. Drawn off course by a distress signal, the vessel soon finds itself being overrun by a foe they cannot hope to combat. However, even as the ship is overrun, talk of seeing mysterious black clad space marines continues among some passengers of the ship…
Along with retaining an effective three act structure despite a very short page count, the tale’s benefit is that it tries to show events outside of conflict. However brief it might be, the beginning sections portray a very effective insight into how some of these pilgrim ships operate and just how monumental their task truly is. Unlike what some portrayals would have, these are generational vessels with much of their populace being born in the stars and few ever returning to their homeworld. The idea of how driven these people are by their faith and the lengths they will go to is strongly impressed upon the reader, as is the importance of a Sororitas to such faith. While the tale does suffer from contradicting a few established ideas from books, such as all pilgrim ships being non-Warp capable, and a skewed idea of numbers, such as it only taking decades to go from system to system, it gives a good portrayal of religious life. A look into the Ecclesiarchy which isn’t utterly driven by showing them in a positive or negative light, showing the problems behind their attitudes while at the same time showing a few benefits.
Along with such a well-handled portrayal, the short story also manages to quickly introduce a decent ensemble of figures of the tale. While none have especially deep in characterisation, they are likable and varied enough to give life to the tale. This manages to successfully keep the tale going and is successful enough to not let the lack of a “face” with the villains negatively affect the narrative. By the time the bullets start flying, everything is well established and it’s almost enough to wish the novel had stuck with just showing life on-board the vessel.
All that said, the fighting isn’t that bad either. While the characters witnessing the aftermath of fighting and the build-up towards the villains is what makes it truly effective, it does provide enough action to keep the story going. It has the right moments to make the tale carry the vibe of a B-movie horror flick or Hammer film, and contains all the right story elements for anything in that general vibe.
With all that said, it’s also with the combat that the story’s critical problems become clear. While he might be fine with structure, C Z Dunn lacks the emotive terms and visceral descriptions which can make many other author’s works so fun to read. While it doesn’t make his work dead or lifeless, there’s nothing so thrilling here as the combat seen in Dark Hollows of Memory, Remorseless or even a massive number of tales beyond this short one. This especially undermines the late involvement of the Legion. While the tale was going for another “arrives at the last second and saves the day” approach, their arrival and actions lack the emotion and real emphasis upon their actions to make them feel meaningful. Instead we get perhaps a sentence a most with the rest of their involvement either being passed over or the pages more interested in oddly vague descriptions of their nature.
Atop of the problem with the Legion’s involvement, a major mystery which it sets up is never really resolved. While there are a few hints as to its true meaning, it needed a little more to really make its presence feel worthwhile. Otherwise it’s something which feels as if it’s there purely as an excuse to fill out a few somewhat interesting pages and the Legion’s sudden appearance.
While Ship of the Damned has its problems, it’s still a decent read for a brief look through. The main problem is the descriptive shortcomings when it comes to the author, but he still manages to keep the tale interesting and engaging until the end. While you probably won’t read this one through more than once or twice, it’s still a tale which will keep a person interested until it closes out. Buy it if you’re a Legion fan looking for something a bit different involving them, but otherwise stick with the better tales of the collection.
October 27, 2014
"In Ship of the Damned, Agentha grabs some transit on a somewhat dilapidated pilgrim ship named the Herald of Piety. The opening pages detail which steps she has taken to streamline and upgrade worship services and education on this ship, which has gone years without touching planetside, and boasts an ever-increasing population of voidborn. Soon, a cryptic distress call is picked up over the ship's antiquated vox. Unfortunately, by the time Agentha decodes it, it is too late. The Herald is already executing a boarding maneuver on the hailing ship, and what it unleashes is horror from beyond the grave."
You can read my full review of this short here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
You can read my full review of this short here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
November 26, 2018
This is a story about a woman protecting children, a rarity in the macho world of Warhammer 40k fiction. It is actually my favorite Sororitas portrayal, even having read their entire omnibus and the new Bloodied Rose novella. Agentha is compassionate yet also harsh and hardened by the realities of the horrifying universe in which she lives. There is no light here, no hope, just a grim, dilapidated ship of pilgrims limping its way through a galaxy beset on all sides by monsters and demons. And that's before the plague zombies showed up.
March 20, 2016
I was very impressed with Dunns story telling, and his choice of story.
This was a very unique Bl story, as it was from the perspective of a Sister Dialogous, which I found supremely interesting.
The Legion of the Damned were also extremely well done.
I look forward to reading more of Dunns work, and hopefully some more Dialogous stuff!
This was a very unique Bl story, as it was from the perspective of a Sister Dialogous, which I found supremely interesting.
The Legion of the Damned were also extremely well done.
I look forward to reading more of Dunns work, and hopefully some more Dialogous stuff!
December 5, 2013
Excellent atmosphere and pacing with just the right amount of mystique. Avid 40k/Heresy fans will get a lot more from the plot hooks.
Only let down was the super short involvement of the Legion, would have like more from them given the series the book is part of. Perhaps a follow up is in order?
Only let down was the super short involvement of the Legion, would have like more from them given the series the book is part of. Perhaps a follow up is in order?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews