Azrael: Protector of Secrets

Black Library Advent Calendar 2013 #5

by Christian Z. Dunn

Exemeter VII has fallen into rebellion, its governor declaring independence from the Imperium and leading the world into darkness. Now the Dark Angels and their allies from the Godesian Imperial Guard have arrived to return the Emperor’s light to this forsaken planet. As Supreme Grand Master Azrael and the commander of the Godesians approach the governor’s throne room, a deadly secret will be revealed. But deadly to whom?

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

9 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 5, 2013

About the author

Christian 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.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fine little bite-sized fiction but nothing to write home about.

[Michael Botterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little story, last thing a guardsman wants is to be serving with the 1st

[Lanfear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Azrael es un traidor? esta legión es un desastre.

[DarkChaplain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely one of C Z Dunn's Dark Angels stories.
You can imagine who or what it involves, and how Azrael protects his secrets.

The action itself is a bit tame, considering that a lot of traitor guardsmen die. You're not inside any character's head, and feel more like an observer, reading rough strokes of the final phase of the assault on the traitor governor's palace.

I felt a bit detached from the action, and would have prefered a different perspective on the events - one that would have lent itself very well to the scenario. I know that Christian would have written it well that way, considering some chapters of Pandorax worked in a similar fashion, and I enjoyed those point of view changes.

Regardless, I enjoyed the story, though I am a bit miffed about Azrael keeping his secrets from me once again. As such, you will not get any big revelations out of this story, but I hope that it will be expanded upon in due time. As it stands, the eShort showcases the cold effectiveness of the Chapter rather well, and shows their priorities in suitably grimdark fashion.

At the end of the day it is still a nice addition to all the Dark Angels fiction we've gotten from C Z Dunn over the past few years.
Any Dark Angels fan will know roughly what to expect, while uninitiated readers may find an intriguing little story that may sway them towards further reading.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story was well written and a good ,short read if you read it after the Kor'sarro Khan short, but other than that it is a EXTREMELY typical Dark Angels short story.