On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hal Wilson, Christopher Allen

A Cities of Sigmar Anthology

To take the Coin Malleus is to pledge one's life, limbs, and death to the Dawnbringer Crusades. Fusil-Major Rosforth knows this better than most. Following an almost career-ending injury, he now rides into battle atop Slobda – ogor, Maneater and fierce, unlikely friend. Their bond is Rosforth shoots, Slobda eats.

READ IT BECAUSE

While Grand Alliance Order features many heroic figures, few are as noble as the mortal defenders of the Cities of Sigmar, fighting on through pure grit and determination. These stories offer insight into what it must be like to face down foes that would drive others mad, defending one's family, friends, and way of life against beasts and monsters who want nothing more than to tear your home to shreds.

THE STORY

Something gnaws at the Realm of Ghyran. The skaven have come in their millions, and Rosforth and Slobda must somehow lead a despondent band of survivors to safety, relentlessly pursued by plague-infested tides of devious, ravenous vermin.



– On the Shoulders of Giants, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
– The Wanderer, by Hal Wilson
– Hounds, by Christopher Allen
– Roadwarden, by Liane Merciel
– Murder by Moonlight, by Noah Van Nguyen
– The Manse of Mirrors, by Nick Horth
– Past Returns, by Hal Wilson
– False Dawn, by Christopher Allen
– River of Death, by Anna Stephens
– The Siege of Greenspire, by Anna Stephens
– The Book of Transformations, by Matt Keefe
– The Nameless, by Hal Wilson

Genres: Fantasy

484 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2024

About the author

ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.

Reviews

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book!

The titular novlette by Adrian Tchaikovsky is set across a good and interesting relationship; the legless sniper riding a crows-nest and the female Ogor who carries him about.

Hal Wilson does a good trifecta of non-related short stories. In the Wanderer we follow a secret agent trying to track some magical suicide-plague which is eating a crusade army, Past Returns has a broken veteran facing his failures and a chaos cult, but 'The Nameless' would be a great short story in any genre; the residents of a town under threat from ghosts wake up with their memory gone.

Anna Stephens does something interesting with two short stories set at differnt ends of a womans life facing chaos in River of Death and The Siege of Greenspire.

Roadwarden by Liane Mercel is my second favourite story due to its strong grasp of invented detail and just its general vibe.

The scale of the Mortal Realms opens up huge opportunites for storytelling that weren't necessarily there in the Old World and the fact that the Chaos Gods are meaningfully opposed by major deities opens up a moral and spiritual space that I wish GW took more of an interest in.

[Chris Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a really big cities of sigma fan, I quite enjoyed the collections of short stories in this book I really took my time with this letting Each story set before I read the next one. There's a good mix of action horror romance tragedy in all the stories and I feel like all of them are unique from one another but still telling stories of humanity my two favourite would be on the soldiers of giants which is the main one and then the river of death

[Lionel Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an anthology of stories set in the Warhammer Universe. The titular story is the story of a Fusil Major or sniper and the Ogre whose back he rides on the back of (Age of Sigmar is out there even for fantasy). The pair is escorting a group of refugees through the wilds of Gyran. This is a great story, and the description of their battle with a rival sniper team is riveting. The first story sets the pace, and the following stories do not disappoint. The world of Warhammer Age of Sigmar is massive, with a plethora of races, factions, and civilizations. Getting into the setting now is like getting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it’s too big to start at the beginning, and it would take too long. That being said, On The Shoulders of Giants is an entertaining way to introduce oneself to the setting.

[Philip Alexandris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly a decent Age of Sigmar anthology. Led by a novella from Tchaikovsky, it starts out very well - the man manages to make a series of what should have been pretty standard fights into something quite interesting.

The rest of the authors don't all compare favorably to Tchaikovsky. A few of them deliver basic Warhammer stories, with all the good and bad that come from that. A handful I think completely fail, delivering stuff that doesn't really work and mysteries that either don't make sense from the start or have no time to develop. However, there are some gems: Anna Stephens and Liane Merciel specifically have some good stuff in here.

[Joseph Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone show Hal Wilson a box of Steelhelms and make him count the women involved. Thinly veiled forgettable misogynistic fantasy with a Warhammer patina.

Rest of the stories are solid.