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Warhammer 40,000
Ragnar Blackmane: Saga of the Beast
Glory returns to Fenris. Magnus the Red and his traitorous legion are defeated upon the icy cliffs of the Space Wolves’ home world, their hollow remains scattered into the darkest depths of the World Sea. Yet Ragnar Blackmane, the youngest Wolf Lord in his Chapter’s noble history, does not feel victorious. He is uneasy. Uncertain of his purpose and place in the great war for the Imperium.
Until a vision strikes him of a terrible beast, one greater than any he or his warriors have faced before. A monster that it is his destiny to confront. The young king throws himself into a quest to meet this fate, for no Space Wolf can turn from the call of his wyrd. Alongside a small band of Space Wolves, Ragnar Blackmane begins what is certain to be an odyssey for the ages, on which will hinge not only the fate of a single warrior, but of the entire galaxy.
Written by David Annandale. Total running time 4 hours and 23 minutes. Performed by Tom Alexander, Charles Armstrong, Gareth Armstrong, Ian Brooker, Steve Conlin, Andrew Fettes, Jonathan Keeble, Colleen Prendergast, Jon Rand & Richard Reed.
Until a vision strikes him of a terrible beast, one greater than any he or his warriors have faced before. A monster that it is his destiny to confront. The young king throws himself into a quest to meet this fate, for no Space Wolf can turn from the call of his wyrd. Alongside a small band of Space Wolves, Ragnar Blackmane begins what is certain to be an odyssey for the ages, on which will hinge not only the fate of a single warrior, but of the entire galaxy.
Written by David Annandale. Total running time 4 hours and 23 minutes. Performed by Tom Alexander, Charles Armstrong, Gareth Armstrong, Ian Brooker, Steve Conlin, Andrew Fettes, Jonathan Keeble, Colleen Prendergast, Jon Rand & Richard Reed.
Audible Audio
Published March 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 24, 2022
Ragnar Blackmane: Saga of the Beast is a long audio drama, essentially the size of 4-10 standard size Black Library audio dramas in one and is certainly one of their better offerings to date. As expected with Space Wolves, the plot is Norse-inspired and centres heavily on the idea of fate.
At the start of the story, Ragnar ‘experiences’ a kind of prophecy which is then acted out in a distorted fashion throughout the book. However, the Norse-inspired plot itself is fairly generic and nowhere near approaches the quality of the actual Norse sagas. The title partly makes up for a lack of originality with the outstanding production quality; there’s a whole cast of voice actors (that includes the legendary Gareth Armstrong and Jonathan Keeble), high quality audio samples and occasional fitting music.
Additionally the writing style and overall design of the title is perfectly suited to an audio drama. It is fairly typical for the listener to become occasionally lost in scenes that do not or would not naturally include lots of dialogue e.g. combat scenes – either a) when a combatant describes what is happening through their voice as they are fighting for the listener's benefit (very awkward) or b) there are just sound effects and the task of making sense almost solely falls to the listener's imagination (very limited in anything outside of 1v1 combat). In Ragnar Blackmane: Saga of the Beast, a narrator (and witness to the events) describes/explains anything of value that the dialogue would otherwise struggle with. This narration is intertwined with the events as they happen and is told as if the narrator is recounting the events from a later time after the events of the book, here recounting their actual ‘Saga of the Beast’. This is very much reminiscent of Dilios’ narration from the film 300.
At the start of the story, Ragnar ‘experiences’ a kind of prophecy which is then acted out in a distorted fashion throughout the book. However, the Norse-inspired plot itself is fairly generic and nowhere near approaches the quality of the actual Norse sagas. The title partly makes up for a lack of originality with the outstanding production quality; there’s a whole cast of voice actors (that includes the legendary Gareth Armstrong and Jonathan Keeble), high quality audio samples and occasional fitting music.
Additionally the writing style and overall design of the title is perfectly suited to an audio drama. It is fairly typical for the listener to become occasionally lost in scenes that do not or would not naturally include lots of dialogue e.g. combat scenes – either a) when a combatant describes what is happening through their voice as they are fighting for the listener's benefit (very awkward) or b) there are just sound effects and the task of making sense almost solely falls to the listener's imagination (very limited in anything outside of 1v1 combat). In Ragnar Blackmane: Saga of the Beast, a narrator (and witness to the events) describes/explains anything of value that the dialogue would otherwise struggle with. This narration is intertwined with the events as they happen and is told as if the narrator is recounting the events from a later time after the events of the book, here recounting their actual ‘Saga of the Beast’. This is very much reminiscent of Dilios’ narration from the film 300.
July 7, 2023
Having just read Space Wolf by William King, the character of Ragnar was just so different. Maybe without reading that, this would have resonated more but just felt he didn't fit with how his origin story defined him.
February 24, 2024
Probably the weakest of the epic, 4-part tales. I was excited once I realized it was about Ghaz, having loved Crowley's book about him, but at the end of the day this is a Space Wolves story, and the Space Wolves just don't grab me.
April 12, 2020
For the Allfather!
April 27, 2020
Beautiful, delicious cheese.
May 16, 2020
A fantastic audio drama from Black Library. From beginning to its dramatic conclusion, it had me hooked. Vlka Fenryka brothers!
August 5, 2020
Ok. I'm not real fond of Space Wolves, but this was a fun romp. It was amusing the round about way we got to the end too. It sorta seems too important of a saga to be done in this format though.
December 8, 2020
A good book for 40k fans. It's a little short but it packs a lot of content in that time.
July 15, 2021
One of my favourite jaunts into the 40K universe
January 18, 2021
Nicely framed, as the best Space Wolf stories often are, as the retelling of a saga by a hoary old Skald, this goes in different directions to those you may expect. A large section of the story, Ragnar in the Underverse, is as much an internal metaphysical struggle as anything else, though the second half of the book more than makes up for this in the action stakes.
The performances for the Fenrisians are all great, if a touch indistinct at times, and I’d have happily have spend longer seeing events in Ghazghul’s camp than we do, but this remains an interesting curiosity.
The performances for the Fenrisians are all great, if a touch indistinct at times, and I’d have happily have spend longer seeing events in Ghazghul’s camp than we do, but this remains an interesting curiosity.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews