Angron's Monolith

Space Marine Battles #Novella

by Steve Lyons

As war engulfs Armageddon, the mysterious and mistrusted Relictors Chapter of Space Marines deploys to the equatorial jungles. As they battle the feral orks who infest that region of the shattered world, they are also scouring the jungle in search of lost battle-brothers, sent to Armageddon in search of an ancient relic with links to the world's mysterious past and to one of the Imperium's arch-traitors, the primarch Angron...

Read it because
The Relictors are an interesting Chapter, teetering on the edge of heresy as they gather Chaos-tainted artefacts to use against their enemies... and the one they're looking for on Armageddon is a doozy. After all, it's not every planet that has the remnants of an axe carried by a traitor primarch... (And if you want to see how it ended up there, you should check out The Emperor's Gift as well!)

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Novella, Fiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 11, 2014

About the author

Steve Lyons is a science fiction writer, best known for writing television tie-ins of Doctor Who for BBC Books, and previously, Virgin. The earliest of these was Conundrum in 1994, and his most recent was 2005's The Stealers of Dreams. He has also written material for Star Trek tie-ins, as well as original work.

Reviews

[Luke Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do the ends justify the means? Can the tools of the enemy be used to defeat them?

An interesting pair of questions at the core of this short story revolving around the Relictors, a more obscure Space Marine Chapter who've always intrigued me, notorious for using dangerous artefacts and weapons in the service of the Imperium, skirting the line between loyal servant and dangerous heretic as they walk their own path to defend the Imperium, seeking out a dangerous artefact from the First War of Armageddon, but while such a weapon could bolster their cause, what will be the cost?

Honestly the Relictors have fascinated me since I first encountered them in a White Dwarf magazine in my teens: it's a great shame they don't get more attention IMO, so this short story was a delight to read (particularly since I agree with the Xanthite mindset the Relictors pursue: to borrow another quote from the 40K universe, 'Turning the weapons of the enemy against him is, of course, of grave danger to one's soul. It is nonetheless a satisfying thing to see.'), I do enjoy the stories that show the varying shades of grey in the Imperium's fight for survival...

[Nikola Kovačev · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather unknown chapter with its own mysterious agenda seeks a relic of old.While the 3rd war for Armageddon rages arround them.Good book and worth a read especially if you're into not well known space marine chapters.

[Ulzeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read.