Era of Ruin

by Dan Abnett

A Siege of Terra Anthology

Horus is dead. His Heresy is over. The scars of mankind’s great schism will never fully heal. For those left behind, a new Era of Ruin is dawning, promising both new beginnings and fresh peril for an Imperium riven by trauma and war.

READ IT BECAUSE

This is the final instalment of the Horus Heresy – but that was just the beginning of a much darker tale which will be 10,000 years in the telling. These short stories show us glimpses of the stories that spun out of the Siege of Terra as the fledgling Imperium put together the pieces after the galaxy-shattering destruction, and those who fought on both sides, as they try to move on from the unthinkable events of the bloody conflict.

THE STORY

In Chris Wraight’s Homebound, Ilya Ravallion must choose between the decimated White Scars and living out what remains of her life in peace. An embattled Ahzek Ahriman must race against time to learn what he can of the warp before its gates close to him forever in Ex Libris by John French.

Featuring tales from Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Guy Haley and many more, this anthology follows mighty Custodians, scheming sorcerers, and the lowly footsoldiers of the Imperial Army as all negotiate the devastating aftermath of Humanity's greatest reckoning.

CONTENTS

– Introduction by Jacob Youngs
– Angels of Another Age, by John French
– Fulgurite, by Nick Kyme
– Fragments (All We Have Left), by Dan Abnett
– Ex Libris, by John French
– System Purge, by Gav Thorpe
– After the Dawn, the Darkness, by Guy Haley
– Homebound, by Chris Wraight
– The Carrion Lord of the Imperium, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fantasy, Audiobook

272 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2025

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angels of Another Age by John French ☆☆☆☆

Fulgurite by Nick Kyme ☆☆☆☆

Fragments (All We Have Left) by Dan Abnett ☆☆☆☆

Ex Libris by John French ☆☆☆

System Purge by Gav Thorpe ☆☆☆☆

After the Dawn, the Darkness by Guy Haley ☆☆☆☆

Homebound by Chris Wraight ☆☆☆☆☆

The Carrion Lord of the Imperium by Aaron Dembski-Bowden ☆☆☆☆☆

A Worthy Finale to an epic saga forged in blood, betrayal, and the dying light of Terra

Era of Ruin anthology delivers a powerful and satisfying ending to the Siege of Terra series, with ADB's tale standing out as the best, alongside Guy Haley’s gripping and touching one, in my opinion.
However, this collection isn’t without its flaws.
A few stories might have found a better place in earlier volumes, and some promising plot threads seem to have been quietly dropped or forgotten by the Black Library authors, leaving this avid fan here craving more.
Despite this, this book remains a memorable farewell to one of Warhammer 40,000’s most ambitious narratives, and there are days where I'm just wishing the Horus Heresy never ends.
Or to know what the Carrion Lord of the Imperium is dreaming of...

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emblematic really, everything changes but nothing really does.

John French in 'Angels of Another Age' and 'Ex Libris' gives us competent relations of stories that didn't need to be told. One has a Blood Angel suffering the Black Rage and one has Ahriman trying to escape the Library he was in during 'tEatD' while Horus explodes like a brain bomb.

Fulgurite by Nick Kyme is simply bad.

System Purge by Gav Thorpe is the grey definition of a 'worth reading' Heresy story about some cogs and a White Scar performing clearing operations on the Lions Gate and running into one of the first Obliterator Virus marines.

Fragments by Dan Abnett is a quite-nice story about a Sister of Silence finally being valued by the people around her, something that only happens during the apocalypse.

The three notable stories are 'After the Dawn, the Darkness' by Guy Haley, 'Homebound' by Chris Wraight and 'Carrion Lord of the Imperium' by ADB.

The first two concern the unofficial but-actual 'main cast' of the Heresy - some of the actually-likeable and interesting characters who never really took off in the hive mind of the Heresy's writers, largely remaining within the purview of one creator, but which are actually better characters than those that did. In 'After Dawn', Katsuhiro, the true and actual main protagonist of the Siege of Terra finally gets his Dickensian 'kindly gentleman' moment and gets to ride off into the sunset with the baby he saved, the girl and three(!) ration cards. In 'Homebound' Ilyria Ravilon actually manages to retire, then treks across the wasteland Terra has become to get back home, clean it up, plant some vegetables and die in her own bed. Both of these stories involve White Scars being nice, interesting views of the Apocalyptic Terran landscape and fragments of social reality for the many who remain.

In 'Carrion Lord' ADB takes us into the mind of an extremely depressed and traumatised Custodian facing the doom and failure of the man-god to whom they are forever bound, also they really hate Primarchs and Astartes. This is the only story to take us deep into the 'future' of the Heresy, into the ten-thousand year 'age of man', of cults and blind maddening faith, it also shows us a vision of the Imperial Throne much more like its early images, strongly hinting that the Big Throne in other later books might be a fake. In an unfathomably based move, ADB actually makes the grief-stricken Custodes nearly naked, just as lore always intended! In his customarily heavy-handed manner he goes strongly for a soft re-write of the creation of the Primarchs as taking power from the warp, but not actually doing a deal with the Ruinous Powers (at least that's not what this particular Custodes 'saw' happening.

Whole book is a two out of five, maybe three.

[OneKumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your Mileage Will Vary

This book is intended for those who’ve read through all the Horus Hersey and Siege of Terra novels. The Kenshiro (After the Dawn) and Ilya Ravallion (Homebound) stories brought tears to my eyes but potentially interesting standalone narratives like Angels or The Carrion Lord just weren’t engaging. This book is intended for the hardcore fans, for better or worse.

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant coda to the series. Fantastic stuff across every short - Ahriman epilogue and wraps up what even the bloated End and the Death couldn’t, and Abnett's meta "why would anyone be reading about how shit our lives are" storyline when this is a NYT bestselling series is a fantastic exploration of his themes that make him one of the stable's best writers. Liked the mixed narrators, they added something different - and it was a quick enough listen.

Going to go back and read the few anthologies I’ve got left to read as I’ve been mainlining this series whilst also getting back into 40K proper.

[Dominic Trump · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little sign-off to the series! As is the way with anthologies there are some stand-outs, and I particularly enjoyed the focus on wrapping up the story arcs of minor characters. All did a great job of selling the bleakness of the situation in the fallout of the novels so far, and that character focus really allowed time to breathe in the ash, so to speak. We've just found out there'll be another sequel series but honestly this would have been a perfect ending.

[Ashley Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mix of short stories. Very low key after a dramatic end to the Heresy, which I think is the point. All strong in their own way, I loved Carrion Lord of the Imperium in particular.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic coda to the Siege of Terra series.

Great shorts that finish off a lot of plot threads from the Horus Heresy.

A collection that once again shows that crusade era White Scars are the true heroes.

[Paul Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting coda to the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy as a whole. While some of the stories are on the weaker side (Nick Kyme just isn't up to the standards of some of the other authors here sadly), there are several standout stories that deliver excellent conclusions to long standing stories, with a special mention of Homebound by Chris Wraight.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uneven but often thrilling collection which takes us from the climactic events of the Siege (Sanguinius and Horus’ deaths) to the ‘era of ruin’ itself, long after the battle for Terra is over. The stories are, mostly, in chronological order so we get to see Terra and the Imperium recover in some ways and begin slipping into religious mania and torpor in others.

As with most of these collections the quality is up and down, but it’s fully worth it for Chris Wraight’s ‘Homebound’, telling us what Ilya Ravallion did after the siege ended and showing the battered but still surviving White Scars Legion through her eyes. We get maybe the best picture of immediately post-war Terra here and Wraight of all these writers manages the all-encompassing grief in the best way - plus of course we have a beloved character trying to reckon with the enormity of, well, everything that happened in the Siege. A perfect capstone not just for the story of Ilya but for Wraight’s White Scars saga. I love his work on Space Wolves, Inquisitors and Death Guard but I dearly hope he writes the Scars again, I don’t think anyone does them better.

Dan Abnett’s story is ‘Fragments (All We Have Left)’ and, well, it could have easily been one of the ‘fragment’ pieces in ‘The End and the Death’. No major revelations here, but it’s pretty great – I only wish I didn’t feel like it was just 20 or so pages cut from another novel. I think an Abnett story about the Alpha Legion’s famously ordered retreat from Terra is one of the stories I want more than anything… maybe they’ll be able to work that into the Scouring.

At one time I thought John French and ADB were the best new Black Library authors and had a good shot at being the New Abnetts, but in the last decade or so I feel they have gotten much worse – like they know they are good enough to write ‘serious’ Warhammer 40K fiction, but the pressure of doing that makes the writing creak under the weight of its Importance. French’s stuff I can take or leave (though at times corny, I think his Blood Angels story here is really good, and benefits from its brevity) but ADB was, at times, nearly unreadable. And kind of gets to the heart of what I’ve disliked about the Heresy material he’s put out since ‘Betrayer’. Why use this story to even slightly expand on the fate of his most iconic character (Sevatar) or write one of the Legions he helped define like the World Eaters or Word Bearers or Night Lords? No. Instead we have some of the dullest, most angsty shit he’s ever written about the Custodes. Maybe it’s just me – I really struggle to care about Custodes characters, and in the hands of ADB it really seems he accentuates their worst aspects: the coldness, the arrogance, the sneering superiority, the disdain of everyone else’s grievance while being so clearly motivated almost entirely by grievance themselves. Get ready for about fifty recollections on how close they are to the Emperor, how much they care about the Emperor, and how the Primarchs and the Space Marines are just dog shit. (Guilliman you fool… You are so lucky I stayed silent and did not knock your effing block off… I could have entered a kinetic situation with 95% possibility of success, and had I done so, the entire room would have applauded.) I did not like this story at all but I'll admit its final moments seem extremely apt for an anthology like this.

I would hope that now the Heresy is done Aaron is more able to work on some of the promising series he started in the past - particularly the Black Legion stuff but I'd welcome another Emperor's Spears book. What I really don't want is to see him write the Emperor or the Custodes ever again. So... we'll see.

At this point I do have more respect for the guys with a more pulpy approach like Nick Kyme, Gav Thorpe or Guy Haley – though Haley’s here is sometimes compellingly plotted but much too sentimental. Hey, did you care about Katsuhiro and The Baby by the time the Siege ended? Not me, but I’m sure they have a lot of fans, and this story is for all of you. Nick Kyme's Narek story might be one of the best here, I think – some really fun action and we get an appropriate story conclusion for a character Nick obviously has some real fondness for. Though the story ending feels maybe a little too familiar by now, it also seems to fit.

I do know Graham is mostly doing other stuff now, but it’s a shame he and Jim Swallow didn’t contribute – two guys who really played such a key part in the early moments of the Heresy and gave it some of its best moments even in the series’ less fondly remembered periods. Still, I guess most of their iconic plot lines had been wrapped up by this time. (I’d have liked David Annandale or Rob Sanders to get a shot, too, if we’re dream-casting.)

I still think another Heresy short story collection which brought together every odd story only published as an ebook only would be a great ‘final’ book but if this is indeed the last thing to have the Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra subtitle that’s fine.

If you've come this far, if you've read the other Siege of Terra stuff... give this a try. The highs, I think, are better than a few of the 'proper' novels.

8/10

[Fresh Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange oddity in the SoT series. Seemingly promoted as the book that ties up all the loose ends of the Seige/HH entire, Era of Ruin's chosen topics just..don't tie up much; not that some of them are amazing. It's just that, for the most part, the new stories focus on new characters, micro level situationships that have old characters, and one stories that focuses on the setting entire, from the perspective of one very unhappy Custodes.

Each Story is reviewed thus:

– Angels of Another Age, by John French ☆

A story content to rehash the subject of the Black Rage in a less satisfying way than in tEatD Vol3. Stars some random Blood Angels that promptly die. Waste of French's time.

– Fulgurite, by Nick Kyme ☆ ☆
Narek finally gets his time to shine. Or at least you'd hope so. I always thought Narek was too good a character in concept for Nick Kyme to write, who just always disappoints at every turn. Narek sneaks around Terra for a while, finds a bunch of deserter guardsman, and potentially (we don't see it happen) dies by -asshole in chief- Erebus shanking him. I'm hoping he isn't dead because frankly, the character deserves more than what Kyme has given him so far.

– Fragments (All We Have Left), by Dan Abnett ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
A uniquely beautiful story, complete with the flowery prose one expects from Abnett. The story features the Sister of Silence, who takes over the leadership role that Jenetia Krole left when she dies on the Satunine gate (in the Book 'Saturnine'), and her final days defending one of the last redoubts of the Imp. Palace left standing. Nice further look into the sad, lonely existence that Nulls go through, and their need for closeness with other human beings, that generally remains impossible.


– Ex Libris, by John French ☆ ☆
Another 'meh' shrug for French here. Ahriman stars in this little story which picks up from what he was doing in tEatD Vol 3, as he feels the implosion and vacuum of energy created by Horus' death. The story in short does nothing to advance Ahriman's character or show us his goals, and serves to nothing but blue-ball the reader into thinking something is going to show up that catapults Ahriman onto the demented path we see him on in French's ealiar one in the Ahriman series. A massive missed opportunity.

– System Purge, by Gav Thorpe ☆
A truly putrid waste of time. Mechanicus being Mechanicus. Data virus, Dark Mechanicum, Oblitorator virus, etc etc. Nothing is new, and Thorpe just labours on to long for what amounts to a completely trivial and tengential story. The most interesting thing is you get to see what's left of the Lion's Gate space port after the Scars take it back (mostly) from the Death Guard.

– After the Dawn, the Darkness, by Guy Haley ☆☆☆☆☆
Probably the best story in here. Finally, our boy Katsuhiro gets some justice. The story focuses on the post-seige cleanup operation and Katsuhiro's desperate struggle to keep the foundling baby that he has adopted alive. I'm not spoiling this one, just go read it, it's fantastic.

– Homebound, by Chris Wraight ☆☆☆☆
If you're a big fan of the Scars, bump another star on. I didn't read all of them, so I was only mildly invested in Ilya Ravallion's curtain call story, where she finally gets to go home - or what's left of it. A great swansong for a beloved character.

– The Carrion Lord of the Imperium, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden ☆☆☆☆☆
More of a sequel to 'Master of Mankind' than it is a story from the Siege (which isn't even discussed, mind), ADB follows Dioclesion through the most important events of his life, through wars of unification, the breaking of webway and subsequent war, to the age of strife beyond. This last story feels the most epic, and really throws back the curtain to how the seemingly aloof Custodes really feel. And spoilers - they aren't happy. Another absolutely amazing read.

Overall, a solid read. If you're not a hardcore fan, I'd consider just grabbing the ones that most interest you and calling it a day. The last 3 are worth the price of admission alone.

[Anibal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens to Barthusa Narek, Fabius Bile, Aphone Ire, Ahriman, Shiban Khan, Katsuhiro and the child, Sojuk, Ilya Ravallion, and the Custodes Diocletian Coros after the momentous events of The End and the Death?

Of course, there are many other characters we’d love to revisit, and it’s entirely possible that there will be a second volume someday. But the choice of characters and authors for this collection is truly sublime.

Not every story is set immediately after Horus’ death, though most are. This might be frustrating for readers expecting only finality and closure, but it gives the anthology more variety in tone and perspective. Another thing that might raise eyebrows is that most astartes stories focus on the white-scar characters

This is Warhammer: The Horus Heresy, so expect pain. But given the setting, there are occasional, surprising, and even unexpectedly hopeful moments. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything, but I’ll just say this: naked Custodians defending the Golden Throne are back (straight out of 1987 Rogue Trader — loved it!). And Aaron Dembski-Bowden gives us a memorable scene for the ever-brooding Custodian Diocletian Coros, who encounters another child that believes the Custodian to be the Emperor! His reaction shows genuine character growth. There’s also one of the most tender moments I’ve ever read between a Sister of Silence and an Imperial Guard officer. In the grimdark of the Horus Heresy, that’s more moving than any full-on romance story.

Some of these tales are brilliant, painful, or simply beautiful—I especially loved "Homebound", "After the Dawn, the Darkness", and "Fragments (All We Have Left)". But honestly, each story brings something worthwhile: character development, reflection, canon info, and a sense of closure.

Neil Roberts painted the monumental cover, and the internal art in the hardcover book was illustrated by Mikhail Savier; the plates include: Gaellon descending into the black rage, Aphone Ire among the soldiers, Katsuhiro and Shiban Khan reunited, Ilya tends the land.

Here is a mostly spoiler free list of stories:

Angels of Another Age – John French: A Blood Angel haunted by visions of beauty and artistry and the death of the father.


Fulgurite – Nick Kyme: Barthusa Narek’s continues his mission to hunt Lorgar but he will find humanity and horrors.

Fragments (All We Have Left) – Dan Abnett: A Sister of Silence reflects on purpose, loss, books, the emotional scars of war and being a Null. Will she find companionship at the end of everything?

Ex Libris – John French: Ahzek Ahriman races against time to save himself before all exits vanishes while the warp collapses.

System Purge – Gav Thorpe: The Mechanicus and white-scars attempts to cleanse a system’s corrupted code; morality, hierarchy and technology clash when they face the obliterator virus.

After the Dawn, the Darkness – Guy Haley: Katsuhiro grapples with despair while protecting the child amidst the ruins of Terra and the after war horrors.

Homebound – Chris Wraight: Ilya Ravallion’s finally retires, we follow her trek home across a broken Terra filled with dange, grief, survival, and peace.

The Carrion Lord of the Imperium – Aaron Dembski-Bowden: We follow Diocletian through the ages, and he has some interesting thoughts (although quite emo it has some fascinating insights) leading to a question to his king.

[Michael Snozek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, at least it's not as bad as much of the Siege of Terra.

As a reader, I've read and listened to all of the Horus Heresy series, I have both the hard copies and the audios, so I am a dedicated follower. That said, it is becoming more difficult to be so.

Two stories were great, two were solid, and four were bad.

First, regarding the narrators in the audio edition, at least it wasn't an audio drama. There were 3 different narrators, although 2 did the lion's share of the work.

The female narrator had difficulty producing a believable vocal range for astartes or primarchs, she is a bit too pert for the "grim darkness of the far future". That said, one of her stories was so good that it makes you emotional DESPITE her odd inflection.

Several reviews I have read blame Shogo Miakita for boring narration, but I disagree. Some of the stories are just poorly written.

Thankfully, Chris Wraight and Guy Haley still do a great job here. Their stories largely make this anthology any good at all. Both of these stories deal with normal mortal people in the aftermath of a cataclysmic siege. The accounts were very different but each was gripping, the common thread between the 2 was the White Scars legion. No spoilers here, but if I had only gotten these 2 stories in the anthology, it would have been worth it.

John French does Ahriman pretty nicely and Gav Thorpe makes the Mechanicum work. I am not their biggest fan, but I enjoyed both stories. French's Ahriman story is very cognitive, reflective, and appropriate to the character in ways that reflect a solid representation of the lore. In a different way, Thorpe, whose command of the lore is also strong, makes the Mechanicum and White Scars an interesting combination. Novel, a bit different, but fresh in a world of entropy.

Several small lore slips and characters acting out of character make Nick Kyme's story regrettable. Barthusa Narek deserves a lot better than this writer and the ham-handed treatment. We all know that astartes have 2 hearts, right? We know that Narek is a near metaphysical quick-draw and hunter extraordinaire, but all the sudden the character is pensive and delays? The story doesn't ring true to what the reader knows.

Dan Abnett's story is a powerful soporific and more than a bit self-indulgent and anachronistic. I can't say that about Dan's work almost ever. This was an author writing about books and the written word for characters that simply don't operate that way. It was childish and a writing effort that didn't see him putting the perspectives of the characters realistically.

Aaron Dembsky-Bowden keeps writing immortal demigods like middle-school adolescents and edging lore mistakes. If a person wants to know how moody adolescents would react to the "grim dark", this is it. It is strange to me that some readers aren't disjointed by immortal demigods over 10,000 years old losing their emotional control, lacking reflection, or not thinking through courses of action. Mechanically, the author works, but he misses the soul and intellect of almost every target character. His grasp of the lore is also very clearly the weakest of the GW author stable.

Maybe this anthology needs a lower rating, but those 2 shorts were worth the whole price of admission.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short story collection, final chapter (attempt number four if I am not mistaken :)) in the Horus Heresy story-arc.

It is very sad collection of stories, showing devastation of Earth and horrors still lurking after the madness of Warp has finally left the physical world following the Horus' destruction. This is time of rebuilding, of loyalist Legions licking their wounds and preparing to hunt the Traitors across the stars. This is also start of religious zealotry and Emperor's Talons deciding to withdraw from the world or risk inciting the new civil war. And all of this comes with the price, that some of the Custodes, like Diocletian Coros have taken very very hard.

You might not like Custodes but the final story in this collection, is testimony how Ten Thousand were against any involvement of Warp forces and creation of Primarchs. In Talon's eyes, they were the ones who should have led the Humanity to reclaim their place in universe. But also they were aware that no matter what they do and say, Emperor will have the final say on the matter (I mean he constantly creates 20 armies/legions through history with the same goal, and constantly makes the same mistakes). Talons can only comply and hope that Emperor and Talons themselves can save the day. So when Guilliman starts directing them this way or that, assuming the role of the great administrator, it takes a lot of self-control by Custodes not to kill him right there and then. Imagine witnessing wonders and bad decisions and then be chastised and critiqued by one of the greatest blunders Emperor ever made.

Show me a person whose blood would not boil in that situation.

Talons are the force who was always at the Emperor's side. They also know that there is no point in their serving the Primarchs or any other Terran power except Emperor because of a simple reason - nobody but the Emperor can be trusted. They are the devils advocates, voices of conscience and reason that might or might not be listened to, but at least by the Emperor their contribution to discussion would be acknowledged. His sons though .... there is big probability they would outright reject any suggestions due to the fact, how Diocletian Coros says, they were all made to be Emperors. Service to such lesser beings, and knowing their origins ...... it is hard to imagine Custodes would allow these anathemas to rule them. It is better to leave them be and destroy each other if so destined, while Talons guard their King, then to incite new civil war and destruction because of pride of the few.

I also liked the very brief but deep explanation of relationship between the Custodes and Sisters of Silence. So epic and so, do sad.

I liked this short story collection very much. Heresy is over, Terra will start to recover from the blows struck by the traitors. I hope that we move on to the next chapter, and I truly hope we get some more unification war stories (elements from the Custodes' story were great!).

Recommended to fans of W40K and Horus Heresy in particular.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent collection! There aren't any I'd say are bad, but instead a few didn't really work for me as well as others.

Angels of Another Age by John French - I ended up giving this 3 stars since I remember enjoying the reading of it, but for some reason it completely left my mind the moment I was done with it and even now I'm struggling to remember what it was about.

Fulgurite by Nick Kyme - 3 stars. This one didn't feel like a standout, but I liked the character and I thought where it went was interesting. Knowing nothing about who this character was prior to this story, I did some catching up on the Lexicanum and I'd be curious where it goes if that's ever explored, though I imagine it doesn't end well.

Fragments (All We Have Left) by Dan Abnett - 4 stars! Another that didn't quite standout, but I really enjoyed it during the reading and thought it did cool stuff with the point of view and in using a Sister of Silence as the main character.

Ex Libris by John French - 2.5 rounded up to 3, I suppose. I enjoyed the beginning where the story seemed to be picking up the thread from The End and the Death where Ahriman was in the library, but then it kind of just rehashed a bunch of stuff from The End and the Death in a way that I didn't find terribly interesting.

System Purge by Gav Thorpe - 2.5 rounded up to 3 as well. I liked this one overall, but it felt choppy and there were a few times where I couldn't tell if the story was just missing a section or I'd zoned out while reading it.

After the Dawn, the Darkness by Guy Haley - 4 stars. A surprisingly hopeful 30K story? Really well done and interesting to read.

Homebound by Chris Wraight - 5 stars. I really enjoyed this one and it's probably my favorite in the whole collection. It nails the apocalyptic feel in a different way where everything is just settling, but there's still danger in the dark. I really liked following these characters to their end in this one and it's well written as usual from Wraight.

The Carrion Lord of the Imperium by Aaron Dembski-Bowden - 5 stars. This feels like a proper epilogue in some ways. It doesn't cover every point of view, sure, but it really nails the arc of the Emperor in the end and I felt like Diocletian was an interesting point of view to use for this particular story. Really spectacular.

I usually average short story collections out, which ends up giving this one 3.5 stars. I'm happy to round it up to 4 on the strength of the best stories in this collection.

[Sirvalkyerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would seem wrong to judge a wall by its topmost layer of stones. Even if they're immaculate, they only sit as they do because of the multitudes of stones below them on which rest. Ergo, it feels in some way silly to hoist too much praise on a collection of short stories only made possible and powerful by the sixty-plus books that preceded them. But the merlons, embrasures, towers and battlements that line the tops of a castle wall are no less beautiful in their own regard simply because they stand on the shoulders of their foundations.

Era of Ruin is a beautiful send off to the Horus Heresy only made possible because of the infinitely long series that it attempts to sew up. A few of the stories on their own likely wouldn't hold up if they were self-contained but these are written for an audience that has spent actual decades steeped in this never-ending saga that has finally found its conclusions. Some stories, like Aphone Ire's, do make well on their own. But the most powerful are those of Ilya Ravallion and Diocletian. Even still, I don't particularly adore the White Scars but I absolutely adore everything Chris Wraight writes and I moreorless sobbed my way through the entirety of Ilya's story.

There's a lot of love in this book. Love for the characters, the narratives and the fans that have come along the way. More than anything the End and the Death could give me, Era of Ruin is an emotional, weighty and bittersweet goodbye to the most expansive prequel in history.

[Luke Costin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology feels like summary of the Heresy novels as a whole; Some stories that seem unnecessary, some that are decent and then some that are absolutely outstanding which keep you coming back to this admittedly bloated franchise.

I’ll stick with the highlight stories in this review.

Angels of Another Age, is a brilliant account of the black rage from the view of a Blood Angel and its ramifications for the future.

After the Dawn, the Darkness, was a fitting final chapter for Katsuhiro, one of the standout characters from the Siege books. I loved seeing the struggles of the “heroes” of the war when the battle was finally through

Homebound is an exploration of what comes next after a war, nothing good is the answer

The Carrion Lord of the Imperium was a fantastic final story that showed the Custodes with actual emotion, and they are furious. Hearing their true thoughts on Guilliman was fascinating.

Overall, this was a solid collection with only one story I didn’t like

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay now it’s done-done. i’ve had my issues with anthologies.. but this was totally worth it. the closure we get with some of these characters was beautiful.

angels of another age: 5/5
- absolutely adored this

fulgurite: 2/5
- kyme keeping his reputation alive. also fuck erebus

fragemnts (all we have left): perfection/5
- holy fuck. unbelievable. WOW. officially my favourite piece of heresy literature.

ex libris: 3/5
- i think this was good? i’m confused af.

system purge: 3/5
- i really enjoy mechanicum stories but this wasn’t for me personally

after the dawn, the darkness: 4/5
- thiiiiiiis was the heresy/siege arc i needed to see complete. thank you adb!

homebound: 5/5
- well i cried... this was beautiful. might be the best arc of a character(s) in all of the heresy.

the carrion lord of the imperium: 6/5
- and another adb masterpiece. seeing the hatred in the custodes is a perfect way to end the heresy/siege.

[Charlie Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection to wrap up the Siege of Terra and Horus Heresy. As other reviewers have mentioned, this one is really for the readers who have read nearly everything in the Heresy and want to see some of the minor character stories wrap up.

Chris Wraight’s Homebound was the best of the collection, in my view. A wonderful and bittersweet denouement for the White Scars heresy narrative.

Denali-Bowden hit many of his trademark notes in Carrion Lord of the Imperium, which was certainly the most meta relevant of the stories. It was my second favorite of the collection.

Barthusa Narek’s story Fulgurite was my least favorite. It dragged a bit and felt like it could’ve fit in an earlier Siege anthology. I also may have missed something, but it felt like a weird place to see Fabius Bile.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really strange volume, with some very serious problems.

As with all short story collections, there will always be the good the bad and the ugly, but this one contains rather too much of the ugly. Including one screamingly awful contribution that I honestly don't think even went through the editing process.

But that said, there are a couple of gems.

I think the biggest problem though is every single one of these stories are rounding off certain characters story arcs from The End And The Death which really really really should have been included in the End and the Death. It feels like these were all cut out, and collected in order to release a whole new book. And that's not good story telling.

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nowhere near the end to the Horus Heresy that “The End and the Death” was, but a sufficient capstone nonetheless.

The characters we read about are unique choices to say the least. Why not Zephon or Sigismund? Why not Constantin or Keeler? Some of the stories make little sense in the grand scope, but I will say I thoroughly enjoy Ilya’s story, Diocletian’s story, and of course, the story of the MVP of the Heresy - Katsuhiro.

Overall, not what I expected, but certainly read about the continued epic legend that is Katsuhiro.

[Mike Cripps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 25 of 2025 for me - Era of Ruin.
The final FINAL (no, really this time!) book in the Horus Heresy/ Siege of Terra.

It’s nice. It lets some of the authors return to characters and stories and give them some of the wrap ups they deserve. Enjoyable. 4⭐️

I have been reading so many anthologies this year and I seem to be loving most of them.

In news that should surprise no one the strongest stories are by Abnett and ADB and a touching White Scars finale by Chris Wraight.

[Keiran Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story collections are always tricky aren’t they? I like short stories generally, but they can be up and down in tone.

This was a very strong collection with no real obvious struggling story, the best has to be the ADB one, really revealing some unknown or little used lore and really engaging in different ways.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Totally Unnecessary

Several short stories supposedly closing out storylines from the siege of Terra but they are by and large meaningless. No secrets, no lore, no plot, and there were only two characters I even cared a little about hearing how their story ended. There have been some tie wasters in this series but this one is the most egregious.

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad to finish this book.
The Heresy has been read by me since 2006, so this really does feel like an Era of Ruin.

The short stories are great, especially the final one by ADB. Lovely additions that show the slide into 40k from a more Enlightened time.

[J.G. Cully · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good bonus read for the Siege of Terra series.

As described, this ties up a few faint loss ends with some minor characters. There are a few good stories and a few average stories.

Overall, a pleasing epilogue.

[Marek Pawlowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion, only the final story manages to redeem this collection — the rest was extremely mediocre, even by Warhammer standards.

Moim zdaniem ten zbiór opowiadań ratuje jedynie ostatni tekst — reszta była wyjątkowo przeciętna, nawet jak na standardy Warhammera.

[Joseph Michael Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

“After the Dawn, the Darkness” is an absolutely INCREDIBLE and brilliant story! In fact, it’s EASILY ones of the best I’ve ever read in all of 40k, especially the stories that focus on regular humans!! That one is a 5-star in and of itself and is worth the price of admission (imho*)!!

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's hard to write a review for a compilation of stories. Some of the stories were un-interesting and others were excellent. Overall I would say if you've read the siege of terra books this is a great addition.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit unsatisfying. A series of wrap-ups that mostly didn't conclude anything. A personal highlight was Katsuhiro getting the closest thing to a happy ending possible in 40K. Also Custodes canonically wearing loinclothes!

[Rutger Gerrits · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so, while the imperium enters an age of ruin, Horus' heresy has come to an end