The Word of the Silent King

Black Library Advent Calendar 2014 #13

by L.J. Goulding

The Blood Angels and necrons, locked in a long and bitter war for the fate of the Gehenna system, are both endangered by the arrival of the monstrous tyranids. When the Silent King himself makes overtures of alliance, Commander Dante of the Blood Angels enacts a dangerous plan that could rid the Imperium of the Silent King forever - but when the two leaders meet at Devil's Crag, everything changes.

Read it because
One of Warhammer 40,000's great mysteries is explored. Why did The Blood Angels ally with the ancient evil of the necrons at Devil's Crag? And maybe more to the point, why didn't the tireless aliens turn on the Space Marines when the battle was won? This story may have the answers.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories

19 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2014

About the author

L. J. Goulding is a British novelist, scriptwriter and editor, living and working in Los Angeles, California. His credits include 'League of Legends: Realms of Runeterra', the Black Library audio dramas 'Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium', 'The Heart of the Pharos', 'Scythes of the Emperor: Daedalus', and 'Mortarion's Heart', the novel 'Slaughter at Giant's Coffin', and many short stories for publishers in the UK and US.

Reviews

[Stephen Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome short story about the famous feud and truce between the Necrons and Blood Angels Space Marines. It gives fans of these two factions insight into the events and their major characters.

⚠️Parental Warnings ⚠️
No vulgarity. No graphic war depictions, especially for a 40K book.

[Ardelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting little morsel of necron AND blood angels lore told from both perspectives. best part is when the necron narrator or the blood angels narrator start talking about how the opposing party sucks, is short-sighted, vain and dumb. the ending is INCREDIBLY abrupt, in my opinion. this feels like the type of narrative that would benefit from a novella treatment, rather than a 20 page short story.

[Nevada Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the full review, please visit Bits & Pieces - https://bitsandpieces.games/2020/11/1...

The Word of the Silent King shows us an unlikely alliance between the Blood Angels and Necrons. If you've read Dante, then this fills in the details about the Necrons from the start of that book. We switch between Dante and the Necron perspectives and try to understand why the two would work together. While this is an interesting and decently crafted story, I wouldn't say it was even close to mandatory reading. If you want to understand the events at the start of the Dante novel, then pick it up but otherwise, you don't need to go out of your way to read this one.

[Igc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meh

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of twists and turns and memorable lore beats and quotes in what boils down to the description of a simple meeting. Really quite an achievement in short fiction.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very few events in 40K background are as (unfairly!) maligned as the ‘alliance’ between the Blood Angels and Necrons, and this story is a really good effort at contextualising and exploring it. A harbinger of Crowley’s and Rath’s more nunanced take on Necrons this is a very worthwhile read.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Shield of Baal short story by L J Goulding. In preparation for events taking place within the Shield of Baal campaign, The Word of the Silent King looks back to an unusual moment in the history of the Blood Angels. As Dante and Tycho lead them in battle against the necrons on Gehenna, a tyranid splinter fleet threatens both forces and leads to an unlikely alliance. Seen through eyes on both sides of the alliance this looks at some of the justifications each had for forming the alliance, and some of its implications.

Read the rest of the review at http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/201...

[Jack Creagh-Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story told from separate perspectives that leaves questions at one end and answers on another, for both sides, always gets bonus points. One moment in particular is given far more weight, once it has passed. "Diplomacy" of a sort between Xeno and Astartes, conducted in a way where both are wary of the other, and for good reason.

[Mohammed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dante meets the Silent King! Wow!