Shadow Knight

Night Lords #0.5

by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Return to the start of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Night Lords series with a prequel tale of Talos and his fellow warriors of First Claw. During a prospective salvage mission on board a derelict Imperial ship, the Night Lords encounter Space Marines of the Blood Angels Chapter – cut off from their extraction point and any hope of reinforcement, they must work quickly if they are to save their own skins. But Talos is tormented by both his own past and the nebulous future, and his dark visions give a grim prophecy of things to come...

Here's where it all began with Aaron Dembski-Bowden's first Night Lords story. Get to know Talos, Uzas, Cyrion and the rest with a tale that lays the groundwork for the entire Night Lords trilogy.

Previously published in Hammer and Bolter: Issue 11

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

ebook

First published August 26, 2015

Reviews

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Night Lords Short Story

An introduction to Talos and First Claw, giving a very short picture of how Talos grew up to become who he is. Interesting background to the start of the Night Lords Trilogy.

[Chris Berko · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lean mean intro into who Talos and the First Claw are and the Night Lords trilogy as a whole. Glad I started here because while short it does explain who they are and how they came to be and segues right into the beginning of book 1.

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really need to read absolutely everything ADB has written and make sure that I space it out between everything else because he just *gets* the utterly ridiculous, self-righteous melodramatic tragedy of mythic proportions that are the Dark Millennia. He brings such an appropriate weight and heft to everything.

This is such a great introduction to Talks and First Claw. Well, it's more of a tantalising teaser that is full of flavour that whets the palette for the meat of the series.

I'm so very excited to read this series again it's been many years.

I listened to the quality amateur reading by Some Imperial Fist (https://youtu.be/Ctx8dKNma7o?si=XV4AI...) and I'm about to listen to listen to the Aborder Prince version (https://youtu.be/yrPFVxz_k_U?si=vQd8G...) too before starting Soul Hunter.

[Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well-written prologue story that gives you a feel for the characters going into the Night Lords books. I’m glad I read it before starting the series proper since it helped the characters stand out a bit more and to be familiar with them.
The writing and the style with the use of flashback was also excellent, much better than I expected for a tie-in short story. It doesn’t stand alone as it’s own work (I might have rated it lower if it had intended to be) but it does it’s job at getting you interested in reading on to the Night Lords books.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short, but still very good! The insight you get into the dynamics between the boys and the path Talos takes to becoming a space marine sets you up well for the trilogy (although, to be fair, I had already finished it by this point). I really enjoyed it <3

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Prequel story to the Night Lords trilogy, Shadow Night takes us on a short adventure and introduces us to some of the fantastic characters that we will meet in the novel series.
The intro bit (flashbacks?) was fantastic, and the story itself was great. The action was bloody minded and sadistic, and so were our cast of characters. If this story is anything to go by, I definitely can't wait to read the rest of the novels, and everyone might be right that it is one of the greatest things out of the Black Library to date!

[Kassar Krennic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good. Not great, but good. Enjoyable action, fun characters and it does a good job of showing the characters from the book. But if you want my opinion, whether you like this or not you kinda need to read both this and the Horus Heresy short 'Massacre' before starting the first book.
Doing so will give you a better feel for the characters and the way they act as well as making the first few chapters of Soul Hunter less jarring. My recommended way of reading would be Massacre, Shadow Knight and then Soul Hunter.
I enjoyed it. Give it a good for sure.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Un simple vistazo a lo que vendrá después.-

Género. Relato.

Lo que nos cuenta. Caballero de sombras (publicación original: Shadow Knight, 2015) nos muestra de un muchacho dentro del capítulo de marines de los Night Lords (más conocidos, según por quién, como los Amos de la Noche) hasta convertirse en Talos, el Cazador de Almas. Relato precuela de la saga Los Amos de la Noche.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit, that was great. Very short, but very good.

This is a short story (prequel to the Night Lords trilogy) that tells a brief overview of how Talos became a Space Marine of the Night Lords. It's subtle, but full of details that really make everything come to life visually. It's easy to understand for a newbie of the 40k universe, and that made it even better.

So yeah, I loved this through and through. Onto the first book of the trilogy now.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a "so what?" short story. Unfortunate that it was my introduction to Warhammer 40k fiction. I'm gonna give the rest of the Night Lords omnibus it came with a go before I leap to any sweeping conclusions. Probably some of the Tau, Inquisitor and Gaunt's Ghosts material, too.

The story basically felt like it could have been a prologue to the Soul Hunter novel, rather than standing alone.

[L J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro novella to get you into these characters. Even in such short time gives you a sense of each character. Only 4 as it was certainly an intro to the next story to come and not a story in its own right.

[Jayme · Rating 4 out of 5]

So we got a squad of super soldier Batman-types but they wear flayed skin and skulls over their power armour? Hnnghhhnn this might be the perfect level of edginess for little old me

Another solid short story intro to a highly rated series

[Lanfear · Rating 5 out of 5]

La primera garra luchando juntos de nuevo, esta vez contra los ángeles sangrientos que vienen a buscar una espada que tiene Talos y fuer forjada por los primeros ángeles. De fondo, la historia de Talos, de humano a Astartes, de Leal a Traidor.

[Kavinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty straight forward 40k fluff, but well-written and whets the appetite for more Talos in the The Night Lords trilogy.

[Eric Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay start. Let’s see what these Night Lords are all about.

[Linc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great intro, very short though

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun little short story. Very good characterisation - amazingly coherent for the length. Great stuff.

[Drew Brightman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story and great writing. I had high hopes for the series and it has delivered thus far!

[Ulzeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read.

[Arnab Sainju · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and sweet intro to the greatest trilogy of books in 40k.

[Luke Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfactory short story showcasing the nature and ability of the Night Lords...

[Nate Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining start to a very entertaining series.

[Ben Vogensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat short story. Liked the whole progression into becoming a full Astartes being seen from their perspective. Besides that wasn't really anything super special.

[Ethan Jarmush]

Bro got shot by an initiate 🤣🤣

[Alexander W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduces Main Night lord character for the trilogy

[Tsuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick teaser-taster into the world of Talos and the Night Lords trilogy~ Starting off strong, the reader gets a taste of what is to come…
On I go!

[Compulsive Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new, just an introduction of characters for the Night Lords trilogy.

[Gary Bake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro to the night lords anthology

[Vigneswara Prabhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadow Knight serves as a prologue to the characters Talos, Cyrion, Uzas, Xarl; who comprise the 1st Claw of the 10th company of the traitor legion of Night Lords.

Beginning with the memories of a young Talos, who through various cruel and difficult trials and tribulations is essentially indoctrinated into becoming an adeptus astartes marine of the Night Lords. This is framed in such a way which makes us question the Non existent moral vein of the imperium of man who essentially creates superhuman soldiers from orphans and mentally disturbed young children. And then sends them out to kill and die in name of a cultivated and flawed cult like ideology.

It reminded me of the same themes explored in regards to the Spartan II program in the Halo series.

Rather than going in details, the story is mostly a glimpse into a typical mission the Night Lords are engaged in. Also explored briefly are their (at least Talos') motivations, how they view the Imperium & the Emperor to be corrupt. They believe the acts they commit are something entitled to them, and consider lives of others as insignificant.

Even though they are our main characters, 1st claw are by no means to the end considered as protagonists. Some of them are more likeable than others, but all hold the belief that their superior biology allows them to lord over the mere mortals that surround them.

Through their brief exchanges what is expanded upon are brief snippets of their personalities; and being an autistic Space marine, most of said personality comes out when playing stabbing and shooting in the battlefield.

It doesn't serve as much of a standalone work, but works well to expand upon the established characters of the main Night Lords storyline.
________________________________

Update 21/Jul/2022: On Second reading, I didn't realize how much detail was put into the intro; the way it meshes the lore of the Horus Heresy, as well as the Initiation, Indoctrination and Augmentations that make Space marines into the Emperor's angels.

Except for those heretics who have turned from the light of the emperor and deserve to burn in righteous damnation.

[Eulercauchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little teaser for the rest of the Night Lords novels.