Becoming

Black Library Advent Calendar 2016 #14

by Andy Clark

As two young squires prepare for their ritual of Becoming, the Herald Markos Dar Draconis recounts the story of his first battle at the helm of a Knight Titan, a mighty Imperial war engine. In defending his home, Markos must quickly learn the ways of war and repel the greenskin hordes of the Warlord Skarjaw or see Adrastapol ransacked by an ork menace that has blighted his lands for many years. His deeds during the war will see Markos become a hero, an inspiration to his fellow Knights, a legend that only he knows the truth of...

Read it because
It's the tale of a legendary Imperial Knight pilot recounting his first battle to two aspiring warriors. What more could you want?

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories

19 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2016

About the author

Andy Clark is a background writer for Games Workshop.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Andy^^^^^Clark

Reviews

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming is a tale involving the Imperial Knights that have made such a popular return to Warhammer 40k these past few years, and they have been a pretty awesome topic for stories from Black Library as well! With insanely rich and cultured backgrounds to so many of the Knightly Houses, as well as so much freedom to give many of the less fleshed out ones some real character, I think Andy Clark did a fantastic job with this story. The introduction and epilogue were fantastically done, and the real meat of the story was a thrilling joy ride, and definitely lived up to the exciting hype of an Imperial Knight. I think I might just have to order the new Knight novel by Mr. Clark that is coming out shortly.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The archaic and medieval aspect of the Imperial Knights adapted to the Warhammer lore adds a nice touch to this very classic story on the theme of "how legends are born".

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet. We have the charmingly archaic Imperial Knights in a desperate fight against Orks.

I think what this best serves as is a primer for the faction. I may not play 40k but I enjoy the over the top nature of the lore and giant mech knights are right up there for over the top fun.

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming ties in with Andy Clark’s Imperial Knights novels Kingsblade and Knightsblade. The story sees Markos Dar Draconis tell two prospective Knight pilots the tale of his first battle after undergoing his own Ritual of Becoming. The short story is very entertaining, with some very good action scenes that nicely show off the power of Knights in battle, and gives a good view of the culture of a Knight World.

I haven’t got around to reading the Imperial Knights series yet, but this short story got me to put it on my to read list.

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and sweet story, proving sometimes embellishing the truth can make heroes even more heroic.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two weeks into Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, day fourteen brings us an Imperial Knights story in the shape of Becoming by Andy Clark. Setting things up for the upcoming novel Kingsblade, we’re introduced to the knightly houses of Adrastrapol and their rituals, as veteran Knight pilot Sire Markos tells the story of his first battle to two young squires on the eve of their coming of age ritual. Thrust straight into battle without time to prepare, the young Markos had to learn quickly in order to survive, and in doing so forged himself a legend. It wasn’t all glory though…

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...

[Chris Dennison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A promising start to what could be an interesting series.