What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Library Advent Calendar 2016 #18
Carcharodons: The Reaping Time
A Carcharodons short story
When the Carcharodons land on the planet Zartak, the rebellious miners think they will be taken to book for plotting against the Imperium, but in reality, the Space Marines have come for a very different purpose.
READ IT BECAUSE
Okay, the Carcharodons might have a bit of a reputation for being bloodthirsty and savage, but that doesn't justify them being treated as pariahs by the miners on Zartak, does it? So what's going on?
THE STORY
The human Imperium is vast indeed, and not all worlds are happy with the terms that grant them the Emperor’s protection. When the Carcharadons land on the mining planet of Zartak, instead of being welcomed, they are treated with suspicion and hostility by its population of miners. What dark secrets does this planet hide, and how far will its inhabitants go to protect them, even if it means pitting themselves against such powerful adversaries as the Adeptus Astartes? With both sides pursuing their own agenda, bloody conflict can be the only outcome.
When the Carcharodons land on the planet Zartak, the rebellious miners think they will be taken to book for plotting against the Imperium, but in reality, the Space Marines have come for a very different purpose.
READ IT BECAUSE
Okay, the Carcharodons might have a bit of a reputation for being bloodthirsty and savage, but that doesn't justify them being treated as pariahs by the miners on Zartak, does it? So what's going on?
THE STORY
The human Imperium is vast indeed, and not all worlds are happy with the terms that grant them the Emperor’s protection. When the Carcharadons land on the mining planet of Zartak, instead of being welcomed, they are treated with suspicion and hostility by its population of miners. What dark secrets does this planet hide, and how far will its inhabitants go to protect them, even if it means pitting themselves against such powerful adversaries as the Adeptus Astartes? With both sides pursuing their own agenda, bloody conflict can be the only outcome.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 18, 2016
25 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Robbie MacNiven
123 books115 followersRobbie MacNiven is a Scottish author and historian. His published fiction includes over a dozen novels, many fantasy or sci-fi works for IPs such as Warhammer 40,000 and Marvel's X-Men. He has also written two novellas, numerous short stories and audio dramas, has worked on narrative and character dialogue for multiple digital games (SMITE: Blitz and Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground), has written the colour text for multiple RPG rulebooks and has penned the scripts for two graphic novels and three comics, for Osprey Publishing and Commando Comics respectively. In 2022 his X-Men novel "First Team" won a Scribe Award.
On the non-fiction front, Robbie specialises in Early Modern military history, particularly focussing on the 18th century. He has a PhD in American Revolutionary War massacres from the University of Edinburgh - where he won the Compton Prize for American History - and an MLitt in War Studies from the University of Glasgow. Along with numerous articles for military history magazines he has written six books on different aspects of the American Revolutionary War, five for Osprey Publishing and one for Helion Books. He has also written the scripts for ten episodes of the hit YouTube educational channel Extra Credits.
Outside of work and writing, his passions include re-enacting, gaming, and football.
On the non-fiction front, Robbie specialises in Early Modern military history, particularly focussing on the 18th century. He has a PhD in American Revolutionary War massacres from the University of Edinburgh - where he won the Compton Prize for American History - and an MLitt in War Studies from the University of Glasgow. Along with numerous articles for military history magazines he has written six books on different aspects of the American Revolutionary War, five for Osprey Publishing and one for Helion Books. He has also written the scripts for ten episodes of the hit YouTube educational channel Extra Credits.
Outside of work and writing, his passions include re-enacting, gaming, and football.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 3, 2017
Black Library's 2nd short tale about the misterious and brutal Carcharadon Astra Adeptus Astartes Chapter is a blast of an action packed introduction/prologue to characters and themes starring in Robbie MacNiven's full lenght novel Carcharodons: Red Tithe.
Loved the storyline, the characters and the ending, phoned but still a real good grimdark one, but David Annandale's The Judges, In Their Hunger, first tale of the "Space Sharks", was far better for me.
December 20, 2016
The Reaping Time, The Carcharodon Astra's second outing in BL fiction, and the first work we have seen from them from Robbie MacNiven, and man what a story. Mr. MacNiven really hit the nail on the head in every way with this one for me. The story itself was action packed and brutal, at times surging forward at a breakneck pace and at others really stopping to delve deeper into our characters and the world around them.
The characters themselves were great, loads of personality and character development all around. They were all memorable, and had enough uniqueness to really set them apart.
I really enjoy how the character of the chapter was handled in this short as well. The Carcharodon Astra have been these strange blood-thirsty anomalies for so long, and while we definitely get some extremely well done and well thought out glimpses into how they think and work, what their culture as a chapter is, and how they view the world they live in, I'm really left with way more questions than answers. I don't know how much Mr. MacNiven will be able to reveal with the coming novel (and hopefully more novels, shorts, and audios besides!), but I hope he can really keep that feeling of mystery with them.
If you're at all on the fence about preordering the novel coming out in January, I think this short could very easily sell it to just about anyone!
Congrats Robbie MacNiven! Can't wait to get my hands on the novel!
The characters themselves were great, loads of personality and character development all around. They were all memorable, and had enough uniqueness to really set them apart.
I really enjoy how the character of the chapter was handled in this short as well. The Carcharodon Astra have been these strange blood-thirsty anomalies for so long, and while we definitely get some extremely well done and well thought out glimpses into how they think and work, what their culture as a chapter is, and how they view the world they live in, I'm really left with way more questions than answers. I don't know how much Mr. MacNiven will be able to reveal with the coming novel (and hopefully more novels, shorts, and audios besides!), but I hope he can really keep that feeling of mystery with them.
If you're at all on the fence about preordering the novel coming out in January, I think this short could very easily sell it to just about anyone!
Congrats Robbie MacNiven! Can't wait to get my hands on the novel!
December 15, 2024
Een snelle en spannende intro in de carcharadons
January 10, 2018
A great introduction to the Carcharodons Series (Reaping Time, Red Tithe, Death Warrant, Outer Dark). The story flows through a mining planet to the finish with great battle scenes and interesting plots.
A company-sized force of the space marine of the Carcharodons Chapter drops onto the planet of Zartak to collect their Red Tithe. Only to find its diverged away from the Imperial Creed and the Carcharodons must put the rebellious force down before they can reap their Red Tithe.
This story is flows into the next story and novel "Carcharodons: Red Tithe" perfectly. I have read all the Carcharodon novels and short stories that are available at the time of writing. I love them and recommend them highly.
A company-sized force of the space marine of the Carcharodons Chapter drops onto the planet of Zartak to collect their Red Tithe. Only to find its diverged away from the Imperial Creed and the Carcharodons must put the rebellious force down before they can reap their Red Tithe.
This story is flows into the next story and novel "Carcharodons: Red Tithe" perfectly. I have read all the Carcharodon novels and short stories that are available at the time of writing. I love them and recommend them highly.
January 14, 2017
Very good. Well defined characters and an excellent story (although the ending was a bit predictable). Looking forward to the full novel that follows on from this short story.
January 5, 2017
Review also published here
Carcharodons: The Reaping Time serves as a bit of a lead-in to Robbie MacNiven's full-length novel Carcharodons: Red Tithe , which I am excited to dig into soon. This taster, at the very least, is promising in its mystery and violence.
The "Space Sharks" have long been a topic I felt needed more attention in Warhammer 40,000. They are butchers by any other name, their origins hidden and it often felt surprising to me to see them on the Loyalist side at all. Their biggest appearance to date must have been during the Badab War books by Forge World, which I believe to have sold out years ago.
So seeing Robbie MacNiven get the chance to tackle the mysterious Chapter of Space Marines had me excited for sure. Best of all, this short story nails the relentless hunter theme nicely. Once these Space Marines smell blood, there is no turning back, and all that is left in their wake are corpses.
Thematically, MacNiven also married them with Maori influences, down to the characters' names. Various things from gear to organization bear aquatic influences, such as the 'Coral Shields', or the various teeth charms the marines of First Squad are wearing. Chainblades are standard issue here, of course, and this short story is easily one of the more brutal ones to come out of this holiday season!
Chief protagonist of the story is Librarian Te Kahurangi, whose psychic powers follow the shark-theme as well. Called the Pale Nomad, he seems more level-headed than his Company Master Akia, who epitomizes the relentless beast in them all. While Te Kahurangi easily gets the best coverage here, the rest of the squad has me intrigued too, especially when their gene-seed origins are put into question. Already hotly-debated in fan-circles, Robbie's take will give fans a lot more fuel for their speculation.
Most importantly, however, MacNiven manages to build up a satisfying story in miniature that presents this Chapter in a natural way, highlighting the unique traits and opening more mysteries to be solved, while also moulding them in his image. It turned out to be a fast-paced read full of action that laid the groundwork for future works on the Chapter without compromising on its stand-alone potential.
If you're unsure about the novel yet, then this short story should hold your answer.
Carcharodons: The Reaping Time serves as a bit of a lead-in to Robbie MacNiven's full-length novel Carcharodons: Red Tithe , which I am excited to dig into soon. This taster, at the very least, is promising in its mystery and violence.
The "Space Sharks" have long been a topic I felt needed more attention in Warhammer 40,000. They are butchers by any other name, their origins hidden and it often felt surprising to me to see them on the Loyalist side at all. Their biggest appearance to date must have been during the Badab War books by Forge World, which I believe to have sold out years ago.
So seeing Robbie MacNiven get the chance to tackle the mysterious Chapter of Space Marines had me excited for sure. Best of all, this short story nails the relentless hunter theme nicely. Once these Space Marines smell blood, there is no turning back, and all that is left in their wake are corpses.
Thematically, MacNiven also married them with Maori influences, down to the characters' names. Various things from gear to organization bear aquatic influences, such as the 'Coral Shields', or the various teeth charms the marines of First Squad are wearing. Chainblades are standard issue here, of course, and this short story is easily one of the more brutal ones to come out of this holiday season!
Chief protagonist of the story is Librarian Te Kahurangi, whose psychic powers follow the shark-theme as well. Called the Pale Nomad, he seems more level-headed than his Company Master Akia, who epitomizes the relentless beast in them all. While Te Kahurangi easily gets the best coverage here, the rest of the squad has me intrigued too, especially when their gene-seed origins are put into question. Already hotly-debated in fan-circles, Robbie's take will give fans a lot more fuel for their speculation.
Most importantly, however, MacNiven manages to build up a satisfying story in miniature that presents this Chapter in a natural way, highlighting the unique traits and opening more mysteries to be solved, while also moulding them in his image. It turned out to be a fast-paced read full of action that laid the groundwork for future works on the Chapter without compromising on its stand-alone potential.
If you're unsure about the novel yet, then this short story should hold your answer.
December 29, 2016
Day eighteen marks the three quarter mark of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar, with Carcharadons: The Reaping Time by Robbie MacNiven. A prequel to the upcoming novel Red Tithe, it follows Carcharadons Librarian (sort of) Te Kahurangi as he accompanies Company Master Akia to the mining world of Zartak, whose rebellious rulers fear the Space Marines are coming to sanction them. In reality, Third Company are on Zartak for other reasons; though the Zartakians’ rebellion stems from the issue of tithes, it’s a very different tithe indeed that brings the Carcharadons Astra to Zartak.
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
November 11, 2018
A good novella of a fascinating Chapter.
The Carcharadons are a cult favourite among 40K fans. Their history and attitudes making them a fascinating subject. Robbie McNiven does an excellent job of portraying them here.
The Carcharadons blunder into the heart of a rebellion and survive several attempts to destroy them before handing out their inimitable brand of justice.
The writing is good and an easy read. The characters are not as monotone as Space Marines can be, The action is well described and carries you along. Well worth the time and effort.
The Carcharadons are a cult favourite among 40K fans. Their history and attitudes making them a fascinating subject. Robbie McNiven does an excellent job of portraying them here.
The Carcharadons blunder into the heart of a rebellion and survive several attempts to destroy them before handing out their inimitable brand of justice.
The writing is good and an easy read. The characters are not as monotone as Space Marines can be, The action is well described and carries you along. Well worth the time and effort.
May 3, 2017
Neat little story, setting up the story for the main book Red Tithe. Also it is one of the few storys from the 41st Millenium which you can enjoy without background knowledge.
January 20, 2024
Got this from a friend who’s into WH40K, moreso than I, so much of the talk of subfactions and chapters herein was lost on me, plus I’ve never read a book set in this universe (that wasn’t a rulebook being referenced through the haze of several beers during a resentfully played game). This is interesting enough, though it reads a bit like a Saturday morning cartoon script. Fans will get a lot more out of it, but not bad overall. I got more or less what I expected from the cover, a brutal and gory fighting story that was rich in spectacle and perhaps a little thin on everything else. Still, it has a structure, plot, and established setting with plenty of identity, making it great for fans of WH40K and at minimum a decent read for those on the fringes.
October 28, 2024
A short story, introducing us to some of the members of the Carcharodon Astra; Space Wolves, surrounded with a thick air of mystery.
Standard ride, Astartes come to planet, kick ass, take names; take more than names.
Revealing another facet of the grimdark normalcy that the citizens of the glorious imperium have to face on a daily basis.
Segways nominally to the first novel Red Tithe. But you can read the story, not having read this one.
Standard ride, Astartes come to planet, kick ass, take names; take more than names.
Revealing another facet of the grimdark normalcy that the citizens of the glorious imperium have to face on a daily basis.
Segways nominally to the first novel Red Tithe. But you can read the story, not having read this one.
January 14, 2025
It’s a pretty basic space marine story in an interesting enough setting (on a planet with traitors), but not much other than that. I don’t think I like the Space Sharks all that much, they were not particularly interesting and while I liked the librarian character I couldn’t even remember most of the characters by the end.
January 2, 2025
Oh... my... God...
This is a good story. I have no complaints. It was exactly what I needed.
I'll read another one instead of continuing either of the omnibuses I got, or the physical books that I paused reading...
I'm... struck...
This is a good story. I have no complaints. It was exactly what I needed.
I'll read another one instead of continuing either of the omnibuses I got, or the physical books that I paused reading...
I'm... struck...
April 2, 2019
A great layering story that should be read before Red Tithe.
December 27, 2020
A solid WH40K GrimDark adventure. Dark and dangerous and still loving the mysteries of this Chapter of Space Marines
July 25, 2024
If someone tells me they aren't the child of Curze but loyal and shark themed. I will skin them and make a book cover out of them, then make them read the last pages.
July 16, 2025
it was adequately written but the whole thing was pretty much one straightforward fight. Not super interesting, and the twist was obvious if you knew anything about the Carcharodons.
September 22, 2025
A nice and quick Space Sharks story that gives you the 'pre-history' before the trilogy of books by the same author.
January 2, 2026
The short story effectively sets up the setting and some characters of red tithe while effectively demonstrating the manors of the space sharks.
February 20, 2023
The Outer Dark Calls
I have been reading Warhammer books for over 10 years now and this is my personal introduction to the Carcharodons in literature format.
While it is a very short read, I recommend it if you want to see if the Space Sharks are a group that you want to read more about. I plan on reading the two novels next to learn more about their culture and ethos. Additionally, I want to make my own tiny army of these warriors.
If you like Pacific warrior cultures in the grim dark future of Warhammer 40K, you can't get better than the Carcharodons.
The only reason I didn't add that 5th star is I thought that the story was priced a bit expensive. Hopefully, Games Workshop/Black Library will put these short stories at 99 cents to encourage interest in buying these as introductions to armies/factions before full fledged novels.
I have been reading Warhammer books for over 10 years now and this is my personal introduction to the Carcharodons in literature format.
While it is a very short read, I recommend it if you want to see if the Space Sharks are a group that you want to read more about. I plan on reading the two novels next to learn more about their culture and ethos. Additionally, I want to make my own tiny army of these warriors.
If you like Pacific warrior cultures in the grim dark future of Warhammer 40K, you can't get better than the Carcharodons.
The only reason I didn't add that 5th star is I thought that the story was priced a bit expensive. Hopefully, Games Workshop/Black Library will put these short stories at 99 cents to encourage interest in buying these as introductions to armies/factions before full fledged novels.
February 9, 2021
Story was heavy on details and light on substance. The frills were interesting enough to make me want to know more.
A short story, but, I've accused 40k books of wallowing in the past. This one is served by it's brevity, and helps the titular characters lack of meaningful description make more of an impression on the reader.
It's economy was not overwhelmed by it's artistry in any way - but that isn't why anyone reads Space Marine books.
I could have done with a bit more interaction between some of the primary marines, but other than that, it put me on the hook for the first book in the series.
A short story, but, I've accused 40k books of wallowing in the past. This one is served by it's brevity, and helps the titular characters lack of meaningful description make more of an impression on the reader.
It's economy was not overwhelmed by it's artistry in any way - but that isn't why anyone reads Space Marine books.
I could have done with a bit more interaction between some of the primary marines, but other than that, it put me on the hook for the first book in the series.
August 6, 2019
New to the Carcharodons
I've read about this chapter on 1d4. This is the first lore on them I've had the opportunity to read. This s a short read (15-20 minutes) but is a great tale. Very action packed. I'm a bug player myself but these guys certainly bear watching.
I've read about this chapter on 1d4. This is the first lore on them I've had the opportunity to read. This s a short read (15-20 minutes) but is a great tale. Very action packed. I'm a bug player myself but these guys certainly bear watching.
May 14, 2018
good intro to this series- gives a background I hope
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews