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For an age, the Realm of Life has languished in the grip of Nurgle, the god of pestilence and decay. Overcome with despair, the goddess of life, Alarielle, fell into a state of dormancy, seemingly leaving her children, the sylvaneth, to a dark fate under the oppression of Chaos. No longer. Now, the Queen of the Radiant Wood has awoken in her war aspect, and the sylvaneth heed her call to reclaim their forest kingdoms in all the Mortal Realms. Now is the season of vengeance.
Read it because
It's your one-stop guide to the warriors of the woods. Malevolent forest spirits, dangerous spites and Alarielle herself, with stories from top Black Library authors.
153 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 9, 2016
12 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Reynolds
313 books337 followersJosh Reynolds’ work has previously appeared in such anthologies as Historical Lovecraft from Innsmouth Free Press and Horror for the Holidays from Miskatonic River Press, and his novel, Knight of the Blazing Sun, is currently available from Black Library. He can be found at: http://joshuamreynolds.wordpress.com
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 11, 2018
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
The collections of the Legends of the Age of Sigmar tell many a different story and feature many a different warrior chamber of the Stormcast Eternals as they are pitted against different enemies and allied with many a different race. In Skaven Pestilens it was the Beast-Bane warrior chamber fighting alongside the Seraphons against the Skaven. In Fyreslayers it is various armies of duardin (dwarves) against all manner of Chaos Daemons. In Black Rift it was the Adamantine warrior chamber against the Bloodbound, and so on. Each a unique story as it explores some different facet of the new Age of Sigmar reality of Warhammer.
In the Sylvaneth anthology we get a sequel of sorts to Josh Reynolds’ novella War In The Hidden Vale from the Ghal Maraz anthology. Then, we saw how the Stormcasts under the orders of Sigmar fight through hordes of Nurgle daemons to find and awaken the Radiant Queen Alarielle from her centuries-long slumber and fight back against the blight affecting Ghyran, the Realm of Life. With various stories from some of Black Library’s best, we get a really good sense of scale of the battle on Ghyran, and get to see a lot of different perspectives of the Sylvaneth as they rouse to defend their homes against invaders.
We start off with perhaps the best entry in the anthology, Josh Reynolds’ The Resolute. Here, a splinter force of the Steel Souls under Liberator-Prime Aetius Shieldborn arrives at a deserted Sylvaneth coastal city and find themselves allying with its silent sentinels, a cadre of tree-revenants led by an aged warrior named Felyndael. It isn’t too long before a force of Nurglite daemons attack as well however, and the resulting skirmish throughout the city of Gramin is one of the best reading experiences of my Age of Sigmar reading so far. Josh builds up the various mysteries at play really well and he also pits Aetius and Felyndael against each other to test a lot of different things, not the least of which is testing how strong the restored bond of friendship is between the sons of Sigmar and the children of Alarielle.
Josh tells us a fast-paced tale with some really good action scenes. The location itself isn’t inspiring in any way, but that familiarity lends a certain nostalgia to the whole story that cannot be ignored entirely as a reader. Each character manages to stand-out and there is indeed a very good balance between all them. As an opening story, The Resolute is a fantastic read with some great stakes indeed as far as the larger battle for Ghyran is concerned.
Rating: 9.5/10
Robbie MacNiven’s Heartwood is next and is perhaps the most tragic of the five stories to be found herein. Robbie is a relative newcomer to the ranks of Black Library’s finest, but he has been burning rather brightly, and Heartwood is no exception. It is a story that is seemingly very odd at first, given that the supposed villain falls in the first 2 pages, but then a really intriguing mystery unfolds across the lands of the ancient House Il’leath. This is the first story in all the ones to have come out (by its release) which actively delves into the Sylvaneth society and how their mighty glade-houses are structured and interact with each other. It was an eye-opening experience and I certainly enjoyed every little bit of it.
Nellas, the young branchwych who is one of the sacred warrior-keepers of the House Il’leath faces her greatest challenge in this story, and it was one hell of a ride. Robbie doesn’t spare any expense and truly goes all-out, showing how complacency is the enemy of the heroes, and how even the strictest watch may be confounded, letting chaos reign, figuratively and literally. Absolutely superb and I definitely look forward to reading more.
Rating: 9/10
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
The collections of the Legends of the Age of Sigmar tell many a different story and feature many a different warrior chamber of the Stormcast Eternals as they are pitted against different enemies and allied with many a different race. In Skaven Pestilens it was the Beast-Bane warrior chamber fighting alongside the Seraphons against the Skaven. In Fyreslayers it is various armies of duardin (dwarves) against all manner of Chaos Daemons. In Black Rift it was the Adamantine warrior chamber against the Bloodbound, and so on. Each a unique story as it explores some different facet of the new Age of Sigmar reality of Warhammer.
In the Sylvaneth anthology we get a sequel of sorts to Josh Reynolds’ novella War In The Hidden Vale from the Ghal Maraz anthology. Then, we saw how the Stormcasts under the orders of Sigmar fight through hordes of Nurgle daemons to find and awaken the Radiant Queen Alarielle from her centuries-long slumber and fight back against the blight affecting Ghyran, the Realm of Life. With various stories from some of Black Library’s best, we get a really good sense of scale of the battle on Ghyran, and get to see a lot of different perspectives of the Sylvaneth as they rouse to defend their homes against invaders.
We start off with perhaps the best entry in the anthology, Josh Reynolds’ The Resolute. Here, a splinter force of the Steel Souls under Liberator-Prime Aetius Shieldborn arrives at a deserted Sylvaneth coastal city and find themselves allying with its silent sentinels, a cadre of tree-revenants led by an aged warrior named Felyndael. It isn’t too long before a force of Nurglite daemons attack as well however, and the resulting skirmish throughout the city of Gramin is one of the best reading experiences of my Age of Sigmar reading so far. Josh builds up the various mysteries at play really well and he also pits Aetius and Felyndael against each other to test a lot of different things, not the least of which is testing how strong the restored bond of friendship is between the sons of Sigmar and the children of Alarielle.
Josh tells us a fast-paced tale with some really good action scenes. The location itself isn’t inspiring in any way, but that familiarity lends a certain nostalgia to the whole story that cannot be ignored entirely as a reader. Each character manages to stand-out and there is indeed a very good balance between all them. As an opening story, The Resolute is a fantastic read with some great stakes indeed as far as the larger battle for Ghyran is concerned.
Rating: 9.5/10
Robbie MacNiven’s Heartwood is next and is perhaps the most tragic of the five stories to be found herein. Robbie is a relative newcomer to the ranks of Black Library’s finest, but he has been burning rather brightly, and Heartwood is no exception. It is a story that is seemingly very odd at first, given that the supposed villain falls in the first 2 pages, but then a really intriguing mystery unfolds across the lands of the ancient House Il’leath. This is the first story in all the ones to have come out (by its release) which actively delves into the Sylvaneth society and how their mighty glade-houses are structured and interact with each other. It was an eye-opening experience and I certainly enjoyed every little bit of it.
Nellas, the young branchwych who is one of the sacred warrior-keepers of the House Il’leath faces her greatest challenge in this story, and it was one hell of a ride. Robbie doesn’t spare any expense and truly goes all-out, showing how complacency is the enemy of the heroes, and how even the strictest watch may be confounded, letting chaos reign, figuratively and literally. Absolutely superb and I definitely look forward to reading more.
Rating: 9/10
July 17, 2024
Not my usual read, but pushed through this one as part of my Battle Honours for the Warhammer store. I found all but the last short story a little bit of a struggle to wrap my head around due to the choice of writing style and language used. However, the final story redeemed the book for me as this writer had me empathising with what should have been my enemy and had me hooked and shocked with every twist and turn of their tale. Overall, the novel has given me a better understanding of how the army I’ve chosen would fight in “reality”, outside of game rules and dice rolls. And has helped enhance my own ideas for lore surrounding my own wargrove.
June 13, 2017
This was a collection of short fast paced stories featuring the Sylvaneth in the Age of Sigmar setting. These tales show the war from the tree folk's point of view and it oscillates between hope and despair. The character sketches are very brief but form compelling start points that I hope future writers elaborate on.
September 22, 2021
A collection of 5 novellas centering around the Sylvaneth and their battles with both Skaven and the putrid Nurgle followers.
I enjoyed all of the stories but especially Wraithspring by Gav Thorpe and Heartwood by Robbie MacNiven. Both provided great action packed tales but also provided insight into the motivations of the Sylvaneth.
I enjoyed all of the stories but especially Wraithspring by Gav Thorpe and Heartwood by Robbie MacNiven. Both provided great action packed tales but also provided insight into the motivations of the Sylvaneth.
April 27, 2024
I will say I don't like what happened to the woodelves in the end times so seeing them here as weird treepeople elf hybrids is less than satisfying but as its own entity. The Sylvaneth have an interesting premise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2016
It was a good read overall, with some very interesting tales spun throughout the book. The tome is let down however when it's a collection of stories, rather than just one main story. Not all of them are as good as the next and so it's hard to get a feel for it when it changes often. Saying that though, I do like how the Sylvaneth were portrayed, which has given me a lot of inspiration for my hobby. I would recommend reading this if you are interesting in learning more about Age of Sigmar.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews