Warqueen

The Black Library Novella Series 1 #7

by Darius Hinks

In the scarred wastelands to the south of the Great Parch, the Darkoath Tribes dominate through ritual and slaughter. Devoted to Tzeentch, the Chaos God of Change, their wild savagery has been transformed into something far greater and more potent. For centuries, the tribes have ruled the Arad Plains, unbeaten and untamed, even as kingdoms rose and fell around them. But now, with the Blood God’s legions massing at their borders, Darkoath Warqueen, Vedra the Sworn, finds treachery and deceit at the heart of her own army. Years of dark service to Tzeentch have left her warriors obsessed with strange creeds and wayward cults. As she battles to forge a nation, Vedra must put her own faith to the test, and learn the true nature of sacrifice and power.

Read It Because

It's a look at the internecine warfare of the Dark Gods' followers, and a particular focus on the Darkoath tribes who make up a huge part of the forces of Chaos.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Novella, Science Fiction Fantasy

171 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2018

About the author

Darius Hinks is an author, writing primarily in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He was born in Birmingham, England, in 1972. He works and lives in Nottinghamshire. Hinks' first novel, Warrior Priest, won the David Gemmel Morningstar award.

Reviews

[Noah Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great romp! Darius Hinks' novella Warqueen provided some lovely insights into the Slaves to Darkness, what makes them tick, and how they're different from the Chaos Gods' individual factions.

I'd love to see if Vedra has anything else in store for the Mortal Realms!

[Lewis Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action packed and manages to fit a lot of lore into a novella.

[Andrew Tinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing take on the Age of Sigmar worlds. Vedra is a strong character, coupled with a fast-paced plot and meaty villains. Hinks is a writer that knows what his audience wants and delivers it to them - dripping in blood and page-turning adventure

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a self-contained novella, it was pretty good, with an engaging story, and a very interesting character.

I really would prefer that this were an introduction to a new series, however, with the ending being an almost perfect start to a series of books.

Maybe someday :)

[A.J Ito · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta es una historia corta pero intensa. Simplemente funciona porque no sobra ningún elemento.

[The Blind Bard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant read with an epic setting, lots of twists, and a badass protagonist.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in one sitting, stunning imagery.

[Vincent Knotley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action packed from start to finish, dripping with intrigue (not to mention copious amounts of blood), and shining a light on the oft-unseen lives of 'normal' followers of Chaos, Warqueen may just be one of the best picks from the Black Library Novellas so far.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

***3/4: sign me up now for a series of novels about this character: the ending demands it!

[Sebastián Posada · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book I read from AoS and Darius Hinks. absolutely loved it. The arc of the main character is very interesting and the end is very unexpected.

[Lionel Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warqueen is a very entertaining book that gives insight into the character of the Darkoath War Queen in Warhammer Fantasy. In this story, Vedra a newly minted leader of a confederation of tribes leads her warriors into battle to expel the bloodthirsty hordes of Khorne the God of Blood and Slaughter. Her plans are thwarted, however, by treachery within her ranks, and she finds herself in brutal fighting pits fighting for survival and driven by her burning desire for revenge.

I thought that the story was very compelling and a real page-turner, Warqueen has the perfect balance of action and drama that makes the books so entertaining even if you are not familiar with the game. However, like the other reviewer of this book, I think that the book would have been much better if the author had more pages to provide more detail and back story. As the story races to a conclusion, it seems to speed up as the author tries to finish within the allotted amount of pages. There is almost the feeling of slamming into the end of the book as the story comes to an abrupt end. Warqueen is a book that definitely would have benefited from another 20 to 30 pages. Despite the abrupt ending, however, this book is definitely worth the read and is entertaining whether you are familiar with the Warhammer Universe or not.

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like a lot the narrative and how the Warqueen can see the different things and characters that she knows and learns, but I don't like that we don't know what happened with Leortas and the other war chiefs, and why Alimus was planing all of that weird things just to be the chosen for the "Changer of ways", and the end, we never know why Khrall decided to follow Vedra, was just like "Hi, I'm here to follow you" and what happened with the battle between Stormcast and Blood Warriors, and at the end, Vedra had two masters? I mean Tzeench and Khorne? a lot of questions but a lot of joy on this read.

[Jack Volante · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the secondary characters in this story. Especially that seer who has a talking raven in his chest. Also, the world these chaos tribes live in was very well detailed.

I would have given this story four stars, but I'm dropping a point for the ending. I felt disappointed with the ending and didn't think that the ending would have been allowed by the Changer of Ways. There's no way I feel Tzeentch would allow her to use HIS power 'portals' to make her change and support Khorne. I would think Tzeentch would turn her inside out in a flash the moment she starts chanting those Khorne words.

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story of a Darkoath tribe allied to Tzeentch and their Warqueen - Vedra. This is a fun little story, featuring a female lead battling against the enemies of Tzeentch (in this case Khorne) and people within her own tribe as she attempts to unit Darkoath clans to be devoted to Tzeentch.

A good addition to the Novella series, and a good read for those interested in the Age of Sigmar - fleshing out the world, following the destruction of the World that Was.

My only critiscm (and the reason for 4 stars, not 5) is the inclusion of Stormcast Eternals near the end of the book for no reason. It doesn't ruin the story (thankfully they are not included for long), but it is lazy writing.

[Richard Balmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this was written "Darkoath" was really just a copyright-enabling name without much more to it. Warqueen really suffers from pre-dating the 2024 wave of Darkoath releases and lore, which made the faction much more unique and characterful. This was a bit generic, especially during the first half (although it picked up a lot of speed and characterisation in the second).

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book but the ending was really rushed. This novel should have been twice as long.

[Jamie Best · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent build up that ended far too abruptly.

[Ulzeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fun.

[Troy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this 4 stars but I didn't like the ending.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eine Kurzgeschichte aus dem traditionellen Warhammer-Universum, die alles bietet, was man als Fan braucht: eine wirklich knallharte Kämpfer-Braut, Intrigen und jede Menge Leichen. Zwar ist eine Szene sehr Deut Ex Machina-mässig inszeniert, aber das hat mich eigentlich kaum gestört. Immerhin ging die Action gleich fleissig weiter. Und so soll es ja auch sein bei Warhammer.

[Hawke Embers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its not exactly an original tale as it features elements from a number of Gladitorial books and films that you've seen before but it is still a story well told.

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first 'Age of Sigmar' book in this first novella series and it was very entertaining with great action and interesting characters. Vedra, the titular Warqueen, is my favourite character in the novella as she is very interesting and has a good character arc. The sorcerer Alimus is also a good character as he nicely shows the nature of followers of Tzeentch. There are a number of other interesting characters, such as the Bloodbound leader and the main Stormcast character, but these feel a little underused. The book is well written with some very entertaining and easy to follow action (I particularly enjoyed the fights on the platforms). Another thing I liked was that the book showed a nice variety of Chaos and Oathbound tribes. The only real problem with the novella is that the ending is a bit disappointing and I feel it could have done with an epilogue.