Assassinorum: Divine Sanction

Black Library Advent Calendar 2019 #23

by Robert Rath

A Warhammer 40,000 story

A Callidus Assassin's mission is imperilled when an agent of another temple interrupts her. Can she salvage victory, or will her task end in ignominious failure?

READ IT BECAUSE
Enjoy a fast-paced tale packed with mystery, drama and a host of twists and turns.

THE STORY
For months, a lone Callidus Assassin has insinuated herself into a human society that is in danger of falling to the deviant philosophy of the T'au Empire. When her time to strike comes, she is beaten to her kill by a lone gunshot, made from a nigh-impossible distance and angle. A shot that could only be made by an Assassin of the Vindicare temple. With her mission in ruins, the Callidus tries to unravel the mystery and ensure that she can salvage victory from the brink of defeat.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, 40k

Kindle Edition

First published December 23, 2019

About the author

Robert Rath is an author and screenwriter from Honolulu, Hawai'i.

As an author, he's known for working with the publisher Black Library, writing fiction set in the worlds of Warhammer. His work for them includes the necrons novel THE INFINITE AND THE DIVINE, the assassins novel ASSASSINORUM: KINGMAKER, the war epic THE FALL OF CADIA and numerous short stories.

Since 2018 he's served as Head Writer of the animated YouTube show Extra History, where his scripts have attracted over 200 million views

He lives in Hong Kong with his family, amid and a growing pile of models he *swears* are for research.

Reviews

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The city of Veridian is wracked by unrest as the sermons of Confessor Illsandor spread the insidious influence of the xenos T’au and set the city’s factions against each other. Sent to infiltrate the city and find a way to remove and impersonate the Confessor, the assassin Sycorax closes in on her target only to face a last-minute challenge that forces her to question her mission. The story starts off as Sycorax is almost ready to strike, introducing key characters before revealing the assassin and ramping up the action. There’s a lot more to the story than just the fighting, and it definitely feels like an introduction to a wider story, but taken on its own it’s pacy, cleverly constructed and brilliantly entertaining.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/12/...

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rath has really carved out a niche with these Assasinorum stories, always happy to get more.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one follows our old acquaintance, Callidus assassin Sycarox, as we find her on yet another long-term mission, this time identifying and zeroing on the Tau empire sympathizers on the Imperial world.

What starts as a rather straight forward coup de grace ends up in desperate combat in the governor's office, in the middle of the public address.

Same as with the other short story (Live Wire) there is certain open-ending here too. Mysterious person with what might be categorized as vendetta against our hero. Man, I truly hope these endings lead to more goodies :)

Action scenes, that feeling of long term infiltration and unexpected turn of events that just created mess out of everything..... it is all great. Author managed to give us that edge of the seat feeling of the deep cover operative and her actions in unforgiving world of Warhammer 40k.

Highly recommended to all fans of spy/assassin stories.

[Станислав · Rating 3 out of 5]

Небольшая история из жизни, скорее Смерти, агентов Официо Ассассинорум. Перед нами агент Каллидус пришедшая передать душу Эклезиарха-еретика на Суд Императора. Вообще в Каллидус есть что-то трансушное. Хмм. Всё срывается и идёт сильно не по плану и на горизонте вырисовывается Виндикар с неясными целями. Начинается распространённый гидродоминатус, поскольку теперь неясно кто кого должен ликвидировать и вообще кто там еретик? В качестве мясного: бой с двумя Машинами Наказания (или как они по-русски?), друкхари их побери! Это скорее всего затравка к роману "Kingmaker", поскольку здесь короткая экспозиция. Раф ещё написал "The Infinite and the Divine" - весёлое произведение про некронов и Fall of Cadia (2023) - не читал. Остальное у него мелочь.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool

My first foray into the Assassinorum, and I look forward to more. Definitely fits well into the International Thriller genre, but with all the darkness of 40K. Good stuff.

[fasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Callidus story. She was a bit lame, considering her training, but overall uses all her skills, and it's really neat.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satisfying story, good lore hooks. Curious if it's ever resolved!