War in the Museum

Black Library Celebration 2020 #6

by Robert Rath

A Necrons story

A dangerous new addition to Trazyn the Infinite's museum of curiosities draws all his attention – while another threat lurks in the darkness.

READ IT BECAUSE
Get an insight into just who Trazyn the Infinite is, why he collects specimens for his museum on Solemnace, and the lengths that he will go to in order to complete his collections.

THE STORY
On the shadowy world of Solemnace, Trazyn the Infinite tends to his ever-growing museum of curiosities from across space and time. Each exhibit is an exquisite recreation of a great moment in the galaxy, heroes and villains locked in time at the moment of their triumph or defeat. Now, his greatest exhibit nears completion as a mighty hive tyrant is prepared as the centrepiece of the Tyrannic Wars display. Careful preparations have been made to keep it safe… but the real threat lurks elsewhere, waiting for the chance to strike.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

37 pages, ebook

First published February 29, 2020

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

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could never get tired of Trazyn and his moronic ideas. I mean, he's probably the only one in the universe who would think that bringing a tyranid hive to the museum is fairly ok because the chance of them waking up is minimun and either way, how much damage can they do. XD
Well, Trazyn... let me tell you that I appreciate your ideas because I just had a blast with this short story. It's fun, it's fast paced, you get to see tyranids, Sisters of Battle and one Mechanicus along with the chaos that ensues in Trazyn's galleries.

[Aida-Bianca Groza · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Eternity got dull without a hint of peril. And for an immortal necron, boredom was more dangerous than even the largest alien horror.”

I love Trazyn so much

[JP Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am just starting to read Warhammer 40k books.

I really liked the characters. Our protagonist is a Necron Overlord called Trazyn. He is highly intelligent and powerful. For being an enemy of humanity, I found him to be quite charming.

One of the reasons I am not giving this a higher star rating is that the author tried to incorporate too many races, creatures and lore-specific things. For someone who is not already familiar with Warhammer 40k lingo, it's hard to keep track of what everything is. Tyranids, Ravener, Termagant, Tyrant, Arch-Cryptek, Mindshackle Scarab, Magos are some of the words that are just thrown into the mix, and you are expected to understand what they are with little to no explanation.

The other thing I had a hard time with was understanding the way the Necrons "entered the Nexus". I will not elaborate to spare any spoilers, but this part was confusing to me.

All in all a good, entertaining read. Action packed and well-paced, it makes me wish I would've picked this up after I knew more Warhammer 40K lore.

[Rakib Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was a short story that felt more enjoyable than many novellas or novels I have read in the past and I would love to read a longer length book with these characters for certain. I started this one not expecting much due to the author being new to me. But I did really enjoy this one and loved Trazyn and his antics.

The story is set in the world of Solemnace in the museum of Trazyn the Infinite, where he is preparing to open a new exhibit consisting of a massive Tyranid fleet in battle against Imperial forces and suddenly things take a turn for the unexpected. And now Trazyn, with only a handful of allies and his cunning as a weapon must fight to survive against a Tyranid fleet while trying to save the rest of his museum, all the while trying to find out the culprit behind this disturbance.

The story contains so much in its short span, as we get a thrilling ride with Trazyn, and get a glimpse of how truly powerful and technologically advanced the Necrons truly are. The action bits were quite engaging and nicely depicted. But I immensely enjoyed the inner thoughts and the dialogues by Trazyn.

Despite the short span I really liked the characters that were present. Robert Rath thoughtfully introduced different members from humanity’s forces to make the setting interesting, and I was pleasantly surprised with the revelation of the antagonist and the final twist at the end.

Overall a very enjoyable read. I will definitely check out other stories from Rath in the future. I only wish I could get more stuff to read regarding these characters specially Trazyn (this one could have been a novella at least in my opinion if not a full length novel). Between the excellent ‘Severed’ and this one, I think I am really falling in love with the Necrons.

Rating – 9 out of 10.

Find other reviews and stuff for 'Black Library' fiction on my blog - https://theoctedpath.wordpress.com/

[Alex Sarll]

A side story to The Infinite And The Divine in which immortal hoarder Trazyn, determined to put the finishing touch to his Tyranid display, rehydrates its Hive Tyrant...with hilarious consequences! So, yes, basically an extended fight scene, but one with a sense of comedy clearly inspired by Hollywood bar-room brawls, not to mention the winces of a protagonist who, to stay alive (in so far as an undead robot can be called alive) has to blow up chunks of his own painstakingly acquired museum. And of course, for all that recent currents in the lore, rules and models leave me with no detectable urge to play 40K again, it remains one of my formative fictional settings, and last time around, the Necrons and Tyranids were exactly the factions I tended to play, so this was always likely to scratch an itch.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story detailing Trazyn the Infinite's wonderful menagerie. I really love the way Robert Rath writes the Necrons, full of character, humour and "humanity". I wonder if this was at some point a chapter from "The Infinite and the Divine" as it certainly seems to fit in with that chronology.

This story has all sorts of fun interactions, bringing together creatures and factions that would not normally meet in 40k (or at least, they would not meet in any way other than straightforward battle).

It packs a lot in to a really short page count too. Highly recommend if you enjoyed "The Infinite and the Divine"

[Tarvek Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really solid short story. It pairs very well with The Infinite and the Divine, a full-length novel that also features main character Trazyn the Infinite. If you've already read TiatD and enjoyed it, or are conversely wondering whether you'd enjoy the novel, I'd recommend reading "War in the Museum."

[Brian Heinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story reads as a lost chapter of THE INFINTE AND THE DEVINE. Set somewhere between the final chapter and that book's epilogue. A Tyranid infestation is let loose on Trayzan's museum. To get it under control (without destroying his collection) he must team up with an Adeptus Mechanicus and two members of the Adepts Sororita. This story probably gives us our best look at the character of Trayzen yet. His rivalry with Orikan pushed to the side for most of the story, we see his casual cruelty to the living specimens forever trapped in his museum but also the comradery he manages to share with like-minded intellectuals, even if they happen to be his prisoners. A fun, action-packed read that leaves us understanding our favorite robotic hoarder a little better. We just still don't like him.

[TuralyonW3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super-fun companion piece to Infinite/Divine by Rath. If you love Trazyn in that book (like I do) then you'll love him here. Rath's prose is very high-level for genre fiction, and he's always able to instill humor even when things are grim.

[Raichiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange idea of the possibilities of Trazyn. Overall not bad

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this story is one of the best BL shorts published, and in doing so I’m still underrating it.

[Alpharius(Possibly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brilliant. I love how Robert Rath has such a cool grasp of the lore and yet still makes this seem fresh.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantactic Necron and Tryanid short story in the vein of 'Night at the museum' or nightmare as the case may be

[Urs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining, funny

[Sergey Selyutin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of black humor.

[Goldixan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly they saw this book and said "what if me made it longer, but equally well written?" And this is how The Infinite and The Divine happened

[Javier Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente

[Mk-V (MarkVHun) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun ride with Trazyn and friends

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little tale about a strange and entertaining character.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun to read.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

War in the Museum is, essentially, a chapter of The Infinite and the Divine that fits somewhere in the middle of that story.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and engaging

Yet another enthralling short story, this is centred around an exhibition in a museum but on a vast scale and mixes necrons, sisters of battle, mangos, and tyranids, really enjoyed it and would hope for more