The Beast Inside

Blackstone Fortress #Audio Drama

by Darius Hinks, Tom Alexander (Narrator), Sean Connolly (Narrator)

A Warhammer Quest audio drama.

Of all the horrors that lurk inside the Blackstone Fortress, perhaps the most feared is the dreaded ambull. Rogue Trader Janus Draik embarks on a hunt for this monstrous beast - but he is not the only one seeking it....

Listen to it because:

If you want to know what an ambull sounds like, this is the story for you - the perfect background to your own adventures in the Blackstone Fortress....

The story:

Of the countless monstrosities inhabiting the Blackstone Fortress, none wreak such destruction as the dreaded ambull. Capable of rending a human in two with a swipe of its claws, hunting this apex predator is a suicidal task. Naturally, this leaves only one man for the job: Rogue Trader Janus Draik, gentlemen, scholar, scoundrel and duellist par excellence. Accompanied by the kroot tracker Dahyak Grekh, Draik must venture into the labyrinth for his most dangerous mission yet. But, in the depths, he is not the only one seeking the ambull, and while Draik aims to kill it, some foolishly pursue the beast inside for their own ends.

Written by Darius Hinks. Performed by Tom Alexander, Sean Connolly, Paul Panting and Fiona Skinner.

Genres: Audiobook, 40k

1 pages, Audible Audio

First published September 28, 2019

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

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been (slowly) playing Blackstone Fortress with my brother and husband and we've all really enjoyed the game so when my brother picked up this audio book just before Christmas, we sat down and listened to it together. It's an entertaining story that adds to the Blackstone Fortress setting without being a retread of the game and the voice acting and sound is a lot of fun! It's worth checking out if you like Blackstone Fortress (or other games in the Warhammer 40k universe), especially as you can pick it up through Audible's free trial.

[Lenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The enigmatic Rouge Trader Janus Draik and his Kroot companion Dahyak Grekh delve once again into the Blackstone fortress, this time to hunt big-game. An Ambull is on the loose and a Magos is offering an enormous reward to those who bring it to him alive. However our Rouge Trader isn't a fan of this course of action. Bringing the Dreaded Ambull in a densely populated space station seems like a recipe for disaster, at least in his humble experience. So an adventure is afoot, while other parties try to capture this creature Janus endeavours to put it out of its misery before to grievous an accident happens.

This was a fun story to listen to! Janus Draik is an entertaining character and his interactions with Dahyak Grekh are exactly as I would expect from a servant of the emperor. At least one with a healthy dose of pragmatism since even though Grekh is a vile xeno creature it tries to keep him alive and is therefore an asset. Overall this is one of the better audio dramas available with a small but interesting group of characters, a good pace and compelling ambience.
kudos to Darius Hinks and the sound design team (only the arc rifle sound effect was a bit underwhelming), hopefully once I get around to Blackstone Fortress it is as good as this.

[Hawke Embers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darius Hinks does an good job at portraying the chaotic nature of Blackstone Fortress with narration by Rogue Trader Janus Draik providing some enchanting insights to the adventure. This tale also marks one of the only times we get a story with a Kroot Warrior speaking in Gothic, with both himself and Janus making an interesting listen. Both actors who played these respective roles were captivating and really lent to the story.

However, as soon as scummy Rogue Trader Victrix comes into the story the story becomes harder to listen to, with the actress doing her best to portray a character who is clearly written to be unlikable.... Well lets just say she does this a little too effectively.

Additionally, problems continue to arise from Black Library's continued mission to keep these audio dramas narration based only. With no narrator to guide us through we are left with characters who become needlessly verbose and have a tendency to speak in a manner that is unnatural.
Hinks does a better job than most BL writers in that respect but Its just a shame I found Victrix borderline unbearable to listen to.

The ending is pretty cheeky though, I give it a star for that.

[Vansh · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many potentialities thrown around like the slaying of the monster, or the traitor, or the heretics yet none followed through. A pity- I will say that the developments didn't feel forced, the voice-acting, SFX+BGM was great with the personality of the kroot and rogue trader being interesting to follow.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun adventure with some interesting characters, just remixed enough to not feel stock.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's barely any Ambul in action.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A follow up to the novel Blackstone Fortress, this sees dashing, debonair Janus Draik return to the Blackstone to seek out the dreaded Ambull. Fearing that rival Rogue Trader Ava Victrix means to try and capture the beast and return it to Precipice – where it might run riot and cause untold chaos – Draik is determined to find it first and kill it. Accompanied by the kroot Dahyak Grekh and a group of retainers he sets off in search of the Ambull, but finds the fortress crawling with Chaos cultists and strange, lethal insect-like creatures.

For anyone familiar with Darius’ Blackstone Fortress novel this offers an enjoyable continuation of Draik’s and Grekh’s arcs, but there’s more than enough in the script and performances to give a clear sense of their characters to someone who hasn’t read the novel. This should work very well as an introduction to the setting, with the audio format imbuing locations and creatures with a vivid sense of life and danger. It’s a tremendously entertaining story in its own right, and a great way of spending 70 minutes for anyone interested in the Blackstone Fortress or the dangers of life for a Rogue Trader out on the far fringes of 40k.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/11/...