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Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Warcry Catacombs: Blood of the Everchosen
A Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel
When a child is born during an apocalyptic storm, and marked by the Everchosen himself, the warbands of the Eightpoints race to capture this infant for their own ends. But with the warriors of Sigmar stalking them, battle will ensue in the catacombs of the Bloodwind Spoil.
READ IT BECAUSE
Delve beneath the war-torn Eightpoints and experience the adventure, drama, and excitement of Warcry: Catacombs in an action-packed novel.
THE STORY
Deep in the tainted lands of the Eightpoints, a child is born during an apocalyptic storm. As omens and prophecies swirl around it, with Archaon himself marking the boy, a brutal hunt begins, each warband striving to claim the child for their own ends. To Burak the Bloodseer and his Untamed Beasts, the child must be found and destroyed before it grows to rival the Everchosen. To Ashrath Silenthis and his Splintered Fang, it is Archaon’s heir and a means of buying his favour. To Lord Rakaros, the fanatical leader of the Scions of the Flame, the child must be given to the fire to prove their dedication to the Three Eyed-King. But as each warband fights for survival across this nightmarish landscape, they are stalked by a hellish and hated enemy: the chosen warriors of Sigmar the Craven. What follows is a brutal struggle that will lead to the very catacombs of the Bloodwind Spoil, where failure means certain death and damnation.
When a child is born during an apocalyptic storm, and marked by the Everchosen himself, the warbands of the Eightpoints race to capture this infant for their own ends. But with the warriors of Sigmar stalking them, battle will ensue in the catacombs of the Bloodwind Spoil.
READ IT BECAUSE
Delve beneath the war-torn Eightpoints and experience the adventure, drama, and excitement of Warcry: Catacombs in an action-packed novel.
THE STORY
Deep in the tainted lands of the Eightpoints, a child is born during an apocalyptic storm. As omens and prophecies swirl around it, with Archaon himself marking the boy, a brutal hunt begins, each warband striving to claim the child for their own ends. To Burak the Bloodseer and his Untamed Beasts, the child must be found and destroyed before it grows to rival the Everchosen. To Ashrath Silenthis and his Splintered Fang, it is Archaon’s heir and a means of buying his favour. To Lord Rakaros, the fanatical leader of the Scions of the Flame, the child must be given to the fire to prove their dedication to the Three Eyed-King. But as each warband fights for survival across this nightmarish landscape, they are stalked by a hellish and hated enemy: the chosen warriors of Sigmar the Craven. What follows is a brutal struggle that will lead to the very catacombs of the Bloodwind Spoil, where failure means certain death and damnation.
- GenresFantasy
266 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 2020
10 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Richard Strachan
42 books26 followersRichard Strachan lives in Edinburgh, UK. He has had stories published in magazines like Interzone, The Lonely Crowd, Gutter and New Writing Scotland, and writes for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 15, 2020
In the benighted lands of the Eightpoints, a child is born beneath a savage storm, his destiny entwined with that of Archaon himself. As the boy’s father races for safety, powerful forces converge from across the Bloodwind Spoil. Some, like Burak the Bloodseer and his Untamed Beasts, or Lord Rakaros’ Scions of the Flame, seek to kill the child while others, like the Splintered Fang of Ashrath Silenthis, hope to protect him. All hope to gain Archaon’s favour through their actions, except for the hunters in gold who search out the child for their own mysterious purpose.
There's a strong sense of bleak futility here which proves the book’s greatest strength, brilliantly showcasing the sheer lethality of the Eightpoints and the vanishingly small likelihood of these characters ever truly achieving their goals. Combine that with Strachan’s beautiful prose – full of evocative descriptions and language that’s genuinely enjoyable to read for its own sake – and you have the recipe for a powerful, compelling story and a fascinating depiction of everyday Chaos. It perhaps takes a slightly more measured pace than many Black Library stories, with relatively long chapters and a lot of viewpoints to manage, but what it lacks in breakneck pace it gains in depth and world building.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/11/...
There's a strong sense of bleak futility here which proves the book’s greatest strength, brilliantly showcasing the sheer lethality of the Eightpoints and the vanishingly small likelihood of these characters ever truly achieving their goals. Combine that with Strachan’s beautiful prose – full of evocative descriptions and language that’s genuinely enjoyable to read for its own sake – and you have the recipe for a powerful, compelling story and a fascinating depiction of everyday Chaos. It perhaps takes a slightly more measured pace than many Black Library stories, with relatively long chapters and a lot of viewpoints to manage, but what it lacks in breakneck pace it gains in depth and world building.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/11/...
March 29, 2021
This was a great super focused book about different bands of warriors competing to capture a baby. Internal group dynamics were well written about and the action and pace were top notch. The ending was super brutal and grim.
August 29, 2023
Blood of the Everchosen is an intense, nuanced tale of life, struggle and death in the Chaos-ruled wastelands of Age of Sigmar, a book that reads like mixture of "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".
When a warrior of one of the roaming tribes of the Bloodwind Spoil (basically AoS' equivalent to the Chaos Wastes) gives birth to a child under a particularly unholy star, his foster-father flees into the wilderness to keep it safe while a wild hunt ensues between the members of various warbands that want to get hold of the child to use it for their own gains.
While I'm a passionate reader of its sci-fi cousin Warhammer 40.000, this is only the second Age of Sigmar novel that I've read so far (the first being Andy Clark's "Gloomspite", which was a lot of fun). Despite my only superficial knowledge of the background of AoS, I found Blood of the Everchosen to be accessible enough to make sense of and enjoy the story. The fact that the story takes place away from the battle-lines between major factions and doesn't cover something like an important event for the timeline of the setting helps in that regard.
I really liked author Richard Strachan's take on Chaos and what life in the ruins of the Dark Gods' victory looks like. While AoS has a reputation for being the over-the-top heir to it's more grounded predecessor Warhammer Fantasy, Strachan does the opposite here: He eschewes demigods, god-beasts and towering daemons in favor of barbarians, cultists and cutthroats.
The story takes a down-to-earth approach to its source material and all the characters feel very human, despite (because?) their brutality and viciousness. It's a large, but never convoluted cast of characters; all are on their personal Path to Glory, led by half-understood visions, portents and prophecies, and have their own reasons to pursue the hunt for the mysterious child. It reminded me of Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords trilogy in that most of the characters are, well, utter bastards, but written with enough dignity and internally consistent motives and ideologies that they are engaging instead of simply repelling.
Strachan underscores the unforgiving nature of the Bloodwind Spoil by taking a strict "everyone can die" policy while at the same time managing to credibly present a variety of characters as potential protagonists - a combination that makes the question of who lives and who dies, who succeeds and who fails way more interesting and unpredictable compared to most other Black Library tales.
It all comes down to an expertly paced and stunningly brutal finale which feels like a riff on the three-way stand-off at the end of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", followed up by an epilogue that ends the novel on a note that ties together the themes of the novel with such a neat bow that it made me want to stand up and clap.
Suffice to say that I really enjoyed Blood of the Everchosen, which continues to mark the first steps of my voyage into the literary world of Age Of Sigmar on an impressively high note.
When a warrior of one of the roaming tribes of the Bloodwind Spoil (basically AoS' equivalent to the Chaos Wastes) gives birth to a child under a particularly unholy star, his foster-father flees into the wilderness to keep it safe while a wild hunt ensues between the members of various warbands that want to get hold of the child to use it for their own gains.
While I'm a passionate reader of its sci-fi cousin Warhammer 40.000, this is only the second Age of Sigmar novel that I've read so far (the first being Andy Clark's "Gloomspite", which was a lot of fun). Despite my only superficial knowledge of the background of AoS, I found Blood of the Everchosen to be accessible enough to make sense of and enjoy the story. The fact that the story takes place away from the battle-lines between major factions and doesn't cover something like an important event for the timeline of the setting helps in that regard.
I really liked author Richard Strachan's take on Chaos and what life in the ruins of the Dark Gods' victory looks like. While AoS has a reputation for being the over-the-top heir to it's more grounded predecessor Warhammer Fantasy, Strachan does the opposite here: He eschewes demigods, god-beasts and towering daemons in favor of barbarians, cultists and cutthroats.
The story takes a down-to-earth approach to its source material and all the characters feel very human, despite (because?) their brutality and viciousness. It's a large, but never convoluted cast of characters; all are on their personal Path to Glory, led by half-understood visions, portents and prophecies, and have their own reasons to pursue the hunt for the mysterious child. It reminded me of Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords trilogy in that most of the characters are, well, utter bastards, but written with enough dignity and internally consistent motives and ideologies that they are engaging instead of simply repelling.
Strachan underscores the unforgiving nature of the Bloodwind Spoil by taking a strict "everyone can die" policy while at the same time managing to credibly present a variety of characters as potential protagonists - a combination that makes the question of who lives and who dies, who succeeds and who fails way more interesting and unpredictable compared to most other Black Library tales.
It all comes down to an expertly paced and stunningly brutal finale which feels like a riff on the three-way stand-off at the end of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", followed up by an epilogue that ends the novel on a note that ties together the themes of the novel with such a neat bow that it made me want to stand up and clap.
Suffice to say that I really enjoyed Blood of the Everchosen, which continues to mark the first steps of my voyage into the literary world of Age Of Sigmar on an impressively high note.
October 11, 2021
This was my first Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel, though I had read Horus Heresy before. Seems like a book that requires foreknowledge of the setting to get the most out of it.
September 6, 2024
Fun but short read, wraps up quite nicely! Almost makes me want to buy the models associated with the different war bands.
June 6, 2024
The best Age of Sigmar book yet. Compelling characters and plot. A wonderful use of clear and relatively simple language to create very vivid imagery.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews