The Vorbis Conspiracy

Warhammer Crime #Anthology

by Jude Reid, Noah Van Nguyen, Guy Haley

A Warhammer Crime Anthology

Return to the mean streets of Varangantua for another taste of just how grim life can be for the average Imperial citizen in the 41st Millennium.

READ IT BECAUSE
Seven seemingly disconnected stories from some of your favourite authors weave together into a nightmarish glimpse of desperation, poverty, and the powerful elites who keep it that way.

THE STORY
Varangantua is in turmoil.

After the district of Korsk is obliterated in a fiery cataclysm, the city’s enforcers must pick up the pieces. As sanctioner teams comb the wreckage for survivors, dogged probators such as Agusto Zidarov and Lycia Calix seek to uncover the truth about what happened. Their stories become intertwined with those of petty criminals and desperate citizens, even drawing the vaunted attention of agents beyond Alecto itself, painting a picture of sprawling conspiracy.

But while the calamity means death and destitution for many, others take advantage of the chaos to gain wealth or position within the city’s byzantine hierarchies. With Varangantua’s place in the wider Imperium at stake, will the truth about the disaster come to light, or will it be buried in the rubble along with thousands of bodies?

This Warhammer Crime anthology contains seven brand-new stories featuring both new and established characters from the city-sprawl of Varangantua.

CONTENTS
The Bones of the Martyrs by Jude Reid
Carrion Call by Noah Van Nguyen
Against Entropy by Guy Haley
Servant of the Righteous by Graham McNeill
Skin Deep by Darius Hinks
Angels in the Gutter by Alec Worley
Outside Powers by Chris Wraight

Genres: Crime, 40k, Anthologies, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Fiction

346 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2022

Reviews

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Grim Repast before it this anthology demonstrates the absurd scale of 40K and the callousness of the Imperium from the off- never has the truism about a thousand deaths being a statistic felt quite so apt in a BL story. Each story is interlinked, delving deeper into the titular conspiracy in increasingly satisfying ways. The individual stories are great, but the way that they interlink to form a whole marks this collection out as extra-special, and when one considers the high quality of what the imprint has included so far, that’s high praise indeed. As well as the obvious connective tissue between the stories, thematically this anthology is concerned with the nature of death in the same way that Sanction and Sin was concerned with family.

The Bones of the Martyrs, Jude Reid

Unless I’m mistaken, this doesn’t tie in with any previous stories, but does hint at full backstories for the protagonists. It sets the tone for the collection brutally and is so well realised it’s almost a shame it wasn’t fleshed out at least to novella length. That the presence of a bolt pistol, rather than any of the named firearms produced by the on-world cartels is so jarring is evidence of the effort that’s gone into making Varangantua such a vivid corner of the Imperium.

Carrion Call, Noah Van Nguyen

Can Noah Van Nguyen write a 40k story I don’t adore? Not yet. Carrion Call is a direct sequel to his contribution to Broken City and is every bit as good as it’s predecessor- somehow, Tal Noren has become even more jaded, bitter and cynical. Van Nguyen again demonstrates his adeptness in making the setting feel real- the small details in this twisting story breathe even more life into Varangantua.

Against Entropy, Guy Hayley

This short again sees the welcome return of a character, this time Lux from the novel Flesh and Steel. For all of his otherworldliness I find Lux to be an oddly relatable character; with a rare streak of humanity and I’m mighty glad he’s back in print. His previous appearance was in a novel had an awful lot going for it, not least it’s nuanced take on internal divisions and doctrinal differences within the Adeptus Mechanicus, and this continues to explore these.

Servant of the Righteous, Graham McNeill

Another follow-up short, this time dating back to No Good Men. Colbrand is probably too good a human to exist just in that anthology, but almost certainly too noble to last long on Varangantua full stop; his nobility is a great contrast to the grimness of parts of this story.

Skin Deep, Darius Hinks

This is a fantastic piece that ties the already-quite-convoluted Vorbis Conspiracy into the Wider Warhammer Crime arcs, both by Hinks and other writers. Unsettling with a fantastic pay-off this is really clever writing and even more satisfying.

Angels in the Gutter, Alec Worley

Alec Worley is like Noah Van Nguyen in that he’s a writer who continually puts out perfect 40K stories. This is Baggit and Clodde. There’s existential snot, an especially *fantastic* adversary, the understanding of humanity that characterises his work all undercut with the brutality of the setting. Say no more.

Outside Powers, Chris Wraight

This sees the equally welcome return of Agusto Zidarov. Cleverly ties in with the other parts of the anthology. A really good piece of hard-boiled noir that, once again, plays with the absurd scale of 40k- it has knowing nods to classic noir tropes but remains fantastical. A great way to round out a great anthology.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story starts off very strong with the first 2-3 short stories, then takes a nose dive with the remaining, where each story barely has anything to do with the overall narrative. I believe the issue is the fact that each story is written by a different author. Some of these authors write stories involving their own characters from their previous works, and thus end up placing the focus on them rather the narrative. The result is you have a bunch of authors each wanting to tell their own story, where a common thread is shoe horned in to develop some contrived feeling of mystery. After the first few stories, the conspiracy is barely even a thing, and rather involve the random goings on of people who might as well be living in modern day downtown Toronto. Then the final story just hurriedly sums up how all the stories are linked or whatever, revealing that there was no conspiracy to begin with. Rather the government is making it look like there was one, so they dont look like dumbasses to the inquisition. Also, the Baggit and Clodde story, being the worst in the whole book, apparently tells us that the incident which murdered millions is all Baggit's fault, because his actions caused the void-controller to be blamed for theft, and get killed, resulting in the no one being there to navigate the ship. What the fuck? I dont think the idea of "government is trying to cover up their own incompetence" is bad, but it needed to be led up to more. There is literally no reason for the reader to ever come to that conclusion with the evidence given. This was not a crime novel, it was the collection of individual author's ego trips, which almost all involved some cop or public worker, or mercenary getting into some contrived action sequence and then surviving anyways.

again, this whole tragedy in the book was caused by a single greedy ratling.

[Ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was surprisingly even anthology - can’t say I loved each and every story in it, but every one of them was quite unique and different. Personally I found most intriguing those where Kurtin appeared.
And I really, really liked the conclusion. While I’m not fan of the story with ogryn, I think that one was especially on point, and was a very nice comment on the title (and conspiracies in general).
Also, it was nice to meet characters I know from other books again.
Overall - fun!

[Lars Panzerbjrn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grimderp rather than grimdark. It's a bit bad when the characters you're supposed to root for are so dumb, you actually hope they'll get killed off sooner rather than later.

Do yourself a favour and skip this one.

[Alexander Mee · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any anthology, I found some stories in this collection more engaging than others. Overall I love the setting of Gargantua, and the way the stories all revolved around a similar event was interesting, however it would have been nice to see a greater connection between the stories. Towards the end the mystery is finally revealed, but this gives little chance for the reader to play the detective and work out the conspiracy for themselves.

Stand out segments for me were Against Entropy and Carrion Call. Angels in the Gutter I was initially bored with, but it develops into an interesting tale.

As is probably the intent, each story leaves you wanting to learn more about the characters, many of which feature in other works. This does give a smorgasbord of different characters, but occasionally leaved you feeling unsatisfied as if you are missing key information. Certainly avid readers of 40k will welcome this as a tool to discover other works.

[Peter Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say that I enjoyed this book far more than I originally thought I would. I have been slowly catching up with the Horus Heresy series after getting back into the hobby a few years back, and wasn't sure that this would have the same appeal as the galaxy spanning space opera of that series.

I am very glad to say that concern was completely undeserving! What I found was a set of short stories, all set in the same city on a fairly unremarkable planet in the Imperium, which gave me the same glimpse into life in the 40k universe that I remember from my early days reading White Dwarf and pre-Black Library publications.

There's lots of regional sounding terms for things like money and law enforcers, sprinkled with some nice references to the wider Imperium. I think it could serve nicely as an introduction to 40k for newbies, as well as a lovely pallet cleanser for somebody reading through the core series.

As an aside, it also reignited my interest in the Dark Heresy RPG!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this far more than I imagined I would.
This is a collection of short stories by different authors, but they're all focused on the same set of events, referring to each other and intertwining perfectly.

Some, of course, were better than others.
"Angels in the Gutter" was fantastic. I've never felt the street-level dictatorship, brain wash and propaganda so well realised.
Eisenhorn did it first, but by now, it seems primitive and superficial (just like Episode IV looks primitive, this is not an attack or put down).
This is the kind of heir to Young Abnett (not to be confused with the hack currently churning out trash for Black Library) we thought ADB would be (but then he burnt out instead).

Might've been 5 stars if I'd read the other Warhammer Crime books first (working on it now).

[Jayme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely top-notch! An anthology from various POVs, all connected to a great spaceshipwreck that decimated part of a city. You have returning characters from other Warhammer Crime books and THAT was really what sold it for me. I recognised at least 2, but there are others whose books I haven't read yet. For that I'd have to say this would probably have been better had I read all the other Crime books from this sub-series first. I was genuinely giddy with excitement when characters I had no idea were in this book became leads in their own story, tying them to this great event.

So far, this is my favourite Warhammer Crime book. It ticked every possible box, and then some.

[Adrian J Ratcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good collection of shorts, all somewhat interlinked following a city-wide disaster. Noot too Warhammer-y so I'd highly recommend it to any sci-fi or crime fans interested in getting into the setting without being overwhelmed.

The short Angels in the Gutter was a favourite of mine, Id love to read another story featuring Baggit and Clodde, they were fantastic to read!

[Danny Saines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a different concept to usual with this anthology but one that worked well. All but one of these stories were very good and I am increasingly impressed with the new crop of authors BL has coming through. This again shows that Warhammer Crime is still the best ongoing 40K series of stories currently being published.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good anthology. Hope it’s not the last one in the Warhammer Crime series. All but one of these stories was excellent (the other was good, but for some reason just didn’t click for me).

The stories were all slightly different, but each did a good job of conveying the futility of life in the WH40k universe, and especially during a catastrophe.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid short-stories. Interesting way to frame them, around the theme of a major disaster with new and returning characters experiencing parts of the 'conspiracy.' Stories are a mix, no stand-out incredible ones but none of extremely low-quality. I ended up liking the 'twist' at the end, but still putting the dark in grimdark.

[Kieran Delaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look, it's got Baggit and Clodde in it, so I was always rating it highly. 7 stories that explore a single event, with updates from some of the previous characters in Varangantua. Brisk read and fun, no bad stories, and most of them are good to great.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of Warhammer Crime so far. The stories are relatively forgettable but enjoyable, They”re developing a character of their own, rather than drawing on other crime fiction, which is a big plus.

[Tiarnán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable noir set in the 40k universe. I skipped some stories.

[Allen Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool way of integrating various short stories.

[Sam Ruffle Coles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the last one with Augusto zidarov. The rest was a slog to get through.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like any anthology it does vary. The best is how several of the stories really get into the minds of the common folk and how they view the more powerful

[Alexandre · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent !!

[Mohd Azrie Sidik · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really good introduction to the Warhammer 40k crime novel series.

stories by authors who've written well on astartes theme novels, get to know current 40k detectives,their motivations and the odd mutant going about their lives in the varangantua.

worth the read!