Patrick Correal-Winters > Recent Status Updates

Brilliant book, has had me absolutely hooked since the second chapter and just keeps getting more and more intriguing

Very good so far. The first chapter was a little slow, but given that it was more about setting up a frame narrative than the actual horror I don't mind.

The extreme run-on sentences take a minute to get into, but Faulkner uses such evocative language that I am 100% bought in

The writing of weird chaos stuff and the various Daemons is great, even if the characters are largely one-note

Absolutely brilliant so far. Thomas and the Girl are very interesting and entertaining characters, and I'm totally hooked on Thomas' floundering attempts to not care for her. The horror so far has been super subtle but sublime, and I'm loving the dialogue-heavy iceberg writing style.

Very fun read, lots to enjoy even if the focus is a little too light on the actual Emperor's Children for a book called "Fulgrim." There's also some funny plot dissonance with our protagonist Tamaris. He gets hyped up as someone intimidating to other heretic space marines with titles like "Butcher of a Thousand Worlds" and stuff, but he keeps getting whooped and running away in the story

Can't wait to see more of the drama within the Emperor's Children. Less sure about the Black Templars plot.

"The Quickening" was just 4 pages of a psyker doing cool psyker stuff.

"Immortalis" was short and sweet, showing us a battle brother's journey into the Death Company, interment into a dreadnaught, and death. The writing is solid and the ending packs a punch.

"Death's Shepherd" is the first first-person entry into the anthology, and it's pretty good. It drives home similar points as previous stories on the brutality and general evil tendencies of the Flesh Tearers pretty well. It wasn't as engaging as the other stories so far but it was like 5 pages so no harm no foul.

"Torturer's Thirst" was good, but nothing to write home about. I liked Appollus and it was interesting seeing a chaplain's relation to his Death Company flock. There's a little bit of derivation with "Know Thyself", but this had a bit more action and was overall a little more cathartic, even if I did enjoy "Know Thyself" more overall.

"Beneath the Flesh" is the strongest showing so far. Really good action and some fun character moments for the squad of protagonists. Again drives home both the best and worst aspects of the Flesh Tearers, which is great since extreme is what I'm here for with 40k.

"From The Blood" is another good showcase of the depths of the Flesh Tearers' generally monstrous tendencies, this time focusing on a space battle, which serves as a fun change of pace. The very end of the story is a nice bit of black humor before moving on to the next act of "The Trial of Gabriel Seth."

"Blood in the Machine" had me worried at the start, as it kinda left me with the impression that it would be bolter porn action the whole time. It still is that, but it does a way better job than I expected of exploring the darkest aspects of Gabriel Seth and the Flesh Tearers. The character of the Inquisitor Narissa is great to hate too, her beef with Seth kept me quite engaged.

"Know Thyself"
A kickass little story that further characterizes Seth and highlights the uncertain place the Flesh Tearers occupy in the Imperium. The description of the Black Rage and Death Company marines was especially cool, and seeing inquisitors get put in their place will never not entertain me greatly.

"The Trial of Gabriel Seth: Act 1"
Absolutely brilliant opening/framing narrative. Really throws us straight into the strained dynamic between the Flesh Tearers and the other successors of the IX Legion and gets us invested in Seth from the get.

Really loving the characters! Reynolds really has me invested in the characters' personalities and motivations, even ones who are seemingly gimmicky, which is a given in a Warhammer book.

Loving it so far, both appropriately epic as a sci-fi action romp and hilarious given the protagonist's abject self-obsession

(Pig Blood Blues)
Honestly, both the most mean spirited and engaging of the short stories so far, both of which are really saying something considering the stories that came before. A very gross uncomfortable mystery, I don't wanna give away more.
5/5

(The Yattering and Jack)

This is a purely fun Barker story and it's a great reprieve after "The Midnight Meat Train". It's a silly Christmas romp with Barker's characteristic crass, erotic, gory spirit, but not as heavily as the prior short stories or The Hellbound Heart.
4/5

(The Midnight Meat Train)

Another very graphic very disturbing story. I don't think it stuck the landing as well as The Book of Blood, but it was still an easy 4/5.