Patrick Correal-Winters > Recent Status Updates

"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.

So far the best book of the series. The recurring characters from the second novel are providing more intrigue, Nagash is being the most evil guy ever again, and the inclusion of Alcadizzar's quest to free Nehekhara even before Nagash reenters the realm gives an engaging secondary conflict and a much needed hero to cheer for. No Arkhan yet tho :(

Okay so why is Lee giving Arkhan the Black and Neferata such good chemistry what right does he have

(The Book of Blood)
Very cool take on the haunted house genre, filled with Barker's typical erotic and body horror. The language was complex in a very engaging way, and the story serves on its own as a kickass standalone tale and an excellent aperitif to the rest of the anthology. 5/5

This book should be ass, it's the most evil mfer imaginable doing the most evil stuff imaginable and people trying and failing to stop him, but it goes so hard like what

Okay so Nagash is just the biggest asshole ever then got it

This is a very fun book but there are portions that just go "Archaon and his horde reached the featherdancers of qualdahir, who fight using the ancient art of fieldeheim. They fought for a while and the featherdancers of qualdahir were violently killed. Then, Archaon and his horde reached the rotscribes of teff, who are blessed by Nurgle and have access to the fimdlehaver"

Pretty good, seems like a nice balance between the drama and schlock(positive) that felt so drastically different between the first and second half of the last book

Still incredible, still super depressing