I've been attempting to enjoy the Horus Heresy via the audible app, thus freeing up my time to read other novels. But it seems even my Heresy listening is leaching into my other reading. Having just finished a few Chris Wraight White Scar tales I found myself reaching for his Death Guard novel The Lords of Silence.
Title: Warhammer 40,000 - The Lords of Silence
Author: Chris Wraight
Blurb: The galaxy has changed. Armies of Chaos march across the Dark Imperium, among them the Death Guard, servants of the Plague God. But shadows of the past haunt these traitors…
The Cadian Gate is broken, and the Imperium is riven in two. The might of the Traitor Legions, kept shackled for millennia behind walls of iron and sorcery, has been unleashed on a darkening galaxy. Among those seeking vengeance on the Corpse Emperor’s faltering realm are the Death Guard, once proud crusaders of the Legiones Astartes, now debased creatures of terror and contagion. Mighty warbands carve bloody paths through the void, answering their lord primarch’s call to war. And yet for all their dread might in arms, there is no escape from the vicious legacies of the past, ones that will pursue them from the ruined daemon-worlds of the Eye of Terror and out into the smouldering wastes of the Imperium Nihilus.
Format: 400 pages, Paperback
Review
I find it so intriguing to read a villain's novel, the last was Huron Blackheart and now the Deathguard. Chris Wraight does a great job at making you want to support them. There is plenty of grimdark about this tale but Wraight also sneaks in comedy via the "Little Lords", which has me remembering the golden era of Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition.
Things I've come to realize about a Chris Wraight novel is the pacing, it reads slower, and the story develops at a more natural pace, but due to this, we get so much more insight and descriptions. It is an interesting change for Black Library authors. Wraight does a great job of fleshing out the Death Guard, their serfs and beyond. The rooms feel alive and disgusting. I found every character to be unique and interesting. And though the plot seemed simple it still had some surprising twists in it.
Ultimately this is a fluff book, a must-buy for Death Guard fans. It also showcases how much the force has changed. We seem to have Mortarion and his forces - viewed as lazy and bickering like childern. Typhus - an upstart just seeking glory and then finally the others - displaced forces made of old and new Death Guard Marines who struggle to find a balance with each other (the book follows this third arm).
Overall an interesting read, that has made the Death Guard seem more interesting than just a plague-ridden villain. Well done Chris Wraight.
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