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Blacktalon #1
First Mark
A Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel
As Knight-Zephyros Neave Blacktalon hunts a powerful Tzeentch sorcerer in the jungles of Hammerhal Aqsha, she suffers terrible visions that suggest her very spirit has been tainted…
READ IT BECAUSE
It's an in-depth look at a fascinating character, and at the resolve and spiritual strength of the Stormcast Eternals.
THE STORY
In the perilous jungles just north of the great city of Hammerhal Aqsha, Chaos reigns. There, a powerful Tzeentchian wizard grows in disciples and in might as his maledictions leach all that is good from the land. It is Neave Blacktalon, first of Sigmar’s Knights-Zephyros, who must vanquish this foe. Yet the huntress soon realizes that even the glow of the Twin-Tailed City cannot protect her from the darkness. Blighted by terrible visions, she fears that her very spirit has been tainted. Blacktalon must choose whether to abandon her duty in the quest for a cure, or face the fearsome judgement of the Sacrosanct chamber.
As Knight-Zephyros Neave Blacktalon hunts a powerful Tzeentch sorcerer in the jungles of Hammerhal Aqsha, she suffers terrible visions that suggest her very spirit has been tainted…
READ IT BECAUSE
It's an in-depth look at a fascinating character, and at the resolve and spiritual strength of the Stormcast Eternals.
THE STORY
In the perilous jungles just north of the great city of Hammerhal Aqsha, Chaos reigns. There, a powerful Tzeentchian wizard grows in disciples and in might as his maledictions leach all that is good from the land. It is Neave Blacktalon, first of Sigmar’s Knights-Zephyros, who must vanquish this foe. Yet the huntress soon realizes that even the glow of the Twin-Tailed City cannot protect her from the darkness. Blighted by terrible visions, she fears that her very spirit has been tainted. Blacktalon must choose whether to abandon her duty in the quest for a cure, or face the fearsome judgement of the Sacrosanct chamber.
400 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2018
About the author
Andy Clark
47 books42 followersAndy Clark is a background writer for Games Workshop.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Andy^^^^^Clark
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Andy^^^^^Clark
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 12, 2021
There is some kind of opinion that literature based on game licences is pure pulp: Junk literature with very poor quality. I have hard time understanding it. Sure, it's often over the top, sensational even, but poor quality? This is another example of the opposite. A high fantasy that does a lot of things very right. This opinion comes from a person that is not invested at all in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar brand. I just read it because I wanted to read some fantasy, not necessarily connected to Warhammer.
There are plenty of interesting aspects in this book making it worth reading. I won't get into details because of the spoilers, but one thing that connects them all is a kind of deeper reflection on how people would react on supernatural things after being exposed to them for a very long time.
(Minor spoiler)
The only thing I found negative was writers tendency to often place characters in combat against impossible odds, with some deus ex machina moments as a result. I know it's high fantasy but you can make characters pretty cool without this repetition.
There are plenty of interesting aspects in this book making it worth reading. I won't get into details because of the spoilers, but one thing that connects them all is a kind of deeper reflection on how people would react on supernatural things after being exposed to them for a very long time.
(Minor spoiler)
The only thing I found negative was writers tendency to often place characters in combat against impossible odds, with some deus ex machina moments as a result. I know it's high fantasy but you can make characters pretty cool without this repetition.
Read
October 25, 2018Proofread
November 3, 2020
A bit of a downturn after a full cast audio play. I cannot really say if it's the effect of single voice reading or a mindless random action which doesn't produce a viable narrative. A kind of a "guerilla mission report". Some faceless terrorists, ahem, monsters/beastmen in the jungle of Vietnam... I mean Hammerhal?
I guess this is a good listen for painter-gamers who want to paint their Hammers of Sigmar army and understand the lore. Others can probably skip.
My little reference to learn the lingo:
Azyr - a Celestial Realm, home planet of Sigmar, one of eight so called "Mortal Realms" and the only "clean" one without the corruption of Chaos.
Ghyran - the Realm of Life. In the beginning of Age of Sigmar was almost overrun by forces of Nurgle, but I guess this novel means Sylvaneth and Stormcast Eternals are taking in back for the Order.
Stormcast Eternals - Sigmar's resurrected (human) heroes of the Order, wearing the space marine like armor of the fantasy flavor made of "sigmarite" and apparently they have wings and can fly. They should be renamed the Chaos Cleaning Company of angels. Kind of mindless zealots. They are immortal, because they are "reforged under the anvil". Effectively God-King Sigmar resurrects them, but the anvil is known to have some bugs ...
Knight-Zephyros - the occupation title of the main character Neave Blacktalon. An assassin in the Stormcast Eternals Inc.
Stormhost - autonomous armies of Stormcast Eternals with their own heraldry to be painted with utmost delicacy
Hammers of Sigmar - golden-blue armored Stormhost of Stormcast Eternals, the fantasy space marines?
Hammerhal - the city of Order. Near the city there's a jungle where the events take place in the book. And also it seems to be one of the settings for the new Warhammer Quest dungeon crawling boardgames "Shadows Over Hammerhal" https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...
Nurgle - oldest of the four Gods of Chaos. He also has annoying amount of titles - the Plague Lord, the Lord of Pestilence, the Fly Lord, and the Urfather is the Chaos God of Disease, Decay, Destruction, and Death by Rebirth.
Sylvaneth - conscious plants and trees of the Realm of Life - Ghyran. From dryads to treelords. Their battalions are called "wargroves".
Beastmen - various "bad" chaos mutants, usually beasts with animal heads and human bodies. Like minotaurs named "bullgors". Think trollocs of Wheel of Time or other generic fantasy monsters.
I guess this is a good listen for painter-gamers who want to paint their Hammers of Sigmar army and understand the lore. Others can probably skip.
My little reference to learn the lingo:
Azyr - a Celestial Realm, home planet of Sigmar, one of eight so called "Mortal Realms" and the only "clean" one without the corruption of Chaos.
Ghyran - the Realm of Life. In the beginning of Age of Sigmar was almost overrun by forces of Nurgle, but I guess this novel means Sylvaneth and Stormcast Eternals are taking in back for the Order.
Stormcast Eternals - Sigmar's resurrected (human) heroes of the Order, wearing the space marine like armor of the fantasy flavor made of "sigmarite" and apparently they have wings and can fly. They should be renamed the Chaos Cleaning Company of angels. Kind of mindless zealots. They are immortal, because they are "reforged under the anvil". Effectively God-King Sigmar resurrects them, but the anvil is known to have some bugs ...
Knight-Zephyros - the occupation title of the main character Neave Blacktalon. An assassin in the Stormcast Eternals Inc.
Stormhost - autonomous armies of Stormcast Eternals with their own heraldry to be painted with utmost delicacy
Hammers of Sigmar - golden-blue armored Stormhost of Stormcast Eternals, the fantasy space marines?
Hammerhal - the city of Order. Near the city there's a jungle where the events take place in the book. And also it seems to be one of the settings for the new Warhammer Quest dungeon crawling boardgames "Shadows Over Hammerhal" https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardga...
Nurgle - oldest of the four Gods of Chaos. He also has annoying amount of titles - the Plague Lord, the Lord of Pestilence, the Fly Lord, and the Urfather is the Chaos God of Disease, Decay, Destruction, and Death by Rebirth.
Sylvaneth - conscious plants and trees of the Realm of Life - Ghyran. From dryads to treelords. Their battalions are called "wargroves".
Beastmen - various "bad" chaos mutants, usually beasts with animal heads and human bodies. Like minotaurs named "bullgors". Think trollocs of Wheel of Time or other generic fantasy monsters.
May 21, 2021
A decent read, and Andy Clark once again displays a writing style and prose that prevents such a book from being condemned to the pulp pile.
This is one of my early forays into Warhammer literature but the main thing I struggled with here is the nature of a "stormcast eternal". They're too good in battle, and since they're more or less immortal, it's very hard to make the stakes of danger feel significant. This in turn makes the book a bit more of a plod than it would need to be.
I found Andy Clarks other book "Gloomspite" much more Grimdark and entertaining and it also felt like it gave Clark a bit more freedom with character archetypes and fates.
This is one of my early forays into Warhammer literature but the main thing I struggled with here is the nature of a "stormcast eternal". They're too good in battle, and since they're more or less immortal, it's very hard to make the stakes of danger feel significant. This in turn makes the book a bit more of a plod than it would need to be.
I found Andy Clarks other book "Gloomspite" much more Grimdark and entertaining and it also felt like it gave Clark a bit more freedom with character archetypes and fates.
January 16, 2023
I am not a big fan of AoS but the story was gripping. A Stormcast Eternal goes rogue to find the source of her weird visions and eventually gets ensnared in a conflict between the Sylvaneth and Chaos. The fighting scenes are great and the characters are entertaining but it can be a bit of a slog to get through all the copyrighted names and terms, Aetherwing, Gorebeast and don't get me started on the different types of Stormcast Eternals. Other than that a good pulpy fantasy story. One last thing, this was an audiobook read by Emma Gregory. She was brilliant, I really enjoyed her Katalya Mourne, Ithary and Wytha.
December 1, 2023
I had to pull the ripcord on this one 3/4 in. I like Neave as a character but her Prosecutor pal was just off having a seemingly unrelated adventure while she found herself through a series of story beats. Neave was a reactive protagonist instead of a more proactive one, and I don’t enjoy just watching events happen at a character. I also couldn’t stand the narrator of the audiobook when she started doing creaky old lady voices for the Sylvaneth characters. The standoffish bugriding character was frustratingly close to being compelling, but she repeated the same beats over and over again and I just couldn’t hang with it any longer.
March 8, 2024
Fantastic read, this was my first step into the Age of Sigmar universe and the Black Library. Neave was a great character for me to start with, she's compassionate, dedicated, and cool as hell. I plan on continuing with following her and AoS as a whole. The fantasy setting is dark but doesn't feel as hopeless as the Sci-fi/40K universe which is perfect for me.
Will also keep an eye out for more Andy Clark Sigmar books because this flowed wonderfully and I hope to see more of what he has to offer
Will also keep an eye out for more Andy Clark Sigmar books because this flowed wonderfully and I hope to see more of what he has to offer
June 18, 2019
I felt the book was long for what the story actually told. The characters were good and well developed. There were great moments and good world building, but in between those moments was dialogue and exposition that had diminishing returns on what it accomplished. I was very aware that this character acted in a certain way or how this works, because I was told seventy times already. My opinion is that the book would have been better in a shorter format. Your mileage may vary, though.
November 10, 2018
A good adventure story of Stormcast Eternals and allies, the Sylvaneth, taking on Nurgle worshippers. There’s camaraderie, some mystery and tons of straight forward fighting. Unlike the earliest novels, this doesn’t read like a battle report as it contains more than just Stormcast Eternals. I look forward to more books in the series.
January 25, 2019
Interesting book exploring other sides of the stormcast we have seen so far. There are not just murder machine but have feelings, doubts and most importantly they start to realise that sigmar reforging may actually be flawed.
I would recommend the book, the age of sigmar fiction is starting to get more and more interesting!
I would recommend the book, the age of sigmar fiction is starting to get more and more interesting!
May 11, 2021
I really enjoyed the start of the adventure. Discovering the protagonist's skills and his friend the Knight Azyros and the star eagle was my favorite. Still, in the end, I think I have more questions about "the mysterious weapon" and the origin of Black Talon than interest in the story. I can say, is enjoyable, but I've read better ones.
March 28, 2022
As someone not as familiar with the Age of Sigmar universe I wasn't sure where the best place to start was. I'm happy to say that this book was really good and definitely improved my familiarity with the universe, especially the races in the book and some of the geography, while also being a solid story in and of itself. I hope we get more of Neave Blacktalon in the future!
December 19, 2018
"Sorry is an empty belly and a cold fire."
Age Of Sigmar that reads more like Warhammer Fantasy.
Age Of Sigmar that reads more like Warhammer Fantasy.
December 20, 2018
**1/2: struggled to finish this; Blacktalon is a cool character but the mystery of her condition bogs the story down.
May 4, 2020
It's . . . okay. Not great. The prose is workmanlike, the plot pretty predictable, and just as a point of preference, I don't like books where kids die. I wanted to like it a lot more then I did.
June 12, 2020
Book is at least 1/3 too long. It kick offs just right and got my interest bu in the middle there are loong, boring, repetitive parts and no character development.
January 11, 2021
Dentro de ser una novela de aventuras, sin mucho enredo narrativo ni giros inesperados, me parece una de las novelas más finas del mundo de Warhammer,y de las mejores que he leído en este tono
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews