Tuesday 26 July 2011

Book Reviews

Warhammer 40,000: The Madness Within
Steve Lyons
Black Library

Available from Tuesday 2nd August - £8.50 (MP3 Download) & £10.00 (CD)
Review by Blake Harmer

When a daemon comes through the warp and destroys their battle brothers, Sergeant Estabann and Brother Cordoba of The Crimson Fists Space Marines must rely on a Librarian on the edge of sanity - and who possibly brought the daemon through in the first place. However, if they are to save the chapel so that it can become a new Crimson Fist training ground, they must destroy the daemon before it kills more. But is the greatest threat the daemon, or the limitless power in a psyker’s mind?

As with all Black Library audio books, the production values on display here are superb, from bolter fire, to daemonic howls to the Librarian’s spells, everything sounds right and accompanies the superb narration and voice acting to create the perfect atmosphere for the story. The story is also particularly strong, with a nice plot twist and good pacing to help build up the tension as the Space Marines hunt down the daemon.

If there is anything bad to say about The Madness Within, it is that by focusing purely on its target audience, which is obviously fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, there is very little appeal for other fans of sci-fi or fantasy who are unaware of what a Librarian or a Space Marine is, as the story assumes you already know this from the beginning. But aside from that, this is a nice well-contained short story that 40k fans will thoroughly enjoy from start to finish.

The Emotionally Fourteen Rating:
Violence:
Lots of violence, including a decapitation and lots of gun fire and psychic powers.
Sex/Nudity: None.
Swearing: None, although lots of angry words are said, the worst you get is "mutant".
Summary: An enjoyable and well-balanced short story with great pacing, and a good mix of action and tension building. Highly recommended if you love your 40k stories, but there isn’t much here if you don’t know your bolters from your chainswords. 8/10

COWBOYS & ZOMBIES GIVEAWAY


It's 1849, and an outlaw, wanted in the old west's Jamestown, gets more than he bargained for, when he finds the town over-run by zombies - victims of a virus unleashed by a meteor found in the gold rush. Cowboys and native Indians unite to fight the undead horde, as guns blaze and mutants growl in this showdown for survival in the weird wild west.

Thanks to our friends at Left Films, we've got three copies of Cowboys & Zombies to give away! For your chance of winning, send your name and full postal address to emotionally14@hotmail.co.uk before midday on Tuesday 2nd August, making sure to put "Cowboys & Zombies" as the subject. The first three entries out of the electronic hat after the competition closes will receive a free copy!

Don't forget to put "Cowboys & Zombies" in the subject line. Incorrectly labelled or blank entries will be discarded.

Cowboys & Zombies is available from Monday 1st August, courtesy of Left Films.

Entries limited to one per household. Offer open only to postal addresses in the UK and Ireland.

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