What do you think?
Rate this book
The Horus Heresy #Audio Drama
Garro: Ashes of Fealty
After bringing warning of Horus’s treachery to Terra, Nathaniel Garro bade a solemn farewell to his Death Guard brethren and was set upon a more noble path than he ever could have imagined for himself. Now, an old comrade returns - Meric Voyen, once an Apothecary of the XIVth Legion, carrying a deadly cargo within the boundaries of the Solar System. Knowing only too well that to underestimate the powers of the warp is to fall prey to their corrupting influence, Garro must decide if any good can come of Voyen’s mission... and whether or not it is already too late to act against it.
Two old friends, now enemies, meet over a mysterious casket in this clash of ideals. Apothecary Meric Voyen challenges the mission of Knight Errant Nathaniel Garro. The tension mounts as the story heads to a climactic ending. And what lurks in the casket is as disgusting as it’s frightening…
Performed by Jonathan Keeble and Toby Longworth
Running time 18 minutes
Sound design and music by Jamie Roberston
Produced by Black Library
Two old friends, now enemies, meet over a mysterious casket in this clash of ideals. Apothecary Meric Voyen challenges the mission of Knight Errant Nathaniel Garro. The tension mounts as the story heads to a climactic ending. And what lurks in the casket is as disgusting as it’s frightening…
Performed by Jonathan Keeble and Toby Longworth
Running time 18 minutes
Sound design and music by Jamie Roberston
Produced by Black Library
MP3
First published February 13, 2015
2 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
James Swallow
308 books1,085 followersJames Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.
DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.
Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.
For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow
Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.
You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.
DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.
Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.
For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow
Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.
You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 29, 2025
I am 100%
HERE
for anything involving my boy, Nathaniel Garro!!
May 21, 2024
May 2024 Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order (https://www.heresyomnibus.com) as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus Heresy series and extras - Now in Immaterium of everything outside the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project, before moving on to the last Omnibus XXI The Siege of Terra.
Look, this isn't my favorite, but it has it's charm and sometimes my previous reviews are unnecessarily mean.
Following the Flight of the Eisenstein's climatic showdown with the Lord of Flies, Garro has been off doing his Knight Errant thing for Malcador, while the rest of the Seventy, the Loyalist Death Guard who travelled to Terra with Garro, have been stuck on the moon held in indefinite incarceration and largely forgotten. Apothecary Voyen, desperate to expunge his past associated with the profane Warrior Lodges against Garro's orders, seeks to find a cure for the blasphemous taint of Nurgle rotting his former Legion from the inside. To that end, he's been experimenting with the ashes of the Lord of Flies, which goes as well as you might think...
This is a real short and bittersweet one that is entertaining, but not particularly memorable, beyond Garro having asked a pilot to mannuever them closer the sun so he can dramatically hang out the back with the flies, and the truly ludicrous and possible awful, possible genius choice of the music. I can only describe it as Flight of the Fly, lesser-known sibling piece to Flight of the Bumblebee. Whatever it is, it's a choice, it made me laugh, and you have to admire choices in art even if they are questionable because it's always better than not taking a swing.
My memory is shocking, big I don't remember the cliffhanger ending of this being resolved, but we'll see if I just forgot or if that pays off later.
My initial two was ridiculous and I went back and forth over whether to give this three or four, but the sheer joy the ridiculousness of the music brought me tilled it over for me.
Through the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project and my own additions, I have currently read* all 54 Horus Heresy main series novels (+1 repeat), 25 novellas (+2 repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, all 17 Primarchs novels, 3 Characters novels, and 148 short stories/ audio dramas across the Horus Heresy (inc. 10+ repeats). Plus, 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and 1 short story...this run, as well as writing 1 short story myself.
I couldn't be more appreciative of the phenomenal work of the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project, which has made this ridiculous endeavour all the better and has inspired me to create and collate a collection of Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 documents and checklists (http://tiny.cc/im00yz). There are now too many items to list here, but there is a contents and explainer document here (http://tiny.cc/nj00yz).
*My tracking consistently proves shoddy, but I'm doing my best
***
Initial Review: 2/5
Please, Mr Swallow. Can I have some more?
Look, I get it. He's been absolutely killing it with the Garro stuff and Black Library know it, so when he was out of the office for a day, they went ahead and posted a few random pages of his notes and called it an audio drama. That's the only explanation I have for whatever this is.
The former Death Guard Apothecary, Meric Voyen, for reasons not explained, was never invited to join Shitty Merlin's band of merry Knights in Grey, so has had a lot of time on his handsr, which he has spent ruminating on trying to cure the whole Nurgle thing. Garro is antivax, but not antimask. The sealed jar of the Battle Brother Baxter Stockton's ashes magically opens and it gets all low stakes The Wicker Man with flies. Everything seems fine though, I'm sure we won't get a last second (eighteenth) minute reveal that someone got bit...
I've been grading these on a curve based on my enjoyment and how well they do a Horus Heresy story, so this is the first one that has take a significant hit, because it's just nothing, especially whenever the single thing that happens becomes relevant it will be appropriately referenced and reflected on, so this is a pointless exercise.
One dud in how many hours? This is still a ludicrous hit rate!
Look, this isn't my favorite, but it has it's charm and sometimes my previous reviews are unnecessarily mean.
Following the Flight of the Eisenstein's climatic showdown with the Lord of Flies, Garro has been off doing his Knight Errant thing for Malcador, while the rest of the Seventy, the Loyalist Death Guard who travelled to Terra with Garro, have been stuck on the moon held in indefinite incarceration and largely forgotten. Apothecary Voyen, desperate to expunge his past associated with the profane Warrior Lodges against Garro's orders, seeks to find a cure for the blasphemous taint of Nurgle rotting his former Legion from the inside. To that end, he's been experimenting with the ashes of the Lord of Flies, which goes as well as you might think...
This is a real short and bittersweet one that is entertaining, but not particularly memorable, beyond Garro having asked a pilot to mannuever them closer the sun so he can dramatically hang out the back with the flies, and the truly ludicrous and possible awful, possible genius choice of the music. I can only describe it as Flight of the Fly, lesser-known sibling piece to Flight of the Bumblebee. Whatever it is, it's a choice, it made me laugh, and you have to admire choices in art even if they are questionable because it's always better than not taking a swing.
My memory is shocking, big I don't remember the cliffhanger ending of this being resolved, but we'll see if I just forgot or if that pays off later.
My initial two was ridiculous and I went back and forth over whether to give this three or four, but the sheer joy the ridiculousness of the music brought me tilled it over for me.
Through the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project and my own additions, I have currently read* all 54 Horus Heresy main series novels (+1 repeat), 25 novellas (+2 repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, all 17 Primarchs novels, 3 Characters novels, and 148 short stories/ audio dramas across the Horus Heresy (inc. 10+ repeats). Plus, 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and 1 short story...this run, as well as writing 1 short story myself.
I couldn't be more appreciative of the phenomenal work of the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project, which has made this ridiculous endeavour all the better and has inspired me to create and collate a collection of Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 documents and checklists (http://tiny.cc/im00yz). There are now too many items to list here, but there is a contents and explainer document here (http://tiny.cc/nj00yz).
*My tracking consistently proves shoddy, but I'm doing my best
***
Initial Review: 2/5
Please, Mr Swallow. Can I have some more?
Look, I get it. He's been absolutely killing it with the Garro stuff and Black Library know it, so when he was out of the office for a day, they went ahead and posted a few random pages of his notes and called it an audio drama. That's the only explanation I have for whatever this is.
The former Death Guard Apothecary, Meric Voyen, for reasons not explained, was never invited to join Shitty Merlin's band of merry Knights in Grey, so has had a lot of time on his handsr, which he has spent ruminating on trying to cure the whole Nurgle thing. Garro is antivax, but not antimask. The sealed jar of the Battle Brother Baxter Stockton's ashes magically opens and it gets all low stakes The Wicker Man with flies. Everything seems fine though, I'm sure we won't get a last second (eighteenth) minute reveal that someone got bit...
I've been grading these on a curve based on my enjoyment and how well they do a Horus Heresy story, so this is the first one that has take a significant hit, because it's just nothing, especially whenever the single thing that happens becomes relevant it will be appropriately referenced and reflected on, so this is a pointless exercise.
One dud in how many hours? This is still a ludicrous hit rate!
March 25, 2016
An awesome audio drama regarding Garro: The Knight Errant, and also one of his former Battle Brothers of the Death Guard legion.
The audio drama was extremely interesting, in that we haven't really seen much of Garro's loyal comrades, whom have remained surprisingly absent from his Knight Errant adventures. Here we get to see the differences in them, how at least Meric Voyen has coped with the Heresy, and how the war is different than most of them are thinking.
I really look forward to seeing where this story leads, and the eventual fate of the loyal Death Guard warriors(and apothecary).
The audio drama was extremely interesting, in that we haven't really seen much of Garro's loyal comrades, whom have remained surprisingly absent from his Knight Errant adventures. Here we get to see the differences in them, how at least Meric Voyen has coped with the Heresy, and how the war is different than most of them are thinking.
I really look forward to seeing where this story leads, and the eventual fate of the loyal Death Guard warriors(and apothecary).
August 1, 2025
Garro did not come to Terra alone, he came alongside his brother Death Guard. But it was only Garro that was entrusted by Malcador with the mark of the Sigillite. The rest of his brothers were left behind on Luna, incarcerated and largely forgotten. They had abandoned their Legion but now have no duty, no purpose.
Apothecary Meric Voyen beseeches Garro for the opportunity to study the taint that infected their brothers in the flight to Terra, for a chance to redeem the Legion. But Garro knows the nature of the warp, and there is no cure for what afflicts their Legion.
Meric is desperate for duty, for purpose to define him. He also seeks to repent for his former membership of the Warrior Lodge. There is something desperate and tragic in his story.
Apothecary Meric Voyen beseeches Garro for the opportunity to study the taint that infected their brothers in the flight to Terra, for a chance to redeem the Legion. But Garro knows the nature of the warp, and there is no cure for what afflicts their Legion.
Meric is desperate for duty, for purpose to define him. He also seeks to repent for his former membership of the Warrior Lodge. There is something desperate and tragic in his story.
January 7, 2025
Quick audio drama, but it didn't really capture me the same way it may have if I had just read it instead?
The ending with Voyen's malaise forming will likely come into play in the continued narrative - the rest felt pretty brief between the two, but the dictation was fairly short anyways
The ending with Voyen's malaise forming will likely come into play in the continued narrative - the rest felt pretty brief between the two, but the dictation was fairly short anyways
November 2, 2023
Didn't grab me. I appreciate what Swallow's trying to do here with the themes of Garro's faith and having the other character as a foil to them... I just didn't find it terribly compelling.
May 17, 2025
La historia está bastante bien y Garro siempre es el GOAT, pero le quito una estrella simplemente por ser mandatory audiobook, como odio este formato.
February 17, 2015
Released to tie in with an upcoming box set collecting together all of the Garro audio dramas so far, Garro : Ashes of Fealty is a brand new 18-minute short audio that re-introduces an old character from Garro’s past. Set at an unspecified point in the overall story arc, it shows a bitter, unhappy reunion with his old comrade Meric Voyen.
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
February 15, 2015
Short, but another sad (at last sad of the good type) HH short audio! 18 minutes had run to quick, especially from an old friend of our long loved frigate Eisenshtein ;)
And the ending is bittersweet ;)
And the ending is bittersweet ;)
May 8, 2016
this was joyous experience yet again. i love to get some glimpses of what happened after Eisenstein. And this pick up some of my fav points. only reason for 4 and not 5 stars is the length(blame me, but id have longer books always) and cliffhanger(it wasnt bad. opposite, it was too good)
February 17, 2015
Cool short story with an examination of the small part of the corruption of Papa Nurgle.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews