The Grey Raven

The Horus Heresy #Short Story

by Gav Thorpe

Though the Imperium defends its worlds with vigour, not all cries for help are answered in time, or even heard at all. A nameless Imperial world has been conquered by orks; its resources seized for the greenskins’ war effort, and its human population enslaved. The eldar have foreseen that if the ork warlord is not stopped, and soon, the consequences will be dire. Enraged by its losses, the Imperium will eventually launch an anti-xenos crusade of unparalleled ferocity. To protect the future of their own craftworld, the eldar must be prepared to sacrifice all to defeat the ork invaders.

Read it because
Those tricksy eldar are up to their usual ploys – manipulating mankind for their own benefit. But with humans on one side and orks on the other, have the aliens bitten off more than they can chew this time?

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Military Science Fiction

21 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2016

About the author

Gav spent 14 years as a developer for Games Workshop, and started writing novels and short stories in the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 when the Black Library imprint was launched in 1997.

He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.

Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the Heralds of the Siege anthology.

Vote: ☆☆☆1/2


Balsar Kurthuri, Chief Librarian of the Raven Guard, returns to Terra to face Malcador’s judgement having broken the Edict of Nikaea in the Horus Heresy novella Weregeld, previously collected in the Corax anthology, and becames the target of Custodes executing a sort of Order 66 from the Sigillite.
Not bad at all, Custodes are not pale shades of themselves like in The Outcast Dead and it is stunning how much action the author packed in this short tale, my only complaint is that the ending was just phoned for me since the early start and death of Captain Noriz of the Imperial Fists could have been avoided for good.

[RatGrrrl · Rating 2 out of 5]

April 2024 Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order Omnibus XVII Shadow of the Warmaster III Jaws of Defeat (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus...) as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus Heresy series and extras.

I understand that this is the last story chronologically in the Horus Heresy main series that is part of this story and omnibus, but it feels such a shame to end on such a disappointment after having my heart torn to bloody pieces by Weregild.

Following on the events of Weregild that saw the partially reinstated Librarius of the Raven Guard after Nikaea, Corax's acting Chief Librarian returns to Terra to face judgment, one of the less awful, but still ridiculous of Corax's decisions. Unfortunately, turning up with an Imperial Fists Captain and ranking Custodes aren't enough to make the security experience any easier...

I know I am tired and mentally and emotionally exhausted from being out through the ringer by Weregild, but I have read this before and once I finished it this time I had to listen to the opening again because I was ridiculously confused.

I now understand what happened, but I don't understand what the point of the exercise or this story are...

It feels somewhat like this is one of those stories that isn't actually a story, it's a vehicle to show you that this person is now here and trigger phrases are apparently a thing, which is something I can't stand. By all means have that as one of the reasons for writing a story, but a story has to be about something more intangible or at least mote entertaining. I suppose this story is also one that falls into my other bugbear category of not being much more entertaining than simply being told the premise.

Honestly, beyond having the Raven Guard Librarian being lined up to join the Knights Errant, something is absolutely explicit in the title and cover art for this story, and the code word thing, wouldn't it be cool if a friendly Custodes suddenly went J'Ason Bornne or Wick El'Jon for no real reason beyond having Malcador cackle over his tea set and game boards.

I never cease to be amazed the moments that do and don't make it into Horus Heresy stories. I get that this was a Black Library Advent Calendar short story, which is the perfect opportunity for this kind of tale, but this one left me cold.

Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 36 Horus Heresy novels (including 1 repeat and 3 anthologies), 22 novellas (including 2 repeats), 113 short stories/ audio dramas (including 6 repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 16 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, 2 Characters novels, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and 1 short story...this run, as well as writing 1 short story myself (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t...). I can't say enough good about the way the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project suggestions. I'm loving it! Especially after originally reading to the releases and being so frustrated at having to wait so long for a narrative to continue.

***

Initial Review 3/5

Big fan of Gav Thorpe. Raven's Flight is exquisite. Love me some Knight's Errant/ Proto Grey Knights. This one just didn't quite do it for me.

A kid from class XIX reports to the head teacher's office because their dad said they use their powers in a desperate situation, but they would still have to go to be told off. Seemingly out of nowhere, the school security starts trying to kill the kid. They punch for a bit and then the deputy head comes in and gives them a new P.E kit.

Unfortunately, like a number of other Black Library Advent Calendar offerings, this just isn't enough for me, especially listening to this as part of the Lupercal's War with this following directly from another story. Also, the is the only Thorpe story in this collection. They have done the Raven man dirty. Who made the choices for that?! Obviously, this isn't Greyven's fault.

At the end of the day, I'm sure this more enjoyable if you have been following the Raven Guard Librarian's previous escapades, and as far as showing the level of tension on Terra, some steamy Astartes Vs Custodes action, and a tease for more Malcy Malc and his Funky Bunch it's got some of that. It just falls in the completely non-essential Horus Heresy info and not a story I would return to. Unlike Raven's Flight, which I genuinely don't know how many times I've listened to since I first heard it 12 years ago.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Day seven of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar features The Grey Raven, the first of two Horus Heresy Raven Guard stories from Gav Thorpe. Closely linked to the novella Weregeld (part of Corax, book 40 in the numbered series) it picks up the story of Balsar Kurthuri, Chief Librarian of the Raven Guard, as he returns to Terra to face the Sigillite’s judgement having broken the Edict of Nikaea. Accompanied by the rest of the ‘Long Shadows’, those who Corax couldn’t or wouldn’t count on, he finds little in the way of welcome from the defenders of the Sol system.

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...

[Hawke Embers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, what just happened?

This story was good, surprisingly good, in fact I would go so far as to say great!..... Right up until the end that is. It was at which point I couldn't help but feel that this short story was either an example of bad writing or the result of a broader context that I am missing.

The actions is amazing, the story is fast paced, its situations were interesting and the struggle felt genuine, not to mention that the characters where easy to get attached to. The latter being very impressive for such a short story length, sadly I must clarify (without spoilers) that the ending undermined the whole story and felt utterly bizarre.

As I said; perhaps I missed something or maybe it is simply my interpretation of the final events but I don't think so. I think its just questionable story telling which is a shame because up until the last couple of pages this was an incredible read.

[Lanfear · Rating 4 out of 5]

No me lo esperaba, el relato muy bien pero hacía falta a un capitán de los puños imperiales para esa prueba? no es muy inteligente teniendo en cuenta que hacen falta marines espaciales para ganar una GUERRA CIVIL.

[Bookcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooh loved this! Never knew just how much of a badass Malcador really was until such a comparison is made.

[T R Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story sees a former Raven Guard Librarian return to Terra to petition Malcador the Sigillite to allow the Legions to use psykers in battle once again only to find himself in an unexpected situation. This is a very interesting short story with a good plot and some very entertaining action that takes place in the bowels of an Imperial Fists ship. The ending was also very interesting. I am still very far behind with the Horus Heresy series so I don’t know if the characters appear in any other books but the main Raven Guard and Imperial Fists characters are well written for a short story with good personalities. I do feel that the main Adeptus Custodes character is too underdeveloped, however.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story takes place after the events of "Weregeld".

Balsar of the Raven Guard, formerly Chief of the Order Librarius seeks to return to Terra to petition the Sigillite to reinstate the Librarius. But as he is waiting for permission to dock above Terra, the Custodes Guard he once fought alongside suddenly and without warning turn on him.

Being hunted down by the Emperor’s personal guard, Balsar must fight to survive, all the while keeping his oath to never again use his psychic powers.

The action was fun and intense, and the mystery of the Custodes’ apparent betrayal was interesting at first, but I found the reveal to be a bit disappointing. It turns out the Custodes were hunting him down to see if he would be loyal to his oaths and show the necessary restraint. This was a test by Malcador to initiate Blasar into the Knights Errant. I just found the whole thing convoluted and a little stupid, even by the standards of the Imperium.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting, and surprisingly lengthy addition to both the story of the Raven Guard, and the Horus Heresy as a whole. Though I think 1 part could have been a little more clearly written(Or maybe I'm just tired at 4am). The story was fast paced and exciting, and while I definitely saw the ending coming, it took me a minute to work through the surprise and get there!

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok snippet from the HH advent series but the Custodes did feel a bit like they were executing an Order 66 against librarians as the Sigilite works on his plans to create the Grey Knights.