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The Horusian Wars #Short Story
The Absolution of Swords
A Story of the Horusian Wars
On the Ecclesiarchy world of Dominicus Prime, heresy runs rampant – but Inquisitor Covenant and his warband have come to cut the poison out as only the Inquisition can.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's a prequel to John French's forthcoming Horusian Wars novel 'Resurrection' and gets into the heads of a couple of the inquisitor's warband, as well as showing his ruthless efficiency – his enemies certainly don't expect the Imperial Inquisition…
THE STORY
Heresy lurks within the Ecclesiarchy world of Dominicus Prime. In the sprawling temples and cloisters of the Crow Complex, once-pious priests have turned from the Emperor's light and embraced the darkness of the Tenth Path. But no longer, for Inquisitor Covenant and his hand-picked retinue of warriors, rogues and savants – heroes all – have come to cleanse Dominicus Prime of the taint that infects it. But as they enter the sprawling complex in search of the leaders of the insidious cult, danger closes in around them…
On the Ecclesiarchy world of Dominicus Prime, heresy runs rampant – but Inquisitor Covenant and his warband have come to cut the poison out as only the Inquisition can.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's a prequel to John French's forthcoming Horusian Wars novel 'Resurrection' and gets into the heads of a couple of the inquisitor's warband, as well as showing his ruthless efficiency – his enemies certainly don't expect the Imperial Inquisition…
THE STORY
Heresy lurks within the Ecclesiarchy world of Dominicus Prime. In the sprawling temples and cloisters of the Crow Complex, once-pious priests have turned from the Emperor's light and embraced the darkness of the Tenth Path. But no longer, for Inquisitor Covenant and his hand-picked retinue of warriors, rogues and savants – heroes all – have come to cleanse Dominicus Prime of the taint that infects it. But as they enter the sprawling complex in search of the leaders of the insidious cult, danger closes in around them…
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 3, 2017
2 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
John French
154 books298 followersJohn French is a writer and freelance game designer from Nottingham, England. His novels include the Ahriman series from Black Library, and The Lord of Nightmares trilogy for Fantasy Flight. The rest of his work can be seen scattered through a number of other books, including the New York Times bestselling anthology Age of Darkness. When he is not thinking of ways that dark and corrupting beings could destroy reality and space, John enjoys talking about why it would be a good idea... that and drinking good wine.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2017
On the shrine world Dominicus Prime, within and beneath the temples of the Crow Complex, Inquisitor Covenant and his warband hunt down an insidious cult known as the Tenth Path.
This continues to build familiarisation with Covenant’s warband, introducing new characters and particularly focusing on the Rogue Trader Cleander, but this time it also sets the narrative up for the novel, Resurrection.
Read the full review at http://www.trackofwords.com/2017/07/0...
This continues to build familiarisation with Covenant’s warband, introducing new characters and particularly focusing on the Rogue Trader Cleander, but this time it also sets the narrative up for the novel, Resurrection.
Read the full review at http://www.trackofwords.com/2017/07/0...
September 13, 2023
A well written short story that is clearly the prelude to a wider novel (or in this case series). It feels very gritty and reminded me of the sort of thing that might have graced the "Inquisitor" rulebook back in the day.
It also has some interesting suggestions regarding the relative ethics of the Inquisitors and the imperium (what is a person is a heretic, but they were tricked into it?)
It does tempt me to read the rest of the series, which I guess is the idea!
It also has some interesting suggestions regarding the relative ethics of the Inquisitors and the imperium (what is a person is a heretic, but they were tricked into it?)
It does tempt me to read the rest of the series, which I guess is the idea!
June 5, 2018
Really liked the writing. French is steadily becoming one of my favorite Black Library authors. Yet, it feels that a familiarity with the characters is required to fully appreciate this short. I will try re-reading this after "Resurrection"...
January 12, 2020
Latest revision:
I recently picked up Divination, the collected shorts from the Horusian Wars. Having read a few more of the shorts I had to come back, again, to this review.
I can't emphasis enough how glad I am that I read this first story. Up until now I had thought that Dan Abnett was the only person that could do the Inquisition justice. This should be your first step into an epic new 40k story line. On that basis alone, I can't recommend it highly enough.
First revision:
Having re-read this story, to refresh my memory before the first novel, my review below does this a huge disservice. This is a great introduction to a warband and the threats they face, it's well written and pretty much free of 40k tropes. Highly recommended.
Original review:
As an introduction to the players of this ongoing story, it's serviceable. However, there isn't space to flesh these characters out much. However, there's nothing really new here. Probably good enough for me to pick up the first full novel.
I recently picked up Divination, the collected shorts from the Horusian Wars. Having read a few more of the shorts I had to come back, again, to this review.
I can't emphasis enough how glad I am that I read this first story. Up until now I had thought that Dan Abnett was the only person that could do the Inquisition justice. This should be your first step into an epic new 40k story line. On that basis alone, I can't recommend it highly enough.
First revision:
Having re-read this story, to refresh my memory before the first novel, my review below does this a huge disservice. This is a great introduction to a warband and the threats they face, it's well written and pretty much free of 40k tropes. Highly recommended.
Original review:
As an introduction to the players of this ongoing story, it's serviceable. However, there isn't space to flesh these characters out much. However, there's nothing really new here. Probably good enough for me to pick up the first full novel.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews