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Warhammer 40,000
Veil of Darkness
++‘Life signs stable.’
‘He looks… troubled.’
‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’
‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’
‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’
‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’
‘He endures, and will rise again.’
‘You’re confident about that?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’
‘I… cannot answer.’++
A Space Marines Battles audio drama by Nick Kyme. Produced by Black Library and Heavy Entertainment. Performed by Gareth Armstrong, Tim Bentinck, Chris Fairbank and Luke Thompson.Directed by Samuel Gunn. Music specifically composed by Simon Slater.
Running time approximately 75 minutes. Also contains an additional CD with Original Script, images and more.
‘He looks… troubled.’
‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’
‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’
‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’
‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’
‘He endures, and will rise again.’
‘You’re confident about that?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’
‘I… cannot answer.’++
A Space Marines Battles audio drama by Nick Kyme. Produced by Black Library and Heavy Entertainment. Performed by Gareth Armstrong, Tim Bentinck, Chris Fairbank and Luke Thompson.Directed by Samuel Gunn. Music specifically composed by Simon Slater.
Running time approximately 75 minutes. Also contains an additional CD with Original Script, images and more.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published September 1, 2013
About the author
Nick Kyme
280 books165 followersNick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 11, 2020
It's a great short story about Cato Sicarius. We get a short glimpse into the inner workings of his rebirth from a suspension chamber after suffering terrible wounds in battle at the hands of the Necrons. He must stand to account for his defeat in front of Marneus Calgar.....and then the story begins. Good read for any Ultramarine fan, not much for anyone else though.
January 13, 2021
“I am DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM”
Veil of Darkness from Nick Kyme follows on from the fallout of The Fall of Damnos where the Ultramarines lead by Captain Sicarius get absolutely smashed by the Necrons. Nick Kyme weaves a rather unique tale of intrigue and action as the Necrons attack their homeworld of Macragge. Reality itself is in question as Captain Sicarius struggle with his defeat at the hands of the Undying and then enmity of his comrades.
++‘Life signs stable.’ ‘He looks… troubled.’ ‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’ ‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’ ‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’ ‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’ ‘He endures, and will rise again.’ ‘You’re confident about that?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’ ‘I… cannot answer.’++
Sicarius awakens on Macragge after this defeat at Damnos, but all is not well in the Ultramarine fortress-monastery. He is to be place on trial for his failure, but a worse fate beckons as he has visions of the Necrons ”I am the UNDYING. I am your DOOM”. Strange things stir in him when he comes across racks and racks of battlefield recovered Necrons lining the halls of Macragge.
The first thing to mention about the voice acting is that Veil of Darkness is told from the first-person perspective – as Sicarius witnesses events unfold before him. Nothing wrong with that. However, much like some of Nick Kymes’ previous works, including Thunder From Fenris, Vulkan Lives and more so his Salamander novels – it fails in this respect due to Nick Kyme’s writing style. It’s far to formal and gets bogged down by the minor details, which really effect the pacing.
I’m not going to go on about this, but why would a Mechanicus trained Techmarine bring Necrons onto Macragge, let alone the Halls of Hera where Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and his command staff reside? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Not everything needs to be explained, but in this matter it just gets glossed over “We can learn about our enemy” is just a lazy way of saying; because it needs to be there for plot reasons.
I also feel Gareth Armstrong’s performance is a little hit-and-miss here, especially during Sicarius ‘waking’ and when we are going through one of his (many) hallucinations. I feel he is a little too calm, even for a space marine. The way the Undying are meant to be haunting him, the lose of Damnos is meant to be a big issue for him – but he doesn’t really seem to be bothered by any of that. Not to mention the trial is meant to add to this tension but just feels like a lazy attempt at plot locking this feeling of ‘despair’ and that he is a ‘failure’. You never really see any of that coming from him, even though he hammers home how much all of that is collective bothering him. Strange.
The actual action is great and makes you realise just how tough Necrons are, even against space marines (I’ll just mention the Soul Drinkers getting whooped by Necrons). They are relentless and (surprisingly) undying. There’s not enough of it if I’m honest. Let’s talk about the Necron’s hilarious voice acting. They sound like a slightly more evolved Dalek. I laughed so hard that I scared the person next to me on the train this morning – I’d like to apologize for that, it caught me unaware as well!
I really enjoyed both The Spear of Macragge and The Fall of Damnos. Both are really engaging and probably Nick Kyme’s best work. However, Veil of Darkness overshadows these by being a rather poor attempt to continue the story of Captain Sicarius. More is generally good, but in this case, I’d take less.
Veil of Darkness from Nick Kyme follows on from the fallout of The Fall of Damnos where the Ultramarines lead by Captain Sicarius get absolutely smashed by the Necrons. Nick Kyme weaves a rather unique tale of intrigue and action as the Necrons attack their homeworld of Macragge. Reality itself is in question as Captain Sicarius struggle with his defeat at the hands of the Undying and then enmity of his comrades.
++‘Life signs stable.’ ‘He looks… troubled.’ ‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’ ‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’ ‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’ ‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’ ‘He endures, and will rise again.’ ‘You’re confident about that?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’ ‘I… cannot answer.’++
Sicarius awakens on Macragge after this defeat at Damnos, but all is not well in the Ultramarine fortress-monastery. He is to be place on trial for his failure, but a worse fate beckons as he has visions of the Necrons ”I am the UNDYING. I am your DOOM”. Strange things stir in him when he comes across racks and racks of battlefield recovered Necrons lining the halls of Macragge.
The first thing to mention about the voice acting is that Veil of Darkness is told from the first-person perspective – as Sicarius witnesses events unfold before him. Nothing wrong with that. However, much like some of Nick Kymes’ previous works, including Thunder From Fenris, Vulkan Lives and more so his Salamander novels – it fails in this respect due to Nick Kyme’s writing style. It’s far to formal and gets bogged down by the minor details, which really effect the pacing.
I’m not going to go on about this, but why would a Mechanicus trained Techmarine bring Necrons onto Macragge, let alone the Halls of Hera where Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and his command staff reside? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Not everything needs to be explained, but in this matter it just gets glossed over “We can learn about our enemy” is just a lazy way of saying; because it needs to be there for plot reasons.
I also feel Gareth Armstrong’s performance is a little hit-and-miss here, especially during Sicarius ‘waking’ and when we are going through one of his (many) hallucinations. I feel he is a little too calm, even for a space marine. The way the Undying are meant to be haunting him, the lose of Damnos is meant to be a big issue for him – but he doesn’t really seem to be bothered by any of that. Not to mention the trial is meant to add to this tension but just feels like a lazy attempt at plot locking this feeling of ‘despair’ and that he is a ‘failure’. You never really see any of that coming from him, even though he hammers home how much all of that is collective bothering him. Strange.
The actual action is great and makes you realise just how tough Necrons are, even against space marines (I’ll just mention the Soul Drinkers getting whooped by Necrons). They are relentless and (surprisingly) undying. There’s not enough of it if I’m honest. Let’s talk about the Necron’s hilarious voice acting. They sound like a slightly more evolved Dalek. I laughed so hard that I scared the person next to me on the train this morning – I’d like to apologize for that, it caught me unaware as well!
I really enjoyed both The Spear of Macragge and The Fall of Damnos. Both are really engaging and probably Nick Kyme’s best work. However, Veil of Darkness overshadows these by being a rather poor attempt to continue the story of Captain Sicarius. More is generally good, but in this case, I’d take less.
September 5, 2013
This audio drama? It was on the verge of being a work of genius. Many elements slotted right into place, Sicarius was being handled well, a situation like no other was facing the Ultramarines and we were seemingly having subtle looks into the captain’s mind. It looked to be fantastic, which is why it is so baffling that Veil of Darkness crashed and burned as hard as it did.
Set weeks following the events on Damnos, the tale follows the effects of the was on Sicarius’ brain. Both his encounter with the hierarch of the xenos automata and extended time healing from his wounds have left him haunted by memories of their loss. However, even as he is called before Chapter Master Calgar to answer for his actions, visions of the unliving stalk his every step…
The first thing to truly note here is the style of the audio drama and its chief form of delivery: A first person perspective from Sicarius himself as he witnesses the events which follow. Much like Vulkan Lives however, it fails in this respect because of Kyme’s writing style. While his normal style is perfectly adequate for describing scenes, if lacking in a few areas, it simply does not work for a first person perspective. Both far too formal and sticking to unnecessary minor details which only bog down the pacing, it comes across as stilted and has very little personal touch to it. There’s a lot of additional words or sentences which should have been structured differently to allow the story to flow far more naturally, as a result it sounds like a man reading a script rather than someone’s thoughts. Whereas others tend to be identified by the minor inflections and quirks, the way Kyme writes them feels far too impersonal and the style could be given to anyone without any major changes.
The problems with the writing aren’t helped by the performance of Gareth Armstrong. While on the one hand he has the perfect voice for an Ultramarines captain and is one of the best we’ve had since Mark Strong voiced Titus, his voice barely changes while narrating events. During many of the hallucinations and frantic battles to save the final major sequence, he sounds completely calm and in control. Unlike Toby Longworth’s intensity and conviction during sequences in other dramas, Armstrong sounds positively relaxed.
The only reason for the choice of perspective seems to be there is for the same reason we got inside Vulkan’s head during the aforementioned Horus Heresy title: To see their hallucinations and memories which haunt them. In fairness this is handled remarkably well with reality bleeding back into the captain’s memories of Damnos and shows just how clearly the defeat impacted him.
Sicarius as he was presented in The Chapter’s Due and Fall of Damnos was a risk-taker who had never truly faced failure. Even with the partial success of rescuing many of the world’s surviving population, the idea of achieving no victory is something which he dreads to the point of believing he will face censure for his failure. His only response to pointing out his loss is to try and cite his number of victories over Agemman. It’s an interesting look into his character and one which is not directly addressed leaving some subtlety, and it’s enough to ignore certain changes such as a new disregard for some of the codex’s teachings.
The actual action, when we get to it, is fairly well written and while brief it’s easily the high-point within the audio drama. As well as being fast paced and descriptive it’s the point where Armstrong really sounds like he is putting effort into describing events as they come to a conclusion.
Unfortunately for us all this is relentlessly undermined by the necrons themselves.
As a brief aside for a moment, I’ve always argued that moving away from a silent immortal legion of cthulian horrors to Egyptian cyber toffs was a major mistake. It gave them voices which they used with long, overdone villain monologues, extremely generic Saturday morning cartoon antagonist statements and any addition to their lore to give them character was uninspired at best. Stupidly insulting to the reader’s intelligence at worst. Veil of Darkness, unfortunately, proves to be the biggest argument towards this point.
The audio drama is always at its best when the necrons are not present or seen in the story. The only time they really come close to invoking actual fear or interest is when we see the aftermath of their work or suggestions of their presence among the space marines. When they actually show up, far too much focus is put into the ancient Egyptian iconography to the point of effectively giving the “vizier” a fake pharaoh goatee to show he is evil and similar things. This is made even worse with the choice of voices. There’s no easy way to put this: Every single necron within the drama sounds like Robby the Robot with a synthesiser relentlessly spewing Ming the Merciless lines. What’s worse is that Sicarius’ hallucinations allow to them speak more, turning serious and very interesting moments into almost parodies of what they are trying to be. The lines were obviously intended to invoke fear or interest in the villains with their statements of “I AM DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!” yet it never fails to induce laughter.
The final nail in the coffin is the ending. As well as a conclusion to Sicarius’ personal fears which seems more interested in getting that plotline out of the way than concluding it, the conclusion breaks some very basic rules of writing. Not only is it one step away from declaring “It was all a dream!” but the actual ending apparently gives Sicarius hitherto unmentioned psychic powers. Ones which could have easily been passed off one way or another, yet in the way they are presented they are simply stupid. Combined with other questionable moments such as Sicarius’ armour shrugging off necron gauss beams and a surprisingly Mechanicus minded Techmarine who shows little caution for retrieved necron scrap, it torpedoes a promising story.
I want to be able to recommend this audio, I really do, as it openly explores elements other dramas either pass over or fail to handle anywhere near as well. Yet the bad elements never fail to find a way to overshadow the good and the ending manages to utterly destroy any goodwill there might have been for the tale. Fans of Fall of Damnos might be able to have some fun with this one, but it’s unlikely. Re-read the book this follows on from if you want a good story with Nick Kyme and Sicarius, just avoid this one.
Set weeks following the events on Damnos, the tale follows the effects of the was on Sicarius’ brain. Both his encounter with the hierarch of the xenos automata and extended time healing from his wounds have left him haunted by memories of their loss. However, even as he is called before Chapter Master Calgar to answer for his actions, visions of the unliving stalk his every step…
The first thing to truly note here is the style of the audio drama and its chief form of delivery: A first person perspective from Sicarius himself as he witnesses the events which follow. Much like Vulkan Lives however, it fails in this respect because of Kyme’s writing style. While his normal style is perfectly adequate for describing scenes, if lacking in a few areas, it simply does not work for a first person perspective. Both far too formal and sticking to unnecessary minor details which only bog down the pacing, it comes across as stilted and has very little personal touch to it. There’s a lot of additional words or sentences which should have been structured differently to allow the story to flow far more naturally, as a result it sounds like a man reading a script rather than someone’s thoughts. Whereas others tend to be identified by the minor inflections and quirks, the way Kyme writes them feels far too impersonal and the style could be given to anyone without any major changes.
The problems with the writing aren’t helped by the performance of Gareth Armstrong. While on the one hand he has the perfect voice for an Ultramarines captain and is one of the best we’ve had since Mark Strong voiced Titus, his voice barely changes while narrating events. During many of the hallucinations and frantic battles to save the final major sequence, he sounds completely calm and in control. Unlike Toby Longworth’s intensity and conviction during sequences in other dramas, Armstrong sounds positively relaxed.
The only reason for the choice of perspective seems to be there is for the same reason we got inside Vulkan’s head during the aforementioned Horus Heresy title: To see their hallucinations and memories which haunt them. In fairness this is handled remarkably well with reality bleeding back into the captain’s memories of Damnos and shows just how clearly the defeat impacted him.
Sicarius as he was presented in The Chapter’s Due and Fall of Damnos was a risk-taker who had never truly faced failure. Even with the partial success of rescuing many of the world’s surviving population, the idea of achieving no victory is something which he dreads to the point of believing he will face censure for his failure. His only response to pointing out his loss is to try and cite his number of victories over Agemman. It’s an interesting look into his character and one which is not directly addressed leaving some subtlety, and it’s enough to ignore certain changes such as a new disregard for some of the codex’s teachings.
The actual action, when we get to it, is fairly well written and while brief it’s easily the high-point within the audio drama. As well as being fast paced and descriptive it’s the point where Armstrong really sounds like he is putting effort into describing events as they come to a conclusion.
Unfortunately for us all this is relentlessly undermined by the necrons themselves.
As a brief aside for a moment, I’ve always argued that moving away from a silent immortal legion of cthulian horrors to Egyptian cyber toffs was a major mistake. It gave them voices which they used with long, overdone villain monologues, extremely generic Saturday morning cartoon antagonist statements and any addition to their lore to give them character was uninspired at best. Stupidly insulting to the reader’s intelligence at worst. Veil of Darkness, unfortunately, proves to be the biggest argument towards this point.
The audio drama is always at its best when the necrons are not present or seen in the story. The only time they really come close to invoking actual fear or interest is when we see the aftermath of their work or suggestions of their presence among the space marines. When they actually show up, far too much focus is put into the ancient Egyptian iconography to the point of effectively giving the “vizier” a fake pharaoh goatee to show he is evil and similar things. This is made even worse with the choice of voices. There’s no easy way to put this: Every single necron within the drama sounds like Robby the Robot with a synthesiser relentlessly spewing Ming the Merciless lines. What’s worse is that Sicarius’ hallucinations allow to them speak more, turning serious and very interesting moments into almost parodies of what they are trying to be. The lines were obviously intended to invoke fear or interest in the villains with their statements of “I AM DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!” yet it never fails to induce laughter.
The final nail in the coffin is the ending. As well as a conclusion to Sicarius’ personal fears which seems more interested in getting that plotline out of the way than concluding it, the conclusion breaks some very basic rules of writing. Not only is it one step away from declaring “It was all a dream!” but the actual ending apparently gives Sicarius hitherto unmentioned psychic powers. Ones which could have easily been passed off one way or another, yet in the way they are presented they are simply stupid. Combined with other questionable moments such as Sicarius’ armour shrugging off necron gauss beams and a surprisingly Mechanicus minded Techmarine who shows little caution for retrieved necron scrap, it torpedoes a promising story.
I want to be able to recommend this audio, I really do, as it openly explores elements other dramas either pass over or fail to handle anywhere near as well. Yet the bad elements never fail to find a way to overshadow the good and the ending manages to utterly destroy any goodwill there might have been for the tale. Fans of Fall of Damnos might be able to have some fun with this one, but it’s unlikely. Re-read the book this follows on from if you want a good story with Nick Kyme and Sicarius, just avoid this one.
November 10, 2021
The Ultramarines lost at Damnos. They return in shame and Sicarius is dealing with it. This is a follow-up of the novel and to me it's one that it's not that necessary. 30 pages that links but doesn't add anything. Necrons probably are not the most "normal" enemies of the Ultramarines so they are testing and studying in their homeland. Sicarius is dreaming and dreams of necrons awakening and thus the plot unfolds.
This short story opens to a sequel, to be quite honest don't know if there is one. (I have all books but I've not read all of them).
In terms of audio - why the necrons sound like Daleks? Damn... I know that this company probably also do Doctor Who novels - maybe they were mistaken and thought necrons = daleks?
Either way-nothing fancy. Not really needed. Didn't evolve our characters or story. Just more fluff...
This short story opens to a sequel, to be quite honest don't know if there is one. (I have all books but I've not read all of them).
In terms of audio - why the necrons sound like Daleks? Damn... I know that this company probably also do Doctor Who novels - maybe they were mistaken and thought necrons = daleks?
Either way-nothing fancy. Not really needed. Didn't evolve our characters or story. Just more fluff...
September 10, 2013
The Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/09/....
“A great, first person-narrated take on one of the most iconic Space Marine characters, Cato Sicarius, and apart from a few flaws - Veil of Darkness stands along with Damnos as being another very strong instalment in Nick Kyme’s Ultramarine stories.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
"++‘Life signs stable.’
‘He looks… troubled.’
‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’
‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’
‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’
‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’
‘He endures, and will rise again.’
‘You’re confident about that?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’
‘I… cannot answer.’++"
I haven’t listened to an audio-drama in a long time. However, with a return to College, I needed something to keep me entertained on my long bus rides there and back, and to fill that void came Veil of Darkness, a companion piece to Nick Kyme’s Damnos, that wraps up loose ends. It shows how Cato Sicarius was affected by the failed defence of Damnos, as for the first time that we’ve seen him, he must deal with the fact that for once in his life, the Captain of the 2nd Company has not completed his task. As Warhammer 40,000 fans will likely know – Sicarius is a brash, headstrong leader with several victories to his belt along with a multitude of titles – viewed by some as heir to Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. Of course, this does not fit well with Severus Agemman, the first Captain. Their rivalry is really brought to light in this book, as Kyme decides to tell the narrative from the first person point of view of Sicarius.
The first person perspective of Sicarius deals with two angles here – one one side, we get the entire narrative from his perspective, however – I felt that the end twist was all too predictable and clichéd to leave any real impact – and I was left finding the ending a little bit underwhelming, which was a shame – because for the first 90% or so of the audio-drama, the audio drama was executed really well. I loved the fact that the battle scenes that took place here happened inside the home of the Ultramarines Chapter themselves, and Nick Kyme really does make them feel vulnerable and isolated for the vast part of the novel. The audio drama shows just how deadly Necrons can be – and to me, they’re like the zombies of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe – if there’s something with the Necrons inside, It’s automatically going up my to-read pile. I’d love to see more crop up as enemies to various factions in future books, heck – I’d love to see them go up against Eldar. Now that would be awesome, as – correct me if I’m wrong – that there hasn’t been a book dedicated to an Eldar/Necron conflict from Black Library before, without any interference from the Imperium or another race.
However, the Necrons aren’t executed perfectly here. Sure, they do get some pretty awesome scenes and come across mostly as a formidable foe, but one problem that I had was the phrase “I am Doom,” repeated multiple times by the only Necron who has a speaking part. It’s meant to induce terror and fear inside the hearts of the Ultramarines under attack, but really comes across as being too cringe-worthy and cheesy. This is something that could have been avoided. The ending I’ve already touched upon was a let down as well, but those two problems are the only ones that I had with an otherwise really strong narrative. I loved the first person POV, which is something we’ve seen before in Kyme’s work - Vulkan Lives being the case here, and I felt that it was really executed well, giving us a great insight into Sicarius’ perspective.
The action is pretty brutal and pulled off well. If you’ve enjoyed Kyme’s works before then you’ll know he can write a good action scene, and whilst we don’t get to see any epic-scale battles featuring entire Chapters, the close-quarter combat allows for several strong sequences. The audio drama format really works well here, and although I don’t think Gareth Armstrong can pull of narration duties as well as others that we’ve heard in the past such as Toby Longworth, he certainly impresses, delivering a great voice for an Ultramarine Captain even when other elements aren’t as well performed.
The Audio Drama that I got for review as an MP3 file also came with multiple attachments – for anyone interested in the formatting of audio-dramas, or just wants to read the script as opposed to listen to the thing, then you can find the script attached. The cover art, which is pretty awesome – I might add, also comes as Wallpapers available for IPad/IPhone users as well as various Desktop formats. Another feature is a couple of images attached – one of a solitary Necron, and the other of Sicarius’ wargear. Whilst, script aside – they don’t provide any major new content, it’s a nice little bonus feature that you won’t get with a novel.
In conclusion therefore, a couple of flaws aside, Veil of Darkness is an audio-drama that’s mostly a lot of fun and if you’ve enjoyed Nick Kyme’s works in the past, then it’s certainly worth your time despite the couple of minor flaws that I had with this. Therefore, I can offer my recommendation. It’s a great look into the aftermath of Damnos, and if you want some pretty awesome close-combat action between Necrons and the Ultramarines in the Fortress of Hera itself, then Veil of Darkness will be worth checking out.
VERDICT 4/5
“A great, first person-narrated take on one of the most iconic Space Marine characters, Cato Sicarius, and apart from a few flaws - Veil of Darkness stands along with Damnos as being another very strong instalment in Nick Kyme’s Ultramarine stories.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
"++‘Life signs stable.’
‘He looks… troubled.’
‘Many going through sus-an membrane coma experience discomfort as part of the revivification process.’
‘Do you think he’s reliving what happened to him on Damnos?’
‘Perhaps, it would be his last memory before slipping into a coma.’
‘I cannot imagine that would be a pleasant experience. That thing very nearly cut him in half.’
‘He endures, and will rise again.’
‘You’re confident about that?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what about the state of his mind? Will that be intact?’
‘I… cannot answer.’++"
I haven’t listened to an audio-drama in a long time. However, with a return to College, I needed something to keep me entertained on my long bus rides there and back, and to fill that void came Veil of Darkness, a companion piece to Nick Kyme’s Damnos, that wraps up loose ends. It shows how Cato Sicarius was affected by the failed defence of Damnos, as for the first time that we’ve seen him, he must deal with the fact that for once in his life, the Captain of the 2nd Company has not completed his task. As Warhammer 40,000 fans will likely know – Sicarius is a brash, headstrong leader with several victories to his belt along with a multitude of titles – viewed by some as heir to Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. Of course, this does not fit well with Severus Agemman, the first Captain. Their rivalry is really brought to light in this book, as Kyme decides to tell the narrative from the first person point of view of Sicarius.
The first person perspective of Sicarius deals with two angles here – one one side, we get the entire narrative from his perspective, however – I felt that the end twist was all too predictable and clichéd to leave any real impact – and I was left finding the ending a little bit underwhelming, which was a shame – because for the first 90% or so of the audio-drama, the audio drama was executed really well. I loved the fact that the battle scenes that took place here happened inside the home of the Ultramarines Chapter themselves, and Nick Kyme really does make them feel vulnerable and isolated for the vast part of the novel. The audio drama shows just how deadly Necrons can be – and to me, they’re like the zombies of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe – if there’s something with the Necrons inside, It’s automatically going up my to-read pile. I’d love to see more crop up as enemies to various factions in future books, heck – I’d love to see them go up against Eldar. Now that would be awesome, as – correct me if I’m wrong – that there hasn’t been a book dedicated to an Eldar/Necron conflict from Black Library before, without any interference from the Imperium or another race.
However, the Necrons aren’t executed perfectly here. Sure, they do get some pretty awesome scenes and come across mostly as a formidable foe, but one problem that I had was the phrase “I am Doom,” repeated multiple times by the only Necron who has a speaking part. It’s meant to induce terror and fear inside the hearts of the Ultramarines under attack, but really comes across as being too cringe-worthy and cheesy. This is something that could have been avoided. The ending I’ve already touched upon was a let down as well, but those two problems are the only ones that I had with an otherwise really strong narrative. I loved the first person POV, which is something we’ve seen before in Kyme’s work - Vulkan Lives being the case here, and I felt that it was really executed well, giving us a great insight into Sicarius’ perspective.
The action is pretty brutal and pulled off well. If you’ve enjoyed Kyme’s works before then you’ll know he can write a good action scene, and whilst we don’t get to see any epic-scale battles featuring entire Chapters, the close-quarter combat allows for several strong sequences. The audio drama format really works well here, and although I don’t think Gareth Armstrong can pull of narration duties as well as others that we’ve heard in the past such as Toby Longworth, he certainly impresses, delivering a great voice for an Ultramarine Captain even when other elements aren’t as well performed.
The Audio Drama that I got for review as an MP3 file also came with multiple attachments – for anyone interested in the formatting of audio-dramas, or just wants to read the script as opposed to listen to the thing, then you can find the script attached. The cover art, which is pretty awesome – I might add, also comes as Wallpapers available for IPad/IPhone users as well as various Desktop formats. Another feature is a couple of images attached – one of a solitary Necron, and the other of Sicarius’ wargear. Whilst, script aside – they don’t provide any major new content, it’s a nice little bonus feature that you won’t get with a novel.
In conclusion therefore, a couple of flaws aside, Veil of Darkness is an audio-drama that’s mostly a lot of fun and if you’ve enjoyed Nick Kyme’s works in the past, then it’s certainly worth your time despite the couple of minor flaws that I had with this. Therefore, I can offer my recommendation. It’s a great look into the aftermath of Damnos, and if you want some pretty awesome close-combat action between Necrons and the Ultramarines in the Fortress of Hera itself, then Veil of Darkness will be worth checking out.
VERDICT 4/5
July 1, 2022
Quite fun.
May 5, 2025
The greatest warhammer 40k short story I have ever read.
October 4, 2024
I wish he actually got DOOOMED rather than ultramarines always having plot armour. They should learn but noo- they’ll use time travel instead, and who triggered the time travel? The necrons themselves 💀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2017
A really fun read with a bit of a twist near the end.
April 12, 2017
Wait, so Cato Sicarious actually says, "I, Cato Sicarious, blahblahblahblahblah"? I thought that was just a meme.
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