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After the decimation of his Legion on the killing fields of Isstvan V, the primarch Corax sanctioned an accelerated implantation process to create new Raven Guard - a process subverted in secret by his enemies. But in spite of their horrendous mutations, the warriors of the Raptors still stand ready to do their primarch's bidding. When a watch-pack of Space Wolves legionaries arrives unannounced, it falls to Lieutenant Navar Hef to greet their warlike kinsmen and decide whether or not they might be hiding flaws of their own...
This new Horus Heresy audio drama follows a company of the newly founded Raven Guard Raptors as they explore a remote corner of the war-torn Imperium. They happen across a derelict vessel that appears to belong to the Space Wolves Legion, but why it's out here, and what happens to it's crew remains a mystery.
This new Horus Heresy audio drama follows a company of the newly founded Raven Guard Raptors as they explore a remote corner of the war-torn Imperium. They happen across a derelict vessel that appears to belong to the Space Wolves Legion, but why it's out here, and what happens to it's crew remains a mystery.
- GenresScience FictionAudiobook
2 pages, Audio CD
First published March 27, 2015
1 person is currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Gav Thorpe
377 books578 followersGav 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 15, 2017
Read as prose version in the Corax anthology.
The ending was really good and grimdark at its best, but the chance meeting between Raven Guard Raptors mutants and Space Wolves degenerate Weregeld seemed just too much forced for me.
And I don't like very much this silly "We are the mighty Raven Guard, you are just poor morons" attitude... meh :/
The ending was really good and grimdark at its best, but the chance meeting between Raven Guard Raptors mutants and Space Wolves degenerate Weregeld seemed just too much forced for me.
And I don't like very much this silly "We are the mighty Raven Guard, you are just poor morons" attitude... meh :/
April 24, 2024
April 2024 Re-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.
So...I read as much of my initial review from before I started this ludicrous endeavour and I cringed so powerfully and despair at how heartless and unaffected I was that I want to go quietly into the night saying, Nevermore...
This one really, really got to me this time. Hooooboy!
The Raptors, the original Cursed Founding, of the Raven Guard pick up a signal and check it out as part of Corax's new mission to gather and lead the remnants of the Shattered Legions. In doing so they stumble into a pack of Space Wolves on a space station hopelessly outnumbered by Sons of Horus.
A heartwarming tale of fraternal camaraderie is complicated by paranoia, secrets, and tragedy...
First things first. Time for me to hold up my furry, warp taloned paws and say how wrong I was during my first read and just highlight again how neurodivergent Tinkerbell* I am and I can never trust that I will not feel wildly different about a piece of media from one day to the next.
*This reads horrifyingly cringe elderly Millennial or whatever and those are charges that aren't worth fighting, but that is just shorthand for the fact that I do actually have a variety of chronic mental and physical conditions and disabilities that make it hard to hold more than one emotion at a time, and not just some 'lol uwu :P' bullshit.
I found this story genuinely moving and then like I had my heart ripped out. I miss the good old days of a couple of months ago when I had all the Word Bearers and World Eaters stuff to really take a crozius and a chainaxe to my heart and was regularly sobbing at stories. That seems like a distant memory, despite reading some great stuff. But this was such a horrifying gut punch that I knew was coming that I was just too horrified and shocked to be emotional. This really got me.
The bulk of the tale is just a solid bit of Warhammer storytelling and then when the Rout enters the picture they are so perfectly represented they could have stepped out of an Abnett or Wraight story. That's no sleight on Thorpe, I just haven't read his Wolves before and Prospero Burns and Wraight's Heresy shorts are truly top tier Vylka Fenryka.
Not to go all George Lucas, but the continued poetic rhyme of reflection and refraction is so perfectly represented and subtly explored here. It really is fascinating the different ways Legions, and their subsequent Chapters, treat their genecurses. The Horus Heresy: Legions loading screen is always telling me how pure the Dark Angels geneseed is, but I maintain their flaw is a greater propensity to fall to Chaos, which can also be tied to Caliban not only being a Deathworld, but an ancient site of the Primordial Annihilator and presumably the prison of whatever Daemonic or Xenos thing the Ouroboros 'Soul of Caliban' actually is. (Please don't tell me if it's answered, I'm so nearly there). The Thousand Sons had the Fleshchange, going full Chaos Spawn, hidden away and executed, but they were always seen as a tragedy and a cure sought. The Raven Guard initially did the best by the Raptors, though not their own flaw. Presumably, the full pale, black eyed mini Corax's are just kept away from others in 40K and don't seem to be around during the Heresy. The Blood Angels were respectful and secretive, as they continue to be, but the twin curses are openly discussed and supported in 40K, despite the difficulties of serving with other Astartes and being away from their brothers--the scene in which Rafael finally breaks down and explains why he seems different after serving with the Deathwatch in the genuinely brilliant Angels of Death on Warhammer+, which I still think is more than worth it for what's on there and I still haven't cancelled as I want to watch things again with my partner who isn't really a Warhammer fan, bur loved Angels of Death. Honestly, Toby Longworth's performance in that scene and the whole cast being a Warhammer narrators and vocal performers all star cast is incredible! #NotAnAdd but I would love a free subscription!
I'm getting sidetracked!
My point is that of all the Legions and Chapters, the Space Wolves seem to view and treat their flaw, courtesy of the canid helix, the Wulfen, with the most respect and care, so having Wulfen and Raptors together, neither being monsters, despite appearances, but the Raptors being made monsters by why they feel is necessity because of the Heresy, and let's be honest, the increasingly approaching manifesto levels of intensity, Corax...
There's so much chance and time and place with the tragedies of the Horus Heresy and this story particularly and I love that because nothing hurts worse than good people doing bad things to other good people because of bad times and happenstance.
I absolutely loved coming back to this and if you have read or read the intial review below then you have my unreserved apologies.
Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 32 Horus Heresy novels (including a repeat), 20 novellas (including 2 repeats), 111 short stories/ audio dramas (including 6 repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 15 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and a short story...this run. 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.
***
Intial Review 2/5 because I am sometimes a heartless monster
The Raven Guard have long been my favourite Loyalist Legion and Chapter, though my heart boils in Nurgle's crock pot, and my love for the Raptors, doomed gene-cursed mutant reinforcements, knows no bounds (A Queer, disabled, neurodivergent trans gal identifying with hated, grotesque, but trying their best in a grimdark galaxy that only want their productivity and death? Couldn't be me...), so the idea of them coming up against the Wulfen, the Space Wolves secret gene-curse and tragic answer to why the phrase 'there are no wolves on Fenris' holds a certain tragedy, seemed too goo to be true...
Long(fang) story short, it was.
This is a perfectly decent story about the fermenting distrusts and deceit that have existed at least since the gene-cursed became a thing--which raises a number of questions:
- Did none of these occur in the original huge batches on Terra, and if so how were they dealt why and what did the Emperor know about them?
- Did Salamanders have onyx skin and red eyes from the off and was that seen as OK, and does that mean that the rare super-goth, not to be confused with the super-stealth, Raven Guard count as gene-cursed and / or are cool?
- Did you ever stop to think that making werewolves and vampires might be a bad idea, and didn't we miss a trick with the potential for Team Edwardius vs Team Jacob Russ if the Space Wolves were traitors?
(sorry I got distracted by thinking about how the Emperor is the worst father of all time and IP)
The setup:
While Corax is becoming Peter Pan for the Shattered Legions' Lost Boys, uncle Malcador has asked Captain Russ? Leman Hook? (OK. OK. I'll drop the bad metaphor) to send some of his space vikings to make sure Harvey Birdman is sticking to Imperial Law. However, with the Warp being particularly Warpy, what with all the Heresy and incalculable souls being offered to the Primordial Annihilator, it took them a while to get where they were going, so some of them have really got that dog/ Thunder Wolf in them, of you know what I mean? To make matters worse the traitors formerly known as the Lunar Moon Moons arrived at the weapons cache they were absolutely only going to pick up as welcoming gifts for Blackbird McRavenboy. Enter the Raptors, the Imperium's most secret and fucked up heroes with hearts of gold and random spawny mutations.
Things go about as well as you can imagine, in the reverse Batman v Superman sense (their mates and the they punch for a bit).
Ultimately, this is a tragic tale of distrust and making tragic decisions on behalf of others that you belive are the right thing to do. When you aren't given a choice about being the Emperor's executioners and halve already done your best to expunge two legions, even before the Heresy full kicked off, or you are just a fucked up (not so) little guy who must know the fascist, militantly anti-mutant (unless they are rich and useful, shout out to Navigators, Astropsths, etc.) empire you serve is going to have issues with you existing, what are you to do?!
This is fine story, competent even, which is about the worst thing I can say other than actually putting the boot in. But it's such a colossally wasted opportunity to really play up the pathos and heartbreak of Wulfen/ Raptor similarities and lean more into the mirroring of the ultimate fate of the Raptors. It might have been very corny foreshadowing, but I would have loved to see "nevermore" worked into the dialogue, maybe even a subtle 'never more' from the the Celestial Nords for funsies?
The thing is there are all the ingredients and potential to make me bawl like Michael Jordan. I should be sobbing inconsolably at a story like this, rather than barely feeling anything but disappointment. Auntie needs faer tears and giving me emotional blue balls means the score gets bonked.
(The more reviews I write and the less sleep I get in short period of time, the more esoteric, impenetrable, and just for me my reviews seem to become. I love that for me)
So...I read as much of my initial review from before I started this ludicrous endeavour and I cringed so powerfully and despair at how heartless and unaffected I was that I want to go quietly into the night saying, Nevermore...
This one really, really got to me this time. Hooooboy!
The Raptors, the original Cursed Founding, of the Raven Guard pick up a signal and check it out as part of Corax's new mission to gather and lead the remnants of the Shattered Legions. In doing so they stumble into a pack of Space Wolves on a space station hopelessly outnumbered by Sons of Horus.
A heartwarming tale of fraternal camaraderie is complicated by paranoia, secrets, and tragedy...
First things first. Time for me to hold up my furry, warp taloned paws and say how wrong I was during my first read and just highlight again how neurodivergent Tinkerbell* I am and I can never trust that I will not feel wildly different about a piece of media from one day to the next.
*This reads horrifyingly cringe elderly Millennial or whatever and those are charges that aren't worth fighting, but that is just shorthand for the fact that I do actually have a variety of chronic mental and physical conditions and disabilities that make it hard to hold more than one emotion at a time, and not just some 'lol uwu :P' bullshit.
I found this story genuinely moving and then like I had my heart ripped out. I miss the good old days of a couple of months ago when I had all the Word Bearers and World Eaters stuff to really take a crozius and a chainaxe to my heart and was regularly sobbing at stories. That seems like a distant memory, despite reading some great stuff. But this was such a horrifying gut punch that I knew was coming that I was just too horrified and shocked to be emotional. This really got me.
The bulk of the tale is just a solid bit of Warhammer storytelling and then when the Rout enters the picture they are so perfectly represented they could have stepped out of an Abnett or Wraight story. That's no sleight on Thorpe, I just haven't read his Wolves before and Prospero Burns and Wraight's Heresy shorts are truly top tier Vylka Fenryka.
Not to go all George Lucas, but the continued poetic rhyme of reflection and refraction is so perfectly represented and subtly explored here. It really is fascinating the different ways Legions, and their subsequent Chapters, treat their genecurses. The Horus Heresy: Legions loading screen is always telling me how pure the Dark Angels geneseed is, but I maintain their flaw is a greater propensity to fall to Chaos, which can also be tied to Caliban not only being a Deathworld, but an ancient site of the Primordial Annihilator and presumably the prison of whatever Daemonic or Xenos thing the Ouroboros 'Soul of Caliban' actually is. (Please don't tell me if it's answered, I'm so nearly there). The Thousand Sons had the Fleshchange, going full Chaos Spawn, hidden away and executed, but they were always seen as a tragedy and a cure sought. The Raven Guard initially did the best by the Raptors, though not their own flaw. Presumably, the full pale, black eyed mini Corax's are just kept away from others in 40K and don't seem to be around during the Heresy. The Blood Angels were respectful and secretive, as they continue to be, but the twin curses are openly discussed and supported in 40K, despite the difficulties of serving with other Astartes and being away from their brothers--the scene in which Rafael finally breaks down and explains why he seems different after serving with the Deathwatch in the genuinely brilliant Angels of Death on Warhammer+, which I still think is more than worth it for what's on there and I still haven't cancelled as I want to watch things again with my partner who isn't really a Warhammer fan, bur loved Angels of Death. Honestly, Toby Longworth's performance in that scene and the whole cast being a Warhammer narrators and vocal performers all star cast is incredible! #NotAnAdd but I would love a free subscription!
I'm getting sidetracked!
My point is that of all the Legions and Chapters, the Space Wolves seem to view and treat their flaw, courtesy of the canid helix, the Wulfen, with the most respect and care, so having Wulfen and Raptors together, neither being monsters, despite appearances, but the Raptors being made monsters by why they feel is necessity because of the Heresy, and let's be honest, the increasingly approaching manifesto levels of intensity, Corax...
There's so much chance and time and place with the tragedies of the Horus Heresy and this story particularly and I love that because nothing hurts worse than good people doing bad things to other good people because of bad times and happenstance.
I absolutely loved coming back to this and if you have read or read the intial review below then you have my unreserved apologies.
Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 32 Horus Heresy novels (including a repeat), 20 novellas (including 2 repeats), 111 short stories/ audio dramas (including 6 repeats), as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 15 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels and a short story...this run. 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.
***
Intial Review 2/5 because I am sometimes a heartless monster
The Raven Guard have long been my favourite Loyalist Legion and Chapter, though my heart boils in Nurgle's crock pot, and my love for the Raptors, doomed gene-cursed mutant reinforcements, knows no bounds (A Queer, disabled, neurodivergent trans gal identifying with hated, grotesque, but trying their best in a grimdark galaxy that only want their productivity and death? Couldn't be me...), so the idea of them coming up against the Wulfen, the Space Wolves secret gene-curse and tragic answer to why the phrase 'there are no wolves on Fenris' holds a certain tragedy, seemed too goo to be true...
Long(fang) story short, it was.
This is a perfectly decent story about the fermenting distrusts and deceit that have existed at least since the gene-cursed became a thing--which raises a number of questions:
- Did none of these occur in the original huge batches on Terra, and if so how were they dealt why and what did the Emperor know about them?
- Did Salamanders have onyx skin and red eyes from the off and was that seen as OK, and does that mean that the rare super-goth, not to be confused with the super-stealth, Raven Guard count as gene-cursed and / or are cool?
- Did you ever stop to think that making werewolves and vampires might be a bad idea, and didn't we miss a trick with the potential for Team Edwardius vs Team Jacob Russ if the Space Wolves were traitors?
(sorry I got distracted by thinking about how the Emperor is the worst father of all time and IP)
The setup:
While Corax is becoming Peter Pan for the Shattered Legions' Lost Boys, uncle Malcador has asked Captain Russ? Leman Hook? (OK. OK. I'll drop the bad metaphor) to send some of his space vikings to make sure Harvey Birdman is sticking to Imperial Law. However, with the Warp being particularly Warpy, what with all the Heresy and incalculable souls being offered to the Primordial Annihilator, it took them a while to get where they were going, so some of them have really got that dog/ Thunder Wolf in them, of you know what I mean? To make matters worse the traitors formerly known as the Lunar Moon Moons arrived at the weapons cache they were absolutely only going to pick up as welcoming gifts for Blackbird McRavenboy. Enter the Raptors, the Imperium's most secret and fucked up heroes with hearts of gold and random spawny mutations.
Things go about as well as you can imagine, in the reverse Batman v Superman sense (their mates and the they punch for a bit).
Ultimately, this is a tragic tale of distrust and making tragic decisions on behalf of others that you belive are the right thing to do. When you aren't given a choice about being the Emperor's executioners and halve already done your best to expunge two legions, even before the Heresy full kicked off, or you are just a fucked up (not so) little guy who must know the fascist, militantly anti-mutant (unless they are rich and useful, shout out to Navigators, Astropsths, etc.) empire you serve is going to have issues with you existing, what are you to do?!
This is fine story, competent even, which is about the worst thing I can say other than actually putting the boot in. But it's such a colossally wasted opportunity to really play up the pathos and heartbreak of Wulfen/ Raptor similarities and lean more into the mirroring of the ultimate fate of the Raptors. It might have been very corny foreshadowing, but I would have loved to see "nevermore" worked into the dialogue, maybe even a subtle 'never more' from the the Celestial Nords for funsies?
The thing is there are all the ingredients and potential to make me bawl like Michael Jordan. I should be sobbing inconsolably at a story like this, rather than barely feeling anything but disappointment. Auntie needs faer tears and giving me emotional blue balls means the score gets bonked.
(The more reviews I write and the less sleep I get in short period of time, the more esoteric, impenetrable, and just for me my reviews seem to become. I love that for me)
August 8, 2023
Fantastic short story for those that read Deliverance Lost and became fans of The Raptors.
This short story is presented as an audio drama, with sound effects and multiple actors along with s narrator. The story also appears in print within the compilation book Corax.
⚠️Parental Warnings ⚠️
No objectionable language.
War violence, that is included sound effects in the audio drama.
This short story is presented as an audio drama, with sound effects and multiple actors along with s narrator. The story also appears in print within the compilation book Corax.
⚠️Parental Warnings ⚠️
No objectionable language.
War violence, that is included sound effects in the audio drama.
January 10, 2022
Cuando buscas este libro aparecen tontos medio desnudos por algún motivo, porque Goodreads? Porque?
Leyendo este libro me he dado cuenta una vez más de que los leales tienen o mala suerte o son idiotas y se matan entre ellos.
Aunque me ha gustado mucho el contraste que hay entre la manera de actuar de la guardia de cuervo y los lobos de fenris. Es una pena que murieran los wulfen.
Leyendo este libro me he dado cuenta una vez más de que los leales tienen o mala suerte o son idiotas y se matan entre ellos.
Aunque me ha gustado mucho el contraste que hay entre la manera de actuar de la guardia de cuervo y los lobos de fenris. Es una pena que murieran los wulfen.
August 29, 2025
In a moody and atmospehric audio drama, the Raptors of the Raven Guard have a chance meeting with their cousins the Vlkya Fenryka, the Wolves of Fenris.
In "Deliverance Lost" Corax attempted fo create enhanced Astartes, but his efforts were sabotaged by the Alpha Legion. The enhanced Raven Guard, the "Raptors" began to suffer genetic manipulation that caused physical deformities, making their appearance monstrous to the greater Imperium.
The Space Wolves suffer a genetic defect of their own, the Canis Helix can result in a transformation that turns a well trained Legionary into a wild beast. See "Leman Russ: The Great Wolf" to get a better idea of the Curse of the Wulfen, and how it affects the Vlkya Fenryka.
When the Raptors come across a group of Space Wolves battling the Sons of Horus, it initially seems like a chance for camaraderie and understanding. But can there be trust at a time when treachery is rife and the galaxy is split in two?
In "Deliverance Lost" Corax attempted fo create enhanced Astartes, but his efforts were sabotaged by the Alpha Legion. The enhanced Raven Guard, the "Raptors" began to suffer genetic manipulation that caused physical deformities, making their appearance monstrous to the greater Imperium.
The Space Wolves suffer a genetic defect of their own, the Canis Helix can result in a transformation that turns a well trained Legionary into a wild beast. See "Leman Russ: The Great Wolf" to get a better idea of the Curse of the Wulfen, and how it affects the Vlkya Fenryka.
When the Raptors come across a group of Space Wolves battling the Sons of Horus, it initially seems like a chance for camaraderie and understanding. But can there be trust at a time when treachery is rife and the galaxy is split in two?
November 28, 2023
Grimdark and satisfying. Gave me a window into a couple Legions I didn't know much about and a greater appreciation for each.
March 25, 2016
Hot damn that was both intense and interesting!
While the audio drama started a little slow, the mystery of the Wolves ship was quickly replaced by their actual location, brutal war, and as the bone of the Horus Heresy is built on, plenty of betrayal!
The Raven Guard were damn good, though I felt like the Space Wolves were a little bit silly, as well as I think "Hef of the Raptors" was used a bit too much.
All in all a great audio drama that continues Corax's plotline in the HH, in a sideways kind of way. Still good fun, if you're in it for the journey!
While the audio drama started a little slow, the mystery of the Wolves ship was quickly replaced by their actual location, brutal war, and as the bone of the Horus Heresy is built on, plenty of betrayal!
The Raven Guard were damn good, though I felt like the Space Wolves were a little bit silly, as well as I think "Hef of the Raptors" was used a bit too much.
All in all a great audio drama that continues Corax's plotline in the HH, in a sideways kind of way. Still good fun, if you're in it for the journey!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews