The Maiden of the Dream

Black Library Advent Calendar 2016 #2

by John French

Mylasa Yaygus is an enigma, her origins a mystery even to her master, the Inquisitor Covenant. She is the Maiden of the Dream, a psychic torturer and manipulator of consummate skill, but amongst her many lives and histories is there a mote of truth that reveals who she really is?

Read it because

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2016

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Maiden of the Dream, a prequel to John French's upcoming Horusian Wars series is a tale that shows the extremes to which the Inquisition will go in order to complete their mission. While the action certainly takes a back seat in this story, the parts that do have it are extremely well done. The real highlight of this one was the uniquely intricate story revolving around strong characters, stolen memories, and an all-important question.

If this is any hint at what the series might be like, I definitely can't wait for it!

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Horusian Wars short story is a well written and interesting piece that explores the mind of a psyker who specialising in taking other people’s memories. Unfortunately, I haven’t read anything else from the Horusian wars series yet so I can’t say where this fits in or know anything about the characters involved, but I still found it quite entertaining as a standalone piece. Each of the individual memories explored in the story is quite interesting, especially the one about an assassination attempt on a young noblewoman. Overall, this was an good story that made me want to read its parent series to find out where everything fits.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Day two of Black Library’s 2016 Advent Calendar brings us The Maiden of the Dream by John French, the second ‘story of the Horusian Wars’ after The Purity of Ignorance. The titular Maiden is Mylasa, a powerful psyker who, as one of Inquisitor Covenant’s acolytes, uses her gifts to interrogate prisoners of the Inquisition and purge their memories. Can she be trusted, however? Beneath the accumulated memories ripped from the minds of others, is her soul still pure?

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

[Chris Dennison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent offering from John French who is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I look forward to a full novel from the Horusian Wars by French. It will be interesting to see if he can keep up the level of intrigue and web of story telling away from the battlefield as well as he does on it.

[Vincent Knotley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and engrossing read I returned to twice before moving on. Worthy of a look for John's exquisite prose-craft and imagery if nothing else.