Motherlode

Black Library Advent Calendar 2018 #13

by Nick Kyme

Advent Calendar 2018: Day Thirteen


Returning to Precipice after a narrow escape from a drukhari raider in the Blackstone Fortress, the ratling twins Raus and Rein find that danger lurks all around them…


READ IT BECAUSE

It's a madcap day-in-the-life tale starring the ratling twins from Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress. Getting into one scrape after another, it's a great exploration of how they are – and how they survive.


THE STORY

After a successful adventure in the Blackstone Fortress – and a desperate escape from a fearsome enemy – the ratling twins Raus and Rein return to Precipice to sell their hard-won spoils, leaving their drukhari foe for dead. But it's not that easy to kill a denizen of the Dark City… As they try to offload their haul in the markets of Precipice, the day quickly spirals out of control as their past catches up with them in more ways than one – can the twins possibly escape the enemies coming their way?

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Short Stories

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2018

About the author

Nick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of big-mouthed halflings ratlings, a good mannered ogre ogryn fence, a despicable imperial commissar and a moustached dark elf drukhari villain: characters were a real clichè-fest, but this short story was a real fun to read.

[Gordon Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this very short story in the hope that it would provide inspiration for some of my own writings, and was blown away by how much Nick Kyme managed to pack into so few pages.

Kyme, better known for writing about the Salamanders in nobody's favourite Horus Heresy books, nails the eccentric tone and energy of ratling twins Rein and Raus as they upset everyone they meet in the Blackstone Fortress. Very funny, with carefully crafted action scenes. There's no great message or philosophical lesson, but then it's not often that anyone has this good a time in the grim darkness of the far future.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cheeky, irreverent little Blackstone Fortress short story featuring the ratling brothers Rein and Raus. After ditching their last client and returning to Precipice with valuables to sell, the brothers’ celebratory mood doesn’t last very long. When an attempt to offload their prize goes awry, it soon becomes clear that enemies from their shady past are returning to haunt them.

A pair of ratling twins makes for a naturally strong double act, and Kyme gives them a mouthy and competitive camaraderie. In a fairly convoluted plot with multiple antagonists there’s the occasional loose thread which doesn’t quite satisfy, but that notwithstanding this is an entertaining little story which benefits from not taking itself too seriously.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/12/...

[eFTy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most fun of the Blackstone Fortress stories I've read so far, it's a real shame the halfling twins from the game only make a very brief cameo in the main book.

The story itself ends rather predictably, but the dialogues make up for it. Unfortunately, all the other characters are bland and not really believable, even for 40k standards (an intelligent ogryn enunciating properly, a commissar making deals with dark eldar, dark eldar not killing everyone from an advantageous position and just coming out to... talk?).

Still, if you got the game, you really should read this one. Will make zipping around those hexes with the halfling wins more fun.

[JOHN MITCHELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short as the Characters

A quick and easy read but extremely well written with a plot that just draws you in. At the price of a cheap beer, why not!

[Michael David · Rating 4 out of 5]

it creates a better picture of the situation in precipice...... and quite funny

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as part of Advent Calendar 2018.

[T R Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Staring the Ratling twins Rein & Raus Gaffar, this Blackstone Fortress short story is quite entreating as the pair attempt to make a profit while their past catches up with them. The story is well written and does a very good job at showing the twin’s roguish personalities. The action is quite good, with some nicely handled turnarounds and twists. On the downside, I did feel that the two antagonists of the story were both a little one-note, and something of a let-down, and the story would probably have been better with a single, better developed villain.