Gav Thorpe

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 show more 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) show less

Gods damn! This is one of the super short Black Library Advent Calendar audio dramas and a colossal tease!

Cypher and Zahariel going poking around in a big scary hole on Caliban and get spooped!

This is like being in a supermarket and getting a sample of something incredible that makes you want to take the member of staff out and steal all the goods!

There's very little more I can say.

It's not even ten minutes long and nothing really even happens, but it got me all excited and wanting more!

They say perfection is a myth, and yet Raven's Flight exists.

I first heard this audio drama on 11.11.11, I known this because it was midnight release of Skyrim and my partner won the dice roll, so I was laying on the bedroom floor with shitty wired headphones in the back of the computer having my mind blown and completely distracted from how much I wanted to go down stairs and okay. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it in the following years, but it's a LOT. Every time I show more listen again I feel a fear that maybe I won't like it as much or will hear something problematic or just shitty, and with how much of a strong negative reaction I had to Thorpe's Honour to the Dead and Hinks' Illyrium, I was really feeling it...

But I am a fool!

Look, Raven's Flight is just over an hour and manages to do more with more depth and weight than many 600+ page novels. There is some of the best action I've read in the Horus Heresy, heartbreaking internal monologues on all manner of things from the Imperium, the nature of Astartes as monsters designed to create a galaxy for human, reflections on Deliverance, the Emperor, and his brothers, all written beautifully, there's that scratch of the myth and magic itch I have with the prtentioud dreams of blood and fire, fire and blood that are never explained, the war between Astartes, conflict between a human and an Astartes commander, and enough pathos to pave Pythos!

The writing is exquisite, one minute heartrending and poignant, another visceral and stimulating action that truly shows the ferocity and power of a cornered Primarch, or teeth-grindingly tense, or brief moments of exhalation and exaltation! This is Thorpe and the Heresy at the top of their game and set the bar for the Primarch-focused tales very high.

I just adore it! It does everything I could ask for from a Warhammer or sci-fi action story with aplomb. show less

This is very strange, great, and oddly funny for its tragic framing and being one of those legendary moments and references from 40K Space Wolves lore. It almost feels like at least two distinct stories as there is such a tonal shift, however somewhat gradual, between the first half and the second.

I usually avoid spoilers in my synopses and won't get specific and spoil everything, but it's hard to discuss this, especially with it being such a fundamental known thing for the vast majority of show more people who listen to it. If that's not you, this is a real odd Wolf, but it's definitely worth a listen.

The 13th Great Company of VI Legion, so-called Grey Beards and Wolf Brothers, being the first Longfangs from the first recruits from Fenris, arrive on Prospero to raze the glittering Pyramids of Tizca. This whole first section plays out with the high quality writing action that could be from Prospero Burns, if lacking the personal and individual hooks the novel has time to set up and play out. But soon the Veteran Space Wolves burst into the Great Pyramid in pursuit of a powerful Thousand Sons Sorcerer, marking the transitional period that is the search for the Psyker, chasing them his portals and initial jaunts through more portals.

At this point things get weird, there's even an extremely silly reference line that genuinely made me laugh. Things get all Scooby Doo and Doctor Who as the labyrinth and narrative become almost slapstick for a bit. I could imagine Yackity Sax (a less famous Commissar) playing as they run about in the Moebius-Escher maze. I'm often saying that Warhammer needs to remember how silly it is and have some fun once in a while, as a treat. Admittedly, the level of goofs within the utter tragedy of the burning of Prospero is a bold and interesting choice, but, Throne, do I have so much respect for Gav Thorpe just swinging for the fences.

Things get more serious with glimpses of the Warp and possible places people could get stranded, building up to a tragic ending that highlights the utter pointlessness of any of these conflicts (and war in general) and a very strange, so that's how and why it happened, huh?!

This truly is a bizarre audio drama, almost as if a Wulfen, a Raptor, and Flesh Changed had a baby. It feels longer than it is in a good way and, while it's absolutely not perfect, it is bloody good, and mostly sticks the tonal shifting transitions, mostly.

Lots of tones and vibes is better than no tones and vibes and I had a great time with this absolute loose unit! show less