| Title | : | The Wicked and the Damned (Warhammer Horror) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1784969397 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781784969394 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published March 30, 2019 |
On a misty cemetery world, three strangers are drawn together through mysterious circumstances. Each of them has a tale to tell of a narrow escape from death. Amid the toll of funerary bells and the creep and click of mortuary-servitors, the truth is confessed. But whose story can be trusted? Whose recollection is warped, even unto themselves? For these are strange stories of the uncanny, the irrational and the spine-chillingly frightening, where horrors abound and the dark depths of the human psyche is unearthed.
The Wicked and the Damned (Warhammer Horror) Reviews
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Bastante más disfrutable esta segunda lectura, aunque siempre me da la sensación de que Warhammer Horror no termina de darme lo que busco en un horror.
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Three stories, interconnected briefly - the first had a nice style akin to Poe's telltale heart, but the ruthlessness of the character felt gratuitous, same with the violence of the second story, though it did set it up for a chilling haunting-type tale. But it was edge third that really caught me, an everyman in the grimdark world of 40k, swept up in a profession he does not feel fit for and a duty so distant from him that still again and again imposes its destiny... This was the most real and haunting character, struggling with the flaws and failings and human needs for security and love and the madness that comes when you're just a cog in a relentless machine. This story was worth the book, for me.
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There are three stories in this book, all kept together by an outside narrative.
They are all very good in my opinion but I liked the second and third stories better.
They are set in the Warhammer 40k universe which in my opinion is a great setting to create Horror stories.
A little summary of the stories:
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What a disappointment! I was looking forward to the Warhammer Horror line, but wondered how it could be any more horror-esque than the normal 40k. In 40k I've encountered weird stories (The Strange Demise of Titus Endor) ghost stories (The Killing Ground) and zombies (anything with Papa Nurgle and his crew).
The stories are decent, particularly "The Beast in the Trenches" but it was ....nothing special. They were all very average 40k tales. -
I did enjoy this but unfortunately like the Maledictions short story collection, it linked a lot to 4k warhammer universe, which I haven't read. So I think it would have enjoyed it more if I had read some of those books first.
However, fantasy and war isn't my thing. I much prefer classic horror but this wasn't that at all. It was nice to branch out into something different but ultimately it wasn't my cup of tea.
I liked how this book was set out, three separate stories which kind of linked together at the end.
If you've read some of the books from the 40k universe I think you will like this but if you're looking for some classic horror, I don't think this will do it for you. -
One of the first batch of releases published by Black Library under the Warhammer Horror label, the Wicked and the Damned is a portmanteau story – a collection of three loosely linked novellas, by David Annandale, Phil Kelly and Josh Reynolds. On the mist-shrouded cemetery world of Silence, three strangers – a commissar, an officer and a priest – are brought together seemingly by random, surrounded by the dead with only each other and the sinister mortuary-servitors for company. Confused and unsettled, to try and understand what’s going on and why they’ve been gathered together they each tell the story of what they remember last, and what led them to Silence.
All three are told in direct, no-nonsense first person, with a distinct and honest voice coming through for each one which really draws you into these characters and their stories. That individuality, along with each author’s writing style and narrative choice, provides an enjoyable variety across the book to balance out the unrelenting darkness while maintaining a sense that these stories do work together. They’re all familiarly 40k, but go deeper into the visceral, genuinely unpleasant nature of the setting than usual, showing a little more of the gore, the dirt and, yes, the horror of the Imperium than most Black Library books reveal. Overall this is a clever concept, which might not have quite the depth of narrative and character development of a standard novel but which trades that for variety and invention to provide an interesting introduction to what Warhammer Horror can be.
Read the full review at
https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/05/... -
This is a compilation of three horror stories. The first deals with a commissar and the horrors of the a trench war where lack of communication between HQ and the real fighting man in the thick of it can result of something strange. Spoiler alert...
Yeah the enemy army was vanquished and that comissar and army were still fighting their allies due to lack of communication... Pretty interesting. Good character driven tale.
The second story has less horror right until the end. A military woman will do anything to rise up even by unconventional means. A interesting mystery tale while the last 15 or 20 pages turn into horror.
The last story and to me the weakest is about a priest and faith while mixing with romance give bad choices. More horroresque than the previous. A bit of lovecraftian horror with the changer of ways or to friends know as Tché.
Overall there is a intermix story connecting them all but felt flat because the premises was someone was hiding something but of course was the last story that connect the dots...
Overall good but to me failed in horror department and mystery. -
Not a terrible book. The stories are interesting and curious, but I felt little connection to the characters which is important in a horror story.
In general, there's something about the style of writing in the Warhamner novels that make it difficult for me to get into. The authors try to write in an epic, grandiose style that feels thick and dense but isn't pleasurable to read. As neat as the stories are and how rich and deep the lore of the Warhammer world is, they end up feeling like a slog..... -
Three nice stories. Especially the first one.
A very anticlimactic and without any imagination ending.
The beginning and the 3 stories build up the reader's anticipation page by page. All this energy, though, remains stored. I feel cheated. It's as though some employee in Black Library decided to take 3 stories and put them in a book. But because this wasn't enough, he wrote an in-between story to bind them all. It had potential..but that's all it had! These stories would fit in an anthology.
3,5 stars only because the stories are well written and interesting. -
I didn't feel frightened by the stories in the book. However that may be because I've experienced a lot of horror stories/movies. Overall, the stories felt very formulaic.
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First story: 5/10
Second story: 6.5/10
Third story: 8/10 -
I bought this book based of the blurb; not realising it was a part of Warhammer (not something I'm a fan of). I thought I would still give it a shot but for me it had to many references in connection to Warhammer (which is to be expected) that I didn't understand and was having to Google. So unfortunately I didn't finish this one
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So a priest, a soldier, and a commissar walk into a cemetery.....no really! This may sound like the opening of a joke but this is actually one of the flagship novels in the new Warhammer horror universe and if you are anything like me you have be anticipating this for awhile. I will try and keep my review light on spoilers but be forewarned.
The novel features three characters meeting on a cemetery world with no knowledge of each other, how they got there, or even why they are there. This is all a pretense to introduce 3 short stories in the universe. Each takes a turn telling their story so that they might piece together why they are there. The stories are...
The commissar chases a phantom enemy hiding among his troops
The soldier is haunted by a recently deceased rival
The priest struggles with his faith and self identity when confronted with an unholy horror
Right off the bat this will be a tough sell for varied readers. While all within the horror genre they each represent very different sub-genres namely slasher, lovecraftish horror, and supernatural haunting. For the most part the stories pull it off
Pros
Fast paced
easy to follow (few events and characters)
engrossing
truly horrific in some cases
Cons
The ending suffers
since it is fast paced it is easy to miss fast sequences
The writing is cramped and breaks are few (no chapters or page breaks)
So the pros are pretty self explanatory. I liked the stories. The soldiers was the best followed by the priest and last the commissars. I looked forward to this for so long because the Warhammer universe is just perfect for the genre. Sure there's great action but just the basic elements of the universe lends itself to any type of horror and even has made showings in other novels like Eisenhorn's.
The cons come from a design aspect. The ending twist was lackluster and lazy. Vague endings leave it to the reader to fill in and there are cases where this may work, but this isn't it. I for one didn't see the twist coming. This is entirely because I expected more from it than this "simple" tie together. The commissars tie makes sense the others.... I mean I can fill it in but they're less direct and the more you try to find the "jump off" point (i.e. the point where the characters imagine endings instead of what actually happened) the more you come to the realization that... well... yea this can work but then really ANY story can be tied in and it ends up being lazy. I said this was due to design because each story is penned by a different author. What likely happened is each was had notional ideas of their stories and told Josh the basics and he wrote it in vaguely so that no matter what it would work. This could have been solved by having just a basic 4th character come in and perform some sort of investigative wrap up so that you the reader could know the story and not feel as cheated.
All that being said though I still like it. The tie in issue is small relative to the rest of the novel. Each story is roughly a third of the book so this over arcing connection takes up all of like 10 pages. This is a good opening for the universe and I would recommend it for cross over horror warhammer fans. -
Overall i really enjoyed this book, the opening was very atmospheric and set up the plot nicely, the first story was by far my favourite, especially since i was listening to the audiobook version voiced by doug Bradley, it had a brilliant sense of the pointlessness of imperial wars and how the administratum is an overburdened bureaucracy that can destroy lives without even realising it, and the commissar as a character was so unlikeable and vicious he was a character i loved to hate, and his internal monologue was the most horrific thing in the book, like a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer.
The second story was a bit of a step down but still enjoyable, the descent into madness that the main character took was enthralling, seeing this self assured back stabbing hard nosed officer getting broken down until she's nothing more than a scared girl hiding beneath a duvet from the monsters out to get her.
The final story was very much a let down for me, i found the main character more unlikeable as it went on, he started fine, but his words and actions damned him as a coward, the other protagonists were killers and psychopaths but for some reason i still found them more likeable than the missionary
And the plot of his story as a whole felt a bit too derivative, it felt a bit too much like Alien, and a bit too much like from beyond. Overall it was just far too usual for Warhammer. Warhammer horror to me works better when it's mostly psychological and doesn't fall back on demons or xenos
And then there's the ending, i didn't really expect it cause I didn't think it would make sense with the usual logic of the Warhammer universe, i expected the characters were actually under inquisition interrogation, or were in the process of being mind wiped and turned into servitors, but no they were just ghosts, which i found odd, Cause as far as my understanding of Warhammer logic goes, ghosts need a psyker nearby to coalesce, or they need to have their corpse on a ship in the warp, i feel like it could have been set up better
Still though not a bad anthology overall -
As stories set in the warhammer 40k universe they work well enough. Interesting settings, little snips and bits of the lives of everyday people in the 40k universe. as horror stories tough....
The problem I have with them is that I don't really feel that much difference with other supposedly non horror warhammer 40k stories. That is because warhammer 40k is an inherently horrific universe with chaos as a lovecraftian cosmic terror looming over all humans in the uncaring universe but that is not all; warhammer also has the necrons and the dark eldar to add to its spectacle of mind-shattering madness or let alone the genestealers and tyranids in general. For emperor's sake we have entire chaos legion founded on the principle of terror and horror with a primach modeled after a psychotic version of batman.
So are they bad stories? Again no and I appreciate the endings with all three of them though I would have switched stories 2 and 3 (no spoiler but you will get what I mean when you read them) I think it would have made a better ending for the overarching story on the cemetery world.
For the future I hope they stay away from the known horror such as the mentioned genestealers and or mutants. I would really like to see a story involving a slaught conspiracy
(
https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/... ) or the Rak'Gol (
https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/... ) I believe warhammer horror has potential and they should use it as a way to tell stories not involving the common stuff but really elaborate on the whole myriad of aliens and events that plague the galaxy beyond the big threats.
Perhaps that is the extra spice of horror that can be added as they did here by zooming in away from the big cosmic terrors.
Wait and see. -
A portmanteau composed of three separate tales of space horror, each making their horrific locations feel vividly real, as the writers take on a different subgenre with intriguing elements and genuinely chilling segments.
The Beast in The Trenches, by Josh Reynolds, is a descent into madness excused by this lead as blind loyalty, expressed in the most extreme of fashions. It feels overlong, dragging throughout, but was a very intriguing tale which gripped me more than it didn't.
Next was The Woman In The Walls, by Phil Kelly. This was my favourite tale, carrying the best protagonist, as this horrifying tale of a space-set haunting left me unnerved and unable to put the book down. I wanted to see where it would go next, and was more than eager to follow it on.
Lastly is The Faith and The Flesh, by David Annandale. My least favourite of the trio, due to some dull stretches, but this story of a crisis of faith still held my attention, and left me engaged as this Alien style horror had me hoping things would turn out alright.
As for the wraparound tale, this is where I was most let down. It begins with promise, setting up the horrific scenario very well, and gives off very good character interactions between our leads, but ends up taking the route one could guess from the first part of it, before ending with a rushed wrap up.
A shame, because I feel the book is worth it overall, especially for the middle story. -
I must admit that I struggled through the first half of the book. Overall I'd give it a 2.5, but since there is no that option I rounded it up to 3.
First story almost made me give up on the book. First one is definitively the worst one of the three offered in this collection. Second one is not much better but at least it felt more readable and it did at least feel scary and had some of horror elements. My biggest gripe with those first two stories that I didn't feel at all that they were happening in Warhammer 40k universe, yes there were some things that obviously belong to it, but you could easily put them in any other SF/military universe and they would fit into it. Third one I liked, and only because of it I gave it this score. It is your run of the mill monster story happening in a remote area. To me this one did have a bit more of connection to the Warhammer 40k lore and setting.
Of all three main character in this collection the only one was somewhat believable was a main character in the third one, he felt human. Commissar and commander were completely unrelatable and unlikable characters to me, and I just wanted them to die so that their stories are over. Also there is a nice twist at the end that I thought was nice, but still felt somewhat rushed and I have feeling there just to add a bit more of horror to all three stories since it is used to connect them all together and the way all three of them end. -
The overall story starts with 3 people on a cemetery world. They are not sure why they are there, so they decide to tell stories about the last thing they remember. The three short stories that make up this book are their stories.
The first story is “The Beast in the Trenches” by Josh Reynolds. This tale is the Commissar’s story. It’s kind of a paranoia, psychological horror story.
The second story is the Field Commander’s story. Her tale is a gruesome ghost story. It’s called “The Woman in the Walls” by Phil Kelly.
The third story belongs to a missionary. It’s “The Faith and the Flesh” by David Annandale. This short story is more of a monster tale.
I found all 3 stories enjoyable. The first tale was kind of saddening. The second story felt a little drawn out, but was the creepiest. It was also the goriest. The third story seemed to have the fastest pace. None of the main characters are really likable. All 3 are deeply flawed and these flaws tend to be their downfall.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Warhammer 40K horror story. The regular 40K stories can be fairly gruesome, disturbing, and frightening. I definitely enjoyed them and would recommend them to any Warhammer 40K fans. -
The Beast in the Trenches - Once again Reynolds does a brilliant job at world-building. He builds up a really good atmosphere without relying on lengthy descriptions. I did struggle with the start of this story as it follows Commissar Valemar, who is very strict in his role, and I just kept comparing him unfavourably to Commissar Cain. But soon enough the intrigue builds and you want to find out what is actually going on. This story shows how the mind can twist any action into the right one when it is done as part of your duty.
The Woman in the Walls - Despite initially finding the main character, Vendersen, unlikable, I was soon routing for her to survive, despite being certain she wouldn't. I enjoyed this story, it is a spooky, tense mystery, but with a fair few gruesome descriptions.
The Faith and the Flesh - I found this story genuinely creepy, I loved it! There's something about being trapped on a spacecraft with no escape, and no real hope of rescue, that gets to me. Marrikus makes some divisive decisions, but as he keeps pointing out, would anyone actually chose differently or any better in his position?
Silence - All three of the characters come together on Silence and recount their stories to try and work out why they have been sent to this death planet.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it has made me want to read even more Warhammer horror in the future. The only reason it looses a star is the slow start with Valemar's story, which I struggled to get into. The rest of the book was a five star read. -
Dark, dark, and dark again. A trio of tales told by three characters (and written by three authors) set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I'll firstly say that I wish I had more knowledge about said universe as I think it would have enhanced my enjoyment. The third story had the most familiar elements and was definitely my favourite.
The stories are well-written and, as I said, dark! I wouldn't say they were scary but many scenes were tense. The first story had the nastiest protagonist, the second's MC was one I rooted for (surprising myself), and the third had an exciting plot (fans of a certain film will get a kick out of it, I reckon).
As with other Warhammer novels I've read, the writing, editing and presentation (love the black edge to the paper) are all slick and easy to get stuck into. -
To be frank, maybe if I was in my early teens it may have been better – if you go into it with the “this is YA/teen horror” it’ll read better (something I only realised after putting the book down).
The story weaving the three otherwise disparate sections together starts with potential for being interesting but quickly becomes obvious and tired.
This also applies for the stories themselves. The final one I found the big twist coming a mile off and can boil it down to “oh, it’s just [spoilers]”.
Like much Warhammer Horror it’s not really horror so much as it is “more violent, and the ‘bad guys’ often ‘win’”.
The writing itself was good enough I finished it, but, not good enough to say it’s worth the otherwise average story. -
This was a collection of three strongly horror themed stories very loosely connected. I was greatly impressed by the maturity of writing and how it still kept to the sometimes exaggerated nature of the 40K setting. The stories try to realistically look at what it would be like to live as a regular human in such dark and terrible times. My only real gripe is the ending which, for me, seemed to suddenly end things but, thought of in another way, can express how the Grim Horror of the Far Future is under no obligation to satisfy or make sense to its victims.
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Loved all three stories. Grisly, chilling tales in the WH40k universe has always piqued my interest, and each chapter was well-written to offer both horrific tales while still reminding you that you're still in that universe. And it makes it all scarier.
The tales are divserse enough but the ending/reveal could have been better. In fact, the ending was way too predictable.
Read the e-book and listened to the audiobook. The latter made the experience so much more enjoyable with how well the narrators voice-acted their roles, so definitely give that a try. -
Surprisingly good. This focuses on the 'grimdark' part of the Warhammer Universe without having to dreg up some hero to provide a happy(ish) ending. Instead this is a more pure horror writing, with no need to dive into the science fiction heroics. I'm glad the Black Library started this series and hope it continues. I like the main series, but it's hard to feel the horror in the world when some giant space marine is liable to drop out of the sky any moment and fix all the problems.
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Its a great read but part of me feels it will be more scary for someone who doesn't know warhammer 40'000 lore as many eliments that are being treat as being scary in the comtext of a horror novel are standard parts of the universes gothic setting. However, it is still well written and flows well, without patronising the reader, through an over arching tale that ads depth to a part of the universe not really covered: What does the imprium do with all those dead?
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I like that Warhammer is branching into a "new" genre, what they are calling "Warhammer Horror." Of course, the entire Warhammer universe is already pretty horrible. So it's not a huge departure. But I enjoyed the story. Basically three separate tales that tie together in the end. If you are looking for heroes, look elsewhere.
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Greatly enjoyed this collection. Horror fits so well within the WH40k universe that the horror line felt like a natural next step. Unfortunately the book comes out with a bang with the fantastic "Beast in the Trenches," but the rest of the stories never quite reach that level of enjoyment. They're good, but not great, which wouldn't be so bad had the first story not been so far beyond the rest.
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I don’t normally write reviews because I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words, but I thought I’d start to try.
I don’t normally read horror themed books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The mounting senses of dread, paranoia, and hopelessness kept me reading even if it was going to make me late for work.
