Corax Lord of the Shadows spoiler free...ish

 

Corax Lord of the Shadows by Guy Haley.

The Next book from the Primarch Series I am reviewing is one of my favorites. Again, this novel is only a short story, but it makes up for the lack of length with its content and pacing. Based during the Great Crusade Corvus Corax is tasked to bring the city of Zenith of Carinae into compliance, but because of a bio-weapon, it does not quite go to plan. Because of the upbringing that the Raven Lord was forced to endure, he is more sensitive to the problems regarding freedom and where freedom is denied to the people of the worlds brought into the Imperium. He finds himself unable to look away from the needs of the common people when they are repressed and forced into what is effectively slavery. He is more than happy to become the scourge of the oppressors, their plight hits too close to home for him to ignore. This novel highlights parts of that nature, showing his compassion. This installment to the series also addresses briefly what the gene-flaw called the Sable Brand does to his sons, and that some of his sons are blessed with a lesser form of his stealth ability and why they are put into the special units of Shadow Wardens.

I really got into this novel when I first read it, and since then have read a few other books of the Raven Guard books. Corax is one of the Primarchs I really find interesting, and the fact that he has now become a Warp twisted shadow of death and pointy things obsessed with hunting down and killing the universe's least likable Primarch (my opinion only) makes him even more likable. This novel has all the qualities you could want from a Great Crusade era book, action, politics, moments of danger for the protagonist, and a real antagonist to throw the heroes against. I would have liked this to be longer, but overall the pacing works with the plot of the balance of action is equalled out, so there aren't many lulls of action and filler parts to the story that are there to pad it out. This is for me one of the top books of the series, and I recommend it as a must read for any Raven Guard fan or if you want to read any more Crusade era books.

If you want to read any more Corax or Raven Guard books I would suggest -

• Corax Soulforge
• Deliverance lost
• Ravenlord
• The Shadowmasters
• The value of Fear
• Sons of Corax 

Top image used under Creative Commons Warhammer wiki

bottom image book cover of the version used in the review