Teaser

Sister Superior Augusta and her squad are tasked with retrieving a holy relic from the holy world of Opal. It should be a simple task, but with a dangerous cult lurking in the shadows, it seems not everyone on Opal is as holy as they claim to be . . .

Review

The first interesting thing about The Rose in Darkness is that it sits at a crossroads between two series. First of all, it is the second release in the new ‘Adepta Sororitas’ line, started earlier this year by Justin D Hill’s Pilgrims of Fire. Other than the fact they both focus on Sisters of Battle, there is nothing to connect the two books, which means this is less of a strict series, and more a line of novels similar to the ongoing Astra Militarum tales, or perhaps the Warhammer Horror range. It also means that the two current (and presumably the four upcoming) books in this ‘series’ can be picked up without foreknowledge of the others. That being said, The Rose in Darkness does feature some familiar faces from another series. After all, there are already some famous warriors of the Order of the Bloody Rose floating around the grim dark future. Why not make the most of them?

For The Rose in Darkness, Danie Ware brings back Sister Superior Augusta and her team, seen previously in numerous short stories and novellas, many of which were gathered in The Rose at War. Again, you don’t need any prior knowledge of these characters, but having a passing familiarity with those shorter works will enrich your reading of this novel, which is Augusta’s longest outing to date. It’s probably her best too.

You see, the second interesting thing this book does is centre faith, which is exactly what the Adepta Sororitas novels ought to be doing. The Imperium is driven by faith, after all. They literally have their god sitting on a throne on terra (at least, so far as people believe). The average human is raised to be a fanatic. A believer in the singular right of humanity to dominate the galaxy. The Sisters of Battle are only the militant arm of the church that fosters such belief. Opal is a world that provides soldiers whose only goal is to become martyrs for the cause. Of course, these eager pilgrims know precious little about the true state of the galaxy, and not all versions of piety are the same.

Which brings us neatly to the enemy. I love the genestealer cults as an idea. They’re a horribly insidious foe that requires brains as well as brawn to fight. What Ware shows us with this book is that these cults do not exist in a vacuum. Indeed, it is the very faith that the Imperium instils in its populace that provides fertile ground for cults to arise. No one in the cult truly believes that a bunch of ravenous aliens are going to save them. No, they think their leaders are divinely inspired. The great irony of the genestealer cults is that many of their members genuinely believe that they are following the God-Emperor. The Rose in Darkness starts off as a simple mission to protect a holy relic, but ends up asking questions about just who that relic is really holy to. After all, who is to say that the cults are entirely wrong in their interpretations of unnatural visions? And even if they are, might not the Imperium be wrong also?

With questions such as these rattling around, The Rose in Darkness is a fine addition to the Adepta Sororitas line, and hopefully the first of many novel-length outings for Augusta and her squad.

Book Stats

• Focuses on the Adepta Sororitas
• First Published 2023 by Black Library
• Grimdark SF
• 298 pages