Teaser

The Black Templars are the finest and most dedicated of the God-Emperor’s crusaders. Even when cast into the warp, and vastly outnumbered, these mighty warriors will let no obstacle come between them and their duty . . .

Review

One of the things that I liked about Steven B Fischer’s Black Library debut Witchfinder was the way it handled the more nebulous aspects of the setting. Alongside the military action, there was a great sense of creeping cosmic horror. Naturally, I was excited when I saw Fischer’s latest novel teased as throwing Black Templars against the unknown denizens of the warp. That excitement built over the course of the opening chapters, but then things changed. For the rest of its run, Broken Crusade is a less creepy novel, but ultimately a far more interesting one, than I had expected.

Those opening chapters are a tightly-told, thrilling and chilling account of two ships meeting in the night. Space Marines have a reputation for cutting through hordes of enemies, but pitting a decimated squad against some daemonic foes leads to a palpable sense of danger. The deaths come thick and fast on both sides, teasing at the trauma that is still to come. Early on, the theme becomes apparent. Just what are you willing to sacrifice in the name of duty to the God-Emperor?

I expected that to be the entire book, but soon enough Castellan Emeric and his cohort are free of the warp, and resuming their original mission. To defend the holy world of Tempest. Naturally, they rally together various pilgrims and zealots, meaning that this does at times feel similar to another recent release, Jude Reid’s Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith. Such is the cost of doing business in a shared universe with such clear iconography and themes, but I do wish I’d left myself a little more space between the two books.

Fischer’s novel is, impressively, the more brutal of the two books. The Black Templars take their losses right from the opening, which seas the Dornean crusade dissolved by the vagaries of the warp. On the other side, they meet pilgrims. Frail, human pilgrims. This half of the book is largely concerned with a series of death marches, which is a trope I love so very much. Pilgrims are dropping dead left, right, and centre, and even the Templars are prone to getting killed off by the forces of Chaos. Along the way there are some great discussions on the role of the Astartes and humans. The former are viewed as warrior angels, while the latter left to be serfs. Yet, the crusading Templars exist to serve the Imperium, in theory to protect its citizens. But how do you protect those who are so easily trodden underfoot. The Black Templars are fanatics, yes, but Fischer does not depict them as a monolith. Even among their gene-edited and codex-instructed numbers, there are numerous points of view.

Through human eyes, we see the reverence with which the Astartes are treated. There is the blind pilgrim who has given her long life to her faith. There is the nurse who employs the services of a servitor (Warhammer’s cyborg zombies) who used to be her own father. There are the follower of Chaos, who no more uniform than the Imperials they seek to kill. The warlord who has made a daemonic pact, only to learn that creation might be harder than destruction. There are too many peripheral characters to name here, but even though they sometimes blur together in the eyes of the Space Marines, and sometimes the perspective hopping did throw me off-kilter, but each has something unique to offer the novel.

Alex Lanipekun is not a narrator I’ve listened to before, but I hope he returns to voice more Black Library audiobooks. he has the perfect cadence for the dour and determined Black Templars, and you can positively feel the gritted teeth in every roar of defiance. Without Lanipekun, the final stand near the climax of the novel would not have hit quite as hard, as he dredges up every possible ounce of emotion for Emeric’s narration. Absolutely fantastic stuff, and his other voices aren’t half bad either.

In both premise and execution, this book is so much more rewarding than I’d expected. An absolute treat for the ears.

Audio Stats

• Narrated by Alex Lanipekun
• A Standalone Novel
• Focuses on the Black Templars
• Published 2024 by Black Library
• 10hrs 28mins