Teaser

The Imperium of Man is vast, and beset on all sides by unholy threats. Chaos-worshippers, malevolent xenos species, and betrayal from within all threaten humanity. For in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war . . .

Review

Black Library puts out more short stories every year than I can possibly keep up with. White Dwarf, the venerable gaming magazine, often features pieces of fiction. Special editions of books come with additional short fiction to serve as a prequel or expansion of a character. There are multiple weeks of the year that see a new e-short release every day, usually assembled around some theme or another. It’s all hard to keep track of. Happily, Black Library are also very good at gathering these short stories into easy digested anthologies. These usually end up being the only anthologies I read in the year of release. 2025’s first such anthology is Blood of the Imperium, and what an anthology it has turned out to be.

We open with ‘Painboyz,’ which eases us in gently with a classic tale of orky violence. As usual with Mike Brooks’ greenskinned stories, it’s as funny as it is brutal. It’s a nice little scene of two xenos species tearing into each other, and while it won’t tax your brain overly much, I always find it interesting how the different spieces interact when humans aren’t around to offer their usual perspective on things.

The second story, ‘The Long and Hungry Road,’ is easily the high point of the anthology. But what else would you expect of Adrian Tchaikovsky? I’ve wanted a tyranid point-of-view novel for a long time, and I dare say this story is as close as we’re likely to get. Tchaikovsky has pedigree when it comes to alien perspectives, and his hive fleet is alien through-and-through. Threading the utterly remorseless devouring horde with scenes of humanity’s feeble, doomed defence of their world results in an unusually epic sense of scale for a short story.

Another story that too me by surprise was J H Archer’s ‘The Dust That Remains,’ which takes the form of several found documents, including a large number of redacted reports. This story feels a lot more experimental than the usual Black Library fare, and I hope to see more of this sort of thing in future.

Two Stories that did not surprise me were Denny Flowers’ ‘Starstruck’ and Rob Young’s ‘Memories of Broken Glass. Tie-ins to Outgunned and Longshot respectively, I had high hopes for both of these stories, and those expectations were swiftly met. Lucille Von Shard and Darya Nevic are both great characters who deserve more novels to their name, but I’ll gladly take whatever short fiction we are graced with.

The longest story, and also the last, comes from Jon Flindall. ‘Tome Keepers: Legacy of Defiance’ follows in a very long tradition of serialisation, being originally published across four volumes of White Dwarf magazine. Collected together, I think that serialisation is a slight weakness, leading to an unbalanced structure, even if the story itself is quite strong.

There are no bad stories in this collection, and it continues to showcase the best of Black Library by gathering both newcomers and more established authors on equal footing. If you didn’t get to these stories the first time around, then this anthology is the perfect opportunity to experience them. There’s something in here for old hands and new fans alike.

Book Stats

• Contains 11 Short Stories
• First Published 2025
• 373 Pages