Bloody Books Review: Blackstone Fortress
The always solid Darius Hink's brings his abillity to glue a reader to the page to the setting of Blackstone Fortress, the novelisation of the game but also not the novelisation of the game. This book is more of a standalone tale set within the setting with the characters from it. The psychedelic dungeon crawler centres firmly on Janus Draik, a disgraced son of a noble house, as he gathers up a crew of criminals, companions and Kroot to restore his honour, name and to take control of the Blackstone Fortress for the Imperium.
Whilst this is not an in-depth look and what the Blackstone is, it opens up an amazing opportunity to explore the strange corners of the 40k universe, and Precipice, the wild-west-in-space space station that hangs on like a tick to the Fortress, and throughout the adventure there are bits and details that texture this section of deep space, as well as getting ballistic with the lethal and often awe-inspiring, reality-defying crazy that is the Fortress. It mixes the more well-known aspects of 40k with some truly jaw dropping moments of strange, and it's all a hoot to take in.
Darius Hinks' has a strong voice for small ensemble casts, and using the game's characters (plus a few new additions) plays to that strength brilliantly. Hinks' uses some names wisely as walk on appearances, which keeps everything moving, and the reader gets to learn the ins and outs of the main cast swiftly and solidly. Draik gets the lions share of the spotlight, an engaging mix of pirate, archaeologist and socialite, a sympathetic and likeable character who experiences a hellish time in the fortress. Alongside him stands Taddeus, a frothing mad example of the Imperial Cult and Grekh the Kroot, in equal parts absolutely alien and understandable soldier. Pious Vorne, the flamethrower wielding firepower appears to be there to burn and lacks the same depth as the rest, and the main atagonist is a glee when on screen, but appears very rarely.
The plot itself is very straightforward, a simple "gather the troops and off we go" adventure, following a truly bleak and unsettling opening, but the trimmings and the voice of the characters are what makes it. It flies past with a voice very different to the majority of 40k books, making the reader laugh or as the horror of the Fortress comes to the fore.
Tremendous and genuine fun.