Bloody Books Review: Ahriman: Exile
Released back in 2012, Ahriman: Exile was first novel for Black Library by the now very well known John French, and it may be be one of the most assured and complex debut novels I’ve come across . The book takes one of the most famous villains in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, when at his lowest ebb, Many years after the failure of the Rubric ritual and the consequent exile from the Legion. try as he might to have saved his beloved Thousand Sons, they have turned thier back to him now, leaving the once infamous Chief librarian hiding in plain sight as a lowly sorcerer serving a motley war-band of Traitor Marines.
A gathering storm of events push and pull Ahriman into facing his past, and forces him to rebuild himself piece by torturous piece, recoonecting him to The Ruinious powers, and bringing new allies to his side. Ahriman comes into the orbit and company of multiple characters, often ones with a part to play as the series rolls along, whilst doing all he can to come to terms with the wheels of fate as they turn around him. We as the reader are taunted and teased by suggestions of what is happening and why, more so than Ahriman himself.
This book, and the series so far, feels more in line with the Horus Heresy series than the more modern (future?) styles of 40k, but French takes influences through a darkly twisting and compellingly complex tale, adding in dimensions to the characters as it pays homage to Graham McNeil’s Thousand Sons whilst also staying acutely aware of what Ahriman has become by modern day 40k. We see Ahriman as a tragic and forlorn character, one caught between guilt and pride, between his failures and his need for better for the next time he attempts his life’s work. He is full of conflict and contradiction here, ruthless, yet compassionate. Wise and yet blind, charismatic to a fault but full of hubris. He is both the manipulator and the manipulated, and comes across as incredibly human despite his age and post-human stance
Ahriman could have this novel and this novel alone and it would place him a mountain above the majority of the other Chaos characters of the setting, on a level with the Fabius Bile and Black Legion series both. however this is the opening salvo of a series, and is quietly setting up the rest of it’s tale in the background whilst telling this smaller, starting point. This is no less than than the top tier of what Warhammer 40k books should and could be, brilliantly constructed and dizzying in the phenomenal level of detail laid down. Dark. Creepy. Yet full of humility and humanity.