#34 Warhammer 40K Dawn Of Fire: The Gate of Bones by Andy Clark

The second book in the series follows the same narrative style as the first: each chapter focuses on different characters, the story circles around, moving from one group to another and then back again until the end. Only this time, things are far worse, no matter how you look at them. The first book was more fragmented, with multiple parallel storylines, whereas the second feels more focused, since everything takes place in one location: Gathalamor.

The attackers are the Iron Warriors, the Word Bearers, and the Dark Mechanicum, with Tenebrus pursuing his own schemes, he is more than capable, being Abaddon’s close ally. On the defending side, calling for aid from Guilliman, we find the Iron Guard, the Sisters of Battle, and a few others. From this perspective, the closest figure to a protagonist is Achallor, an Adeptus Custodes tasked with making sense of the chaos around him.

The real problem begins when a strange artifact is uncovered, one that the terrifying Dark Mechanicum put to use by building a cannon from the bones of Gathalamor’s countless dead. This weapon, brace yourself, fires ghosts that wreak havoc upon the Imperium’s fleet. Duels are fought, bodies fall. In the end, the traitors are defeated and forced to retreat, at least those who survive. Tenebrus is among them, escaping with the artifact that powered the Bone Cannon, which will surely reappear in the future. So, although Guilliman’s forces achieve a victory, it is far from complete.

What will stay with me, no matter how much time passes, because it’s impossible to remember everything about Warhammer 40K, though some fans somehow manage, is the atmosphere of Gathalamor. It is unbearably oppressive, suffocating, as if one were wandering catacombs filled with corpses and scattered bones, a place saturated with death, stench, and unrelenting grim darkness.

Andy Clark, though not one of my favorite Black Library authors, does give his characters vibrancy and contrast. He sets them against one another effectively, for example, the different ways in which the Sororitas and the Custodes approach war. The book also delivers sorcery, the chilling menace of the Dark Mechanicum, whose treachery is ever unpredictable, and of course the epic set piece of the cannon.

Sadly, Guilliman himself does not feature much in this story, though I hope that changes in the books to come.

Until next time — be well, and keep reading.

It’s important!

Accompanying Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl_231xbN9E

https://currentreadings25.blogspot.com/2025/08/27-warhammer-40k-dawn-of-fire-avenging.html

Comments

#1 Neuromancer by William Gibson

Neuromancer by William Gibson is a book that has generated a vast amount of commentary — in spoken word and writing alike. From academic theories and literary analyses to cinematic and musical influences, this novel has had a profound cultural impact since its publication in 1984. It was Gibson’s first novel and didn't receive immediate commercial success, likely due to limited promotion. However, it won all the major science fiction awards of its time — the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Philip K. Dick Award — and over time, with reprints and word of mouth, it earned the recognition it deserved. Today, it has sold over six million copies and is widely studied across disciplines — from literature to philosophy and beyond. If you're not already familiar with it, Neuromancer is where the term "cyberspace" was solidified, though it first appeared in Gibson’s 1982 short story Burning Chrome . What’s astonishing to me — having read the book over five times, with my most rece...

#2 Vampire Hunter D Omnibus Book One by Hideyuki Kikuchi

In 1983, Hideyuki Kikuchi published the first book of his iconic Vampire Hunter D series, and since then, he has gone on to write—if I’m not mistaken—over forty novels set in the same universe, following the same mysterious protagonist across decades of storytelling. The illustrations and cover art have always been created by Yoshitaka Amano , best known for his work on Final Fantasy, and together they carved out a piece of genre history. The first time I came across this series was in my childhood, spotting scattered volumes on the shelves of a local comic shop. I was instantly drawn to them, but it took me years to reach the level of English needed to read an entire novel in a language other than my own. By the time I did, the books were already out of print, and finding copies was nearly impossible. But in 2021, Dark Horse made a dream I had long forgotten come true. They began re-releasing the books in collected editions, bundling them two or three at a time. Since then, I’ve been...

#19 Travelling to Mars by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli

During the entire time I was reading Traveling to Mars , I kept thinking about something Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, that instead of pouring resources into colonizing Mars, wouldn’t it be wiser to focus on making Earth a place we don’t need to flee from? After all, we haven’t yet exhausted what this planet has to offer; there are still regions we've never even reached. And if resources truly are the issue, then why not do something to preserve the Earth, rather than deplete and pollute it to the point where it becomes uninhabitable? But the answer, of course, is obvious. These decisions are driven by motives far removed from the common good. Tyson may not have said this part, I did. Just a guy writing down his thoughts on a blog. With this work, the talented and exceptional writer Mark Russell has earned a place among my favorite contemporary authors, and honestly, among my favorites overall. Even if he never published anything else, Traveling to Mars alone would be enough fo...

Current Readings

Search This Blog