Age of Darkness
By multiple authors
Edited by Christian Dunn
2011
An entertaining read for the HH fan, but not particularly great or essential as a whole.
Age of Darkness is the second anthology to be released for the HH, and follows with various events and characters that have appeared once or twice along this huge series. Some of them are well-known and beloved, while other are partially forgotten. All in all, most of the new tales provide some expansion on background lore and fills in the gaps for some holes alongside the various events that happened during the early years of the heresy, yet, ultimately, these events are so essential to guarantee this book to be a ”must”. However, for those that have been enjoying the lore of the HH and the worlbuilding across the multiple books so far, then Age of Darkness is a very entertaining read that provides with a good dose of new stories that help build up the great pyramid of HH lore.
Regarding the actual stories, like most anthologies, some are hits, some are miss. There’s a short number of them with a variety of POVs and different events across the galaxy. Some introduce new characters while others go back to previous known astartes. With the inclusion of Chris Wraight, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Dan Abnett and John French, this one comes packed with some of the best writers the Black Library has to offer, and, unsurprisingly, these authors that I just mentioned managed to deliver some of the best stories. My favorites include:
Liar’s Due by James Swallow, a localized short story set in a random backwater world, showing us the process by which such small, near forgotten worlds, easily fell into discord and joined Horus. The simplicity of the story and the sincere narration through the eyes of the common Imperial citizen is a new breath of fresh air that manages to invoke the best of grimdark heresy without the need of planet-wide warfare or exasperating astartes.
The Last Remembrancer by John French is an instrospective look into what the Imperium is, and why the Heresy even happened, through the eyes of no other than Rogal Dorn and good-ol’ Iacton Qruze, as they interrogate Solomon Voss, one of the most well-known remembrancers from the Imperium. This little story manages to give us insight into the inner workings of the ”stoic” primarch of the Imperial Fists, as he quarrels with the fact that maybe, juuust maybe, the Imperium isn’t as great as it seems?
Little Horus by Dan Abnett is a symbolical travel into the mind of a disturbed individual, filled with doubt, fear, and perhaps even a little hint of regret. A chase of actions and consequences, this story felt the most personal with its focus on a single character, going into his personal thought and revealing the troubled nature of an HH-era astartes, and a traitor at that. A lovely face-dropping tale.
3 out of 5
All in all, a decent set of stories that just develop the series further by giving it a smidge of depth. Are you just trying to finish the HH without consuming all of it? Then you can probably skip this one, but if you are highly enjoying the series and want more, then this one is a good companion drink to go.
Endless Questing 
