Requiem Infernal Paperback – 17 October 2019

I was intrigued by the idea of Black Library releasing dedicated horror titles, as a lot of the genre's themes are already embedded in the various Warhammer settings and so the match is an obvious one in hindsight. As Requiem Infernal shows, with the right treatment it can also be very effective (particularly in comparison to other BL offerings such as Ghoulslayer which I also read recently and which shares a number of parallels with this one, but is not specifically 'Warhammer Horror').The writing is very fluid and engrossing (just as the road to Chaos should be!), the details are subtle but indicate a deep knowledge of the setting on the part of the author. This is very much a great evocation of what faith and Chaos should be like in a 40k story, as much psychological as it is visceral. 'Grimdark' might be something of a joke, but it's actually a very effective tone here.A lot of other works trot out the old 'beginner-friendly' or 'you don't have to be aware of the setting/previous instalments to understand this' lines (hello again Ghoulslayer), but in this case it's the truth: because the author tends to avoid using the game-specific jargon labels and just goes ahead and describes everything in detail, it seems to me that even someone unfamiliar with 40k would find a rewarding sci-fi horror story here.Probably the best Black Library book I've read in ages, and I genuinely think it stands alongside the best they have to offer; I will certainly be seeking out more of the author's work, starting with The Reverie which features more of the Angels Resplendent space marines that make a minor appearance here.Don't bother with Ghoulslayer though...

A book that gives a lot of answers to the questions you didn't ask, and doesn't answer the questions you have by the end. Probably, the best description of Chaos in Warhammer 40k. This is not a standard epic "Arthurian" Marines story and it's beautiful. I would love to read more of other "Dark Coil" books but they are all Out-of-Print.

Lo primero que hay que saber es que fehervari es un autor peculiar, su forma de aproximarse al universo w40k es muy partícular. Réquiem infernal es más bien una obra de terror gótica, retorcida y entretenida, narrada en gran medida en primera persona y a ratos un poco difícil de seguir. Personalmente compre este libro porque había leído Fire Caste y esa mezcla loca de Apocalysis Now en el delta del Mekong, sudistas de la guerra de secesión americana y todo en el entorno de Wh40k me encantó. Este libro aunque tiene puntos de contacto con el anterior, y no queda claro si es secuela o precuela, no me ha gustado tanto, aunque quizá se deba a que es más un libro de terror que otra cosa. En todo caso, buena compra.

The book left me feeling empty and longing for answers. I must admit, that it made me truly uncomfortable at times, as it has strong themes of insanity, nihilism(?) and surrealism finely woven into an ever escalating story.This is not what I expected, which is good! WH40k already has a plethora of uninspired Space Marine and sci-fi war novels and I am glad this book is so refreshingly different!

Rarely can Black Library Books be called "profound" - but this manages it... and then some. Told through the compelling but increasingly fraught perspectives of the two main protagonists - first their perceptions of reality start to unthread and then that of the reader... This powerful and downright creepy tale does some genuinely clever and novel things with the mechanics of story-telling. Stylistically might not be to everyone's taste but always beautifully written and shows just what a rich seam of horror and dread can be unearthed from the 40K setting. That said, the book seems to be written with minimal/no pre-existing knowledge of the background lore being necessary. I'd venture to say that this could be the perfect - albeit terrifying - entry point to the 40K universe or indeed stand on its own as a unique voice in the horror/SF genre.