Blackstone Fortress has been on my “to read” list for quite some time, but it never quite made it up the list. I had hoped we would read the series for the book club, but Keri is wholly uninterested in, well, pretty much every part of the premise. Which is OK because I feel the same way about anything involving the Aeldari; es lo que es. After reading The Fall of Cadia, the idea of the Blackstone Fortresses has been gnawing at me, and so I finally sat down and read it. And yes, I am glad I did.
If The Fall of Cadia had me intrigued to read this book, several books starring Rogue Traders had me the opposite of excited. Darius Hink’s Janus Draik was a refreshing change of pace, though it does make me wish I read this book before Void King. There are similarities in the main characters, let’s say. Draik is an outcast son of a long-standing Rogue Trader dynasty who prides himself both on his skill and ambition, but also his status as a gentleman. That he is “reduced” to joining up with a mysterious Kroot, a zealot priest, his loyal attaché, and a traitorous pilot galls him. To say nothing of the suspiciously eager navigator.
His ragtag group of adventurers each have their own reasons for wanting to tag along with Draik, and they’re all fun in their own right. I’m a sucker for a good Kroot character, and Grekh adds a nice amount of both levity and intrigue to the book. While most of the characters are driven by greed for money, power, or influence, Grekh’s racial quest for knowledge and understanding is a nice juxtaposition. Having said that, Hinks does a great job of showing just enough into the souls and minds of the group that it’s intriguing and emotional without overstaying their welcome. Even Draik’s and Corvel’s arcs have the right amount of heft without overstaying their welcome.
The Blackstone Fortresses remain a fascinating part of the WH40k lore, and this book has turned my curiosity into a fascination. In The Fall of Cadia we were introduced to a character who could effectively communicate with the Blackstone Fortress, because she was birthed in and fused with said fortress. Blackstone Fortress presents us with characters who are vaguely aware that the fortress can and does communicate, but the book shows there is a greater intelligence in the fortress’s mechanics.
In the early stages of the book we are shown how treacherous the Blackstone Fortress really is. From shifting floors, sentient murder machines, changing passages, and deceptive liquids, the fortress does its best to repel invaders. But as the story progresses, we learn that it’s not entirely on a mission to kill everyone. The Blackstone Fortress needs some people, and the way in which it communicates with Draik is fantastic. It’s madness, sure, but not without purpose. This is not the tormenting madness of the warp, but something older and deeper. Watching Draik Last Crusade his way through the fortress is just plain fun, with a little character growth thrown in for good measure.
Meanwhile, at the center of the fortress, we have our antagonists of the book, a Nurgle daemon and a poor, misguided and foresaken psyker. The Nurgle daemon is fresh off a failed plot at creating super viral undead soldiers, and our poor psyker was a victim of said plot. The daemon cleverly uses the psyker’s despair to recruit him to his cause. There’s an irony that this poor fallen Imperial soul, whose life was cast away due to larger politics, is ultimately relegated to an anticlimactic subplot. His presence within the Blackstone Fortress is vital to Draik’s adventure and plot, but neither he nor the daemon ever rise to true antagonists within the story. When you’re adventuring in a probably-definitely-sentient fortress that is trying to kill you with strange constructs, aliens, and the random Drukari here and there, a daemon and undead troopers don’t quite lift the needle.
Going into the book, I knew it could not possibly end with Draik conquering the Blackstone Fortress. That was not going to be the end of this book. But it’s no less compelling to see his past, and that of his companions laid bare. Their journey through the fortress was not for nothing, and the end perfectly sets up a sequel that I’m excited to read after we read Firedrake. Blackstone Fortress is a heist novel that never quite attains its goal, but it’s none the poorer for it. A rogue’s gallery of characters adventuring through an unknowable part of the WH40k lore was exactly what summer vacation ordered.
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