Review: Hunter’s Moon & Thief of Revelations / Author: Guy Haley, Graham McNeill / Director: Christian Dunn / Starring: Toby Longworth, Martyn Ellis, Jonathan Keeble, Gareth Armstrong / Release Date: May 22nd
One of the things that the Black Library excels at is audio dramas. Lacking the resources to make a feature-length live action movie of its incredibly successful Horus Heresy novel series, it has concentrated on producing high quality versions of the next best thing and these are very pleasing to the ear. This hour-long audio CD features two equally interesting and well-produced tales.
Hunter’s Moon is the sort of tale that lends itself very well to audio. The story begins with a band of fishermen tending the seas of a world that is mostly ocean. These rough and ready types find themselves discussing the greater scheme of things, a scheme that includes giant-sized warriors from the stars. As if on cue, a space shuttle crashes into the ocean and it’s up to these mere mortals to attempt a rescue.
Author Guy Haley really knows how to pace a tale like this and thanks to strong acting and a great script you quickly care about these poor fools who have gotten roped into a galactic civil war far beyond their understanding. It is a fairly linear story and suffers from the lack of diversity and wonder common to the series. It does end a little abruptly, but at 35 minutes long it is a nice distraction for your average commute.
Thief of Revelations is more of an atmospheric tale than the previous action adventure. It features two of the key players from the Horus Heresy series – Ahzek Ahriman and Magnus the Red and their attempts to predict the future of their Legion following the events of a previous novel, A Thousand Sons. The acting is superb and Warhammer veteran Toby Longworth clearly puts his all into his role. This is a nice little tale that explores one of the major plot arcs of the Horus Heresy – the mystery of The Thousand Sons Legion – and it is filled with foreshadowing that those who are the fans of the series will be able to immediately recognise. Writer Graham McNeill knows these characters very well and pens powerful dialogue which is extremely well performed. Though this tale is not a critical part of the series, it is a treat for the fans.
Both stories together nicely waste about an hour’s worth of time and though neither tale adds anything to the ongoing lore of the Horus Heresy, this collection does allow the reader to dip into the heady atmosphere of this very popular sci-fi world.
