Out of the gate, “The Crimson King” by John French looks to answer the question: what were Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists doing in the aftermath of Istvann III? The answer is: being massively ambushed and forced into a difficult strategic situation, a situation that sees real heroism emerge. What makes this story a bit better than most of the other space-battle stories is the foundation of meaning French lays. More than just present-tense fighting, to the spoils go the victor, there is an additional character layer that has purpose in the context of the Heresy as a whole. Good story (and not about Magnus, as you may have thought based on the title—at least I did).
Second story in the collection is about another king, “The Dark King” by Graham McNeill. It again features Rogal Dorn, but this time is set in an earlier time, a time before the Heresy when the Imperial Fists, Emperor's Children, and Night Lords have just brought a planet to compliance. Kurze executes his prisoners, and for that draws Dorn's wrath. But the wrath spawns something in Kurze, leading to an inflection point in the primarch's existence. Next up is “The Lightning Tower”. The third (and final) story featuring Dorn (this isn't an Imperial Fists anthology, I promise), it is set at a time Terra knows Horus is coming, and coming with all his battle might. It shows Dorn as engineer and curator, erecting defenses as well as mothballing the cultural wonders he doesn't want razed should Horus get to Terra. More foreshadowing than actual story, Abnett does a decent job outlaying the stakes, as well as the fears deep in Dorn's loyal heart.
The fourth story moves to the Mechanicum: “The Kaban Project” by Graham McNeill. Set just after Istvann V, it's a twisting tale with excellent Martian mood. It tells of a senior adept working on a complex piece of tech, only to discover it's outlawed. He brings this fact to his adeptus master, a move which only destabilizes the ground beneath his feet. An assassin is dispatched to handle the situation, and the adept must run. But how far will he make it? This will not likely be everyone's favorite story in the anthology, but it was one of mine. The surprise after surprise, and the confidence to end the story as it ends, nice.
“Raven's Flight” by Gav Thorpe, fifth story in Shadows, fills the Horus Heresy gap of: what happened to Corax on Istvann V? And it does so in fine fashion. Thorpe's workaday style gets the job done, but doesn't lack punch. Oscillating between events on Istvann V and Deliverance (Corax's homeworld), Thorpe winds these two threads of story ever tighter the closer things get to the end. Coarx is one of the primarchs who Games Workshop struggle to make human, but this story does not lack entertainment. Short but bittersweet, the sixth story, “Death of a Silversmith” by Graham McNeill, is likely the best written piece in the book from the perspective of technique. About a silversmith and his recollections as his life literally drains away, it's a doleful piece, but one which provides a sharp slice of reality for when space marine porn becomes mundane.
The seventh and final story in the anthology is “The Prince of Crows” by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Contending with McNeill's “Death of the Silversmith” for best written in the anthology, Dembski-Bowden tells what happened to the Night Lords after the Lion defeated Cruze. With Cruze incapacitated, hovering between life and death, the Night Lords must fill the Legion's vacuum of power. Enter Sevarat, a cold, calculating captain not afraid to play dirty. He has a surprisingly realistic plan for the Legion, but must likewise prove himself adaptable as the Dark Angels pursue. Cruze has received more time under the spotlight than most other primarchs, but I think it's fair to say this story fleshes the primarch out while catching the reader up to what has been happening with the Night Lords in Cruze's absence.
I have not read all of the anthologies/collections of the Horus Heresy. I've read six, to be precise, and of those six Shadows is the best—not by a mile, but it stands out. The quality of writing is good. Length is good. But if there is anything that makes it the best, it's the manner in which the stories are plucked from, or woven into (depending how you want to look at it) the broader storyline that makes it the best (thus far). It has relevancy, to the point a couple of the stories seem worth reading even for people who are not reading every book in the series. “Prince of Crows” and “Raven's Flight”, for example, help fill key series' gaps. To be clear, the stories are not series' vertebrae, but maybe a hand bone? Perhaps one of those small but important ones in the ankle? I get carried away. I'll close by saying, if you're not interested in reading short fiction in the Horus Heresy, I get it. But consider Shadows of Treachery. It's quality. For fans of the Imperial Fists, the Raven Guard, or the Night Lords, I would go so far as to say this may be required reading.
The following are the seven stories collected in Shadows of Treachery:
The Crimson King by John French
The Dark King by Graham McNeill
The Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett
The Kaban Project by Graham McNeill
Raven's Flight by Gav Thorpe
Death of a Silversmith by Graham McNeill
Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
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