Shadowsun by Braden Campbell – Up for Pre-Order

Just a quick one to say that Shadowsun – The last of Kiru’s Line by Braden Campbell is up for pre-order now form the Black Library website  and will be released later this month. Here is the over the top trailer if you want to get excited.

From the black library website:

Commander Shadowsun, child of the famed Kiru and protégé of the legendary Commander Puretide, is destined to lead the next phase of the Tau Empire’s expansion… if she can survive the trials before her. Crash-landed on an enemy-held planet, with foes all around and a seemingly impossible mission to complete Shadowsun is determined to achieve victory, even at the cost of her life. But when she receives a message that tears her world apart, Shadowsun must make a choice unthinkable to most tau: to abandon her duty for the sake of family, or continue to fight for the Greater Good.

And from the Black Library Blog, Including an extract:

Today, we have two new releases for you. First off there is our next Games Workshop exclusive hardback novella, Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru's Line by Braden Campbell. This story turns the spotlight on the Tau Empire, an oft overlooked race in the Black Library catalogue. Centring on Shadowsun herself, an iconic character in the tau model range, this tale gives you a fantastic insight into the fighting styles and practices of the followers of the Greater Good.

Check out this extract:

She was under fire now. Another group of walking machines had appeared to her right. They strode forwards across the corpses of their fellows. Shadowsun turned to glare at them, as their sabots and cannon rounds did nothing but burst harmlessly around her. From behind the barricades, Kou’to and his men stopped firing into the woods. In perfect unison, they swivelled and began shooting at the walkers closing in on their commander. Pulse blasts ricocheted off the rough armour-plating.

Shadowsun was indignant. She leapt up into the air and crunched down atop the weaponless walker. Beneath her hooves, the pilot stared up at her, slack jawed and stupefied. She didn’t even bother to look him in the eye as she fired both blasters into his lap. The shots punched clean through into the ground below, tearing the machine in half. Shadowsun was arcing through the air again, leaving only a pile of glowing slag in her wake.

As Shadowsun descended, she was peppered with shrapnel and struck full on by an armour-piercing missile. Again, her shields held firm. She came down near the crater with the fallen Crisis suits, and returned fire. She was farther downrange than she would have liked to have been, but she still succeeded in destroying one of them utterly.

I was lucky enough to pick this up at Black Library Live! 2013, a couple of weeks ago and would recommend it to anyone and everyone, although I am skewed by a love of the Tau. The book itself is in the very nice Premium Novella format and the standard 128pp. Interestingly, poor Braden Campbell doesn’t get his name on the spine of the book although it is on the cover. Obviously some descision at Black Library HQ.

Slightly related is that this may be being released due to rumors of a new Tau codex coming out soon.