Traitor's Gorge - Mike Lee (2013), Review part 1

Following on from my review of Mephiston: Lord of Death by David Annandale (2013), I thought I would do the same for the other current limited edition "Traitor's Gorge" by Mike Lee (2013). This is an "Event Limited Novella" That means that if you don't live in the UK and also go to one an event here where Black Library are in attendance then bad luck, you can resign yourself to waiting for the eBook or using Ebay. Slight Change: These will also be available at Adepticon in Chicago, USA, and Mike Lee will be there as well, so the lucky few can get them signed. As with my Mephiston: Lord of Death review this is part 1, a look at the book itself, A review of the story will be in part 2, coming at a later date.

Here is my full list of Limited Edition Novellas, Chapbooks and Anthologies published by Black Library for reference.

Details

Authour: Lee, Mike
Format: Unsigned, jacketed hardback
ISBN-13: 978 184970 525 7
Product Number: 60040181064
Print Line: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 
Published: 2012 (Jan? first on sale 02/03/13) 
Pages: 128
Number of Copies: 1000
Exclusivity: Only available at Black Library events, not available online

Dedication: none

The Package

 I talked about the per-release information here, discussing what was advertised as included with this novella. Even more so than other releases, this has garnered fair degree of criticism due to it only being availible at Black Library events, which pretty much rules out anyone who doesn't live in the UK. Lucky me then, I guess. Can you imagine the uproar if this had been a Horus Heresy release and not (just) a Space Marines Battles one!?

The Novella
Dust jacket:

Front dust jacket

back dust jacket

dust jacket angled

different angled view

dust jacket spine

full dust jacket artwork

The wrap around cover art is done by Clint Langley, one of games Workshop's most respected artists. he's got his own Black Library artbook: The Art of Clint Langley (2008), although good luck trying to find a copy. He did the amazing Flesh Tearers cover for Flesh of Cretacia, and does great Ork artwork (and others). I really dig the cover, it's really reminded me how Langley is one of my favorite artists. I'd say that my only criticism is that on the back, the Space Marine's head looks slightly out of alignment, but perhaps that's just me.

Dust jacket has a thick "plasticy" feel like Mephiston: Lord of Death, giving it that durable and resistant to tearing feel. You can't see it too well in the picture, but the figures on the dustjacket are printed with a shiny texture which raises them up above the cover slightly and makes them more glossy, same for the title and authour name, making them feel embossed. I would describe this as a nice touch, but I don't know if this is standard for all the regular Space Marine Battles TPBs as I don't actually own any of them.

front and back inside flaps

close up of front flap text

The inside flaps have close ups of the front cover Crimson Fist and the back cover standard bearer as well as a pretty awesome quote from Chapter Master Pedro Kantor (though I've never been that sold on "Pedro" as a Space Marine name). This seems quite unusual as none of my other Limited Editions have anything printed on the front or back flaps, perhaps the other Space Marine Battles novella: Catechism of Hate - Gav Thorpe, has these, if anyone knows, let me know. Regardless I think its a nice touch, most regular books with dust jackets have something printed there.

At the top of the front and back of the novella is the Space Marine Battles logo, makes me wonder why Mephiston: Lord of Death doesn't have the "Lords of the Space Marines" logo on the back cover as well. It would have mitigated the awkward appearance of the "stripe" that runs across the back.


Under dust jacket book cover

front cover

angled front cover and spine

spine, slightly non centered (their fault) slightly blurry (my fault)

The book has a cloth-esque cover in crimson fists blue with the chapter logo printed in crimson on the front, slightly indented. The back is plain, altogether a nice simple design. Spine is lettered in crimson, interestingly there is no "Warhammer 40,000" logo on the spine. Also, on my copy the printing doesn't quite seem aligned, with everything set slightly towards the back cover.

close up of binding and ribbon book mark, for people who care too much about book stuff

 binding is nice as always, using red thread, same for the ribbon bookmark which is approx half again as long as the book is tall. A slight warning, these ribbons have a tenancy to fray and unravel if you're not careful, usually just from everyday use. Be careful.

Internals:

Front Endpapers (the back endpapers are the same)

Signature page

Title Page

Copyright Page (& too much of me)

1st page of artwork, Sternguard Veteran (straight from BL blog)

2nd & 3rd page of artwork, tactical map (straight from BL blog)

4th page of artwork, It's great.

 Paper is of a thick, high quality. The endpapers (the inside covers) feature a black and white close up of the Sternguard Veteran from internal artwork page and the Crimson Fists chapter symbol. The Signature Page is thicker, more "card-like" and slightly creamy compared to the white paper otherwise used throughout. Like Mephiston: Lord of Death it is not hand numbered, like all other Black Library Limited Edition novellas have been up to this point. Again, disappointing. It is also unsigned so bear this in mind if you have to opportunity to pick one up. Mike Lee also lives in the USA so any presence in the UK might be few and far between. I don't understand why, if the signature sheets are signed before being bound in the book, they could not have been sent to him for signing.

As with Mephiston: Lord of Death, there are no adverts for other Black Library titles anywhere in this novella, phew. 

Internal artwork is by Sam Lamont consists of four pages inserted in the center of the novella, a regular style for these novellas. first page is labeled "Crimson Fists Sternguard Veteran". Pages 2 and 3 are a double page spread map which I would say is average at best. So often these so called tactical maps are very sparse in both design and information, as is mostly the case here. They seem to lack detail, often being rather simplistic. Page 4 is by far the standout page "Eldar Farseer - Sethyr Tuannan"; Lamont has done a great job with this and the Sternguard Veteran. Pages 1 and 2-3 were revealed on the Black Library blog, but they saved the best to be revealed only when you look in the book.

On the subject of the tactical maps, the ones produced by Black Library often seem a bit of a let down here's another example (from Wrath of Iron - Chris Wraight) to show what I mean:
 

These are from Catechism of Hate (Gav Thorpe):

The Traitor's Gorge map is better than those three examples, but I think they all seem a bit soul-less, they lack detail and are overly simplistic. Here are four examples of Warhammer and 40K maps, tactical or otherwise done very well.

Imperial Armour 9 poster, Badab Sector:

The City of Praag (from a Warhammer Fantasy Battles roleplaying book):

Third Battle for Armageddon (from Codex Armageddon, 3rd ed. 2000):

 Imperial Armour Vol. 10 poster, Navigator's map of the Badab Sector:

 All of those maps, (image quality not withstanding) are great, they have a degree of intricacy and beauty to someone who appreciates maps. So I get slightly annoyed with maps that seem like Photoshop jobs that took less than an hour to make.

Overview

It looks nice, its pretty rare, it costs £30, as always with these the production seems top notch, its only the complaints about the title page, lack of signature and internal map that really bother me about these. I was especially pleased with the dust jacket flap illustrations and the illustrated endpapers though. is it worth £30? That's up to each individual to decide, but I wouldnt go out of your way to pay tooo much for it on Ebay. If I could go back in time I would still have bought it at Black Library Live! 2013 (review here if anyone wants to read it)

If you want to check out my full list of all Black Library Limited Edition Novellas, Chapbooks and Anthologies, go here

I'll sign off with this rather amusing screen-cap, note the price and number sold...!

15 copies at £30 = £450 spent. 10 copies sold at £65 = 650 with 5 left over...yeah.