You’ve seen inside the packed Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon boxed set, but you might not be aware that there’s a new Black Library novel being released alongside it.
We sat down for an exclusive interview with Jude Reid, the author of Armageddon: Season of Fire, to learn more about the new novel, the characters, and shopping for Sisters of Battle.
Armageddon is dying. Hive Tartarus will fall. In Armageddon: Season of Fire, Major Ambrosius Roth of the Steel Legion, Sister Superior of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and Brother Gavriel of the Blood Angels face impossible choices as they try to hold back the Ork advance.
This is a look at one of the key battles on Armageddon and how it’s been fought over the generations, told from three perspectives – Astra Militarum, Adepta Sororitas, and Space Marines.
Warhammer Community: What was it like writing the tie-in novel for the launch of a new edition of Warhammer 40,000?
Jude Reid: Tremendously exciting! It feels like such a big thing trying to capture that feeling that comes with a new edition of the game, and of course, Armageddon is such an amazing and longstanding setting to write about. I sometimes wonder what my teenage self (saving up to buy blister packs of Sisters of Battle) would have thought if she'd known I'd be writing the tie-in novel to 11th edition – I hope she'd have been pleased as well as surprised!
WarCom: How did you prepare for writing about such an (in)famous warzone as Armageddon, and was there anything that drew you to Hive Tartarus?
Jude: Armageddon is a unique setting, and it's one that really reflects the wider 40k setting in a very concrete way. The whole reason for its existence is this total, grinding, ongoing war, and the way the narrative stretches out over the centuries gives it a real weight of history. With all that's gone before, the first thing I had to do was read (or, in some cases, re-read) the existing novels set there, to get a feel for how the various characters and events move in and out of the narrative. And without giving too much away about the plot, Hive Tartarus has had a key role in some of the other stories, and the chance to weave a new narrative amongst those pre-established events was absolutely too good to resist.
WarCom: Can you tell us a little more about Major Ambrosius Roth, Sister Superior Sabreen, Brother Gavriel, and their different motivations?
Jude: From the start, this novel was always going to be a love letter to Armageddon throughout the ages, so I really wanted to tell a story that spanned generations, but was one where we could see the chains of history, of cause and effect, and how the deeds of one person ripple down through the years. When we meet Roth, he's very much a man at the end of his career, bowed down by the weight of everything that's gone before and with pretty much nothing to lose, and only his loyalty and sense of honour keep him going in a hopeless world.
Later in the narrative we meet Sabreen who's still a Battle Sister in her prime, but she's also no stranger to the war for Armageddon and everything that it's cost as it tests her faith over and over again – and then Gavriel, who we meet third out of the three of them, is very much a fresh pair of eyes, and a young Space Marine with potentially centuries of service ahead of him, here to put an end to the war for good. So it was really refreshing to get to see Armageddon through three very different pairs of eyes, and I took tremendous enjoyment in seeing how the three skeins of their fates wove together as the story went on.
WarCom: How was it writing the orks as antagonists?
Jude: One of my favourite things about 40k is the different ways the different authors write about orks – as the POV characters in the hands of authors like Mike Brooks and Nate Crawley – they can be hilarious, complex characters, but for me the real draw is their complete and total inhumanity. I set out to write them like monsters in a horror film – but monsters who the characters continually underestimate. They're not just dangerous because they're huge, powerful, alien and incomprehensible – they're dangerous because they're also smart.
Thanks, Jude! We look forward to joining the fight to keep the planet in Imperial hands. Armageddon: Season of Fire will be available to pre-order soon.
