Let me start by saying that I have enjoyed a lot of A D-B's work. I remember absolutely loving the Night Lords trilogy and accompanying audio drama. They are clearly a talented and successful writer and I am a mere ratgirl whose chronic pain is singing like Butcher's Nails right now, so I might be less mind than I might otherwise be.

Savage Weapons is a Thramas Crusade short story/ audio drama that presents itself as a novella with way too many chapters that hardly make sense in what is almost entirely one contiguous short story with barely a paragraph break (and sometimes not even an entire word) between chapters. This is a petty grievance and not a big deal. It does seem odd though.

It's the Eastern Fringe dark armour with winged helms bro off between the Lion's cubs who haven't been grounded and Night Haunter turbo goths. In the midst of the interminable conflict (I've only read a handful of short stories and audio dramas, but the Thramas Crusade continues to be a absolute snorefest), Johnson and Curze take a break from their Chuckle Brothers routine (to me, to you) to have a chinwag and give Sevatar and Shang/ Sheng to be the Hot Topic bullies to their Ren Fayre cousins, giving Corswain the opportunity to be cool, calm, and stoic, while remembering the time he killed one of the Great Beasts of Caliban and how it has haunted his nightmares ever since.

On the positive side, the description of the Great Beast hunt is pretty great (and maybe should have been more of the focus of a much shorter story) and the 'laddy bants' between the legions is rather amusing. The prose isn't A D-B's best, but it's pretty good and Gareth Armstrong always does a great job as narrator.

Ultimately, I just found it incredibly dull, doing nothing to further the story, explore the characters (beyond Corswain is cool under pressure), or anything interesting or entertaining enough to warrant a Horus Heresy story and an hour and a half of my time.

Again, I'm very grumpy and in a lot of pain, and frankly, I have come to expect a much higher standard from Horus Heresy stories and A D-B in general. I'm critical because I care and I'm a bitch because I'm tired and sore. ( )