Zou Delivers Emperor's Mercy

My love of the Inquisitor mythos of GW's Warhammer 40,000 universe is well known. Much of this stems from Dan Abnett's Inquisitor novels. Some new Inquisitor related fiction was recently released from the Black Library, and it has proven to be a ripping good yarn.

Emperor's Mercy by newcomer Henry Zou doesn't flow as easily as Abnett's stuff, but the story and characters provide plenty for the reader to grab onto, and there is no shortage of gritty, gory, sci-fi action. Despite a few minor character development and continuity issues, Emperor's Mercy engages the reader with a staccato rhythm of violence and sacrifice. Inquisitor Obadiah Roth must find the truth about a group of artifacts know as the Old Kings before a ravening Chaos horde can do the same.

Fairly young in his career as an Inquisitor, Roth does not have the retinue of an Eisenhorn or Ravenor, but he is nonetheless surrounded by interesting support characters, often finding himself on the front lines of what author Zou has called the Bastion Wars. In fact, this volume is the first in a series of books on the conflict against Chaos occurring in Zou's personal corner of the 40K universe, the Bastion Stars.

Mr. Zou ties the story up nicely while artfully setting up the action for the ensuing novels. Much better than Sandy Mitchell's Purge the Unclean novel that came out along with the Dark Heresy RPG more than a year ago, Emperor's Mercy delivers the Inquisitorial goods.

Scott