Heart of the Slayer of the Storm God’s Rage

This article was originally published on Ferretbrain. I’ve backdated it to its original Ferretbrain publication date but it may have been edited and amended since its original appearance.

I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner. After establishing themselves as producers of (initially unofficial) Dr Who audio dramas, Big Finish Productions have pretty much cornered the market on audio adaptations for an impressive array of SF and fantasy franchises, from Dr Who to Judge Dredd and beyond. It seems odd to me that Games Workshop and the Black Library, intent as they are on dominating all forms of media everywhere in the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind, haven’t reached a deal with Big Finish long ago, but at long last Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000-themed audio adventures are beginning to trickle out. Hopefully these first two timid efforts are the first of many.

I was mildly disappointed to find that Slayer of the Storm God and Heart of Rage aren’t the sort of two-CD audio dramas Big Finish are usually known for; instead, they’re just single-disc audiobooks, the equivalent of slightly expensive short stories, albeit short stories read by professional voice actors that you can listen to in the car. The narration is generally free of studio manipulation, beyond the odd sound effect or snippet of music in the background (usually during fight scenes) and the occasional voice effect for the dialogue of some characters; the packages themselves are fairly bare-bones, with little detail offered in the CD booklet beyond brief biographies of the relevant voice actors and authors.