Chris Wraight’s two Vaults of Terra novels, The Carrion Throne and The Hollow Mountain, have followed Inquisitor Erasmus Crowl and his acolyte Spinoza as they investigate a conspiracy that threatens to tear the Imperium’s homeworld apart. With the next book in the series on the way, we sat down with Chris and Black Library editor Nick Kyme to get the lowdown on The Dark City.
Chris Wraight: I loved writing the Vaults of Terra series. The chance to set a story on Terra during the dying years of the Dark Millennium was a fantastic opportunity to delve into the heart of Warhammer 40,000. In Crowl particularly, I wanted to create someone who embodied the Imperium – a worn-out, compromised, and very sick protagonist who keeps on going almost out of habit alone. His deputy, Spinoza, is a bit more idealistic, but she’s younger, so there’s plenty of time to pick up his weary cynicism.
The final book in their trilogy finally unearths the truth of the conspiracy: the secret hidden deep under Terra’s eternally decaying city and what that means for the survival of the Imperium itself. It’s a story about desperation – about competing factions being forced to contemplate horrific and unavoidable choices and the toll those choices take on the ones who must make them.
Nick: The Dark City is the staggering conclusion to the Vaults of Terra trilogy. What I love about this series, aside from wonderfully rich and expertly drawn characters, is the living, breathing setting of Terra. All of its faded grandeur and gothic horror is explored on a visceral level. Outside of a Horus Heresy novel, we've never spent so much time on the Throneworld amidst its cracks and crannies, its gruesome underbelly and byzantine politics.
This instalment represents a turning point for many of its major characters, bringing together narrative themes and storylines established over the previous two books. It's compelling, all the more so for the tumultuous and unprecedented time in which it takes place. If you love Warhammer 40,000, the Inquisition, or just want to learn more about the Imperium and Terra, this book – and this series – are for you.
Thanks, folks! Vaults of Terra: The Dark City will soon be available to pre-order in hardback, ebook, and audiobook formats. Sign up for the Black Library newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and be among the first to know when The Dark City is available.
