A Deadly Wit

Heirs of the Laughing God: Warhammer 40,000

By: Gav Thorpe

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong, Matthew Hunt, Emma Gregory, Tim Bruce

Length: 1 hr and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Monster king, monster king, where are you?
Your house is burning down.
Monster king, monster king, won't you play?
The Red Swan wants your crown.

The charismatic Great Harlequin, Duruthiel, leads his troupe on a daring raid of an ork settlement. Urging them forth with bold eccentricity, the Red Swan proclaims fate as the guiding hand for the Masque of the Fading Dawn. But as Skyweaver jetbikes invade the night skies, his attempts to overthrow the great warlord become increasingly reckless. It soon becomes apparent that this is more than just another performance for Duruthiel but a battle for honour and freedom.

©2017 Games Workshop Limited (P)2017 Games Workshop Limited

Just Meh

Typical audio drama shuriken porn. If you're looking for insight into the Harlequin, save your credit and seek revelation elsewhere. Character interactions were just meh.

Very Entertaining

This is a great listen, the dialogue is particularly good with comedy sprinkled in. I loved listening to the way the Harlequin’s talked, in true Shakespearean fashion. Literally the famous line “What light from yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!” Becomes “What light from yonder gateway breaks? It is the void, and the King is my sun!” 5/5

A fully emerging tale of the Harlequins.

Just more than an hour and this short story made me fall in love with the Harlequins, their attitude, how they make battle a stage, and the fight is their performance. Love it to bits.

Good Story

The actors and the story are great, but background music/effects at times makes listening to the story difficult.

Murder Clowns!

Good story and even better voice acting!

Plot is simple but well written characters and the fact that all is very much according to 40k fluff makes up for it.

Must listen for all Eldar/Harlequin fans.

Good Radio Drama

Excellent selection of voice actors, good sound effects, solid use of instruments, a quick and well-handled plot about Eldar Harlequins. A very high production value for 1 hour of audio, worth listening to.

a most amusing story

I obtained this story on a whim, as I felt I needed a new story. but mine ears were delighted to hear this story, short as it was, of action. the story played humorous as I listened for the short hour it played, and put a smile on my face I was loathe to put down. sadly, though, the story ended, leaving me wanting to hear more of the Red Swan and his tragedy.

Worthwhile Listen for any Warhammer Fan

This is the first Black Library entry to feature the enigmatic Eldar Harlequins as main characters, and it's hard to imagine a better introduction. It's a fascinating and fast paced look into an intriguing faction. I found myself drawn in, especially by the unique banter between the main characters, and wanting to learn more. Overall a well-acted, high quality production full of action, dynamic characters, with interesting and amusing dialogue. I hope BL continues this series, because I'll be sure to pick them up as soon as possible.

Great little Harlequin story

It's rare to see xenos get a win in 40k stories, and this was a refreshing break from the norm. I really enjoyed the characterization of the Harlequins in this, and the Great Harlequin especially felt really on-brand.

Fun listen.

Very fun to listen to. it should have maybe been an hour and a half instead of an hour.

amazing!

amazing story, top voice acting, and hilarious at times! highly recommended to all interested people!

Pleasantly surprised!

I was wondering if a dramatisation of a story was something for me, I quickly changed my mind after hearing the actors involved.

A lot better than I could ever imagine!

Too short

A short story well told, lacked a little depth maybe but you can only do so much with just over an hour. Passed the time nicely on the way home from work would recommend.

Nice but very short for 1 credit

Nice performance, but bit of a simple story. In anyway very short for 1 credit, would have been fair to have this in a bundle.

POOR value for money. There is a better source.

I've comeback to update my review as I paid £3 for this short book while it was on sale and had no issue with this.
HOWEVER I've just found "The Traitor and the Alien" on £3 sale months later that is a collection of mini stories like this and INCLUDES title, the sequel and more. I feel like muppet right now.

My issue with this is the fact you can buy a book that has this, the sequeal and more for the SAME PRICE!
Save yourself the money and learn from my mistake. Buy "The Traitor and the Alien" instead. Just a shame they are being sold in this way.

Short but sweet

The quality and performance of these audiobooks (with aid of ambience and background noise) do add a lot to these listening experiences and their immersion. There is good sound mixing/balance here, an issue I have had before with other 40k 'performance titles' whether voices too low or ambience too loud however that was not a problem here. The ambience provides enough to immerse yourself in the wild ork assault.

My issue as always is the length of these titles. The story within them are very concise with little depth but given over an hour it gives a substantial bit of action. The content doesn't leave much of a impact and I doubt I will revisit this title like I have the Horus Heresy, Eisenhorn or The Beast Arises series'. Perhaps an unfair comparison due to the lengths but its how I feel about these short titles. The descriptions and attitudes of the harlequins are some of the best here, save for the main character being referred to as "grand" almost every sentence. Though small gripes aside I found it an enjoyable listen and worth a credit if you want something a little more thematic from your usual audiobook experience.

Pros
Immersive
Compelling harlequin performances

Cons
Too Short
Less of a story and more of a raid

We definitely need more Aeldari content like this.

Describing an assault on an Ork encampment, Gav Thorpe has captured the playful banter and haughty demeanour of this Harlequin masque. While I would prefer to have full length Eldar and Necron stories this was definitely a fun skirmish.

The only thing that irked me was the haphazard way the masque fought. Lore wise we're told that the Harlequins fight as if they're putting on a production. Every twist, blow and dodge forms part of the Web. Unfortunately I don't get that rehearsed over decades feel from the Masque itself.

***UPDATE - If you're planning to use a free credit to get this then consider getting "The Traitor and the Alien" Short Story compendium as it has all three parts to the story along with a bunch of other Xeno stories, from Tau to Ork and more!***

Positively splendid

A thoroughly enjoyable audio drama with an excellently chosen cast. I've only started getting into the Warhammer audio books but I think I chose a good one to start on. The overly dramatic speech of the Harlequins was fantastic and I look forward to the next one.