This year’s “Mega Edition” release from Black Library is the new Blood Angels novel from Guy Haley, Darkness in the Blood. I don’t know much about the plot yet (the book flew under my radar until very recently), other than it follows on from Dante and the events of Devastation of Baal, and features both Dante and Mephiston – two of my all-time favourite Warhammer 40,000 characters.

The Mega Edition is very reminiscent of last year’s Spear of the Emperor¹: a sturdy, themed, presentation box contains a gorgeous hardback copy of the book, and packed in under the book is a whole set of goodies. From the design printed on both the box and the book cover, the main theme is of Dante and Mephiston as reflections of each other (or them representing the two sides of the Blood Angels themselves?) – Dante is the virtuous, golden-lit angel, while Mephiston is dark, sinister, and somewhat daemonic. Either way, it looks cool.

As far as extras go, I personally think this year has even more value than last:

• There’s a thick, hardback, leather-bound journal, featuring a similar cover to the Limited Edition version of Dante.
• A badge in the image of Dante’s death mask.
• Bronze, silver, and gold coins (perfect for in-game objective markers). There’s a different design on each.
• Some very pretty Blood Angels-themed dice in a small bag.
• A big, metal, bookmark in the image of Dante’s Axe Mortalis. I think this might be more effective at it’s job than last year’s purity seal bookmark.
• A sand timer for some reason? I haven’t timed it yet to see how long it runs for, but it’s pretty and ornate, featuring chapter badges and red sand. Part of me wonders if it shows up in the story.
• An art card, featuring the cover art from the regular edition of the book (which will be available in a few month’s time)

Like in all of my recent book unboxings, I’m impressed with the high quality of both the materials used, and the overall presentation from Black Library. This box set feels special in a way that a lot of “special editions” across most media don’t nowadays. Everything has a weight to it, and as I mentioned in my Solar War unboxing, it’s all very “tactile”. Take a look at the pictures below for an idea of everything crammed into the box. Unfortunately the photos don’t convey just how nice all this stuff is to hold.

I can’t wait to dive into the story now!

1. It appears I haven’t uploaded the photos from that particular unboxing. I should fix that – it was lovely. ⤴️