Book Review: Ravenwing
Starting a new trilogy of books about the Dark Angels Space Marine chapter, Ravenwing tells the story of an astartes who just joined the Ravenwing company and is becoming initiated in the inner circles and secrets of the chapter.
The famous Sammael, company master, is present through the book, and the story, which I don't want to spoil, beings with the investigation of a distress signal in one of the planets that the Dark Angels use to recruit future marines. Things of course will go wrong, and secrets will be sometimes told sometimes kept hidden between battle brothers.
Having my SM marine composed of Dark Angels was a clear target for reading this summer. While the book pacing is sometimes a bit slow and you're left with the desire of more, how the chapter's secretive inner circles, rites and how the Ravenwing behaves is nicely depicted and will provide with "food" for those of us that like to know more about the sons of the Lion.
The way the author has made the Ravenwing bikes more present that you would initially imagine in a miriad of situations and scenarios is quite clever, not abused nor underused. Also how other normal chapters would feel of the Dark Angels sometimes strange actions in the battlefield (done to try to hunt the Fallen) gets interestingly depicted.
Although the book is chronologically set after another book I'll review soon, The Purging of Kadillus, can be read on its own.
Tags: Books Warhammer 40000
Book Review: Ultramarines 6: The Chapter's Due
Closing the second trilogy of books, The Chapter's Due presents a quite weak and simple story of chaos space marines and daemons attacking the homeworlds of the Ultramarines.
The interesting points are a lot of battles and an abundance of known heroes: Uriel, Tiberius, Sicarius, even Maernus Calgar.
But even with all that, the book has a dumb plot, unexciting events, unrealistic battles * and in general feels more like a book just written to close the trilogy instead of because of having a nice story to tell.
* Sometimes a lot of space marines die against normal enemies, while other times a bunch of them kill all that gets in their path.
Tags: Books Warhammer 40000
Book Review: The Lion
Note: This is a short story, published initially in the Hammer & Bolter magazine and now part of The Primarchs Black Library book.
The Dark Angels are my space marine army since I collect Warhammer 40,000, so having more background about their primarch is quite appealing.
This story depicts Lion El'Jonson, through two Horus Heresy events: A chaos attack to the primarch's warship and mediating between Iron Hands and Death Guard chapters on a conflict in a Dark Angels planet.
You get a sharper image of the attitude, character and intelligence of the primarch, and at the end, a better picture of what Lion knew about Caliban before returning to the home planet. Even what or how was his idea of helping to finish the war.
A nice lore information burst added to the Dark Angels background. Too bad it feels too short.
Tags: Books Warhammer 40000
Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader Book
Another childhood dream came true today.
I learned about 40k with the second edition, when the game was already about battles (although much smaller than now) and no longer about roleplaying.
I've seen many times the original cover, I've read a lot about the first edition setting, how it was a lot more mature, the old eldar pirates only role...
Well, after searching a while on the net, I decided to give a try to eBay again, and bet for one. I was lucky, and today I received via mail my first edition Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader rulebook!
The book is used but so little it appears new.
After I finish reading the 6th edition one, I will read this and compare.
Now that the 6th edition is also out, feels ironic to get the first edition too, the one that spawned everything.
Tags: Books Warhammer 40000
Book Review: The Inquisition War
I must confess I hadn't read anything about this trilogy before talking with Agramar one day about Warhammer 40k books (he is a living encyclopedia). And buff, I should have learned way before!
Jaq Draco is an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, who has become a member of the inner circle (those with access to secrets and hidden twists).
Grimm is a squat, grunty, always complaining, but a good companion and mechanic.
Meh'lindi is a beautiful Callidus assasin, who has been chosen for a special treatment. Instead of using pholymorphine to just mutate into other humanoid forms, terrible surgery is done inside her to introduce special muscles and bones so that she can morph into a genestealer hybrid and infiltrate their cults.
Googol is an imperial navigator who likes poetry (and women), "driver" of Jaq in the warp.
Those four widely different characters, plus later on Lex, an Imperial Fists space marine captain, will start perfoming some imperial missions like killing a genestealer patriarch, but things will get interesting when Jaq finds about a über-secret plot with an unknown secret organization, regarding humanity's Emperor, Eldar, Chaos... And that's only the beginning.
 
I won't spoil anything because the beauty of this books is reading them without summaries/intros. Just believe me that if you could only read one Warhammer 40.000 book, it should be this one.
Ian Watson had lots of problems with the books because he chose to ignore Warhammer's main target (young people) and instead write adult, serious sci-fi novels. You have topics like sex, raping (mental, but anyway), violence, sacrifices... Not for children, but neither targeted for them.
The story unfolds so great and has quite a few good twists and revelations that it sucks you into reading more and more.
The best book I've read so far.
Tags: Books Warhammer 40000
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