Articles tagged with: Books

Third and last book about the Grey Knights forming the Omnibus (there is a fourth book which I'm currently reading), Alaric will face again the forces of chaos... but in a different way.

The book starts with the capture of the main character by chaos forces (Ultramarines Omnibus copy?) but this time, filling with gladiator-like chaos arenas where he will fight hellspawns and mutants.

And so it goes most of the book, which is a pity because could almost be any other non-grey knight character. It is just "remembered" here and there with small details, but quite hollow in general. Excepting two or three specific points, the whole book could have any other main character without anybody noticing it.
In fact this way of forced refering to previous books characters and enemies is done too much, as if the author was trying to force us to link with the past because the current one was too detached (and indeed it is).

The story (without spoilers) gets really really absurd, to some points that I doubt a Grey Knight would have gone.

Also, unlike in other books not part of this trilogy Grey Knights are usually treated not as powerfull as here... but in this book it is too extreme. Way too much easy killing of demons and monsters by an almost unarmed GK (no power armor, no halberd, just gladiator old weapons).

A big dissapointment. I just finished it to close the trilogy.

Publication date: 2012-01-19

Tags: Books Warhammer 40000

Second book of the trilogy/omnibus, sending the Grey Knights now to investigate a strange world that has appeared from nowhere and contains dangerous Dark Mechanicum tech-priests and other surprises.

Not bad story, albeith this one being more atipical (the Dark Mechanicum are not very detailed so the author decided some aspects for them).

Some plot parts are very predictable and the topic might not be as interesting as the previous book's one, but one thing I like is that all DK books seem to be settled in a specific "present" timeframe where Abaddon is coming out from the Eye of Terror so the whole universe is in a huge and delicate war with Chaos forces.

Too bad that the "background problems" not advance a bit :P

So, not a bad book but not as good as the first one, you will enjoy it if you like reading about the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Publication date: 2011-12-02

Tags: Books Warhammer 40000

While you can find now the three Grey Knights books in one Omnibus compilation, I will do individual reviews as I read each book independantly, starting with the first one today.

The Grey Knights are a special chapter of Space Marines, created to fight with daemons and chaos forces, and led by the Inquisition (they act as the Inquisition military arm).

In this book they will hunt for informaton about how to stop the summoning of a terrible chaos daemon that was banished one thousand years ago and is coming back.

Well written, with a nice plot and good characters, thrilling, and with plot twists. Apart from depicting the GKs as ultra-religious and awesome in combat (as they should be in theory), their foes are nicely presented, detailed and suited for the story told. A good representation of chaos and cultists.

If you want to learn more about the Grey Knights definetly a good action book.

Publication date: 2011-10-30

Tags: Books Warhammer 40000

Second book about the Deathwatch, this time sending a Deathwatch team to deal with a secret coven between the Inquisition and the Eldar. Of course problems will arise when incidentally the Eldar are suffering attacks from the Dark Eldar.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot. Unlike the predecessor the plot is elaborate and my cons are only related with background (once again) and some plot "convenient situations" unlikely to happen.

C. S. Goto keeps using minor chapters and the Blood Ravens as main ones, but you can easily forgive about it (except for the librarian's "special powers").

Some of the Dark Eldar background (sadistic culture and mixture of lust and masochism) is well represented, and the Space Marines have an additional problem: Dealing with enemies (Eldar) by their duty when they hate them.

Also has nice unexpected plot changes that keep you reading on and on.

Publication date: 2011-09-09

Tags: Books Warhammer 40000

Warrior Brood is the first book related to the Deathwatch (elite Space Marines picked from all chapters to work for the inquisition in small kill-teams), written by the apparently infamous C. S. Goto.

And well, while the book delivers action, you must indeed have to allow quite a few mistakes, inconsistencies (with the Warhammer 40k world) and in general inventions of the author.

Some units are wrongly described (Tyranids mostly); others have new ultra-powerful habilities not found in the game; Space Marines appear to be really weak in general...

The book relates a Deathwatch detachment sent to a sector under attack from a Tyranid hive fleet, but where some things are not as simple as they seem.

A dumb successor chapter is introduced, and some Deathwatch marines are from lesser chapters or directly from the Blood Ravens (coincidence that this author wrote the book Dawn of War, based on the videogame that invented this chapter). Allows for some specific argumental decisions but in general I miss more realistic chapters.

As I said the pacing is quite good, you won't miss action and if you forgive the heresies related to WH40k lore, the book is not a bad reading, but neither impressive.

Publication date: 2011-08-15

Tags: Books Warhammer 40000