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andymsmith's review
3.0
Great action. Indifferent & cold marine action which I find fitting for Astartes. With savage & threatening Orks (no comic relief). Great 40k reading. Just wish it wasn’t as long.
allison_on_a_book_break's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
silverthane's review against another edition
3.0
The Warhammer 40k universe has always captured my imagination. I find it facinating and terrifying at the same time. Set in the dim and distant future mankind has spread across the galaxy inhabiting countless worlds. This empire is known as the 'Imperium of Man'. The Imperium is constantly at war with aliens, mutants and heretics. The only thing preventing mankind from being destroyed are armies of genetically enhanced super-humans known as Space Marines; fanatically loyal and almost indestructable these fearless warriors smash the enemies of man with brutal efficiency.
The story is very simple; Rynns World is a planet controlled by the Imperium, defended by a Space Marine Chapter known as the Crimson Fists. When the planet is attacked by a massive alien army it is up to the Crimson Fists to repel this attack and save the lives of millions of people.
The book is entertaining and enjoyable if a little repetative, the universe is created in a good amount of detail and explains alot of the history of the Space Marines. There are some very good battles featured although I did find there were a few too many. There is alot of violence in the book and so many battles you start to skim read certain parts.
The book is far from perfect and certainly has its flaws. I'm not sure why but it seems books of this nature are often full of spelling and gramatical errors. I am no expert but by page 200 I had noticed at least five seperate gramatical or spelling errors, and not subtle ones either. This really isn't acceptable and makes the writer, editor and publisher out to be amateurs. Two maps are included inside the book to help the reader visualise the layout of the planet but they aren't great maps and I didn't spend much time looking at them.
Overall the book was a fun bit of sci-fi fluff but the spelling errors, length of the book and the endless dull battles meant it will only get a middle ranking score
The story is very simple; Rynns World is a planet controlled by the Imperium, defended by a Space Marine Chapter known as the Crimson Fists. When the planet is attacked by a massive alien army it is up to the Crimson Fists to repel this attack and save the lives of millions of people.
The book is entertaining and enjoyable if a little repetative, the universe is created in a good amount of detail and explains alot of the history of the Space Marines. There are some very good battles featured although I did find there were a few too many. There is alot of violence in the book and so many battles you start to skim read certain parts.
The book is far from perfect and certainly has its flaws. I'm not sure why but it seems books of this nature are often full of spelling and gramatical errors. I am no expert but by page 200 I had noticed at least five seperate gramatical or spelling errors, and not subtle ones either. This really isn't acceptable and makes the writer, editor and publisher out to be amateurs. Two maps are included inside the book to help the reader visualise the layout of the planet but they aren't great maps and I didn't spend much time looking at them.
Overall the book was a fun bit of sci-fi fluff but the spelling errors, length of the book and the endless dull battles meant it will only get a middle ranking score
chthonic_mold's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
courland's review against another edition
4.0
A very enjoyable read. Ostensibly this book is about space marines shooting orks, which is only true for the latter half of the book. This book has a varied cast of characters, from an Astartes chapter master to a planetary governor and much in between. We follow them throughout the story and watch them fighting to defend their home world from the unstoppable green menace.
While this book definitely delivers on the action, I found myself enjoying the moments in between the gunshots a lot more. Parker made plenty of room to show the bravery of even normal humans, a mother carrying her children across a ravaged country, pampered lazy officials redeeming themselves by fighting alongside the common man.
These small breaks from the story not only give the reader a look at how humans deal with an uncaring galaxy, it also shows us how far divorced from humans the Astartes can sometimes become.
4.5 stars.
While this book definitely delivers on the action, I found myself enjoying the moments in between the gunshots a lot more. Parker made plenty of room to show the bravery of even normal humans, a mother carrying her children across a ravaged country, pampered lazy officials redeeming themselves by fighting alongside the common man.
These small breaks from the story not only give the reader a look at how humans deal with an uncaring galaxy, it also shows us how far divorced from humans the Astartes can sometimes become.
4.5 stars.
brian's review against another edition
5.0
The Crimson Fists space marine chapter have to defend their home planet against a massive invasion of Orks.
Plenty of action that keeps most of the focus on the marines, well written battle scenes and an impending sense of doom as things go from bad to worse for them.
There are colour maps in the midle of the book that don't really add anything to the story and seem to be the weak point (literally) as the book splits along them and the pages look a bit loose.
Plenty of action that keeps most of the focus on the marines, well written battle scenes and an impending sense of doom as things go from bad to worse for them.
There are colour maps in the midle of the book that don't really add anything to the story and seem to be the weak point (literally) as the book splits along them and the pages look a bit loose.
protocol7's review against another edition
4.0
Mostly a good read, but not without its flaws. Its biggest strength is that it's very, very fast paced. You meet all of the principal characters in the first few pages, learn a bit about them, and then it's "go, go, go" from there. I found all of the main characters, with the exception of Captain Alvez, to be likeable. He was too much of a typical "we're better than these people simply because we're super soldier" trope for me to really care about him but Sergeant Huron Grimm, his second in command, was one of my favorites in the whole book and served as a perfect foil. He showed a humanity that was a stark contrast to Alvez's purposeful distance from the common citizens, so it all ended up working out in the end. That whole theme was mirrored in the relationship between Chapter Master Kantor and Captain Cortez, the other two main characters in this, and it plays out as well as they travel to the city and pick up a group of religious pilgrims on the way. Of course, their superhuman traits are on full display when they fight the Orks who are besieging the planet.
And the Orks are mainly where I had a problem with this book.
I guess I've been spoiled by the Dawn of War games, but I like my Orks to have some presence and personality. Here, they're little more than cannon fodder for the Space Marines except for two particular bosses, and merely act as faceless mooks in a way that sort of robbed the story of a tension that was needed. In most encounters, the Orks get stomped by the marines and don't really pose much threat beyond their numbers. This was especially a shame because it's strongly implied that the Ork warboss was cunning in a way Orks aren't supposed to be, and that was ripe for exploration.
My other major gripe was that the book glosses over a lot of things. For instance, there's a passage that implies Ork Kommandos (again, cunning Orks!) are operating in the theater, but nothing ever comes of it beyond that. Likewise, I would have liked to have seen something that showed the Gargants laying waste to their surroundings, but all we ever see are a few passages about the ground shaking, and then we move on. I liked this book, but it could have been much better if we got at least a few glimpses of the war from the perspectives of others who are directly involved in the fighting, just to give the whole thing a sense of scale. There's a scene involving a PDF pilot shooting down enemy bombers that's really great, and the book could have benefitted from more of that. Without it, the actual war felt more like background noise than a central part of the story.
Still, I'm glad I read this book. I give it a 3.5 overall.
And the Orks are mainly where I had a problem with this book.
I guess I've been spoiled by the Dawn of War games, but I like my Orks to have some presence and personality. Here, they're little more than cannon fodder for the Space Marines except for two particular bosses, and merely act as faceless mooks in a way that sort of robbed the story of a tension that was needed. In most encounters, the Orks get stomped by the marines and don't really pose much threat beyond their numbers. This was especially a shame because it's strongly implied that the Ork warboss was cunning in a way Orks aren't supposed to be, and that was ripe for exploration.
My other major gripe was that the book glosses over a lot of things. For instance, there's a passage that implies Ork Kommandos (again, cunning Orks!) are operating in the theater, but nothing ever comes of it beyond that. Likewise, I would have liked to have seen something that showed the Gargants laying waste to their surroundings, but all we ever see are a few passages about the ground shaking, and then we move on. I liked this book, but it could have been much better if we got at least a few glimpses of the war from the perspectives of others who are directly involved in the fighting, just to give the whole thing a sense of scale. There's a scene involving a PDF pilot shooting down enemy bombers that's really great, and the book could have benefitted from more of that. Without it, the actual war felt more like background noise than a central part of the story.
Still, I'm glad I read this book. I give it a 3.5 overall.
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