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halenm's review against another edition
5.0
Dante! Dante! Dante! This book has called to me since I finished the Devistation of Baal. It rang through the empty halls of my brain until I Decided to crush through it after finishing The Knights of Macragge. I put it off for so long since, with I think Mephiston specifically, people say that the authors sort of forget who they are writing about and it turns into just a meandering tale. Going into this though I was pleasantly surprised! Combing through the book I will be using the VCR system. Vibes. Character. Romance. Oh yeah, didn't expect that one I'm sure, but there are some very tender scenes. Now I know what you're thinking, these acronyms just keep getting better and better! And they are, but something that also just gets better and better is my understanding of the world through these very good books!
The Vibes, as I've said before, are very important for Warhammer books. In Dante I'm very pleased to say they are on point! As you follow Lewis, angel name Dante, through being a salt miner to eventual angel-hood, you get to see a ton of different environments! Deserts of Baal, the jungles of some half colonized worlds, the innards of a classic castle overtaken by Eldar, a section of a hive world being onset by plague marines! With those environments come situations and emotions that I think really help to build on vibes of the world everyone is stuck in. The reactions of colonists, the inner thoughts of Dante on his journey, the relationships between brothers and the blood thralls. It's all really interesting and enhances the story.
Moving to Characters, this one has a fair amount of them. Obviously you follow Dante through out, but there are a few characters in both time lines that are reoccurring. When I say both time lines, this book has Dante when he is Dante of the Blood Angels, and Lewis of the salt wastes. I liked them all a lot, Dante of course is the stand out. He has a lot of thoughts I like, and is so old that there's plenty of things he's learned through out. Like he admits to not outright hating the alien like most space marines do. He's seen humility in them and real bonds, very human traits and that leads to him seeing them as of course enemies of the imperium, but not in a blood thirsty they must all die way, mostly in just like general disdain. He also is like the ultimate heart of gold character, not only by being clad in it, but also for having two of them. Not only that, but I'm also a real sucker for a good leader, so when he does things like stand up for Gabriel Seth at the big leader meeting or makes sure a commissar of the imperial guard is treated with respect I really dig it. I love it, he's great! An easy choice for a lead of a book and really an easy choice for someone looking to get into the world of 40K I'd say.
Romance, the unexpected R of VCR. This is a bit of a joke category, I just wanted to talk about what happened. There's a scene I wont spoil, but Dante swears off drinking live blood. Until his blood thrall, who has been serving with him a long time so they have a very nice relationship. As much as you can have with your servant anyways, but Dante confides in him some super stressful stuff. His blood thrall, knowing his time in this world is not much longer as he is a normal human, he lets Dante drink his blood. There's this whole back and fourth, but in the end Dante grants him his final wish. The book talks about how his heart flutters under Dante's touch and then patters out, there's a moan as his fangs drink the blood. I was like wow. Now this, this is some spice let me tell ya. At least 5 peppers out of 2.
All in all a great story! I will for sure be telling people to read this if there is even a slight bit of interest. It has human stuff, it explains things that can be difficult to just have dropped on you. I really really liked it!
TL;DR Very good, read it as an intro, read it if you like space vampire, just read it!
The Vibes, as I've said before, are very important for Warhammer books. In Dante I'm very pleased to say they are on point! As you follow Lewis, angel name Dante, through being a salt miner to eventual angel-hood, you get to see a ton of different environments! Deserts of Baal, the jungles of some half colonized worlds, the innards of a classic castle overtaken by Eldar, a section of a hive world being onset by plague marines! With those environments come situations and emotions that I think really help to build on vibes of the world everyone is stuck in. The reactions of colonists, the inner thoughts of Dante on his journey, the relationships between brothers and the blood thralls. It's all really interesting and enhances the story.
Moving to Characters, this one has a fair amount of them. Obviously you follow Dante through out, but there are a few characters in both time lines that are reoccurring. When I say both time lines, this book has Dante when he is Dante of the Blood Angels, and Lewis of the salt wastes. I liked them all a lot, Dante of course is the stand out. He has a lot of thoughts I like, and is so old that there's plenty of things he's learned through out. Like he admits to not outright hating the alien like most space marines do. He's seen humility in them and real bonds, very human traits and that leads to him seeing them as of course enemies of the imperium, but not in a blood thirsty they must all die way, mostly in just like general disdain. He also is like the ultimate heart of gold character, not only by being clad in it, but also for having two of them. Not only that, but I'm also a real sucker for a good leader, so when he does things like stand up for Gabriel Seth at the big leader meeting or makes sure a commissar of the imperial guard is treated with respect I really dig it. I love it, he's great! An easy choice for a lead of a book and really an easy choice for someone looking to get into the world of 40K I'd say.
Romance, the unexpected R of VCR. This is a bit of a joke category, I just wanted to talk about what happened. There's a scene I wont spoil, but Dante swears off drinking live blood. Until his blood thrall, who has been serving with him a long time so they have a very nice relationship. As much as you can have with your servant anyways, but Dante confides in him some super stressful stuff. His blood thrall, knowing his time in this world is not much longer as he is a normal human, he lets Dante drink his blood. There's this whole back and fourth, but in the end Dante grants him his final wish. The book talks about how his heart flutters under Dante's touch and then patters out, there's a moan as his fangs drink the blood. I was like wow. Now this, this is some spice let me tell ya. At least 5 peppers out of 2.
All in all a great story! I will for sure be telling people to read this if there is even a slight bit of interest. It has human stuff, it explains things that can be difficult to just have dropped on you. I really really liked it!
TL;DR Very good, read it as an intro, read it if you like space vampire, just read it!
tlxy's review against another edition
3.0
def not biased bc blood angels are my favorite space marine chapter but they're some badass vampires, kinda hard not to like
megabyte117's review against another edition
3.0
As a budding player of the Blood Angels Space Marine faction Dante belongs to, this was a mostly enjoyable read. I don't know that anyone new to Warhammer would derive much from this book. The strongest sections were definitely his childhood and ascent to a Space Marine; however, the pacing was awkward and often rushed, glazing over detail.
thatguyconnur's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
love this book Easily the best lore introduction to Blood Angels by starting with the guy that matters most. Dante. The first amongst equals, the oldest space marine to live through destiny and sheer…averageness. through 1500 years he piles on and on these impressive feats but the author still does an amazing job in imposing this imposter syndrome humility into the main character that makes him likable. Great story, great side characters, and gosh i feel bad for Florian.
nraptor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
woodelf9ca's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a lot more interested in learning more about the Blood Angels after reading this book.
hopeless_spastic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
cossty's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
effone's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25