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warragh's review
3.0
Consequences
Shortly after returning to Macragge, Uriel Ventris and his sergeant, Pasanius are put on a show trial for straying away from the Codex Astartes. Their punishment is exile under a death oath to destroy an Iron Warriors facility (which randomly appeared in a dream to a librarian).
This sets the stage for the main novel but personally I find this premise laughable. Ventris had just lead the defense of a star system against a Tyranid hive fleet and is condemned to exile for having stripped a Thunderhawk of its armor (among others)? And why was Pasanius exiled with him? And why not anyone else? Anyway, it's just a short story but rather silly.
Dead Sky, Black Sun
After their exile, Ventris and Pasanius are conveniently kidnapped by a demonic train (?!) and conveniently transported to the very planet in the librarian's dreams. There they are thrust in the middle of a conflict between two different factions of Iron Warriors and he must work to penetrate an impenetrable fortress and destroy it.
On their way they meet a group of renegade Space Marines from various loyalist Chapters and enlist their help to defeat the Iron Warriors. Sadly they lack any form of background, there is no explanation about how they got there and how they manage to survive and none of them have any personalities to speak of (only their leader, but even him is uni dimensional and does not have any kind of growth). They serve only to help Ventris and to provide a sort of counter-balance to the endless platitudes uttered by the Ultramarines. And in here lies the biggest problem with the book. Too much of it is dedicated to the doctrines and beliefs of the Ultramarines which are frankly devoid of any nuance or grey area.
What redeems this is the way that the planet of the Iron Warriors is presented. It's a bleak place, devoid of anything good or warm where no shred of hope or honor has remained. The interior of the fortress is even worse with the author painting an extremely grim and disturbing picture. Also worth mentioning are the various fights which are very good and fun.
Overall a good read but a very obvious step back from the previous entry.
Shortly after returning to Macragge, Uriel Ventris and his sergeant, Pasanius are put on a show trial for straying away from the Codex Astartes. Their punishment is exile under a death oath to destroy an Iron Warriors facility (which randomly appeared in a dream to a librarian).
This sets the stage for the main novel but personally I find this premise laughable. Ventris had just lead the defense of a star system against a Tyranid hive fleet and is condemned to exile for having stripped a Thunderhawk of its armor (among others)? And why was Pasanius exiled with him? And why not anyone else? Anyway, it's just a short story but rather silly.
Dead Sky, Black Sun
After their exile, Ventris and Pasanius are conveniently kidnapped by a demonic train (?!) and conveniently transported to the very planet in the librarian's dreams. There they are thrust in the middle of a conflict between two different factions of Iron Warriors and he must work to penetrate an impenetrable fortress and destroy it.
On their way they meet a group of renegade Space Marines from various loyalist Chapters and enlist their help to defeat the Iron Warriors. Sadly they lack any form of background, there is no explanation about how they got there and how they manage to survive and none of them have any personalities to speak of (only their leader, but even him is uni dimensional and does not have any kind of growth). They serve only to help Ventris and to provide a sort of counter-balance to the endless platitudes uttered by the Ultramarines. And in here lies the biggest problem with the book. Too much of it is dedicated to the doctrines and beliefs of the Ultramarines which are frankly devoid of any nuance or grey area.
What redeems this is the way that the planet of the Iron Warriors is presented. It's a bleak place, devoid of anything good or warm where no shred of hope or honor has remained. The interior of the fortress is even worse with the author painting an extremely grim and disturbing picture. Also worth mentioning are the various fights which are very good and fun.
Overall a good read but a very obvious step back from the previous entry.
tinyfino's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
chaotic_cowboy's review
2.0
Was a slog to get through. Picked up in the last 100 pages, but wasn't as interested in it as the first couple books of the series.
henryarmitage's review
4.0
Awesome book. David Weber meets H. P. Lovecraft with a little William Burroughs
thrown in. Nonstop blood and guts for 400 pages. I wouldn't want to make a
steady diet of this, but it was really fun.
thrown in. Nonstop blood and guts for 400 pages. I wouldn't want to make a
steady diet of this, but it was really fun.
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