thiscuriousthing 's review for:

The Emperor's Gift by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

3.0

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6/10. It's an interesting look at one of the coolest factions in the WH40K universe, but I don't think it's that great of a sci-fi novel overall. I don't think it's badly written, and there are certainly moments of beautiful prose and imagery, but I finished it feeling a bit frustrated at the Grey Knights and their incompetence and seeming lack of wisdom. They seem less like elite superhuman warriors and more like daemon-killing robots with little autonomy of their own - and what's worse is that it seemed like they didn't learn anything by the end. Maybe the biggest problem I have with this book is that the overarching conflict of the latter half only exists due to an incredibly stupid premise that completely ruins the story. I don't think this is the author's fault since it's probably due to lore guidance set by the higher-ups at The Black Library, but it kind of showcases how stories can suffer when writing within an established universe. I've heard that more recent lore does away with this premise, at least. This novel probably also greatly benefits from reading some of the other novels in the 40K universe first, but I'm not sure if that would be enough to make it great. I would not recommend this as an introduction to 40K.