# Hunt for Voldorius Review|Spoilers*



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

The third installment of the Space Marines Battles series _Hunt for Voldorius_ by Andy Hoare is my latest review and while its a good read I felt that it was somewhat lacking in some elements while doing very well in others.

The book opens with the Master of the Hunt Kor'sarro Khan and his Hunters dropping onto Cernis IV, for a decade they have hunted the vile Daemon Prince Kernax Voldorius of the Alpha Legion across the galaxy and finally they have managed to run him to ground, or so they think. After chasing down the Daemon and confronting him and his Alpha Legion pawns at a promethium refinery the battle is revealed to be a trap orchestrated by Voldorius's champion, the Alpha Legionnaire Nullus, who slays the Company Champion Brother Jhogai in a duel and flees, leaving the White Scars at the mercy of a mighty kraken released in the trap.

The White Scars are able to escape the trap however and believed to be dead by Nullus and soon after Voldorius, they re-double their efforts and track the Daemon to the planet Quintus V, where the corrupt planetary officials have welcomed Voldorius and his ilk in exchange for power. Meanwhile a lone woman, Malya L'nor is chosen by Voldorius to be his new equerry and despite her revulsion at such a task, her faith in the Emperor allows her to withstand the evils of the Daemon Prince and plot behind his back to aid the Space Marines against him.

The White Scars arrive on Quintus and are greeted by the Raven Guard 3rd Company, under Shadow-Captain Kayvaan Shrike who has been operating secretly on the planet for several weeks, and despite bad blood between their Chapters both captains agree to work with each other against the Alpha Legion. However Voldorius plots to re-create his greatest work, to reawaken the mythic Bloodtide, and once this legacy of the Dark Age of Technology is unleashed, the world of Quintus and all its people will bleed.

The battles in the book are well-written and both chapter's styles of combat are reflected, the Bike-mounted charges of the White Scars in tandem with the aerial assaults of the Raven Guard are both great to read and since its rare to see Space Marine bike squads it was a nice treat to see the White Scars doing what they do best instead of the author using them in situations that are unfamiliar to them.

One very interesting thing introduced is the White Scars battle-cant. Rather then broadcast what they are doing the White Scars use assortments of their own words in place of orders, while meaning the direct orders. 'The silvered moon enshrouds the hunted,' or 'We hunt as the dawn-bat soars over the mountain,' and 'As the moon swoops,' are examples of the intricate battle-cant that Andy Hoare has created for the White Scars. Knowledge of Chogoris and its steppes, it ways of life and its people are essential to the battle-cant and it can vary greatly from user to user. A very innoventive device for the White Scars and something to set them apart from other Space Marines but that should have been done in a different novel, that unfortunately does not exist.

The Bloodtide is also a very ingenious creation, rather then go down a more obvious route like a dangerous Daemon or Warp-crafted artefact, Andy Hoare has taken the creative high-ground and created a unique archeo-tech weapon from the Dark Age of Technology that stands apart from the technology of the 41st millennium and makes other devices look primitive. A nano-machine based weapon the Bloodtide is designed to infest people and upon vocal command can exsanguinate them. Use of this ancient device to bleed over a trillion innocents earned Voldorius his Daemonhood, and it is a shame that we wont see this mighty device again, but hopefully more Dark Age relics are not far off.

High Point: The high point was the final duel between Kor'sarro Khan and Kernax Voldorius. Although Voldorius quickly gains the advantage Kor'sarro is able to bring down a statue of the Emperor upon Voldorius, and saves Malya L'nor from being crushed by the falling rubble. As soon as Voldorius rises he is impaled by Shadow-Captain Shrike's Lightning Claws and forced into the remnants of the Emperor's statue, the Master of Mankind's blade pinning Voldorius in place, allowing Kor'sarro to behead the Daemon and end the decade long hunt.

Low Point: Shrike was quite good but I felt the White Scars were wanting. Truthfully I think releasing an actual White Scars novel, totally new, and delving into their chapter in that, would have been a better first move. It would have allowed the author to establish the White Scars and redefine their lore, backstory and beliefs. Then _Hunt for Voldorius_ could have come and been a lot better because the author would have had more to work with.

I give _Hunt for Voldorius_ a *7/10* for an good story, some interesting characters and ingenious additions to 40k lore and to the White Scars chapter as a whole. I look forward to Andy Hoare's next work _Savage Scars_. And as the ending notes that one day Nullus and Kernax Voldorius would return to haunt the nightmares of man, I hope we have not seen the last of them.

www.thefoundingfields.com


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## Worldkiller (Jun 16, 2010)

Great review, I've never considered myself a White Scars fan but now i think i might just have to pick this up.


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## donskar (Apr 8, 2010)

V.G. review. Never seen this book in my many haunts at Barnes and Noble -- must look harder!


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Bought this today, and while I didn't read all your review for fear of the spoilers, what I did read has peaked my interest. You have helped push it up my _To Read_ list.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Hmm, I finished this book last night and it really didn't do much for me- out of the 3 SM Battles novels released so far I consider this one the weakest, it's characterisations were amateurish and cliche.

I'd have given this a 7/10 (possibly a 6/10 compared to all books not just BL ones).


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Baron Spikey said:


> Hmm, I finished this book last night and it really didn't do much for me- out of the 3 SM Battles novels released so far I consider this one the weakest,


I agree completely. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and it left me so empty I couldn't even be arsed to post how bad I thought it was. I thought it read like a piece of fan-fic written by a spotty teen with a hard-on for marines.

The characters had no depth at all, I really didn't like Shrike, and Kor'sarro khan was just boring. I know they're warrior monks, but I get really bored reading "For the Emperor!" in every other line. 

How it compares to the other two differs for me. I think _Helsreach_ is one of the best marine novels out there, and _Rynn's World_ is one of the worst. I put this one more towards the latter than former.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Khorne's Fist said:


> I agree completely. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and it left me so empty I couldn't even be arsed to post how bad I thought it was. I thought it read like a piece of fan-fic written by a spotty teen with a hard-on for marines.
> 
> The characters had no depth at all, I really didn't like Shrike, and Kor'sarro khan was just boring. I know they're warrior monks, but I get really bored reading "For the Emperor!" in every other line.
> 
> How it compares to the other two differs for me. I think _Helsreach_ is one of the best marine novels out there, and _Rynn's World_ is one of the worst. I put this one more towards the latter than former.


I enjoyed the Traitors more then the Loyalists. Kernax Voldorius was a delight to read, and I enjoyed Nullus quite a bit as well.

Shrike was quite good but I felt the White Scars were wanting. Truthfully I think releasing an actual White Scars novel, totally new, and delving into their chapter in that, would have been a better first move. It would have allowed the author to establish the White Scars and redefine their lore, backstory and beliefs. Then _Hunt for Voldorius_ could have come and been a lot better because the author would have had more to work with.

Same with _Rynn's World_, one of the reasons that _Helsreach_ was so good is that EVERY 40k fan knows who the Black Templars are, how they act, what they believe and then some. And because of that ADB didn't need to establish an entire Chapter in his book, he had to establish the characters which made for better development and allowed more time for the story. _Rynn's World_ and _Hunt for Voldorius_, Crimson Fists and White Scars however are underused, you have to really read about them to learn and not every 40k fan is versed in them. Therefore these two books had to establish the Chapters as well, leaving less time for the characters and the story.


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## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

Lord of the Night said:


> Same with _Rynn's World_, one of the reasons that _Helsreach_ was so good is that EVERY 40k fan knows who the Black Templars are, how they act, what they believe and then some. And because of that ADB didn't need to establish an entire Chapter in his book, he had to establish the characters which made for better development and allowed more time for the story. _Rynn's World_ and _Hunt for Voldorius_, Crimson Fists and White Scars however are underused, you have to really read about them to learn and not every 40k fan is versed in them. Therefore these two books had to establish the Chapters as well, leaving less time for the characters and the story.


Not reeeeeeally sure I agree with that. A Chapter can be shown/developed/revealed/whatever purely through the characters, and their actions and beliefs. That's how I approached _Helsreach_ - not thinking that "everyone knows the Black Templars so I can ignore the Chapter's theme" but knowing that the best way to show a Chapter's uniqueness is to show realistic characters living within that theme, and embodying it in their dialogue, actions and decisions. 

Most of the reviews pin it as my most accessible novel for non-40K fans, so I think at least some of my intention made it through to the bookshelf, there.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Not reeeeeeally sure I agree with that. A Chapter can be shown/developed/revealed/whatever purely through the characters, and their actions and beliefs. That's how I approached _Helsreach_ - not thinking that "everyone knows the Black Templars so I can ignore the Chapter's theme" but knowing that the best way to show a Chapter's uniqueness is to show realistic characters living within that theme, and embodying it in their dialogue, actions and decisions.
> 
> Most of the reviews pin it as my most accessible novel for non-40K fans, so I think at least some of my intention made it through to the bookshelf, there.


You did and that made Grimaldus and his Templars interesting but in _Rynn's World_ and _Hunt for Voldorius_ the authors did not do that, rather they chose to either make their characters the epitome of Space Marines without anything to make them unique as in _Rynn's World_, or they chose to express the Chapter through innovation like the battle-cant but made the characters themselves blank as in _Hunt for Voldorius_.


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## RudeAwakening79 (Oct 20, 2008)

the battlecant is stolen from Eisenhorn, we all know Glossia...don't we??

The use of battle-code was something to be expected and I wouldn't be surprised if more chapters use it, in different ways. I wouldn't call it a "White Scar trait".

Almost finished the Hunt for Voldurius and enjoyed the book, but I rate it below Rynn's World and Helsreach.
What I did like about the story, is that the author has succeeded in portraying the tactics of the White Scars and the Raven Guard in a good way.


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## space cowboy (Apr 3, 2009)

This one felt more believable from the perspective of how the events came about than _Rynn's World_. The missiles malfunctioning and dropping on the fortress seemed contrived and hokey (even though it came from G-Dub fluff first.) There is just no way to make that seem not dumb. At least in _Hunt_ I bought into the villains. It seemed like it accidentally was a story about how evil and three dimensional the antagonists were, while the protagonists were what the antagonists of a novel normally are: 2-D plot devices.

Although I will agree that _Hellsreach_ is far and away the best of the Battles series (and one of the better 40k novels in general), I would agree that _Hunt_ was probably a 6.5 (6 for the loyalists, 7 for the traitors.)


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

just finished this today and to be honest it was a slog to get through. seems SMB has got progressively worse with this only picking up at the end and even then it was sort of half arsedly written in my opinion. next we get ultramarines vs. necrons dont we?! that just says it all for this series haha


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Actually no next we get Dark Angels vs Orks, then Ultramarines vs Necrons, and then Space Wolves vs Thousand Sons.. its a good lineup.


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

not orks again. dont wanna sounds cynical but there is only so many times you can read about wave after wave of ork getting decimated and the marines coming out on top against crazy odds. if only it was a ork centred book but then i suppose it would have to be called orks shooty battles or something daft i suppose.

one saving grace is space wolves vs. thousand sons. it WILL be killer!


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Unknown Primarch said:


> not orks again. dont wanna sounds cynical but there is only so many times you can read about wave after wave of ork getting decimated and the marines coming out on top against crazy odds. if only it was a ork centred book but then i suppose it would have to be called orks shooty battles or something daft i suppose.
> 
> one saving grace is space wolves vs. thousand sons. it WILL be killer!


Ah but it's not just any Orks, it's Ghazghkull vs. the Dark Angels.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> Ah but it's not just any Orks, it's Ghazghkull vs. the Dark Angels.


Yeah and Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka is the most epic Ork of all, plus the story also features Warboss Nazdreg Urd Urdgrub of the Bad Moons clan. So we have Dark Angels vs The two most epic Orks in existence.

"I’m Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka an’ I speak wiv da word of da gods. We iz gonna stomp da ‘ooniverse flat an’ kill anyfing that fights back. We iz gonna do this coz’ we’re Orks an’ we was made ta fight an’ win!"

Sheer awesomeness.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

But it's Ghazgkhull who rips Belial a new one, any Ork that gives a slap down to the future Deathwing Captain has my vote


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

The primary reason I bought this book was because of the Alpha Legion's involvement.

Overall, I found the novel to be very boring and not up to par with other WH40k novels.

I found the author's portrayal of the Alpha Legion as being somewhat inaccurate and in my opinion he made them seem like any other Chaos worshipping Chapter and completely devoid of their innate characteristics.

The scene where Nullus is killed in particular which caused the remaining Alpha Legion members break off and run struck a cord with me since each member of the Alpha Legion are trained to act individually, with or without a leading figure.

Andy pretty much made the Alpha Legion sound like some random Chaos worshiping cult/chapter and completely disregarded their history and the traits that makes them unique from the rest of the flock. 

The Alpha Legion and the Night Haunters are in my opinion the most resistant to the whisperings of Chaos despite their allegiance with them and Andy just didn't seem to incorporate that into his novel.

The portrayal of the White Scars was annoying, especially the constant references of their past as nomads of the steppes. I'm quite certain 90% of the time Space Marines have no recollection of their pre-Astartes life so I didn't like this aspect of the book as well.

I stopped maybe 20 pages short of the end, I just can't seem to finish it. Voldorius is just a random Chaos sorcerer


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

I give the book 3/5

PROS: 
the bloodtide was an interesting idea, I hope more archaeo-tech shows up in future BL novels
the White Scars battle-cant was pretty cool (reminded me of Atreides battle-language)
hey, it's a book starring two of my favourite chapters! 

CONS: 
Andy Hoare's writing style is quite bland at times, it lacks a certain vitality 
he repeats certain words/phrases a lot and has a habit of telling rather than showing...don't tell me Shrike deployed his troops with "masterful tactical awareness", show me the details, use vivid imagery rather than general adjectives

I also think there are logical mistakes in a few places, for instance in one scene as several protagonists are making a stealthy approach, Andy describes how silent the Raven Guard marines' armour is, and then he has the Raven Guard sergeant turn on his "crackling" lightning claws while they're still being all stealthy


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## XxDreMisterxX (Dec 23, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> The primary reason I bought this book was because of the Alpha Legion's involvement.
> 
> Overall, I found the novel to be very boring and not up to par with other WH40k novels.
> 
> ...


But overall the author did not do the Alpha legion justice at all and Hunt For Voldurius has been a very degrading fluff story. They should have showed it being Black legion or some other random chaos warband rather then Alpha Legion.


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## sonn (Nov 25, 2010)

XxDreMisterxX said:


> But overall the author did not do the Alpha legion justice at all and Hunt For Voldurius has been a very degrading fluff story. They should have showed it being Black legion or some other random chaos warband rather then Alpha Legion.


The basics of of the story were already established in the Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition) so it had to be the Alpha Legion.


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## XxDreMisterxX (Dec 23, 2009)

sonn said:


> The basics of of the story were already established in the Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition) so it had to be the Alpha Legion.


I can see that, but I disagreed with the Hunt for Voldorius before the book came out and when it came out in the Sm codex.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

As pointed out before, that battlecant sounds very, very similar to Glossia code that Abnett developed in the Eisenhorn series.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

XxDreMisterxX said:


> They should have showed it being Black legion or some other random chaos warband rather then Alpha Legion.


oh you Alpha Legion elitists


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Hardly, just annoying at how inconsistent the Alpha Legion are portrayed in the various stories. They're meant to think outside the box, and be excellent strategists and tacticians, fighting in a completely unique way. Yet in stories like this or Dawn of War they are just portrayed as stereotypical chaos marines, it's as if the authors just pick a random chaos legion name out of a hat to use, without really conforming to the chosen legions traits.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

Angel of Blood said:


> Hardly, just annoying at how inconsistent the Alpha Legion are portrayed in the various stories. They're meant to think outside the box, and be excellent strategists and tacticians, fighting in a completely unique way. Yet in stories like this or Dawn of War they are just portrayed as stereotypical chaos marines, it's as if the authors just pick a random chaos legion name out of a hat to use, without really conforming to the chosen legions traits.


well since we're stuck with Hunt for Voldorius (until/if it is retconned), we could just assume that Voldorius behaved more like a "generic chaos" villain because he was a daemon prince

for example, the Night Lords have daemon princes and it seems that those Night Lords who still choose to distance themselves from chaos behave differently and look down on Night Lord daemon princes and their warbands


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

There's a huge difference between ADB's the exalted Daemon Prince and the one we see in Hunt for Vold. 

With ADB's the exalted, we haven't seen him in a combat role or seen his perspective on things. He's simply the boss on deck and all we know of him is that he has been corrupted by Chaos and hasn't been himself for countless years. 

Yet, I'm sure if ADB ever decided to shed some light on him, he would depict him in a manner fitting for a member of the Night Lords despite having a daemon infused in him while AH's daemon prince went for the 'lol hai guyz im with ka0s' route.

As I said previously, the AL were not featured in Andy Hoare's novel.


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