# Deathwatch: Legends of the Dark Millennium & The Last Guardian



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

Black Library & Warhammer Digital - LOTDM: Deathwatch



Black Library said:


> The Deathwatch stand apart. Chosen from among the finest warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, they are an elite and secretive force, wielding advanced weaponry to wage a shadow war against the myriad xenos predations assailing the Imperium of Mankind. When a resurging threat collides with a bitter foe on the fringes of the galaxy, annihilation comes to the Kurbynola System, poised to spread into the entirety of the Emperor’s domain. With the fate of humanity in the balance, Watch Captain Artemis leads the Deathwatch into battle against untold billions. It is a war that will teach Artemis the true meaning of duty in service to the Imperium, and the price that must be paid to preserve it.
> 
> Written by Ian St Martin


Sounds interesting, and it's a novel rather than an anthology. Need to know the page count and the actual quality of the story before I can make this a buy though. Shame about the cover though, Black Library need to stop ripping Codex art and use their own again.

Black Library & Warhammer Digital - DEATHWATCH: THE LAST GUARDIAN (MP3)



Black Library said:


> As part of an elite Deathwatch kill team, Brother Balthasar of the Dark Angels joins a special Inquisitorial mission to the eldar craftworld of Kher-Ys. Long ago ravaged by the daemonic forces of Slaanesh, the craftworld may still harbour the unlikeliest of allies for the Space Marines, and the key to a greater victory for the Chapter.
> 
> Written by C Z Dunn


Like the sound of this one, might just be a buy on release day. It has better, and actual, cover art as well.


LotN


----------



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Cant see the page count, but it looks pretty sizeable on my kindle.


----------



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

Brother Lucian said:


> Cant see the page count, but it looks pretty sizeable on my kindle.


Looking forward to seeing what you think of it Lucian. If it's good and the right kind of length, I might just pick it up.


LotN


----------



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Just started on it. Its a full lenght novel, and involves a certain act of the Deathwatch's..


Inquisitor Kryptman using the Deathwatch to divert hive fleet leviathan into the ork system of octarius. This should be good to read about!


----------



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

Brother Lucian said:


> Just started on it. Its a full lenght novel, and involves a certain act of the Deathwatch's..
> 
> 
> Inquisitor Kryptman using the Deathwatch to divert hive fleet leviathan into the ork system of octarius. This should be good to read about!


Woah,




That is THE definitive mission of the Deathwatch, probably the most famous moment for them in 40k. This just become more of a priority to read.




LotN


----------



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Finished it. Compared to the other release of today, Praetorian of Dorn, it -seriously- falls flat



Serious bolter porn with nearly nothing else, nuff said. If you want a deathwatch story, go for the much better written Black Library & Warhammer Digital - Deathwatch (eBook) It is a far superior Deathwatch story, with way more engaging and developed characters. I give this one a round 5.0, quite forgettable. Unlike Calgar's Siege, it didnt have well written marines to lift it up. I am going to avoid things from this author in the future.


----------



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

Brother Lucian said:


> Finished it. Compared to the other release of today, Praetorian of Dorn, it -seriously- falls flat
> 
> 
> 
> Serious bolter porn with nearly nothing else, nuff said. If you want a deathwatch story, go for the much better written Black Library & Warhammer Digital - Deathwatch (eBook) It is a far superior Deathwatch story, with way more engaging and developed characters. I give this one a round 5.0, quite forgettable. Unlike Calgar's Siege, it didnt have well written marines to lift it up. I am going to avoid things from this author in the future.


I have no doubt that it won't compare to Praetorian of Dorn, but I actually rather enjoyed this one.




It's probably because I recently read Watchers in Death, but I disagree that LotDM: Deathwatch is bolter porn, the former is pure bolter porn. This actually has well written characters and an engaging story. I very much liked how the story showed multiple sides of the Deathwatch, the fact that their missions carry lots of honour but also often bring great shame to those who carry them out, that the Deathwatch can be seen as both an honour and a disgrace in the case of Sekor the failed Techmarine (didn't realize such a thing could happen), that it requires Space Marines to become both heroes and monsters, and that it takes a very special kind of marine to reconcile the glory of alien hunting with the shame of being an Inquisitor's pet.

I quite liked the question put about by this book. Is victory worth any sacrifice? And is any sacrifice too great to consider? The sacrifice of the Kurynbola System was a reminder that the Imperium is ultimately callous about the trillions of people who call it home, and that in the end the individual life, planet, etc does not matter in the slightest. Space Marines tend to disagree and I think that if a real Chapter had been involved they would never have allowed a mass Exterminatus based primarily on denial of assets, but the Deathwatch aren't a traditional Chapter and their work with the Inquisition has clearly given them a different mindset. You can see it by contrasting Artemis, who at the beginning accepts leaving several IG regiments to die fighting Necrons, and Hyphantes the Scythe of the Emperor who not only protests the decision but also destroys his Oath of Moment and says that they have all shamed themselves this day. Ultimately the book doesn't provide an answer beyond a maybe, which I think worked because you can never really be sure that the sacrifice you make is worth it, if things would have gone differently by taking the hard road, or if the alternative to the sacrifice is worse.

I also liked that the book showed the Deathwatch going through both missions and warfare, the new element of Watch Companies deploying together is a bit of a change from the traditional idea of the Deathwatch that we've become used to over the years, but I think St. Martin handled it well. The DW still doesn't fight like a regular chapter even when they deploy like one, they still focus on infiltration, assassination, sabotage, etc, and they focus on the use of Kill-Teams rather than merging the squads together to form a more typical Space Marine Company. I felt that this added the new element of mass Deathwatch deployment while keeping it in the spirit of the group rather than suddenly turning them into a normal Astartes Chapter.

One final thing I HUGELY enjoyed was something St. Martin did that almost no author using the Deathwatch has done before, not even Steve Parker. Every main Deathwatch marine in this book is from a Second Founding or beyond Chapter, we have Mortifactors, Imperial Castellans, Scythes of the Emperor, Black Templars, Crimson Fists, Iron Lords, etc. All First Founding marines are bit characters, and only two play a real, if both short, role in the story. I admit to having a bit of a peeve about stories with the Deathwatch that only use First Founding marines, or only include a token Second Founding marine among a group of First Founders. So to finally see an author focus on the later foundings was very nice, and appropriate as the Deathwatch contains marines from ALL the chapters, and it makes sense that we'd see more of the later foundings than the originals since they outnumber them very heavily.

As Brother Lucian said this book is no Deathwatch (Steve Parker), but I say it's a pretty good book that is worth a read if you like the Deathwatch. I'd give it a 7/10 (Good).




LotN


----------

