# Rate What You Read.



## Khorne's Fist

I was thinking that a thread where people could just post a score out of 10 for the latest BL novel they've read might be a good idea. It's not a review thread, we have them already, it could just serve as a quick reference guide for people looking at making their next BL purchase. To that end, I'll start.

The Siege of Castellax-7/10


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## March of Time

Blighted Empire - 8/10


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## Znoz

Blood of Asaheim - 8
(as wolf's fanboy :3)


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## Deus Mortis

Angel Exterminatus - 8.5/10


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## Bobbyfbrewster

Ahriman exile 8/10


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## Angel of Blood

I don't really like to apply rating systems to novels, I just can't sum up a novel with a number out of 10 or a grade. Dunno why. But just for the record..

Fear to Tread: U or 0.00000000000000000001/Googolplex. Or failing that, a complete abortion of a novel in every singular way possible, making me and my perception of humanity as a whole feel a little more dumb and unenlightened in a truly uninspiring and bland way, to the point where I would willingly shave off a decade or so of a my life, just to get that day or so back that it took me to read it, and then spend my entire monetary worth to find a way to erase the memory of the novel from my mind and set up an organisation dedicated to finding every single last copy of the novel in existence and burning it, followed by a virus to delete every eBook file. Fuck you _Fear to Tread_.


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## Worldkiller

Angel of Blood said:


> I don't really like to apply rating systems to novels, I just can't sum up a novel with a number out of 10 or a grade. Dunno why. But just for the record..
> 
> Fear to Tread: U or 0.00000000000000000001/Googolplex. Or failing that, a complete abortion of a novel in every singular way possible, making me and my perception of humanity as a whole feel a little more dumb and unenlightened in a truly uninspiring and bland way, to the point where I would willingly shave off a decade or so of a my life, just to get that day or so back that it took me to read it, and then spend my entire monetary worth to find a way to erase the memory of the novel from my mind and set up an organisation dedicated to finding every single last copy of the novel in existence and burning it, followed by a virus to delete every eBook file. Fuck you _Fear to Tread_.


No one forced you to read it.
Edit: Betrayer: 8.5


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## aerogems

Not quite finished with it, but only a couple chapters left. So barring something to make it really terrible within those last few pages...

Deathwatch: 8/10

It kind of dragged a bit in the first two acts, but despite that it wasn't torture to read like the first Bastion Wars book was. The Deathwatch training bits helped salvage a lot of it. If it hadn't spent so much time setting up events for the third act, I would have easily given it an 8.5 or 9.


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## MontytheMighty

Angel of Blood said:


> Fear to Tread: U or 0.00000000000000000001/Googolplex. Or failing that, a complete abortion of a novel in every singular way possible


^ A man after my own heart 

Pariah 8.5/10 
Soul Hunter 7.5/10
Blood Reaver 7.5/10 

Pariah has me hooked. I'm really forward to the sequel. The Astartes presence if very well-handled IMO: 

The Emperor's Children sorcerer/psyker, the Alpha Legion "specialist", the Word Bearers in league with the Church
 

The description of the enormous Church building was also very memorable. Queen Mab has a steampunk/Victorian London feel to it. Big fan of Dan's world-building as always.

I've read through parts of the Night Lords series before at the book store but this is my first time tackling them in their entirety. They're good but not quite as good as some ppl made them out to be. I think this might be a case of my expectations raised too high by all these glowing reviews. I'm having a hard time getting through Void Stalker. Aaron definitely maintains the quality of prose throughout the series...I think it might just be a case of me not really being a fan of the Night Lords.


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## Malus Darkblade

I haven't read Pariah in a while.

Was there really an AL Astartes in it? What did he do?


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## Lord of the Night

Malus Darkblade said:


> I haven't read Pariah in a while.
> 
> Was there really an AL Astartes in it? What did he do?




He was working for Eisenhorn and acting as a shadow-bodyguard for Bequin. He beat the crap out of the Emperor's Child marine Teke the Smiling One.


_Redemption Corps_. About a 7.1/10 or so, would have been higher if Sanders hadn't chosen to do those annoying flashfowards that screwed up the flow of the story later.


LotN


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## Angel of Blood

Malus Darkblade said:


> I haven't read Pariah in a while.
> 
> Was there really an AL Astartes in it? What did he do?




He's Deathrow, the notorious criminal that stalks through the city with his dog. When Teke is chasing Beta, Deathrow turns up and starts to fight him. At a point in the fight, Teke manages to rip off part of his face mask, catches a glimpse of his face and is astonished at what he see's, presumably recognising him somehow, uttering 'How-?', when he is then stabbed due to this distraction and runs away. Bequin then talks to Deathrow, deduces that he is one of Eisenhorns operatives and was sent to shadow her. Bequin see's under the mask briefly and describes a handsome and noble face and when she asks who he is, he replies 'I am Alpharius' and then fucks off.

There's always that chance he isn't actually an Alpha Legionnaire of course, but there it is. It's probably the plot point I most want to find out more about in the later books.


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## Bane_of_Kings

_Vulkan Lives_ by Nick Kyme. 3.75/5 (I have a full review hitting tomorrow on The Founding Fields with fellow reviewer Bellarius).


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## Doelago

_Vulkan Lives_, 3/10 and still feeling generous


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## Deus Mortis

(Read two in the last 48 hours)

*The Emperor's Gift*: 9/10 would thoroughly recommend. (If nothing else, just for the bits where Bjorn re-inacts Monty Python's impression of God in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_)

*Ahriman: Exile*: 8/10 not as good as the above but still a good read. Enjoyed Ahriman's character arc.


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## March of Time

Fist of Demetrius - 7.5/10
Censure - 8/10


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## Khorne's Fist

Deathwatch. 8/10. Very impressed. Hope to see more from Parker in the near future.


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## Angel of Blood

Vulkan Lives

AoB rating: Sigh.........


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## Hachiko

The last 3 novella or larger sized that I've read:

Rynn's World: 6.5/10
Flesh of Cretacia: 7/10
Fire Caste: 9/10


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## Sequere_me_in_Tenebras

I hate scored reviewed - sod it, I'll join in the fun;

Nagash the Sorcerer 3/5
Nagash the Unbroken 2/5
Nagash Immortal 2/5


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## Sequere_me_in_Tenebras

Doelago said:


> _Vulkan Lives_, 3/10 and still feeling generous


That bad huh?

What do you think of Nick Kyme's work in the past?


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## Doelago

Sequere_me_in_Tenebras said:


> What do you think of Nick Kyme's work in the past?


My opinions on his work are mixed. _Perfection_ was quite good, _Fall of Damnos_ was a sort of good read and I somewhat liked _Assault on Black Reach_ back in the day. _Censure_ was bad and _Promethean Sun_ was utter and complete shit. Cannot get worse than that. _Salamander_ was somewhat ok.


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## March of Time

Vulkan Lives - 8.5/10


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## Khorne's Fist

March of Time said:


> Vulkan Lives - 8.5/10


Someone bucking the trend.


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## Angel of Blood

Sure he must have read a different version than I did...


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## Bobbyfbrewster

Vulkan lives 7/10


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## Sequere_me_in_Tenebras

Doelago said:


> My opinions on his work are mixed. _Perfection_ was quite good, _Fall of Damnos_ was a sort of good read and I somewhat liked _Assault on Black Reach_ back in the day. _Censure_ was bad and _Promethean Sun_ was utter and complete shit. Cannot get worse than that. _Salamander_ was somewhat ok.


I've listened to _Perfection_ which was different, really enjoyed it. Ehem, Salamanders was ok, it didn't really work for me... the final battle in the third book was... wtf moment!


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## Khorne's Fist

Priests of Mars. 8/10.


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## Paceyjg

Baneblade 6.5/10

Ahriman Excile 8/10


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## Mossy Toes

_Path of the Incubus_ - 7/10 

Good book. The Eldar felt a but too human, but... it has me wanting to buy Dark Eldar models, so it's done its job. Must... resist...


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## Khorne's Fist

_Vulcan Lives!_ 6/10. 

There's only a few other books in the series I'd rate less, namely BftA and the DA books. It just didn't seem to flow very well, and I didn't like the first person angle for Vulcan. Grammaticus seemed to have been watered down considerably from _Legion _as well.


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## Thyr

Angel of Blood said:


> Sure he must have read a different version than I did...


Or he just has a different taste than you do.


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## Nineswords

_Scorched Earth_ got a 1/10 from me. Here's why.


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## Doelago

Nineswords said:


> _Scorched Earth_ got a 1/10 from me. Here's why.


Thanks for the review. Seems I made correct decision when I skipped that one.


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## Valrak

Thyr said:


> Or he just has a different taste than you do.


Nail on the head. Getting sick of people looking down on others because they liked something they did not.

Everyone is different, if everyone was Alan Shearer then the world would be a boring place.


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## Khorne's Fist

_Flesh of Cretacia_, 7/10. 

Not too bad. Nice to see the Flesh Tearer again. He still has the smell of wolf blood in his nose. The book covers how they came to find their new home world.


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## Anakwanar

Flesh of Cretacia, 2/10. 
Book about nothing, written for sleepwalkers. They found a planet - hurray. 

Scorched Earth, 1/10 
Exactly for the same reasons Nineswords has told you

Vulcan Lives! 5/10
Meh! Hello Heracles

Priests of Mars - Lord of Mars - 9/10 - 8/10
Awesome novels, and very unwarhammeristic in it. Joy to read - feelings like, when you first time read Eisenhorn trilogy =) So, strangely Graham McNeil could write superb stuff if he wants it. And i began to worry after Angel Exterminatus.

City of the Damned - 7/10
Delightful story, with great timespan stuff, some superb characters, and some not so well written. But the main problem of this novel - if you compare it to Road of Skulls or Zombieslayer, you will understand - that David Guymer writing style is very hard to cope with.

Scars: - 9/10
7 episodes into it - and yes - one of the best HH to date. Last episode flashback about the meeting with Morti, that's was amazing:laugh: And yes - Russ is a pussy :laugh:


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## March of Time

Helsreach 2/10 
Blood and Fire 8.5/10


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## Angel of Blood

Valrak said:


> Nail on the head. Getting sick of people looking down on others because they liked something they did not.
> 
> Everyone is different, if everyone was Alan Shearer then the world would be a boring place.


Yes, I was clearly looking down on him. You go, you paragon of the people!


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## mal310

Nineswords said:


> _Scorched Earth_ got a 1/10 from me. Here's why.


I agree with a lot of the points you make in your review. I do think it’s slightly harsh though. I did think it was better that Promethean Sun and Feat of Iron (I hated both). I’d give Scorched Earth 3.5/10.


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## MontytheMighty

mal310 said:


> I agree with a lot of the points you make in your review. I do think it’s slightly harsh though. I did think it was better that Promethean Sun and Feat of Iron (I hated both). I’d give Scorched Earth 3.5/10.


I would argue that the difference between 1 and 3.5 is merely technical.


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## Kaspar Mayer

The Death of Antagonis - 6/10
The majority of the book was really good, but the ending kinda killed the overall score for me.


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## Cruxyh

Horus Rising, 4/10
Rereading it did not help, still do not like it. I blame the bloody remembrancers.

Lords of Mars, 7.9/10
Felt like a proper change of pace compared to the usual 40k books, can not wait for the last one.

Death of Integrity, 7.8/10
Terminators, Genestealers, Space Hulk, Mechanicus, what's not to like? Really liked the Blood Drinkers parts. 

Angel Exterminatus, 6/10
Felt this one was enjoyable enough.

Brothers of the Snake, 6/10
Enjoyable enough, though I do question the wisdom of space marines using lances to fight orks.. oh well.


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## Znoz

Finished Hellsreach and Blood & Fire.
Hellsreach - 6 , feels incompleted, many gaps in storyline, whole book reminds classical 90-2000's action movie.
Blood & Fire - 9 , bright contrast after Hellsreach - story, plots and mysteries mixed with action, blood and some humor.


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## Chaplain-Grimaldus

You know, I'm going to go the same but I'm giving helsreach a 7. For all the flaws I thought the sheer scale of Armageddon was brought across really well and the sheer magnitude of the fighting really hit home.

Blood and fire I too give a 9. Epic carnage with an emotional undercurrent. Very "forlorn hope".

Next up. Vulkan Lives.


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## March of Time

Scorched Earth 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Seventh Retribution 5/10

Some points of interest but mainly meh!


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## Znoz

Yarrick: Chains of Golgotha - 9 (-1 book is awesome but only 120 pages :<)


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## Doelago

_The Unremembered Empire_ - 9.5/10.


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## Khorne's Fist

_Unremembered Empire_, 7.5/10. Not quite sure what all the fuss is about. Good, but nowhere close to the greats like ATS, PB, KnF or FH. But of course that is just my opinion.


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## Bobbyfbrewster

Unremembered empire 9/10 loved the way the Lion came accross and felt like the start of a whole new ball game in the HH


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## Khorne's Fist

Wrath of Iron: 7/10. Not too sure, but I think Wraight is at it again messing with established infrastructure of a 1st founding chapter.


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## Anakwanar

Chris is a talented writer - but he has a problem following codexes and writing endings opcorn:


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## Doelago

_Pandorax_ - 5.5/10 
_Trials of Azrael_ - 7/10 
_Macragge‘s Honour_ - 9.5/10


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## March of Time

The Unremembered Empire - 9/10
Luna Mendax - 8/10
Master of Dragons - 8.5/10


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## jasonpittman

The Unremembered Empire 10/10
Fire Caste 9/10


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## Paceyjg

Priests of Mars - 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Aurelian 8/10


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## AshArtKing

*Blood Angels Omnibus* _8/10_
*Blood Angels The Second Omnibus* _9/10_
*Ultramarines Omnibus* _10/10_
*Grey Knights Omnibus* _10/10_
*Soul Drinkers Omnibus* _7/10_


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## AshArtKing

*DeathWatch* _10/10_


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## AshArtKing

*Legion Of The Damned* _8/10_


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## AshArtKing

*Faith & Fire* _10/10_


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## AshArtKing

*Hammer & Anvil* _10/10_


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## Khyzer

AshArtKing said:


> *Hammer & Anvil* _10/10_


I have been looking for a copy of this damn book for months now. When I first started getting into Warhammer 40k this duology was at every local bookstore, but was always out shined by another heresy or 40k novel. Now that I have finally caught up to publication of the 40k novels, I have slowly been trying to go back and grab those few that I missed. I read the entire Faith & Fire in one sitting and was beyond pleased, and have been attempting to read Hammer & Anvil for several months now. But of course no bookstore carries this any longer as it seems to be out of print, and the only way seems to be to buy a used copy off amazon for $30+... Driving me nuts that I cannot find this book anywhere....


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## Paceyjg

Death of Integrity 9/10


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## jasonpittman

Tallarn - Executioner 7/10 (ended to suddenly)


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## evanswolves

Mechanicum 7/10


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## Khorne's Fist

Soulforge. Yet again, a kind of pointless novella, but a good read none the less. 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Iron Guard 9.5/10


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## evanswolves

Tales of Heresy 7/10


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## evanswolves

Fallen Angels 9/10
Also finished Halo Mortal Dictata 8/10


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## Khorne's Fist

evanswolves said:


> Fallen Angels 9/10


Really? That's a first. It's generally regarded as one of the most badly written books BL has brought out.


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## jasonpittman

I enjoyed Fallen Angels maybe on 9/10 but a solid 7


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## evanswolves

What can i say, i really enjoyed it 

A Thousand sons, 10/10
Deathwatch 8/10


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## evanswolves

Helsreach 10/10 had this on my bookshelf for a couple of months, gutted i never got round to reading it before now! Andrej <3


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## Paceyjg

Mark of Calth 7/10


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## Khorne's Fist

Reread Eisenhorn. Solid 8/10.


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## evanswolves

Hunt For Voldorius - 6/10
The first 2 thirds, or so, of the book were a right chore to get through! glad i stuck with it as it did pick up a bit when the 

Rave Guard
 showed up


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## The Scion of Chemos

evanswolves said:


> Hunt For Voldorius - 6/10
> The first 2 thirds, or so, of the book were a right chore to get through! glad i stuck with it as it did pick up a bit when the
> 
> Rave Guard
> showed up


I felt the same way.
Though the White Scars biker charges were pretty fun lol


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## Paceyjg

Pariah - 10/10

I really liked the character descriptions in the book and the possibilities of how the plot could develop.


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## BlackGuard

Angel Exterminatus: 6/10
Betrayer: 8/10
Death of Antagonis: 4/10 (I'm not done yet, but its simply dreadful ...)
Mark of Calth: 7/10


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## BlackGuard

The Unremembered Empire - 8/10


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## Anakwanar

*Vengeful spirit* - 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Renegades of the Dark Millennium - 6/10

Some good tales in there but far too short for the money!


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## Khorne's Fist

Malleus, 8/10.


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## Doelago

_Hammer & Anvil_ - 7/10 
_Double Eagle_ - 12/10


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## Khorne's Fist

The Greater Good, 7/10. Needs more Tau.


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## Doelago

_The Shape of the Hunt_ - 7.5/10



Other vise good, but a real shame they did not go through with what they had going on there. The inclusion of named characters really ruins a lot of stories because at no point are they in any real danger at all. But in this story, just for a moment, I thought they had dared to kill one, but that was not to be. A real shame they did not dare go through with it.  


_Arjak Rockfist: Anvil of Fenris_ - 8/10

The most surprising thing about it was that Ben Counter actually wrote something that at no point made me want to take a spoon and gouge my eyes out whilst reading it. Very pleasantly surprised by it.

_Deathwatch_ - 9.5/10

Never been this pleasantly surprised by a book. I was expecting it to be complete shovel ware, but it turned out to be one of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels I have read. It felt like one of the bravest books BL has released in a long time due to all the disgusting and horrific things people had to go through in it. It actually felt genuinely grim dark at times, something which most WH40K books are not. Another pleasing thing about it was that with the exception of the brief prologue, not a single bolt round was fired in the first 300 pages of the book in combat! Can it actually be possible that we had a book that concentrated on the story instead of action for once? Hell yes. 

The only thing I did not care much for was the set up for the overall storyline for future books that the author was building towards, which for me was somewhat anti-climatic in the last chapter or two, but other than that I loved every second of reading this book and finished it in one reading session. I hope Steve Parker gets to continue the story in future novels and I am eagerly anticipating whatever he choses to write next.


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## piemelke

I also really enjoyed deathwatch
just finished scars
8.0/10 best HH book in a while, beats UE , VL, AE... found it also better (marginally) than Betrayer,


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## Lord of the Night

Doelago said:


> I hope Steve Parker gets to continue the story in future novels and I am eagerly anticipating whatever he chooses to write next.


He's currently working on Deathwatch II. I'm looking forward to it very much as well.

Did you also get a real Alien/Aliens vibe from the Genestealer brood??


LotN


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## Terricus

Finished unremembered empire, I loved the story and everything about Curze was awesome. My only gripe was the compleat neglect of sevatar and the atrementar in the dark angels ship. I do not think that curze would of left them for they would of been a weapon he could use. But overall enjoyed the story. Ill give it a
8/10


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## Paceyjg

Blood of Asaheim - 8/10


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## evanswolves

The First Heretic 9/10 LOVED it! Made me pick up the Aurelian novella the following day from Games Workshop here in Wolverhampton


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## Paceyjg

Path of the Archon 9/10


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## evanswolves

Prospero Burns 8/10


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## LokiDeathclaw

Unremembered Empire 8/10

Inheritance 5/10

Dominion 4/10


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## March of Time

Vengeful Spirit 8.5/10


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## Svartmetall

*Unremembered Empire - 8.5/10* Managing to fit so many disparate elements together and make them not only work but actually propel things along was a major achievement; this could have been a godawful mess but instead it was a very compelling read. Curze is magnificently vicious and deranged, and once again it's demonstrated that the better BL authors can manage to make Roboute 'Interesting' Guilliman an actually very readable character in a book. 


*Vengeful Spirit - 3/10* A total mess of pacing and characterisation; why does Mortarion - who if you remember has been 100% Mr. Do Not Trust The Witch all the way through the series - just suddenly turn around and go "I'm killing my own Deathshroud for magic! LOLZ!!"...? It's bollocks, about as convincing as Hayden Christensen's "DURR now I think the Jedi are evil...just...er...because" in 'Revenge Of The Sith' and is an unbearably jarring and character-breaking note. And McNeill _still_ can't stop himself from quoting metal band lyrics...not what you'd expect of a professional author; at his best he can do things like the portrayal of Magnus in 'A Thousand Sons', which was genuinely very good indeed, but this is nothing like his best. 


...and I've just re-read *The First Heretic - 10/10* A _bona fide_ masterpiece IMHO; managing to make Lorgar sympathetic was an almost impossible task but ADB carries it off. Argel Tal is a superb flawed hero, and the moment when the Emperor single-handedly lays the smack down on an entire legion is just so cinematic and epic it's just a huge geekgasm. My personal favourite from the entire cycle, still.


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## Mossy Toes

My BL reading so far this year:

_The Unremembered Empire_ - 7/10. Decent. Felt that the gratuitous Primarch slapfights were wholly unnecessary, and that Curze was forced to be depicted so powerful that he made all the loyalists look bumbling and helpless. More juicy Perpetual details, but quite a bit of squandered potential: Alpha Legion plots, Word Bearers teleporting in for bloody rampages, Perpetuals working behind the scenes... these could have made for a compelling convergence of schemes, but the Primarchs had to steal the show and leave each sub-plot a few scenes to resolve themselves. Some good characters and gets into the heads of Guilliman and such well, but could have been markedly better.

_Ahriman: Exile_ - 8.5/10. An intimate portrayal of a ragged Ahriman on the run that in no way lessens how awesome and potent of a character that this, one of the most seductively cool special characters in the game, can be seen. Almost a Dresden Files book set in the 40k universe.

_Atlas Infernal_ - 8/10. Ah, Czevak, you poor, damned fool. This is a book where the author took all the coolest things about 40k and shook them up in a big jar of Eye of Terror and spilled the result out on the table. The first two chapters have Death Korps of Krieg, an immortal cannibal death-cult assassin Living Saint, Deathwatch, inquisitorial intrigue, Harlequins, a Relictors Techmarine, a daemonhost, a sultry Rogue Trader, the Eye of Terror, Salvar Chem Dogs... and more.

_Angel Exterminatus_ - 6.5. An excellent insight into the very sympathetic Perturabo. Except, uh, when he's in killing rages. The whole "copy/paste cast from Storm of Iron to make the 40k univers seem tiny" thing is depressing and distressing, as is the fact that both Iron Warriors and Emperor's Children are indistinguishable from their modern 40k counterparts. Also "hyper-competent loyalist stragglers make evil Primarchs look like fools" is also getting a bit tiresome. Lots of little things about it irritate me, but to the book's credit, its core is strong enough to bear through and act as a serviceable addition to the series.


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## MontytheMighty

Mossy Toes said:


> _The Unremembered Empire_ - 7/10. Decent. Felt that the gratuitous Primarch slapfights were wholly unnecessary, and that Curze was forced to be depicted so powerful that he made all the loyalists look bumbling and helpless.


Can't disagree there...especially when Bobby is being hospitalised by 10 tacticals and Vulkan is literally reduced to being Curze's punching bag, except Curze punches with lightning claws

I'd still give the book a slightly higher score though...7.5 or 8 of 10 as Abnett's prose is still leagues above that of Kyme, Swallow, McNeill or Thorpe. I blazed through UE, whereas I couldn't finish _Angel Exterminatus_, _Deliverance Lost_, _Vulkan Lives_, or _Fear to Tread_


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## evanswolves

Aurelian 8/10


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## evanswolves

Angels of Darkness 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Vulkan Lives 9/10


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## Doelago

_Vengeful Spirit_ - 4/10


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## Khorne's Fist

Vengeful Spirit - 3/10.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor

_Vengeful Spirit_ - 4/10


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## Paceyjg

Deathwatch - 7.5/10

Some really good stories in there that outweigh the poorer ones.


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## evanswolves

The Last Days Of Ector 8/10
Age Of Darkness 6/10
Promethean Sun 7/10
Renegades of The Dark Millennium 5/10 Wish some of the shorts were much much longer! (also didnt read the 2 previews)


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## Paceyjg

Lords of Mars - 8/10


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## Paceyjg

The Greater Good - 7/10


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## evanswolves

Finished 2 a couple of weeks ago
Flesh of Cretacia - 7/10
Outcast Dead 8/10

Finished Space wolf (10/10) tonight, this was amazing


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## Stephen74

Damnation of Pythos 4/10
Didn't really enjoy this. 
The plot was boring. How many times has this been done now? so predictable. The sub plots were boring, didn't go anywhere or opportunities were missed. I don't think it added anything to the overall heresy story line. 

The action scenes however were pretty good and I would say amongst the best in the series. 

Not a fan of the writing style in this either. Poor quality opposing metaphors and repetitive unnecessary descriptions, yes, I get it, the warp is a big swirly thing that's dangerous, give it a rest already. You could probably cut the book by 20 30 pages of repeated warp description. 
Not sure why this was part of the series myself. The story could have been told in Tales of the Heresy II if they wanted to tell it. Remove all the unnecessary storyline and descriptive work and you could easily tell it as a short story.


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## Angel of Lies

Unremembered Empire: 8/10
Scars: 7/10
Vengeful Spirit: 8/10

My only complaint about Scars was it seemed to drag a little. Vengeful Spirit was excellent but it seemed a little pointless to have the Death Guard there, other than to show that Eater of Lives guy. I guess it's probably setting the stage for the turning of the Death Guard to Nurgle.

Edit: One thing I really enjoyed was seeing normal humans actually hurt Astartes. I feel that sometimes they too easily swat aside regular humans. They actually bled a little.


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## evanswolves

DARK VENGEANCE THE NOVEL 7/10 really enjoyable and im hoping there will be a sequel even though you know what will happen


----------



## Vaz

Vengeful Spirit; 7/10. Couldn't give a shit about the main plot, nor the subplot with the overwrought Loken bit. He should have stayed dead on Isstvan, while the Knights could be seen coming a mile off. However, seeing Horus in action finally, after reading about his exploits in the FW Heresy novels? OH FUCK YES. And his whole "I am the War Master. It is not just a petty title." That was cool.

Damnation of Pythos; 1.5 out of 10. The only reason it's so high is because of the anagram of Lamiad making an appearance - and if that's intentional, I'm not even sure. The worst book bar none in the series to date (even worse than BftA). It's a Space Marine Battles novel, and a poor one at that, with the Heresy label slapped on to generate sales.


----------



## Paceyjg

Commissar - 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Unremembered Empire - 6/10 I didn't like the writing style!


----------



## Garviel loken.

Know no fear(fifth re read) 10/10 in my opinion the perfect novel. Abnett does an incredible job. Oll persson is one of my all time favourite characters
Unremembered empire 8.5/10 I really enjoyed this book. Good to see guilliman given some life.
Vengeful spirit-8/10 a good read. The loken parts are what made me really like it. Glad yes back. There were a couple scenes with horus getting raped that made me cringe


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Stormcaller: 8/10. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Njal is an absolute beast, so much so that until we see Tigurius or Mephiston in action, he must be the most powerful SM psyker of them all. The shit he pulls off in this harkened back to 2nd Ed, when he was the most powerful character in the game. 

It was also nice to see Wraight try to make right the fluff fuck ups he made in BoA.


----------



## Hoshi

Vengeful Spirit 7/10 Good to see the Sons of Horus in action again but I can't say it was very memorable.

The Crimson Fist 8/10 Loved this. The chapters between Dorn and Sigismund were terrific. 

A quick question though. When Perturabo looks at the battle outcome, if the Fists had stayed and fought, was he angry because they would have lost?


----------



## Paceyjg

Path of the Warrior - 7/10


----------



## March of Time

The Damnation of Pythos - 8/10


----------



## Moriouce

Mechanicum 4/10. The fabricators , adepts, protectors, magos and machines all had to much feelings flying around. I thought they would be more of the cold, calculated logic kind-a-guys. And the Titan battles just became silly.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Angel of Fire. 7/10. I enjoyed it enough to eventually get around to reading the next one.


----------



## Brobaddon

Death Mask short story by Cavan Scott. 1/5.

Ey rather amateurish short story about an eversor assassin who was sent to destory an ork worshipping cult called " Bruvahood " ( lol ) in a hive city.


----------



## March of Time

The Return of Nagash 9/10


----------



## Stephen74

March of Time said:


> The Damnation of Pythos - 8/10



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrjLVSapII


----------



## LokiDeathclaw

Night Lords Trilogy- 9/10
Archaon- 7/10


----------



## Myen'Tal

Valedor 9/10 

Been waiting for a book like this, rich with a lot of lore that Eldar fans don't want to miss out on. The politics are interesting, the battles are great, and there is the sense of grandiose doom and drama the Eldar are bound to get themselves into.


----------



## dmcwarhammer

Battle for the Abyss - 6/10. It's not as bad as its reputation, but still one of the weakest efforts of the first 8. Still better than Descent of Angels, though.


----------



## Mossy Toes

dmcwarhammer said:


> Battle for the Abyss - 6/10. It's not as bad as its reputation, but still one of the weakest efforts of the first 8. Still better than Descent of Angels, though.


Mhotep and Skraal go a long way to make it readable, even through mustache-twirling saturday-morning-cartoon-villain Word Bearers; Ultramarines so bland as to be impossible to distinguish from each other; and the drunken caricature of a Space Wolf. And the, to be honest, kind of silly plot... especially given how it's later made pretty pointless because, oh yeah, 

Lorgar made 3 more Furious Abysses in the warp, so it doesn't matter that this one was destroyed.


----------



## dmcwarhammer

Just finished Xenos, which is the only non-HH BL book I've read so far. Really glad I took a break from HH to explore other parts of this vast universe. 9/10.


----------



## LordNecross

I'd like some recommendation for a good read for a Necron fan. (Already read Fall of Damnos).

Something not Chaos Centric and not HH.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

LordNecross said:


> I'd like some recommendation for a good read for a Necron fan. (Already read Fall of Damnos).
> 
> Something not Chaos Centric and not HH.


Dead Men Walking. Death Korp of Krieg against an emerging tomb world. Pretty good read.


----------



## LordNecross

Khorne's Fist said:


> Dead Men Walking. Death Korp of Krieg against an emerging tomb world. Pretty good read.


Sounds good. And maybe from there I'll move on to other Guard novels.


----------



## Myen'Tal

LordNecross said:


> I'd like some recommendation for a good read for a Necron fan. (Already read Fall of Damnos).
> 
> Something not Chaos Centric and not HH.


There's also Hammer and Anvil, by James Swallow. Sisters of Battle against Necrons, but I haven't read it myself. I did read the previous SoB book by him, though, I remember liking it.


----------



## Myen'Tal

Path of the Archon 8/10 A good, satisfying conclusion of the the Dark Eldar books. The ending is a little predictable, but with enough slight twists that it does not fall flat. All of the loose ends started from the beginning of the series are wrapped up nicely, I only have one inkling question that went unanswered. And Vect did not turn out be a moustache twirler as I expected, he's actually a pretty formidable villain!

Andy Chamber's Dark Eldar Trilogy 9/10 Overall, these are some great novels, and so much different than usual bolter porn(space marines). I recommend these to anyone who are interested more in xenos than Imperium.


----------



## Znoz

Stormcaller 9/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Path of the Seer - 7.5/10


----------



## gen.ahab

Scars: 7-7.5/10 
It got a to be a bit of a drag in the middle but the ending was pretty damn fun. Primarch snack downs are always fun.

Stormcaller: 9/10
Fun as hell. Everything I want from a SW novel. Well, everything except Haegr, but such is life.

Emperor's Gift: 8.5/10
Very well written and I think his portrayal of the Knights is interesting and very well done; however, I found the individual Knights boring as hell and I honestly wouldn't have given a single fuck if they all were horribly murdered by Christmas Critters. Other than that the Wolves were fantastic, the "villain" extremely well done and over all just a very good book.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Talon of Horus, 8/10. Some excellent insights into the post Heresy legions. Tended to ramble a bit in places, but always in an interesting way.


----------



## Roninman

Scars 8/10
Vengeful spirit 5/10
Gothic war (re-read) 8/10
Emperors gift 8/10

Gothic war still is best novel for reading about space battles. Vengefull spirit is just so awfull, stupid imaginative battles, some characters with no meaning, list goes on..


----------



## Terricus

Vengeful spirit 6/10
Path of the incubus 9/10
lord of the night (re read) 10/10


----------



## Nordicus

Just read the entire Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds and man did I love it!

My final score would be:

*Dark Disciple*: 10/10
An entire host of Word Bearers against Astra Militarum and Mechanicum? Oh hell yes!
Still the best in the entire series in my opinion. I was glued to this book and couldn't let it out of my sight while I read it.

*Dark Apostle:* 8/10
The same host, now against Dark Eldar and Tyranids? What's not to love?

*Dark Creed:* 9/10
Now we're talking; Multiple hosts against a star system of Space Marines with a bit of Necrons in there as well. A suitable end to the trilogy and a excellent post-story chapter.

I can only recommend this, if you're into the Chaos armies in general. The stories are interesting, the characters are awesome and you really get a feel for how insane the Word Bearers are.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Knights of the Imperium, 7/10. Solid read with more AdMech insights. The one thing he tends to do consistently well of late is the AdMech.


----------



## Paceyjg

Path of the Outcast - 8.5/10 A fitting end to a good trilogy.


----------



## Vaz

Just picked up the fall of altdorf. Will Rate later.


----------



## Hoshi

Just finished the Talon of Horus. Now I can head over to the black legion thread and ask questions. Brilliant book. One of my favourites from the black library if not the favourite.


----------



## piemelke

just finished rebirth,
in all honesty it was not that bad, I would say 6/10
although the salamanders come across as a rather weak chapter


----------



## Phoebus

Given their state at the end of the trilogy by the same author, that should be expected. :wink:


----------



## piemelke

indeed, but besides that, they followed an utterly naive strategy and faced a significant defeat.
there was no deus ex machina saving the salamanders, they just got beaten, and rightfully so, their skin got too thick.
if they continue like this, the IF have serious competition with regard to being the imperial punching bag.
I cannot say it is great yet, but I better than I anticipated.
gods of mars is next


----------



## Phoebus

I mean, I've kind of given up on most of Black Library's authors presenting battles or campaigns in a way that (1) makes sense or (2) does justice to the characters they're writing about. With the exception of Gaunt novels and a few other examples, I'm generally in it for the stories around the battles.


----------



## MrDarth0

Damnation of Pythos - 4/10 

Boring plot, boring characters, boring book... I had to force myself to finish it and by the time I did, I didn't even remember what happened to half the characters in the book and I couldn't care less to remember. Its absolutely worthless addition to the Horus Heresy that doesn't move the overall story one iota.


----------



## March of Time

Garro: Shield of Lies - 8.5/10
Master of the First - 8/10
The Long Night - 4/10


----------



## evanswolves

Sons of wrath 9/10 for the whole 3 stories. Sons of wrath on its own was amazing I thought 
Honour of the space marines 7/10 out of the 6 stories there was only 1 I didn't like which was All must end


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Gods of Mars: 8/10. The trilogy as a whole is excellent, only being surpassed by the NL trilogy IMO. Well worth a read.


----------



## Paceyjg

Scars - 7/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Talon of Horus - 8/10


----------



## Uveron

Iron Warriors the omnibus.. 7/10 

(8/10 if you are a Fan of seeing the Imperium get kicked in the Face, It took me a long time to get though but it was well worth it, and its inspired me to get back into 40K so all in all a great book) 

Hours Rising 6/10 

Some very fun parts, but something about it just didn't quite feel right.. I get its the intro to the whole series but I think it suffers as it cannot quite make up its mind about who is telling the story, view points shift around for small things.. but not for the bigger stuff. Could be allot better with a few other POV's or less and a stronger storyteller.


----------



## piemelke

just finished gods of Mars, 
kind ok 7/10, I am really interested to see what kind of impact the esperanza can have on the 40K setting, I guess it cannot be underestimated ?
also finished ahriman sorceren 7/10, I liked a lot, but I also disliked some sections,
I found the portrayal of the GK/Wolves great although they(GK) were killed too easily in my opinion, they did not seem to be granted the emperor's gift.
I really liked Ignis, my fav character from the series


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Ahriman: Sorceror, 8/10. This could turn into one of the best series BL have. As a SW fanboy, Loved the insight into the 13th Company.


----------



## evanswolves

Grey Hunter 8/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Ahriman Sorcerer - 9/10


----------



## MrDarth0

Garro: Shield of Lies - 7/10 

It was an okay audio drama with decent acting and sounds effects, although the big "reveal" was painfully obvious from the moment you realize what the plot is going to revolve around. Also I hope they won't drag the story of Nathaniel Garro too much longer in these audio dramas and instead bring it to a satisfying conclusion in a proper novel. Garro is my second favourite character from the HH series, but the stories with him are starting to get a bit too repetitive and predictable for my taste...


----------



## evanswolves

Storm of Iron 7/10


----------



## Terricus

Talon of horus 10/10 characters are deep and fleshed out, story is gripping and the whole time reading it I am thinking "yeah, I can get behind Abaddon."


----------



## Deus Mortis

Imperfect: 8/10

Chirurgeon: 8/10

I'm not sure I can give much of a higher rating to novellas that are both less than 50 pages. Both by Nick Kyme. Now, the mark is less reflective of the prose and more of what the novellas did to me. 

See, I felt that Fulgrim was the zenith of the Emperor's Children's back story. Even the corrupted characters had complex motivations and ideal, etc. Reflection Crack'd and the retcon therein ruined that a bit for me and Angel Exerminatus really made me start to hate them because Fulgrim and everyone else became caricatures with no depth.

Then we come to Imperfect. Nick Kyme does a really good job of portraying Fulgrim as, prideful, mercurial and slightly erratic, but still interesting which is something I haven't felt about Fulgrim since 'Fulgrim'. So that makes it worth the £1.99 imo.

Chirurgeon is even more interesting. I've never really 'got' the character of Fabius Bile, why he is basically a mad doctor, why he cares so much about unlocking the secrets of how to make and improve Astartes, and why he always looks like an old man when most other Space Marines are essentially ageless. Chirurgeon actually managed to answer all of those points and get me invested in the character I previously hadn't cared about. Again, worth the £1.99 imo.


----------



## Nordicus

Siege of Castellax: 7/10

Decent story, but I found myself wandering off many times during the story. The Orks are fun to read about, but the overall story was probably my least favorite in a while, despite the nice insight into Iron Warriors.


----------



## Uveron

The Siege of Castellax-7/10 (I believe I am the 3rd person to agree to this ratting) 

I had a number of problems with the book, as someone who spends allot of time reading and re-reading the fluff on the Iron Warriors, the deviations from 'Normal' were very apparent... But Spoiler time. 



If you realize that the WarpSmith has been working against them, and you view them as a 'Splinter' of the 3rd Grand Company... its forgivable

I also had issues with the fact that it was only 60 Marines Against a Whole Ork force, sure they had 'Movie Marine powers' but I thought I would be reading a book about a real full Iron Warriors Army.. 1000+ 

Anyway.


----------



## Uveron

False Gods:- 8/10

Endeavour of Will (novella):- 7/10

Edit/Extra: As I have been spending alot of time reading. 

First and Only - (Gaunts Ghosts 1):- 8/10 {Shows its 'age' in some ways, but a great book. Glad I have started on the Series again}


----------



## Khorne's Fist

_Kharn: Eater of Worlds_. 7/10. Nice to see Kharn again, and the degeneration of the WEs is handled well, but yet another pissy, too-short, over-priced novella.


----------



## Zion

_Priests of Mars_: 8/10 Good story, despite a slow start. Nice hook of an ending for the second book.

_Lords of Mars_: 9/10 Some great stuff here, though I was left wanting about some of the details (like what a "machine-touched" person is exactly).

_Gods of Mars_: 10/10 Best ending to a trilogy I've ever read. Hands down. Also I still want to punch Hawke in the face after three books and it sets up some of the characters for later series of their own. Also the 

Hrud
 are fucking scary.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Zion said:


> _Priests of Mars_: 8/10 Good story, despite a slow start. Nice hook of an ending for the second book.
> 
> _Lords of Mars_: 9/10 Some great stuff here, though I was left wanting about some of the details (like what a "machine-touched" person is exactly).
> 
> _Gods of Mars_: 10/10 Best ending to a trilogy I've ever read. Hands down. Also I still want to punch Hawke in the face after three books and it sets up some of the characters for later series of their own. Also the
> 
> Hrud
> are fucking scary.


That trilogy really showcases what McNeil can do when he tries. Great characters, properly villainous villains, well paced plot and lots of great AdMech fluff. 

I'll put up with the odd _Vengeful Spirit_ if we get to see more stuff like this.


----------



## Zion

Khorne's Fist said:


> That trilogy really showcases what McNeil can do when he tries. Great characters, properly villainous villains, well paced plot and lots of great AdMech fluff.


Not to mention it's the only trilogy I've seen that just progressively gets better with each book.



Khorne's Fist said:


> I'll put up with the odd _Vengeful Spirit_ if we get to see more stuff like this.


Haven't read that one, but I'm giving _Mechanicum_ a fair shake because of how well he did_ Mars_.


----------



## Brother Lucian

When seeing what became of Kotov when he recieved the machine blessing. I keep thinking of Mechanicum, the comming of the Emperor to Mars when he heals the knight walker with a touch. As well later when the pure light of the Astronomican is channeled into the Akashic Reader project and thusly kept the chaotic scrapcode from infecting the loyalist Admech.

Little wonder he could give it as the Omnisiah of cult legend.


----------



## Paceyjg

Vengeful Spirit - 6/10


----------



## Roninman

Forgotten soldier, second time 9/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The World Engine. 5/10. Yet another disappointing entry in the SM Battles series. Shame they left it in the hands of Bean Counter. No real surprise he made a shit of it.


----------



## Doelago

_The Seventh Serpent_ - 5/10 

Nice ideas, shit execution. 

_Trial by Blood_ - 5/10

When I ordered it from Black Library I was really excited, but when it arrived and I found out that it was actually just a collection of previously released short stories with a few pages of actual new content I felt really cheated. Wish they had mention that everything worthy of note in this book had been previously published so I‘d have saved my money.

_Tallarn: Ironclad_ - 7/10

Again, somewhat miss marketed. Was hoping for the million tanks clashing in a desert story, but this is hardly it. Still, the Alpha Legion/Assassin and Sons of Horus sub plots were good enough.


----------



## andygorn

*The Unremembered Empire = 8/10*
Could have got 9.5 or 10, but it seemed like a bit too much like "Batman is awesome".

*Soul Drinkers Omnibus = 0 out of 10*
I suppose that I could have given this 1 out of 10 because it was not written by C.S. Goto, but this is the only book (BL or otherwise) which I have never been able to finish.

N.B.: I did not have any preconceived notions either regarding the author or of what this would be about, so I went into it with an open mind.

Spoiler:
In the foreword at the start, Ben Counter says something along the lines of "I wanted to explore a 3rd way for the marines: something other than either imperial or chaos and I succeeded".
Sounds intriguing & I was interested to see what happens.

Then at about page 160-170(?) a marine rebels against his chapter master and they fight a duel. During the duel...for no apparent reason whatsoever...the challenger grows huge spider legs and wins.

Up to this point in time, there has been no preview that this was going to happen: no sorcery influences or psychic mental triggers; no "feeling inseminated by Chaos"; no reading of forbidden texts, creating a secret cult, or solitary invocations to dark gods(etc). There has also been no rejection of The Emperor whatsoever.

It...just...happens...

In terms of whatever we know about 40K, this is a total and utter "WTF just happened?" moment.

Everyone has been watching the battle and the veterans (who must have killed off countless chaos and xenos over the decades) don't even bat an eyelid at this turn of events.
In fact, they come to the aid of the victor and kill off everyone who thinks that having a spider-legged leader is a bad idea.

Only the Scouts [who by definition don't know anything] come to the aid of the loser.
Eh???

Please bear in mind it's not like the HH where you have secret cults usurping the command structure, or infiltrators wearing each other's skin, etc.
One guy grows huge spider legs, kills off their leader and virtually everyone agrees that this is a good situation....Eh???

It's even less believable than if you're watching the movie Bambi, but the deer unzips his skin, turns into a genestealer and starts doing drugs with Thumper...whilst they fly around on a rainbow.

In any stretch of the imagination, this is not only unbelievable as a story.
But it is also a failure in terms of the author saying "I did X and it works".
No it didn't Ben...you just created a Mary Sue Spontaneous Chaos-Beast.
And ruined your entire work for me for my whole life.

0-10.


----------



## March of Time

The World Engine 8/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

_Pariah, _7/10. I will admit that it got an extra mark because of the anticipation it has built in me for 

the epic face off between Eisenhorn and Ravenor that is promised in the rest of the series.


----------



## Doelago

_The World Engine_ - 7/10

_Raptor_ - 5/10

_Lord of the Night_ - 9/10


----------



## Angel of Lies

The Talon of Horus - 6/10

I felt the book was pretty rushed, and that the plot would have been far better if it had been taken an altogether better direction. The portrayal of Abaddon as a "Just As Planned" guy was kind of hard to swallow and hurt his image to me rather than impress me. I hope the rest of the series is more promising.


----------



## Paceyjg

Redemption Corps - 5/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Skitarius, 6/10.


----------



## Paceyjg

Dead Men Walking - 6/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Deathfire, 4/10. Absolute turkey.


----------



## gen.ahab

Death of Antagonis - 5.5/10 .... meh?


----------



## Paceyjg

Gods of Mars - 7/10


----------



## Pugnax

I find these opinions useful, although the ratings are far too high in general. I find if I take the user's rating and subtract 5, then divide by 5 instead of 10, the ratings are much more realistic for me.

Examples:
10/10 = 5/5
9/10 = 4/5
8/10 = 3/5
7/10 = 2/5
6/10 = 1/5

I love the 40K and Horus Heresy universe, I just do not find that almost all of the books to be above average as most of the reviewers here do. I do agree with most of the popular sentiment here about which books and authors are better than others.


----------



## Paceyjg

Damnation of Pythos - 7/10


----------



## Captain_Loken

Grey Knights - 6/10

Galaxy in Flames - 9/10 (IT would have been a 10 had something not happened in the end. ((no spoilers)))


----------



## Paceyjg

Fall of Macharius - 8/10


----------



## Captain_Loken

Flight of the Eisenstein - 3/10


----------



## piemelke

deathfire, 6


----------



## Paceyjg

Valedor - 10/10

Bravo Guy Haley!


----------



## Doelago

_Gods of Mars_ - 7/10

Took some effort to get into it, but quite enjoyed it once it got going although the last third of the book really felt dragged out at times.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The Hunt for Magnus, 4/10. Pointless.


----------



## Nih

Blood for the Blood God - 3/5 

Like it for the details, but was thrown off by the focus of the story. It was a fun romp of violence, but didn't do much else for me.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Shadows of Treachery = 7/10

Much more enjoyable than I thought it would be as an anthology. To break it down by novella:

Crimson Fist = 7/10 (Alexis Polux came across as a bit too whiny and insecure of himself, but it was an enjoyable read and I was genuinely willing the Imperial Fists to say "hang it" to orders and kill Perturabo. Way to go French-y.)

The Dark King = 7/10 (Short, perhaps too short for my taste, but some good dialogue and insights)

The Lighting Tower = 6/10 (Again a bit too short and another story where the Imperial Fists, well Dorn, come across as painfully insecure)

The Kaban Project = 5/10 (Not great. The main character was a bit of a whiney ponce and I was kind of glad by the time he died. The Kaban machine was kinda cool though, but waxing on fully functional AI have been done better elsewhere)

Raven's Flight = 4/10 (Again, not great. I'm trying to not slate it too much because of what followed it, but in this the Alpha Legion Face/Off, bland characters and poor plot points are largely absent. Probably because it's so short, thankfully)

Death of a Silversmith = 6/10 (I would give this a lower mark because the character is a vaguely annoying artsy ponce, but they're a remembrancer so that actually how they're _supposed_ to be. Not a riveting story, but the last line earns it some points back in cool-ness)

Prince of Crows = 9/10 (Bearing in mind I bought this at a half price book store for £3, I would have bought it just for this story. Hell, I'd probably have considered paying close to RRP for this story. Can the next collection of Novellas, because there will be one, just all be written by A D-B. Dude writes the best characters. Seriously, some of Sevatar's dry humor is the best)

All in all, it's worth getting. Especially if you can get it at the price I did!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, 8/10.

Not usually a fan of Thorpe's, but I enjoyed this one. The phoenix lords are about the only bit of Eldar fluff that interests me. It definitely gave Asurmen more character than you'd think a ghost-filled suit of armour would have, and you get to see his origins during the Fall of the Eldar. Interesting stuff.


----------



## Paceyjg

Asurmen Hand of Asuryan - 7/10


----------



## dmcwarhammer

Nemesis - 8/10. I'm clearly in the minority here, but I love detective science fiction.
Hunt for Voldorius - 2/10. I've read 21 BL titles (14 HH, Eisenhorn trilogy, Deathwatch, and the first three Space Marine Battles) and this was by far the worst one I've read


----------



## Iron Circle

Scars - 8/10
Vengeful Spirit - 4/10
The Wolf King - 9/10


----------



## MontytheMighty

I love detective sci-fi...but I could not bring myself to finish Nemesis.

Recently re-read Horus Rising. If average HH clunker is a 5...this would be an 8 or a 9, leaning towards a 9


----------



## Paceyjg

Stormcaller - 5/10


----------



## Terricus

So I finished know no fear. I am not a fan of the book to be honest. it felt rushed and a bit jumpy, the ending was neat but that is about it. 
6/10


----------



## Doom wolf

Prospero Burns 9/10.

It was slow, and the title is deceiving. I thinks it's more about the pre-heresy space wolves than the fall of prospero, but it's epic and awesome. I love "the thirteen warrior feel".

Armageddon by ADB. 8/10.

Good writing, and ADB come out of his comfort zone, a little at least. Still a good read.

Hereticus. 5/10

A strange case, I've just have a hard time to get in this one, yet strangely I liked the other two well enough to give them a 7,5/10.


----------



## Paceyjg

Legacies of Betrayal - 6/10


----------



## Lorgar Aurelian

Just finished Prince of Crows. Really good, 8/10.

Enjoyed the dream sequence when Curze met his brothers and saw their futures.
Going to start Pharos soon.


----------



## Gabriel Chase

Lorgar Aurelian said:


> Just finished Prince of Crows. Really good, 8/10.
> 
> Enjoyed the dream sequence when Curze met his brothers and saw their futures.


It IS utterly magnificent, isn't it!?


----------



## Terricus

Pharos 8/10 

Great story and nice to see a ton of characters we know and love. The night lords characters are really great and fleshed out while I feel the ultramarines are a bit boring aside from a couple. 

Overall it was a great read.


----------



## Paceyjg

Ahriman Unchanged - 10/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Wolf King, 7/10. As a rule I'm not a fan of the HH novellas, but this one at least clears up who saved the Wolves from the AL. It also raises questions regarding the true strength of the DA.


----------



## Paceyjg

I am Slaughter - 8/10


----------



## Hachiko

I Am Slaughter 8/10

Predator, Prey 9/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Ragnar Blackmane, 6/10. So, so disappointing.

Ravenlord, 4/10. Absolutely pointless.


----------



## Doelago

_I am Slaughter_ - 9/10
_Predator, Prey_ - 8/10 
_The Unforgiven_ - 4/10 
_Garro: Vow of Faith_ - 7.5/10 
_Wolf King _ - 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Predator Prey - 9/10


----------



## Lord of Ruin

So far this Year -

*40k*

Ragnar Blackmane 4/5
Legion of the Damned 4.5/5
Unforgiven 5/5
Predator Prey 5/5

*HH*

The Purge 5/5
Garrow Vow of Faith 4.5/5


----------



## Lorgar Aurelian

Gabriel Chase said:


> It IS utterly magnificent, isn't it!?


Brilliant pal :good:

Just finished up the dark angels and night lords stories audios fully or at least I think

A safe and shadowed place, Prince of Crows, Pharos and Savage weapons.

Am i missing anything here? How did the night lords legion get wrecked before 'a safe and shadowed place'.

Sevatar has become one of my favourites.


----------



## DelvarusThePitFighter

I haven't read that much I'd say;

40k;
Wrath of Iron - 7/10
Death of Integrity - 6/10

HH;
Age of Darkness - 6.5/10
The Primarchs - 7.5/10
Fear to tread - 8/10
Shadows of Treachery - 7.5/10
Betrayer - 9.5/10
Mark of Calth - 7/10


----------



## Hachiko

The Walker in Fire 9/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Ahriman Exodus - 10/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Pharos, 7/10. Nice work from Guy Haley, even if he didn't get around to explaining how the the BA conquer the Runestorm.


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

I kind of been jumping around the Horus Heresy set a bit, but here's what I have been reading.

*The First Heretic*: 9/10 (I really loved the development of the Word Bearers as they are obviously my favorite legion, and it was a really fun read. I would have preferred a bit more action, and that's why I didn't give it a 10/10.)

*Angel Exterminatus*: 8.5/10 ( Again, a lot of great development in the legion story. I loved the Iron Warriors, and grew to hate the Emperor's Children and finally realized why they are deemed the "bad guys". Again, I could have used a little more action, but overall worth re reading.)

*Iron Warriors Omnibus*: 10/10 (Absolutely spectacular. I am sad by the fact that there was only one novel and a couple short stories. I wish there were more actual novels from the Iron Warriors, but overall very awesome! I could read about them all day long. I bought Siege of Castellex, and I am anxious to read that!)



So I have to admit this to everyone, because I feel like I am strange or doing it, but lately I have been reading the ebooks/physical books along with the audio books at the same time. Basically following along as the funny brit guy is in character. It's almost like watching a movie inside my imagination. If you haven't tried it, I would highly recommend trying it!! It's great!


----------



## gobsmak

*Rate What you Read*

Raven Lord 7/10
Tallarn Executioner 8/10
Scars 8.5/10
Unremembered Empire 8/10
Fear to Tread 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Carnac Campaign - 7/10


----------



## DelvarusThePitFighter

gobsmak said:


> Raven Lord 7/10
> Tallarn Executioner 8/10
> Scars 8.5/10
> Unremembered Empire 8/10
> Fear to Tread 6/10


6!? damn. And 8 for UE? It's your perception of the books so of course there's no 'wrong score' - I'm just very surprised


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

I forgot one!

Know No Fear: 10/10 (I have been waiting to read about Calth, and it was worth the wait. I enjoyed the whole book, and thought it was well written and well drawn out. I think Gulimann was well portrayed and Lorgar was okay, I think he could have been better, but overall good. I was listening to the audio book while I read the physical book, so I think I could blame the guy who read the book and voicing Lorgar... kind of made him sound like a whiney child. Wasn't a fan of that, but in other audio books with him, he sounds good. So I think it was just the narrator.)


----------



## Paceyjg

Silver Skulls Portents - 5/10


----------



## Hachiko

The Emperor Expects - 6/10


----------



## gen.ahab

Iron Guard - 8.5/10

Really fun read. Wish that there were more IG novels out there like it.


----------



## Paceyjg

Architect of Fate - 7/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

I am Slaughter. 8/10. Good to get some Abnett in. I like what he did with the structure of the IFs, with Walls instead of companies. Some of the individuals names were a bit much, but it was a nice idea.


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

Deathfire - 4/10 (I didn't really like how Nick Kyme portrayed the Salamanders. I also wasn't really fond of his writing style. I do own Rebirth, so I will give him another chance.)

Pharos - 9/10 (Absolutely amazing! I enjoyed the writing style a lot. The story was well paced. I only give it a 9 instead of a 10 because, though I thought the Night Lords were portrayed better than in the three books ADB put out, they were really only in the ending part of the book!)

The Beast Arises : I Am Slaughter - 8/10 (Another really good book! I love Dan Abnett, so really anything he does is awesome! The pace in this book was great. I loved the twist, however it was fairly predictable. The only thing I didn't really like all that much was that it, along with the whole TBA series, is that it's a novella. I just picked up book 4 a few days ago at a local store, so I am in it for the long haul!)


----------



## Paceyjg

The Emperor Expects - 7/10


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

The Beast Arises: Predator Prey - 3/10 (I found it kind of boring, nothing like the first one! It was decent, but I Am Slaughter and so far The Emperor Expects is much better!)


----------



## Hachiko

The Last Wall 9/10


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

The Emperor Expects - 5/10 (Not a huge fan of the assassin guy and the inquisitor... I felt the author went to those guys too often... kind of unnecessarily. However, unlike the norm, I liked the portrayal of the Imperial Navy!)


----------



## Paceyjg

Kharn Eater of Worlds - 9/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Siege of Castellax = 8/10


----------



## gen.ahab

Wrath of Iron - 7/10

Some really interesting bits and some really uninteresting bits. 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


----------



## Paceyjg

The Last Wall - 6/10


----------



## Dark Apostle Marduk

Paceyjg said:


> The Last Wall - 6/10


Same.

The Outcast Dead - 8/10 (I enjoyed the story line of humans during the beginning of the Heresy. Their point of view was pretty awesome.)


----------



## Hachiko

Throneworld: 9/10


----------



## gobsmak

Deathwatch - Steve Parker 8.5/10 an excellent read :good:


----------



## MontytheMighty

Path of Heaven 8.9/10


----------



## Haskanael

The Last Wall 7/10
Throneworld 9/10


----------



## Doelago

*Throneworld* - 9/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Path of Heaven. 8/10.


----------



## Doelago

Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar - 7/10 

Adds absolutely _nothing_ to the Horus Heresy or WH40K universe, but I did enjoy reading it even though it was bolter porn from beginning to end. My biggest problem with the book is the whole Theoretical & Practical gimmick that has been driven really hard into the ground at this point tho and this book is a prime example of something that has been started in another book getting driven hard into the ground in a follow up by another author. It was all fun and shit back in _Know No Fear_, but this book overuses it so hard that it gets borderline annoying. But still, I enjoyed reading the book, but it is also completely skippable for anyone who is looking for more than bolter porn set in the Great Crusade era.


----------



## Matcap

Path of heaven 9/10
An entry into the HH series that for me brings it back to the level of Horus Rising/Fulgrim/First Heretic/Betrayer. Really enjoyed it.


----------



## Paceyjg

Throneworld - 7/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Echoes of the Long War - 5/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Hunt for Vulkan - 5/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Beast Must Die - 7/10


----------



## Doelago

_Praetorian of Dorn_ - 9.5/10 

First Heresy book I have read in ages, and I absolutely loved it. Holy shit this book had balls. A true return to form for the series, hope it keeps up.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Master of Mankind, 9/10. Some excellent insights into the Emperor and his methods and motivations, his attitude to the primarchs, and his aspirations for humanity. Instant ADB classic.


----------



## Paceyjg

Watchers in Death - 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

The Last Son of Dorn - 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Shadow of Ullanor - 7/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Fabius Bile: Primogenitor. 7/10. A solid but unspectacular start to a presumed trilogy. Interesting to note that the Harlequin seer Veilwalker plays a part in the story. He seems to be getting g around quite a bit these days.


----------



## earth127

Master of Mankind 8/10

Not quite bolter-porn of decent quality. Enjoyable if not very diverse (from a story perspective cast) and an epic finale. I liked it.


----------



## Paceyjg

The Beheading - 8/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Fabius Bile Primogenitor - 9/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Deathfire - 8/10

(am I the only person using this thread now?)


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The Crimson King, 6/10. Just didn't quite hit the spot for me. McNeill talks in his afterword of the difficulties he had writing the book. I think I can see why.


----------



## Paceyjg

War without End - 8/10


----------



## Doelago

Damnation of Pythos - Pointless/10 

What in the fuck did I read. What does this have to do with the Horus Heresy? Why is a HH novel wasted to be a tie in to a shitty SMB novel? How does one make godzilla versus greater daemons boring? How many theosaurus were harmed in the writing of this book? I was listening to the audiobook and all the time thought that _something_ of relevance has to happen soon, and then it just ended with nothing having happened. What the fuck was the point of this book.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Dark Imperium, 8/10. 

Full of new lore regarding Primaris marines, the current state of the Imperium, Guilliman resenting the Emperor, Calgar resenting Guilliman, along with a few cameos of famous UMs both past and present.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne, 9/10. Really loved this book. It's nice to get back into the intrigues of the Inquisition, and I really loved Wraight's depiction of the squalor and struggles of life on Terra for it's lowly inhabitants.

Ghosts Speak Not & Patience (HH shorts), 7/10. Nice to finally see some of Garro's companions from the Eisenstein get some love, and Amendera Kendel makes a good fledgling Inquisitor. Garro makes a pretty badass appearance in Patience, as well.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Horusian Wars: Ressurection, 7/10. Very good story, but I found it hard to relate to Inquisitor Covenant. You see him from the perspective of his henchmen, without actually getting to know him, and while keeping him a mysterious, strong, silent type was probably the intention, all it did was make him almost incidental to the events happening to those henchmen. I will look forward to the sequel though. Maybe Eisenhorn will make a cameo somewhere along the line.


----------



## Paceyjg

Pharos - 8/10


----------



## Moonschwine

Wordbearers Omnibus - 7/10

A solid read of an underrated legion to be honest, but it can be a little ham-fisted and rushed at some points. The sub stories range from fascinating (such as a Captured PDF becoming a Chaos Cultist) to lacklustre (Marine fights bad people and doesn't afraid of anything). The characters range from quite interesting (The Coryphas terminator captain who hates his new boss) to Saturday morning cartoon evil (Rarrr I'm Burias the angry possessed raarrr). If you like Chaos this is a must read and Reynolds does a good job of keeping to source material and interesting fight scenes.


Liber Chaotica - 9/10

Now out of date and redundant in wake of Age of Sigmar, this book is none-the-less a fantastic look into the Chaos forces of the Old World. Written from the perspective of an anthropologist / researcher who explores the various tribes and powers / history of chaos, it's filled with great artwork, interesting commentaries and provides an "unlike-anything I've seen elsewhere" look into the Lore. The biggest and most frustrating part of the book though is the font used as the hand-writing of the 'Author' on various subjects and letters. Even if you can read cursive, you'll find yourself struggling on some of the words because the text is just - well difficult to read. 

A real gem if you can get your hands on a copy for cheap.


----------



## Brother Dextus

Helsreach; 8/10
Blood and Fire; 5/10

Helsreach is a great book imo - gives some fantastic insight into templars and their relations within the chapter, with the guard and other astartes, as well as grimaldus' coming of age, so to speak.
The sequal novella, not so much, apart from the 'story' he tells of how he earned the skull helm.


----------



## Kharn The Complainer

Not Black Library, but the Emperor would approve. *Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion*. 
I'll give it 8/10 for being an excellent read that is filled with good humour, well constructed points and examples. There is no god, only the beauty of nature. If Lorgar had read a copy then perhaps the Heresy would have been averted.


----------



## Doelago

_Shroud of Night_ - 8/10

Really enjoyed this one. I would not say it a mind blowing, but was a nice look into the post-Gathering Storm era and I liked the way they handled a lot of the new toys.


----------



## Brother Dextus

Couple of reads lately - 


Siege of Castellax 6.5/10 
It was OK. Unusual as it was chaos vs orks, and Iron warriors showing their callous disregard towards the humans. It just didn't seem like a great story, and where there was bolterporn, it was pretty poorly written. 


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071YSTYDJ/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
How to improve your painting 10/10.
Its free, its got some handy hints. Whats not to like!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Carcharadons: Red Tithe. 8/10. Really enjoyed this book. The perspectives of both the space sharks and NLs are both interesting, and the action is well paced. Also loved the tidbits about the Sharks' origins. There's enough there to start a fluff thread later.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Warden of the Flame, 6/10. It was interesting to see the origins of Castellan Crowe and how he came to bare the burden of the Blade of Antwyr, but it got a bit repetitive, and the ending was sign-posted from miles out.


----------



## Doelago

_Angels of Caliban_, 6/10 

I wanted to like it, and there were certainly plenty of good bits in there, but I have some real issues with the portrayal of the Primarchs. Its a recurring theme in Thorpes books that characters cannot be reasonable in any way and I felt this one took it to the extreme. I felt every time any of the Primarchs talked to each other they were over the slightest disagreement going straight to anger and being at each others throats.


----------



## Paceyjg

Eye of Terra - 7/10


----------



## Doelago

_Cadia Stands_, 2/10? 

It saddens me to say this, but this book was a mess. It started with a great prologue, but from there it just fell apart so badly that it is hard to describe. It tries to do everything at once and fails spectacularly on all fronts. There is exactly _zero_ character development, no clue what the idea here was. It just keeps jumping around from character to character, switching POV sometimes three times on a single fucking page. The first half of the book especially is really incoherent and it just jumps with days and months in whatever direction not following any character in particular.


----------



## Brother Lucian

Rise of the Ynnari, Ghost warrior. 5/10

I found it passable and an interesting look at the status of the eldar post the great rift, but thats about it. Its very slow paced and takes a really long time to pick up, and ultimately doesn't change much. Though the very much final chapter perhaps the best part of the book, but sure takes a long time to get there. 
I think it suffers from being an opening book for the eldar post gathering storm, and thusly can't have any monumental changes or revelations, hence the nothing changes comment.

The craftworld eldar and dark eldar path series was far better written, and a lot more energetic.


----------



## Paceyjg

The Path of Heaven - 9/10.

(Best HH book in a long time!)


----------



## Paceyjg

Black Legion - 10/10.


----------



## Doelago

_The Path of Heaven _ - 9/10


----------



## Doelago

_Ruinstorm_ - 3/10 

Absolutely terrible. All the problems I have had with Annandales other works just got multiplied tenfold in this one.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The Emperor's Legion, 9/10. The best BL novel I've read ina couple of years.


----------



## Shandathe

Cadia Stands, 1/10

If I'd seen @Doelago's earlier comment I'd probably have skipped this one, but this thing deserves another mention because of how it is advertised. I quote:



Black Library said:


> The storm has broken and the forces of Chaos batter against Cadia's defences. Lord Castellan Creed leads the defence of the fortress world, but for how much longer can they hold out. Cadia stands… but will it stand forever?
> 
> READ IT BECAUSE
> Justin D Hill follows up his Ursarkar Creed short stories in Legends of the Dark Millennium: Astra Militarum with the tale of the hero's finest – and darkest – hour.


I feel I can be forgiven for thinking this *was a story about Creed*. If you've read Gathering Storm 1: Fall of Cadia, you'll probably agree that we're getting tantalizing hints there's a fantastic story happening with the main Imperial characters: Creed, later joined by Cawl, Celestine and Greyfax. We get a bunch of short snippets and sidebars that practically beg for a novelization of their interactions.

This, however, is not that story. Creed barely gets to be on the stage, and then only seen through a third party. Cawl and Greyfax never appear at all. We're instead getting half a dozen shorts that merely happen to be set on Cadia during those final months. Worse, those stories only occasionally nod toward converging. 

This book is a trainwreck, only made worse by the missed opportunity.


----------



## Paceyjg

The Carrion Throne - 8/10


----------



## Brother Lucian

Castellan by David Annandale 1/10

For once I have to give a David Annandale book a total miss. I find this book unbelievably bad with the truly insane feats of the Grey Knights. I enjoyed the first book Warden of the Blade, but its like he didnt even try in this book. While he does the impossible deviancy of chaos well, its not enough to lift it above the disaster that is the super overpowered Grey Knights and Crowe in particular. David should really have taken more than just a page from his first book.

Spoiler


Crowe alone manages to second guess AND -out-dance the Masque of Slaanesh while Antwyr is battering his mind in a quite lenghty fight.


Grey Knights, Dark Adeptus and Hammer of Daemons are far better Grey Knights novels by a far more competent author that strikes them as a strong precision instrument, without going totally gaga.


----------



## Doelago

_The Devastation of Baal_ by Guy Haley - 9.5/10 

_Dante_ was great, this one was even better. Guy Haley writes the Blood Angels so well that I don‘t want another author to touch them. All around an excellent book, and somehow manages not to devolve into bolter porn which amazed me considering the circumstances depicted in the book.


----------



## Paceyjg

The Emperors Legion - 10/10


----------



## VulkansNodosaurus

Ahriman: Exile 8/10
Ahriman: Sorcerer 9/10
Ahriman: Unchanged 6/10

(read as part of the Omnibus, as you may guess. Yes, I'm just a bit behind on BL....)


----------



## Brother Lucian

Knightsblade 8/10. I found it considerable improvement over the previous book Kingsblade, which I found rather mediocre. 

Andy Clark has definitely gotten much better at writting Imperial Knights. 

I look forward to read the third book in the series, I -want- to see the end of the tale.


----------



## ExaltedUrizen

Lorgar: Bearer of the Word 8/10

Quite a slow paced novel, but the climax and implications of the ending gave me a whole new perspective of my favourite primarch.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Ruinstorm, 5/10. Really struggled with this one. Sanguinius' inner struggle with his visions of his own death was played on far too much, so much so I got bored with it. I think this arc of the story might have been a bit too big for Annandale.

The one thing of interest was the revelation that 

the gods wanted Sang to kill Horus and take over his mantle, going on to rule in their name.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Old Earth, 7/10. I enjoyed this one. We finally learn what Vulkan's purpose is, and the whole Meduson and the Shattered Legions story arc is finished up nicely.


----------



## Brother Lucian

Lukas the Trickster by Josh Reynolds. 10/10

A sleeper hit, and one of the best takes Ive EVER read on the space wolves! It hits their culture in a truly sublime way. Lukas the Trickster is an -incredible- canny and funny character. His appearance in Ashes of Prospero is nothing compared to this take on him. I really want to see where his wyrd takes him now, its bound to be epic beyond belief.

The Dark Eldar is also not neglected, Duke Sliscus is a wicked delight to read about as well the intra-deldar intrigue and their labyrinthine scheming.

Read it, READ IT! It cannot be stated hard enough!


----------



## Paceyjg

Resurrection - 7/10


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Sons of the Hydra, 3/10. Awful. Just awful. An Alpha Legion warband with no Alpha Legionnaires in it? Just a plain stupid idea.

Warmaster, 7/10. Like putting on a comfortable pair of old slippers. Good to be back among the Ghosts.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Lucas the Trickster, 8/10. Really enjoyed this. Lukas was always a character that needed his own novel. Along with Duke Sliscus and Lady Malys as a supporting cast, this cast makes for a very entertaining read.


----------



## Brother Lucian

Voice of Mars 6/10

Felt much more jumbled compared to Eye of Medusa. I think it had far too many characters compared to the first book.
I just hope the plot gets properly resolved in book 3 as its interesting, even if its dragging alot and painstakingly dripfeeding information about the 'macguffin'

Eye of Medusa felt much fresher because it focused a lot more on world building, and pun intended - fleshing out the Iron Hands. As well had a clear focus on the main protagonist for most of the book.


----------



## Shandathe

Shroud of Night - an 8/10 *and* a WTF-is-this/10

Really of two minds on this one. On the one hand, Andy Clark tells us a good story of an Alpha Legion warband's shenanigans. Slightly too many characters in it but they're amusing enough.

On the other... Celestine and Khârn are both in the book (not a spoiler, Celestine is on the cover and Khârn mentioned on the back) and especially the latter's parts are just... eyebrow-raising levels of WTF?




Andy Clark definitely wasn't briefed properly on Celestine's background - her arrival has the local Canoness go "The scriptures say she shall choose two of our sisterhood to attend her and walk in her blessings as her Geminae Superia". Which is instead something that first (and to my knowledge ONLY) happened on Cadia during GS when she found two mostly-dead Canoness twins. Geminae even MEANS twin. I'd be willing to accept she found it a good idea and decided to run with it, but it surely shouldn't be part of any scripture (yet!). There's more, but Celestine's parts are few and written well so I'll excuse it. 

Khârn on the other hand... oh dear. To quote the Blues Brothers, he's on a mission from god. Khorne sent him to kill Celestine. So yeah, he has a direct line to Khorne now? Plus he took a level in diviner given that Celestine only appears on the damn planet when the Chaos fleet has been over it for a good lone while already...

Anyway, he's instantly recognized by everyone and his appearance is reacted to like he's a division of Baneblades. He's a force of nature, and as he kills his way through entire regiments the Warp tears in his wake and daemons start appearing. :headbutt:

The entire novel is pretty much an excuse to have Khârn kill off Celestine. And it's not even a decent fight. We instead get the woman who was matching Abaddon on Cadia "knowing" she couldn't win and JUST ACCEPTING IT. Just... what.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Ashes of Prospero, 5/10. 

In the hands of anyone but Thorpe, this would have been a great book. It has almost all the major SW characters in it, we see how bad a shape the SWs are in after the wider events taking place after the return of Guilliman. Sadly Thorpe's style lets the story down badly. His portrayal of both Njal and Lucas are very different to what we've seen previously, as if he hadn't read the material featuring them. 

Some interesting fluff in it though. 



Njal is called to Prospero with the lure of possibly retrieving Bullveye and the 13th company from a dimensional realm similar to the webway, where 10,000 years only feels like weeks. He succeeds, recovering over 200 Old Guard, along with lots of HH era equipment. The future of the SWs doesn't look as bleak now. 

There's also an interesting bit about Grimnar musing over wether or not the time will come for the SWs to take up the mantle of enforcer again, as he is unsettled by the return of Guilliman and the new Primaris marines.


----------



## Brother Lucian

War of Secrets by Phil Kelly. 2/10 

Uninspired bolter porn of the worst sort. Everything that could go wrong with the primaris and the Dark Angels went wrong, except for the Tau plotline which turned out to be the highlight of the book and saves it from total avoid on sight. But Phil Kelly went way over the rails with the single uber Tau.

The Tau..


Is the missing Fourth Sphere expansion fleet, traumatised through their journey through the warp. And the fact that a -human- god saved them! Not the Emperor, but a god formed from their human auxiliaries' idea of the greater good. A faceless thing with waaaay too many arms, which rips a hole in the warp to let them escape back to reality. Which spooks the Tau badly on their human minions, wanting to purge this false idol'. The Tau however falls resoundingly flat when their ubertau Kais solos the whole of the Angels of Absolution fortress monastery in a ghostkeel suit. They only manage to kill him with an orbital strike. Utter and absolute drivel for a single tau to kill so many space marines, terminators, static defenses, officers and a librarian with such ease.



Read at your own peril. I was close to putting it down halfway through.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Brother Lucian said:


> War of Secrets by Phil Kelly. 2/10


Damn, I was looking forward to this. Oh well, considering the volume of good stuff coming from BL at the moment, the odd bad one is to be expected.

Devastation of Baal. 7/10. Well written, with some interesting glimpses into the psyche of Dante, and the BA and successors as a whole. It also brings the BA up to date with the return of Girlyman.



The fact that the BA have their own version of wulfen was new to me. I knew all about the black rage and red thirst, but the fact that they can eventually mutate into hulking red-skinned indestructible vampiric monsters was a surprise.


----------



## Brother Lucian

Khorne's Fist said:


> Damn, I was looking forward to this. Oh well, considering the volume of good stuff coming from BL at the moment, the odd bad one is to be expected.
> 
> Devastation of Baal. 7/10. Well written, with some interesting glimpses into the psyche of Dante, and the BA and successors as a whole. It also brings the BA up to date with the return of Girlyman.
> 
> 
> 
> The fact that the BA have their own version of wulfen was new to me. I knew all about the black rage and red thirst, but the fact that they can eventually mutate into hulking red-skinned indestructible vampiric monsters was a surprise.





Its those 'things' that is hidden in the Tower of Amareo on Baal. Its what Blood Angels becomes when they succumb fully to the flaw, if they arent killed by Astorath the Grim. In Death of Integrity the same thing happens to a certain Blood Angel descendant.


----------



## Paceyjg

The Silent War - 6/10


----------



## Paceyjg

Cult of The Spiral Dawn - 8/10.

Love Peter Fehervari as an author, this book fails to score higher only as it is quite short and another 100 pages would have added a much deeper level!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

_Kingsblade_, 7/10. An enjoyable enough look into the workings of a knightly house.


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## VulkansNodosaurus

HH:
Pharos 6/10
Aurelian 5/10
The Path of Heaven 9/10
The Purge 4/10


40K:
Path of the Renegade 10/10
Path of the Incubus 9/10
Path of the Archon 5/10
Gods of Mars 9/10
Dark Imperium 5/10
Carcharodons: Red Tithe 6/10
Dante 10/10
Devastation of Baal 7/10
Eye of Medusa 9/10


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## Paceyjg

Clonelord - 7/10


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## Paceyjg

Angels of Caliban - 8/10


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## Khorne's Fist

The Horusian Wars: Incarnation. 8/10. 

This series could end up as good as the Eisenhorn trilogy.


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## Khorne's Fist

Wolfsbane, 8/10. A good look at the conflict within Russ, and also contains some good flashbacks to his first meeting with Horus, and how the fact that he was the second son found affected their relationship after that. The battle on the Vengeful Spirit is also really well rendered.


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## VulkansNodosaurus

Angels of Caliban 3/10 (Caliban plot 8/10, Ultramar plot 1/10)
Fabius Bile: Primogenitor 9/10
Vaults of Terra: the Carrion Throne 8/10
Sons of the Hydra 5/10


Primarchs series:
Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar 7/10
Lorgar: Bearer of the Word 9/10
Fulgrim: the Palatine Phoenix 9/10
Vulkan: Lord of Drakes 4/10 (alas....)
Leman Russ: the Great Wolf 6/10 (first 150 pages 4/10, ending 10/10)


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## Khorne's Fist

Slaves to Darkness, 7/10. Nice to catch up with the traitor primarchs, with seven of them featuring to a greater or lesser extent, setting up the advance on Terra.


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## Khorne's Fist

Lords of Silence, 8/10. Very good look into the DG, and how they currently stand after their new codex.


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## Paceyjg

Praetorian of Dorn - 8/10


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## VulkansNodosaurus

Rise of the Ynnari: Ghost Warrior 5/10


Something about it just didn't inspire me - maybe the eldar were just too human. Also, plugging in one of the villains saying "make NNN great again" was really cringe-worthy. There's a difference between having political relevance and shunting the reader out of the story. But when the book worked, it worked.



The Last Hunt 8/10


The ending was a bit too tidy, but generally, it was a very solid book with a great feeling of atmosphere.


Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa 9/10


This one is still in flux. In general, it was a phenomenal book. The downside was the portrayal of Ferrus being insufficiently awesome, so to speak. Ferrus needed a portrayal that showed why he was chosen to lead seven Legions at Isstvan, and this wasn't it. At all.



Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia 1/10


The rest of the book was decent, the hrud were fittingly scary, but the portrayal of Perturabo was so abysmal as to break any numerical scale. I think Haley is just bad at writing "left-brain" characters - he writes Guilliman badly in Dark Imperium, and this abomination is even worse.


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## Paceyjg

Corax - 5/10


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## Paceyjg

The Master of Mankind - 9.5/10


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## Paceyjg

Lukas the Trickster - 8/10


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## Paceyjg

Lords of Silence - 9/10


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## VulkansNodosaurus

Legacy of Dorn - 9/10


Watchers of the Throne: the Emperor's Legion - 5/10


Blood of Iax - 7/10


The Lords of Silence - 10/10


Shroud of Night - 9/10


Carcharodons: Outer Dark - 8/10


The Voice of Mars - 10/10


Ciaphas Cain:
For the Emperor 9/10
Caves of Ice 7/10
The Traitor's Hand 9/10
(yeah, I'm a bit behind on actually reading those....)


The Beast Arises:
I am Slaughter 7/10
Predator, Prey 6/10
The Emperor Expects 8/10
The Last Wall 8/10
(on sheer entertainment value, the Emperor Expects + Last Wall were both 10/10, but the inconsistencies are already piling up, and more generally I have issues with the presentation of the M32 setting.)



The Solar War - 7/10


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## VulkansNodosaurus

Garro (Horus Heresy 42) - 4/10


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## Paceyjg

Garro - 5/10


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## Paceyjg

Shattered Legions - 3/10 (took me over six months to get through it)!


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## Paceyjg

The Crimson King - 8/10


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## Michael Bradbury

Nemesis 7/10


I quite like that it doesn't really have much to do with the overarching plot. My main gripe is that a lot of the assassins didn't particularly act like assassins. 



Mechanicum 6/10


The reveals about the truth of Mars and the Mechanicum were the best bits. The titan battles I could take or leave. The main character's journey was interesting but she was frustratingly idiotic (for a genius). 



The Solar War 8/10


Enthralling non-stop action (and I'm not usually keen on the battle based books), with a fantastic reveal at the end which we should have seem coming!


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## Paceyjg

Tallarn - 7/10


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## kartida

At last, I can read what I want, not connected with my study. Recently I've passed my last exam  No idea how I would do that without https://studenterra.com/, actually. Maybe there are some fellow students and they find it useful.


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## Paceyjg

Ruinstorm - 7/10


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## Paceyjg

Old Earth - 6/10


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## Paceyjg

The Burden of Loyalty (indeed ) - 5/10, only 3 of the stories any good.


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## Paceyjg

Wolfsbane - 7.5/10


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## Paceyjg

Born of Flame - 2/10 Coudln't even finish this one!


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