# Soul Hunter Review|Minor Spoilers*



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

The first of the new Night Lords series has started with a bang and ended in flames. The book revolves around the First Claw, first squad, of the 10th Night Lords company led by Talos, a Night Lord with prophetic dreams like his Primarch as they invade the Forge World Crythe alongside the Black Legion, as well as several other renegade chapters and legions that are only mentioned.

One thing that is very different from other Chaos Space Marine novels is that only one short paragraph in this novel is dedicated to loyalist marines, who die very quickly. It focuses on the Night Lords for the majority and with some sections dedicated to the slaves that serve them.

A horde of new Night Lords are introduced from the prophetic Talos, the aging Cyrion, and the ancient War-Sage Malcharion. Some old characters are referenced, with the famed Talonmaster Zso Sahaal making an indirect cameo, and a mention of Acerbus the Axemaster. And the legendary Despoiler, Abaddon himself makes an appearance midway, along with some surprise visitors whose identities I wont spoil, despite how incredibly epic they are. The book also adds a kickass new battlecry, or catchphrase, for the legion. *"In midnight clad"*

Without giving away too much. The story starts with the Night Lords taking a short stop en route to the Crythe system where Warmaster Abaddon is working towards the next Black Crusade and fighting the Mechanicus. They arrive and find that not all is as it seems as the downfall of the Night Lords is being orchestrated behind the scenes. Old enemies and supposed allies both threaten the VIII Legion and they must set aside their differences to survive. The ending is great and sets the scene for the next book as an even older enemy of the Night Lords is returning through the void.

The pace of the story is well set with the fight scenes being brutal and quick without losing any of the action that we love. The writing style itself is very good and I thought using bold font for Malcharion's text was helpful and very fitting for the ancient War-sage. While its not entirely necessary I would recommend reading Lord of the Night before reading Soul Hunter as one of the later chapters makes a large reference to Lord of the Night and requires the knowledge of the book to understand it fully.

In conclusion this book was amazing. Its become my new favourite for introducing likeable traitor astartes and for giving an under appreciated legion the series they've deserved for a long time.

Favourite Points: I had several favourite points within the book. The showdown between Malcharion the War-Sage and Raguel the Sufferer was amazing, especially given the history between those two. I hope Malcharion is ok and will be back.

Another was the surprise visitor's, mentioned above, attempt to corrupt Talos by promising him power. I was also surprised by the conduct of one of these visitors, he was not at all like I thought he would be. There was a point I mixed him up with another one of the visitors due to his attitude towards Talos.

Another was the Atramentar, I believe a Nostraman word for Elite Guard, Vraal's battle with Xarl, Cyrion and Mercutian in the awakening chamber. They did very well but Vraal's end was very nice, I was surprised he didn't scream when he turned around, though he probably didn't even have time to scream.

The final, not really the final but the last one I will note here, is the Void-Born. I thought she was quite an interesting character as she showed what life is really like down in the bowels of the _Covenant of Blood_, the Night Lord Strike Cruiser. Her fate was quite sad though but its good to know that the Blood Angel that killed her was hacked to death, and she was avenged .

Low Points: The book had very few low points but I did identify at least one, two but the second is just a slight wish. The first is the contemptuous ease in which the Eldar were crushed in the novel. They barely even fired a shot off.

The second is the other Traitor marines. Some mentioned to be there are the Iron Warriors, Violaters, The Purge, The Reavers of Quintus and yet none of these Astartes appear even in passing. Would have been nice to see a Night Lord view on these legions.

So in conclusion I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. I give _Soul Hunter_ a *8.5/10*. I look forward to ADB's next work, which judging by the end will probably be called Void Stalker, and very very ironic since while I was reading it a bit ago I wondered what the next book could be called and Void Stalker was one of the names I came up with , along with Darkness Prophet and Midnight Herald.


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

10/10! big call considering there was a couple of bits you didnt like. me thinks the 10/10 might have had something to do with your username? bias much? lol, jokes aside, pretty good review. but what about the writing style and pace? you mention alot about the characters, but little about plot (not that you can give TOO much away in a review but you can give an insight) and writing style? just something to think about for you next review.

good work mate, keep up the good contributing to the heresy.


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## RudeAwakening79 (Oct 20, 2008)

Yeah, nice review Lord, have some rep :good:

Can't wait to get my hands on this book. I've read Lord of the night and totally enjoyed that story.
I think the Nightlords are one of the most sinister CSM, since they do not worship Chaos originally but use Chaos for their own purposes.

March is going to be great, "Soulhunter" AND "a thousand sons"....hell ya!


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

Glad you liked it, old bean. I had a feeling you would.

(I'd not class the Void-born's arc as a minor spoiler, though. Kind of a big one.)


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Glad you liked it, old bean. I had a feeling you would.
> 
> (I'd not class the Void-born's arc as a minor spoiler, though. Kind of a big one.)


after your 1 page conversation regarding the ins and outs of lord of the night, i think you were ons on for a good review here adb  cant wait to get into this book, just wish aus got releases early like the uk. i hate waiting... 

this is going to be a trilogy right?


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

Brother Subtle said:


> after your 1 page conversation regarding the ins and outs of lord of the night, i think you were ons on for a good review here adb  cant wait to get into this book, just wish aus got releases early like the uk. i hate waiting...
> 
> this is going to be a trilogy right?


I think it'll be 6 books. The official line is: "A trilogy, then we'll see." But I think signs point to 6, unless the editors suddenly decide they hate it, or I get suddenly bored.


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> I think it'll be 6 books. The official line is: "A trilogy, then we'll see." But I think signs point to 6, unless the editors suddenly decide they hate it, or I get suddenly bored.


6! :good: sweeeeeet!


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

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> I think it'll be 6 books. The official line is: "A trilogy, then we'll see." But I think signs point to 6, unless the editors suddenly decide they hate it, or I get suddenly bored.


Lets hope it'll be 6. But ill wait until they are all out, people often change their minds. Dan Abnett said that Ravenor would be an ongoing series and its only three books.



Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Glad you liked it, old bean. I had a feeling you would.
> 
> (I'd not class the Void-born's arc as a minor spoiler, though. Kind of a big one.)


Its a great book. Looking forward to the next one .

Well while its a spoiler its not really central to the plot, at least not to the Night Lords themselves. The Void-Born was only important to the serfs, and the only Night Lords who knew were Cyrion and Talos.



Brother Subtle said:


> 10/10! big call considering there was a couple of bits you didnt like. me thinks the 10/10 might have had something to do with your username? bias much? lol, jokes aside, pretty good review. but what about the writing style and pace? you mention alot about the characters, but little about plot (not that you can give TOO much away in a review but you can give an insight) and writing style? just something to think about for you next review.
> 
> good work mate, keep up the good contributing to the heresy.


Ill admit im slightly biased since the Night Lords are my favourite legion, but I stick by 10/10 since the low points I put weren't really a big deal. The Eldar could have had a bit more mention, Talos fighting an Eldar Warlock would have been epic, but the attention they got was sufficient.

Ill make sure to add those in my next review, which will probably be for A Thousand Sons.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

I've just finished the book today (_A Thousand Sons_ & _Soul Hunter_ in less than a week, not to bad!) and I've got to agree - Loved it!

You did a great job of slotting it in with the previously hailed novel - _Lord of the Night_. It really fleshed out the visions we got from _Lord of the Night_, about M'shen's fleeing with the head of Curze and the Eldar ambush etc. We also now see that a lot of the flashbacks from that book were merely just Sahaal's perspective and not the entire truth. We also see Sahaal in a different light, hes made out to seem a greedy traitor, who only cared for the Corona Nox rather than the Vengeance that drove Talos (and the Haunter himself).

Also I would like to say that as a reader, I really got a great feel for just how desperate a situation the VIII legion is in. 

A fantastic book, can't wait for the next installment! 

What does interest me the most though is the Haunter's words to Talos:



'Do you truly believe I care what happens to any of you after my death?'


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

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> What does interest me the most though is the Haunter's words to Talos:
> 
> 
> 
> 'Do you truly believe I care what happens to any of you after my death?'


That drew my eye as well. I was quite surprised by that quote.



I thought the very best part was when Malcharion the Warsage and Raguel the Sufferer fight it out again, after 10,000 years, but in Dreadnought form. And Talos' final worlds to Raguel, 'Know this Blood Angel. Your final mission was a failure. Your brothers are dead. We will wear their armour in battle against your False Emperor. And know this also champion of the XI Legion. Twice now, the sons of the Night Haunter have seen you slain. Greet the afterlife within the warp knowing you were too weak to triumph over us even once.'

'Your bones will be made into trophies for our armour. We will feast upon your gene-seed. And what ever remains of this glorious walking tomb will be salvaged by our tech-priest to house a champion of our own Legion.'

'Die with the taste of your Chapter's eternal failure on your tongue.'

A truly awesome speech.


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

Lord of the Night said:


> That drew my eye as well. I was quite surprised by that quote.


This pleases me.

Allow me to wax lyrical for a sec, behind this convenient spoiler tag.




There's a great belief that every primarch loved his Legion, and was bestest friends with his Astartes. This was largely true with the loyalists. Less true with the Traitor Legions. After the Horus Heresy, the Traitor primarchs ascended to daemonhood, and are largely locked in the Great Game of Chaos, working on higher planes of existence and power than their Legions are part of. This is why Abaddon is Warmaster of Chaos, not Fulgrim or whoever else. The daemon primarchs don't really care about the Legions that much, anymore. As avatars and representatives of the Ruinous Powers, their vision is cast into more important places.

The exception to this, in a way, is the Night Lords. Konrad Curze never ascended to daemonhood. He remained with his Legion, but that's also where the problem arises. He didn't like what his Legion had become. In fact, he annihilated their homeworld to stop more of them joining, because he was losing control of the Night Lords as they filled up with rapists and murderers.

Now add to that the fact that the truest lesson of the Night Lords was taught by Konrad's own death. He lived his life saying that sinners and criminals must be punished harshly, and often killed. That was what he believed. His last words: "Death is nothing compared to vindication", were spoken in the belief that he had acted correctly all along. The Emperor may have considered him a traitor, but the fact that he was to be killed for his sins justified him completely, and showed the Imperium was really just on his level. Criminals and sinners really should be killed. 

So here you have a primarch that (on the surface) doesn't like his Legion as much as other primarchs did, and is about to die after teaching the Imperium the best lesson in hypocrisy he can.

Basically, what the Legion does after Konrad's death doesn't matter. The lesson is already taught. He's vindicated. And although Curze liked a lot of the Night Lords, as well as hating the Imperium, in those more depressed moments before his death, I like to think he was a little fatalistic and open with his chosen sons. Definitely a theme to be revisited in later books, when more Night Lords disagree about how their Legion was treated.


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

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> This pleases me.
> 
> Allow me to wax lyrical for a sec, behind this convenient spoiler tag.
> 
> ...


Some good points




Nearly all of the Primarchs did care for their legions although some didn't show it like Mortarion and Perturabo, while Angron openly abused his Astartes and called them weak. The Loyalist Primarchs did care though. A few of the Daemon-Primarchs still act in the materium even if its very rarely. Angron has led several devastating raids into the Imperium, Mortarion still directs raids against the Imperium but doesn't take part. And Magnus the Red tried to manifest once though Ragnar Blackmane stopped him.

Thats the problem with ruling through fear. Once you aren't there the people have nothing to fear anymore. Since Curze was gone they didn't fear the Night Haunter's vicious reprisals anymore.

Thats the reason I think that, despite Curze's wishes and Talos' opinion, the Night Lords were right to hunt down M'shen and kill her. Killing Curze was justice, taking his head was harsh but acceptable. But robbing his corpse is outright desecration.

When the Emperor killed Curze he created a martyr, the Night Lords believed and hated more then ever because Curze was proven right. Letting Curze live, while dangerous, might have been the lesser of two evils.

His words to Talos, "Do you think I care what happens to any of you after my death" are quite interesting because theirs many possibilities. He may have been depressed about the entire Heresy, the Emperor's treatment of him and his impending doom and said things he didn't mean. Plus how many Night Lords did he say that to?, was it just Talos or did he say it to others. If so that could be a factor in why some Night Lords are embracing Chaos, if their father hated them so much then why should they follow his teachings or heed his warnings.



Also I have a question. Who is your favourite character in Soul Hunter?, and what is your favourite part in the novel?.


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## ulfson (Mar 27, 2010)

I've really gotta say, Black Library continues to amaze me. Soul Hunter seemed very... grown up, I guess? Don't get me wrong, BL releases in general tend to be awesomely entertaining (if not amazing works of literature...), but SH was just that little bit more, and that seems to be a bit of a trend too (Horus Rising, Legion and A Thousand Sons all gave me the same feeling...). 

Thanks for sticking some new awesome into Black Library's spine A.D-B. Its fantasic to see such great new talent supporting the 40k Mythos - the calibre of the current author line up is truly inspiring.


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## Thyr (Oct 25, 2010)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> I think it'll be 6 books. The official line is: "A trilogy, then we'll see." But I think signs point to 6, unless the editors suddenly decide they hate it, or I get suddenly bored.


Reading this just made my day. I grin like a child on Christmas Eve now. I truly hope you don't get bored. I'll keep my fingers crossed.


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## Cold86 (Sep 24, 2010)

Sorry about the threadomancy but i do have something to add!

Just finished Soul Hunter starting Blood Reaver in anticipation of Void stalker coming out.

What i really enjoyed about the book was the conflict between what the legion was like and what it is now.

Here we have a LEGION that has broken apart since the death of their Primarch, struggling to survive and carry on their never ending war with the imperium. The Legion nature of the night lords is drifting away while there slow fall to the ruinous powers keeps picking up pace. I liked the war but i thought the ruin of the VIII Legion by Chaos powers and Talo's struggle from saving the legion (or at least the 10th company) from just degrading into just another Renegade warband was very interesting!

truly an epic book, I enjoyed it!


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