Review: PROSPERO BURNS by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Uncategorized , , , , ,

AbnettD-HH27-ProsperoBurnsThe Wolves unleashed

The Emperor is enraged. Primarch Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons Legion has made a terrible mistake that endangers the very safety of Terra. With no other choice, the Emperor charges Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, with the apprehension of his brother from the Thousand Sons home world of Prospero.

This planet of sorcerers will not be easy to overcome, but Russ and his Space Wolves are not easily deterred. With wrath in his heart, Russ is determined to bring Magnus to justice and bring about the fall of Prospero.

Picking up the story of A Thousand Sons from a different perspective, Prospero Burns is the long-awaited Space Wolves novel from one of Black Library’s most established and defining authors. Needless to say, the wait has been more than worth it – this is a superb sci-fi war novel written with depth, intelligence, and considerable panache. Continue reading →

Review: THE CONQUEROR’S SHADOW by Ari Marmell (Gollancz)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , ,

MarmellA-C1-ConquerorsShadowUKA brilliant new fantasy, with a sense of fun and a classic feel.

They called him the Terror of the East. His past shrouded in mystery, his identity hidden behind a suit of enchanted black armour and a skull-like helm, Corvis Rebaine carved a bloody path through Imphallion, aided by Davro, a savage ogre, and Seilloah, a witch with a taste for human flesh. No shield or weapon could stop his demon-forged axe. And no magic could match the spells of his demon slave, Khanda.

Yet just when ultimate victory was in his grasp, Rebaine faltered. His plans of conquest, born from a desire to see Imphallion governed with firmness and honesty, shattered. Amid the chaos of a collapsing army, Rebaine vanished, taking only a single hostage – the young noblewoman Tyannon – to guarantee his escape.

Seventeen years later, Rebaine and Tyannon are married, living in obscurity and raising their children, a daughter and a son. Rebaine has put his past behind him, and given up his dreams of conquest. Not even news of Audriss – an upstart warlord following Rebaine’s old path of conquest – can stir the retired warrior to action.

Until his daughter is assaulted by Audriss’ goons.

Now, to rescue the country he once tried to conquer, Rebaine once more dons the armour of the Terror of the East and seeks his former allies. But Davro has become a peaceful farmer. Seilloah has no wish to leave her haunted forest home. And Khanda… well, to describe his feelings for his former master as undying hatred would be an understatement.

But even if Rebaine can convince his onetime comrades to join him, he faces a greater challenge: does he dare to reawaken the part of him that glories in cruelty, blood and destruction? With the safety of his family at stake, can he dare not to?

I’ve not got much experience reading Marmell’s work. I do know his Vampire: The Masqueradenovel, Gehenna: The Final Night, which I thought was good, but I am not familiar with his roleplay output at all. Despite his success in the US, the author doesn’t appear to be too-well-known in the UK; it probably doesn’t help that I’ve yet to actually see a copy of Conqueror’s Shadow in any bookstore, despite it’s recent publication over here. The author’s first foray into an entirely original setting, the Conqueror’s Shadow exceeded my expectations, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Continue reading →

Review: THE FIRST HERETIC by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , ,

DembskiBowdenA-HH14-FirstHereticA Legion falls from grace, and the roots of Heresy are sown

Amidst the galaxy-wide war of the Great Crusade, the Emperor castigates the Word Bearers for their worship. Distraught at this judgement, Lorgar and his Legion seek another path while devastating world after world, venting their fury and fervour on the battlefield.

Their search for a new purpose leads them to the edge of the material universe, where they meet ancient forces far more powerful than they could have imagined. Having set out to illuminate the Imperium, the corruption of Chaos takes hold and their path to damnation begins.

Unbeknownst to the Word Bearers, their quest for truth contains the very roots of heresy…

The First Heretic is a novel of three parts – first, the Word Bearers are fully rendered through their actions and the legacy they leave behind on worlds they bring into “compliance” with the expanding Imperium. This first part also chronicles the legion’s reprimand from the Emperor (who ever more in these novels comes across as remote and aloof, not to mention slightly fickle). Thus begins Lorgar and his legion’s quest to discover the truth about divinity, gods, faith and worship in the universe – and, ultimately, the beginning of their fall to Chaos and the Horus Heresy. Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE JUSTICE by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , ,

A press-leak, a CIA asset killed, a quest for vengeance and accountability

An American defence contractor attempts to sell US missile technology to the Iranians — and the CIA knows all about it thanks to a spy in Tehran. But then the story is leaked to an ambitious journalist and the spy is exposed, brutally tortured, and executed.

Furious, CIA Director Jake LaFountaine isn’t about to let the death of his spy go unpunished. A valuable asset has been callously sacrificed, and he’s going to find out who did it no matter how many rules he has to break. DeMarco’s boss, Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney has his own reasons to get to the bottom of the leak: he once had a fling with the journalist, and now that she’s in jail for refusing to reveal her source, she’s threatening to expose their affair unless he helps get her out.

DeMarco and the CIA aren’t the only ones looking for the source of the leak. Someone else wants to avenge the spy’s death and is tailing DeMarco, hoping DeMarco will lead him to his prey. Continue reading →

Review: NEMESIS by James Swallow (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , ,

SwallowJ-HH13-NemesisThe Fight for the Galaxy enters the shadows…

After the horrors of Istvaan V, Horus declares outright war against the Imperium.

In the shadows of the Emperor’s Palace, powerful figures convene. Their plan is to send a team of assassins to execute the arch-traitor Horus and end the war for the galaxy of mankind before it’s even begun. But what they cannot know is that another assassin is abroad already, with his sights firmly set on killing the Emperor.

In Nemesis, Swallow takes a look at the Horus Heresy from a different perspective. Namely, the shadows. Removed from the front lines, where legions of Adeptus Astartes do battle against xenos threats and uncompliant human worlds, this novel takes a look at the Horus Heresy through a narrower lens.

Malcador the Sigillite (humanity’s number two, if you will), a character only hinted at or mentioned from a distance in past Horus Heresy literature, has issued a controversial order. The Imperium’s temples of assassins – each with their own styles, methodologies and internal politics – have been tasked to work together, for the first time ever, to bring down the ultimate target: the traitorous Warmaster Horus. Continue reading →

Review: A THOUSAND SONS by Graham McNeill (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , ,

McNeillG-HH12-AThousandSonsIntroducing the enigmatic, psychic, and misunderstood Sons of Magnus

Censured at the Council of Nikea for his flagrant use of sorcery, Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons Legion retreat to their home-world of Prospero to continue their use of the arcane arts in secret. But when the ill-fated primarch foresees the treachery of Warmaster Horus and warns the Emperor with the very powers he was forbidden to use, the Master of Mankind dispatches fellow primarch Leman Russ to attack Prospero itself. But Magnus has seen more than the betrayal of Horus, and the witnessed revelations will change the fate of his fallen Legion, and its primarch, forever.

I’ve been waiting a long time for this novel. Ever since the Black Library announced the Horus Heresy series, I’ve been eagerly awaiting coverage of a number of key events: from the initial descent of Horus (in Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames), the war on Mars (Mechanicum), and also the Space Wolves-Thousand Sons conflict. In A Thousand Sons, Graham McNeill offers us the story from the perspective of the eponymous legion (Dan Abnett’s Prospero Burns will give us the perspective of the Space Wolves). Continue reading →

Quick Review: HOUSE SECRETS by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , ,

Joe DeMarco investigates the death of a reporter

It all begins with a simple request from the Speaker, Joe’s hard-drinking, glad-handing political boss from Boston, John Fitzpatrick Mahoney. One of Mahoney’s old colleagues has doubts about the supposed accidental death of his son, a middling newspaper reporter who had claimed, in the days before his death, that he had an incredibly hot story. But then again, he always said things like that, and nothing ever panned out. Mahoney just wants DeMarco to turn over some rocks around Washington and see what crawls out.

It turns out the reporter was on the trail of Senator Paul Morelli, the handsome and gifted rising star from New York, considered a shoo-in for his party’s presidential nomination. Some politicians are lucky, Morelli just happened to be luckier than most, but his opponents’ scandals and accidents had already been scrutinized and he looks clean. It seems like there’s nothing for DeMarco to do. But then some very dangerous things start to crawl out from under the rocks he’s turned over.

Dirty secrets, beltway politics, and divided loyalties threaten as DeMarco’s investigation spirals dangerously out of control, pulling in freelance operatives, intelligence figures, D.C. locals, a sinister chief of staff, and characters from his past in New York.

In House Secrets, a retired congressman, Richard Finley, has asked Speaker of the House John Mahoney to look into the death of Terry Finley, his son and a reporter who covered politics for the Washington Post. Mahoney sends his ever-reluctant bagman, Joe DeMarco, to investigate; more to do a favour for Finley, as Mahoney (and the cops, coroner, and to begin with DeMarco) believes Terry’s death was an accident. Continue reading →

Quick Review: DEAD ON ARRIVAL by Mike Lawson (Harper Collins)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , ,

Political Thriller done right!

Joe DeMarco is back and the corridors of power have never felt so deadly…

First a bomb attack on the Baltimore Harbour tunnel is averted. Then a young American Muslim is shot down in a Cessna plane whilst trying to drive it into The Whitehouse.

What follows is chaos as a ruthless senator tries to pass a xenophobic law that will see non-citizen Muslims deported and extensive background checks on all Muslims living in the US carried out immediately.

Speaker of the house John Mahoney wants nothing to do with the bill being pushed through. He knows all to well what trouble a law like that could stir up, and what’s worse he knows the kid who tried to crash the plane into the White House.

Enter Joe DeMarco, a man with a shady past, a lawyer who has never practised law. He’s charged with investigating the attacks but there’s a twist to the attempted mass destruction, something the FBI didn’t even see, and suddenly at every turn DeMarco faces a new and terrifying danger…

Mike Lawson’s debut, The Inside Ring (2006) introduced us to Joe DeMarco, trouble-shooter for the Speaker of the US Congress, Mahoney. Called on to do all the jobs the Speaker doesn’t want publicised, DeMarco works in the dirty underbelly of US politics (not to mention having an office in the basement). In this, the third novel in the series (titled House Rules in North America) The novel is told primarily from the perspective of DeMarco and the Speaker (who’s actually an awesome character, so his increased presence here is definitely welcome), providing insight into both the public and private workings of the US government. Continue reading →

Review: DESCENT OF ANGELS by Mitchel Scanlon (Black Library)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , ,

ScanlonM-HH6-DescentOfAngelsVolume six in the excellent Horus Heresy series does not disappoint, shedding light on the founding of the mysterious and aloof Dark Angels.

The planet of Caliban exists much as it has for thousands of years – the knightly orders protect the common people, fighting back the beasts that lurk in the depths of the seemingly endless forests. Young Zahariel and Nemiel aspire to join the greatest of the orders, led by the example of mighty Lion El’Jonson and his vision of a peaceful and unified world. But the coming of the Imperium brings new concerns and a new destiny for the Lion as part of the Great Crusade, and the sons of Caliban must decide if they will follow him to glory among the stars.

Covering the founding and subsequent fall of the Dark Angels, Descent of Angels offers an interesting insight into one of the most popular (and four primary) legions that make up the Space Marines. The Dark Angels are, of course, one of the most mysterious Legions/Chapters, too. It’s not surprising, therefore, that any fiction that promises to illuminate some of their history would be of interest to fans of the Horus Heresy/WH40k franchise. I had hoped that Descent of Angels would give readers some more meat to add to the secrets at the heart of the Legion, and it does this — not as much as I would like, but I suppose that’s not surprising. This is also not the best book in the series so far. Scanlon does offer plenty for fans of this series, and also the Legion, but it doesn’t land as well as previous novels in the series, and it didn’t hold my attention quite as much as I’d hoped. Continue reading →