Blood Angels

Quick Review: CITY OF LIGHT by Darius Hinks (Black Library)

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HinksD-Mephiston3-CityOfLightThe concluding volume in Hinks’s Mephiston trilogy

Deep in Imperium Nihilus, Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston and his comrades are drawn into battle with a cabal of Thousand Sons sorcerers – with worlds at stake and hidden truths threatening to overwhelm him, this is Mephiston’s darkest hour…

Having fought during the devastation of Baal, Mephiston and a cohort of Blood Angels are drawn by cryptic visions to a war-torn world on the cusp of the Great Rift. Here, the sorcerers of the Thousand Sons seek to unite nine Silver Towers and bring about a ritual that will empower their master, the daemon-primarch Magnus. The ritual must be prevented, lest the entire sub-sector be cast into Chaos. Mephiston faces a challenge like no other, of his strength and his will, confronting a hidden truth that threatens to expose him to his darkest fears.

City of Light brings Darius Hinks’s excellent Mephiston trilogy to a close. The series has been woven around the ongoing events in the WH40k story, pairing nicely with Guy Haley’s Blood Angels novels, which feature some of the same characters. Picking up the story shortly after the events of Haley’s Darkness in the Blood, the titular hero sets out to thwart a dire threat looming over Imperium Nihilus. It’s an enjoyable, action-packed novel. Continue reading →

Quick Review: DARKNESS IN THE BLOOD by Guy Haley (Black Library)

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HaleyG-WH40k-BA3-DarknessInTheBloodDante settles into his role as Imperial Regent, while Mephiston’s powers threaten to overtake him… and everyone else

The galaxy is in flames. Chaos is in the ascendant across the stars. The Great Rift has split the holdings of the Imperium in twain, isolating entire sectors from the light of Holy Terra.

But all hope is not lost. The Primarch Roboute Guilliman has returned from deathless sleep, and appointed Commander Dante, lord of the Blood Angels, as Regent and Warden of the newly dubbed Imperium Nihilus.

In the Baal system, the shattered holding of the Chapter is being rebuilt, and Dante plans the greatest campaign of his long life, to retake half an empire. And yet at this moment of rebirth there are dangers close to home that could overwhelm all those who carry the blood of Sanguinius in their veins, stopping Dante’s noble endeavour before it has even begun.

The Flaw in Sanguinius’ sons is growing. As the twin curses of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage threaten everything, the hardest ordeal will fall upon Mephiston, twice-born Lord of Death and Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels. Among the mighty lords of Baal, perhaps only he can save them all, by mastering the darkness in the blood…

First released as a special edition, I’ve been looking forward to Darkness in the Blood for some time. Continuing the story of the Blood Angels begun in The Devastation of Baal and in Darius Hinks’s Mephiston trilogy, it presents an important piece in the puzzle that is the Angels’ place in the changed universe. With new allies, technology, and challenges, it has plenty of action as well as quieter moments that really add to our understanding of the Blood Angels and their heroes. I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Quick Reviews: THE DEVASTATION OF BAAL by Guy Haley & MEPHISTON: REVENANT CRUSADE by Darius Hinks (Black Library)

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Two recent novels of the Blood Angels

The Blood Angels are probably one of the most popular Space Marine chapters/legions (depending on the timeline in which you’re reading). In these two novels — one a stand-alone, the other a middle-volume in a trilogy — we learn more about some of the central, legendary characters. Specifically, Commander Dante and Chief Librarian Mephiston. We are also given a glimpse at the Blood Angels’ psyche, and their eternal struggle against the Flaw. I enjoyed both of them. Continue reading →

Quick(ish) Review: RUINSTORM by David Annandale (Black Library)

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AnnandaleD-HH-RuinstormThree Legions attempt the journey back to Terra…

Imperium Secundus lies revealed as a heretical folly. Terra has not fallen, though it remains inaccessible. Sanguinius, Guilliman and the Lion El’Johnson, the primarchs of the Triumvirate, must reach Terra at all costs. They seek to defend the Emperor, and to atone for their sins. But the Ruinstorm, a galaxy-wide maelstrom of chaos, hides the Throneworld from the primarchs. Now the fleets of three Legions depart Macragge, and the primarchs will stop at nothing to overcome the Ruinstorm. Yet an insidious enemy watches their every move, and plots against the weaknesses of the errant sons of the Emperor. Each has his own inner storm, and each marches towards his own ruin.

In this, the 46th novel in the Horus Heresy series, the three Legions stranded at Ultramar have sallied forth, attempting to break through the Ruinstorm and make their way back to Terra, to be by the Emperor’s side when Horus launches his final attack on the Imperial throne world. Annandale brings his A-game, and from the get-go we’re thrown right into the story. It’s Chaotic, interesting, and moves the story forward nicely. I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Quick Review: MEPHISTON — BLOOD OF SANGUINIUS by Darius Hinks (Black Library)

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An interesting, action-packed WH40k novel

The shrine world of Divinatus Prime has become lost to the light of the Astronomican and no ship can piece its veil. Only the Lord of Death himself, Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston, has any hope of discerning the fate of this once pious world. After enacting a powerful blood ritual, Mephiston and an honour guard of his fellow Blood Angels reach the stricken shrine world to find it seized by religious civil war. Each faction fights for dominance of a potent artefact, the Blade Petrific, said to be wrought by the Emperor Himself. Yet there is more at work here than a mere ideological schism, for Mephiston believes Divinatus Prime could offer answers to how he became the Lord of Death, he who resisted the Black Rage, and possibly even a way to end the curse of ‘the Flaw’ in all Blood Angels.

It’s been quite some time since I last read something by Darius Hinks. I enjoyed what little of his work I have read (of particular note: Razumov’s Tomb and Sigvald). I’ve also recently been reading and enjoying a fair number of BL’s Space Marine Heroes/Legends novels. The Blood Angels have always been of interest, but never as much as the mysterious Dark Angels, or Norse/viking-inspired Space Wolves. This changed after I read Guy Haley’s Dante and James Swallow’s Fear to Tread. And so, when I learned that Hinks was writing his own Blood Angels novel, Blood of Sanguinius, my interest was piqued.

Continue reading →

Review: DANTE by Guy Haley (Black Library)

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haleyg-sml-danteThe history of the Blood Angels Chapter Master

Dante is Chapter Master of one of the noblest but most troubled Chapters of Space Marines in the Imperium: the Blood Angels. From the time of his birth in the rad-scarred wastes of Baal Secundus, he was destined for glory and strife. From his apotheosis to Scout, to the hive cities of Armageddon and the alien menace of the Cryptus system, Dante has waged war against all the enemies of the Imperium. He has witnessed the divine, and struggled against the darkness within all sons of Sanguinius. Longer lived than any other Chapter Master, this is his chronicle, his great and storied legend.

This is a really good novel. I hadn’t read any of the other novels in the Space Marine Legends series before this one (I have since, so keep an eye out for those reviews over the next couple of weeks), so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, though, and Dante offers a glimpse into the life and ascension of the “oldest living Space Marine”, the Chapter Master of the perennial favourites, the Blood Angels. Continue reading →

Four HORUS HERESY Short Stories by Graham McNeill, Rob Sanders, James Swallow & Gav Thorpe (Black Library)

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Near the end of July, Black Library released four Horus Heresy short story eBooks through their website. Naturally, as a real Heresy junky, I gobbled these up ASAP. All four are pretty different, offering alternative perspectives on different events and times during the galaxy-spanning civil war that dictates much of how mankind operates in the 41st Millennium (the ‘present’ for the game and system). So, here are four mini-reviews of these excellent stories… Continue reading →