Monday, February 14, 2011

My review today is of  Temple of the Serpent, the 2nd book in the Thanquol & Boneripper series. I'm really enjoying this series with the main character also being the main antagonist. Grey Seer Thanquol has always been a comedic villian character throughout his published history, a being with great power that doesn't know how to use it properly yet he seem touched by some uncanny luck that means he survives the most fatal of situations. He is of course accompanied as always by Boneripper, I belive the current Boneripper is the 5th or 6th to bear the name. In this novel we follow Thanquol and his skaven party, a human merchant crew blow off course and the strange, unfeeling lizardmen.  Thanquol has disgraced himself and is approached by Clan Eshin to carry out a task for them to gain them favour with Clan Pestilens. The Slann mages in Lustria sense this problem and blow a human crew off course to combat this threat.
The humans are stranded  and most think of nothing but the fabled cities of gold. Only a few see it for what it is 'The Green Hell'. As the story progresses the humans a picked off one by one by the various predators in the jungle. With out spoiling the ending there are a few plot twists, which I didn't see coming. Overall I recomend this book to anyone, it can be read as a standalone novel or if you wish to read his full exploits they can be found it the Gotrek & Felix Series

Monday, February 7, 2011

The First Heretic

This is my second review of a novel in the Horus heresy and I thoroughly enjoyed it it was right up there with Horus Rising and Fulgrim. It tells the story of Captain Argel Tal, of the Word Bearers and his Legion's decent from Worship of the Emperor, to the foul worship of Chaos Undivided. The book starts with the shaming of the Legion by the Emperor and the Ultramarines. It is at this moment we see the beginnings on the Word Bearers vendetta against the Ultramarines. This leads to Lorgar questionning his faith and wondering wether he was right to purge his home world of its native religion, all the time being egged on by Kor Phareon and Erebus. In his search for truth they partake in Chaos rites, on a planet that has a considerable role in the future of 40k, Cadia. Argel Tal leads his chapter ,the Serrated Suns, into the Eye of Terror guided but the daemon Ingethal ,where they bear witness to the truth of the Imperium and set into effect events that history at the time of the heresy. The novel also touches upon a subject that has long been considered taboo by many writers, the fate of the II and XI legions. I know many fans didn't like this but it may mean GW is going to tell their biggest secret since creating the game.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Nemesis

This is going to be a review blog of what ever book I finished recently, so we'll start with Nemesis by James Swallow, The 13th book in the Horus heresy series. For those who are not familiar with the series I recommend you buy Horus Rising. Nemesis is a tale told from a view rarely seem in the 40k universe that of the agents of the Officio Assasinorum.  I found the book to be enjoyable. With a well developed cast of characters and a few very nice plot twists. Personally though the book was a bit of a disappointment  in the sense that, I though it didn't really tie into the main series, being more along the lines of a filler book or a stand alone novel with a plot that could have been set during the current 40k timeline and the mission set for the Imperial agents that could easily have been switched out and replaced with a powerful Ork warboss or Chaos marine warlord. I honestly felt the with three primarchs available to show their fall into chaos, the corruption of Angron, Perturabo or Konrad Curze would have made a better book 13 in this series. Perhaps being the thirteenth book it was fated to not live up to the standard set by the rest of the series.