Customer Reviews

Brothers of the Snake (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK- Dan Abnett has written about the Space Marines before...in the opening salvo of the Horus Heresy series, which I absolutely love. But, this is his first real creation; "False Gods" is a formulaic tale, as the events are already written. So, the story and the Iron Snakes chapter is Abnett's, and he puts his indelible stamp on it right away.

I have to admit, the first few pages of "Brothers of the Snake" did not grab me. I found myself a little distracted and wondering where it was all going, but once Brother-Sergeant Priad emerges in combat with the Dark Eldar, the book really takes off!

There is so much to say here- but I don't want to give it away. I like the way Abnett sections the adventures, bringing the story along methodically, but well-paced. There is so much more than the normal fare of Space Marines in action followed by long periods of introspection and automaton-like devotion to the Emperor. Here, Abnett lets you see a different side...as other reviewers have noted...a more human side.

I like the characters as well. Priad is as worthy a protagonist as you will find, but it is the supporting cast: Apothecaries Memnes and Khiron, Librarian Petrok, and the rest of Damocles Squad give the book a richness and depth that other offerings by different authors lack.

It is well-paced, and has the Abnett signature action that fans like myself have learned to adore. Reading this in the heart of a combat zone should be repulsive I suppose, but instead I am drawn to the greater power of the book: the courage, the high standards Priad has for his Marines, and the leadership by example he provides. This is the essence of soldiering, and Abnett captures it beautifully.

Finally, as the story comes full circle, I love the relationship that Priad has built with Princeps the War Dog. You have to read the book to know what I'm talking about, but its a subtle, human touch that is one more aspect of this tale which sets it apart from others of the genre.

Superb- and I eagerly await the next installment of Brother-Sergeant Priad and Squad Damocles in what is hopefully not the too distant future.

Baghdad
7-28-07

This latest offering from Mr. Abnett is a fine read. Here he explores a Space Marine chapter of his own creation and the exploits of one squad and more specifically one sergeant through a series of vignettes that show the growth of the protagonist marine.

Admittedly, this isn't Mr. Abnett's best work and falls a little shy of Gaunt's Ghost or my personal favorite Double Eagle. Some 40K fans will argue that his Iron Snakes are not portrayed as "real" space marines because they're not emotionless automatons slaved to ritual and routine. I counter that all space marines are not created equal and that the Iron Snakes are not Ultramarines and thus have their own quirks and personality and I'm okay with that.

Despite the criticism, Brothers of the Snake is a fun adventure tale, or more to the point series of tales that I think any fan of Abnett or 40K will enjoy.

I'm a big fan of Dan Abnett's writing: I absolutely love the Gaunt's Ghosts series, I hope daily that someone makes Eisenhorn into a movie, and the Ravenor trilogy (three books to date, anyway) is very good as well. Since a huge, huge reason that Abnett's books are better than your average 40k work is how character-driven they are, I was very interested to see how things would work out when Abnett tried his hand at writing Space Marines. I confess myself not a big fan of the Horus Heresy books in general, so this was the first time I'd read an Abnett Space Marines book.

Once again, Abnett delivers with this book. One of the key reasons that Space Marines can be an unappealing read sometimes is their lack of humanity; they are superhuman, and yet, emotionally, less than human. Despite this, Abnett manages to inject a good amount of personality into Sergeant Priad and his Iron Snake brothers. It wouldn't do to make these superhuman warriors "too human," but Abnett finds a way to make you recognize the marines in the squad as individuals without making them unrealistically vulnerable in personality or physicality.

No, these guys are definitely superhuman; you'll be reminded of that as Sergeant Priad's squad goes from world to world, fighting in the name of the Emperor. I suppose one of the reasons I give this four stars instead of five is because of the lack of a 300-page storyline as this book is the story of many seperate engagements, with the last, climactic one taking up about a quarter of the book. The imagery is great, the battle scenes are--as typical of Dan Abnett--vivid and vicious. The Abnett mean streak appears as several of the marines suffer awful wounds or deaths. You do have to like an author not afraid to kill good guys. I think my favorite part of the book actually takes place on Ithaka, the Iron Snakes' home world, where they fight the massive wyrms that inhabit their sea while trying to rescue one of their kin from a small island. Once again, another Abnett scene that would be awesome to see on the big screen someday.

Overall, this is a great book with a bit of a jerky storyline. It should appeal to those who just like a good sci-fi or WH40k story more than those who want every story to be utterly faithful to the tabletop game. And that is, in my opinion, how it should be.

Abnett does a superb job of working in enough of the human element to make the space marines interesting. The supposed "cookie cutter" similarity bewtween space marines is part of the overall mythos of the warrior-monks but the author has managed to weave stories through it that are interesting and full of action.

This book is a well written piece of science fiction that starts what will hopefully become an on-going series. As such, it needs to have established characters with distinct personalities in order to cpature the reader's imagination. If these elements weren't present then all the critics would be bashing it for their absence. Another example of this would be the Horus Heresey series. The space marines written about in those books are interesting and full of personality.

The truth is one cannot write in the Warhammer 40K universe with the same stoic, toy-soldier mentality of the tabletop game. I, for one, am glad for authors like Abnett and Graham McNeil for having the guts to add depth to an already fascinating subject. All I can ask of Mr. Abnett is that there will be more Iron Snakes novels in the future that will make me wanting more, just like this one did.

Eh, I wasn't crazy about this book, even though I am a big fan of Dan Abnett. It felt like he wrote this right after watching "300", there was just way too much of a classical Greek/Spartan vibe going on. I think the other problem is that Space Marines are kind of dull as people.

Sure, they are genetically engineered super men, but they tend to be either stoic and methodical or arrogant and bloodthirsty. Since they are effectively immune to romantic love and fear it makes it kind of tough to portray them as anything but robotic ubermenschen.

Anyway, if you liked "300" (I didn't) and you like 40k, maybe you'll dig this book,otherwise I would give it a miss and read his Gaunt books or the Eisenhorn series, they are much better examples of Abnett's undeniable talent.

I can understand why some people didn't like this book...it doesn't follow a traditional story line, and some people won't buy into that. But, if you actually play the game upon which the setting of this story is based, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Unlike any other story based on the Warhammer 40k universe, this book actually FEELS like the game in its presentation. In the miniature game, you don't really follow one trooper in a linear story from game to game. No way, you pick him up at the end of the battle, put him in a box, and then he gets plopped down in the middle of an entirely different scenario the next time you play.

This book really gives you that sense of surprisingly pleasant disconnect that happens on the table top. And just like the game, there are going to be some toy soldiers you care about more than others - for whatever silly reason - soldiers that you're always eager to see how they're going to perform from game to game. Abnett has brilliantly captured that feeling, that sense of dropping in on a Space Marine at various points of his personal history; and yet he still manages to tie every moment together into a single overarching narrative that is always waiting for you in the wings.

I highly recommend this book to people that play the game...because frankly, unless you do, I'm not sure you're going to "get it." And because Abnett necessarily has to leave out some readers with this style, I can't give him five stars. That doesn't mean, however, that he still isn't the most compelling writer on a very short list of consistent Black Library authors.

This book is the second time that veteran Black Library author Dan Abnett has applied his skills to the mighty Space Marines, having already cut his teeth on the Imperial Guard (the Gaunt's Ghost series), the Inquisition (both the Eisenhorn and Ravenor novels), and the first of the Horus Heresy series. This novel is set in Games Workshop's rich Warhammer 40,000 (40K) setting, a dark gothic universe that now has 20 years of accumulated canon. The work follows Brother Priad of the Iron Snakes chapter of the Adeptus Astartes and his fellows in Damocles squad as they safeguard the Reef Stars of the Imperium.

The connected series of stories cover Priad's career from one of his first missions as a full battle brother to his defining mission as a veteran Sergeant - with suggestions of an eventual captaincy. The Iron Snakes chapter, Priad's character (as well as the rest of his battle brothers), and even the plots of the stories pay homage to the historical Spartans, other Greek heroic tales, and the battle of Thermopylae. This isn't so obvious as to distract from the work, but Abnett's love of history - and tendency to borrow from it - shows through to any fellow devotee. When fighting en masse, the Iron Snakes literally us shields and spears (called lances) in the same manner as ancient Greek or Spartan infantry.

Much like Greek heroic legends, however, the stories stretch the limits of credibility. The Marines rack up body counts that occasionally reach levels of hundreds or even thousands to one. Heroes are submerged in a sea of foes, and yet still manage to fight their way clear. Though Space Marines are supposed to be superhuman, and in some ways like the demigods of myth, some of the situations still strain belief.

That is not to say that the novel is without merit. As usual, Abnett excels at immersing the reader in the superb 40K universe, and his feel for its technology and terms is without peer... With one exception: his use of the terms "swine" and "swinekin" in reference to the Orks destroyed suspension of disbelief each time it was used.

In short: though well written and immersive in the excellent 40K background, the shaky plot and the overly-heroic situations make it difficult to remain there for the entire book.

First, the biggest problem with the book. It is a collection of short stories, and I'm not sure if they were ideas that Dan had throughout his career and wrote as little side projects in between his major releases or if they came from one of Black Library's magazines like Rogue Trader. This is not a problem by itself, but when each new story begins, he will make the typical references to previous stories to backfill new readers. This causes a hiccup in the flow of reading every time it happens. I started skipping the reminiscing, but that still breaks up the flow. That said, if you read it like a collection of novels, you'll be fine.

Also, as someone else mentioned, Dan uses the word Swine and Swinekin for the Orks. It was jarring at first, but after I saw it a time or two and after getting to know the Snakes and their ways a little better, I figured out that it's just a colloquialism and one that fits with the Snakes' culture and rather dark sense of humor.

Now for the good. I loved it. Honestly, I think it's the best book that I've read about a particular Chapter, Heresy books notwithstanding. A lot of other reviewers have complained that Space Marines are boring, and this is just another boring book about Marines. I thought that on the whole, the Snakes have more personality than any other successor Chapter I've read about. Abnett actually makes Priad fairly witty, even though it only comes through on occasion. Plus, like I said, the whole Chapter's capable of cracking a joke now and then. There have been a few times I've had to stifle a full-on chuckle when reading at work.

If you like Abnett's writing style, you could do worse than spending a cold night flipping through Brothers of the Snake.

At the risk of comparing apples to oranges, Dan Abnett does equally as good a job humanizing and elevating the Imperium's Space Marines as in his own Gaunt's Ghost series about ordinary human soldiers. Like many of his books, Dan breaks up his story into smaller, bite size stories with the Marines of the Iron Snakes chapter zipping around the galaxy slaying Dark Eldar, Orks, and the forces of Chaos.

The battles are intense and awe-inspiring, with Space Marines cranked to 11 on the fluff scale. Even gods have limits though. There are still plenty of moments of humanity where the Marines panic, cry out for fallen brothers, and struggle against horrible injury. The final clashes against an Orkish horde shows both the bravery, and futility of attempting to bludgeon an enemy to death by sheer force of arms. I honestly wonder if those who rated BoS as, "just another boring Space Marine story" read the same book I did. It's a deconstruction in many ways of the simple, "kill em all" approach most Space Marines are stuck to.

What struck me though, is that the majority of Dan's Marines are not mindless killers. They care about civilians, each other, and of course their martial oaths to the God-Emperor. The image of a Space Marine, a pretty girl, and a war dog out for a cruise in a forrest hunting the enemy seems almost whimiscal by 40k standards.

Highly reccomended, whether you're new to the 40k universe, or a veteran.

The thing you have to remember when buying this book is that the Warhammer and 40k books are rarely high literature. They're pulp war stories that happen to be fantasy or sci-fi based.

Dan Abnett is very very good at writing this sort of gung-ho stuff. The Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn books demonstrate that in spades (I'm part way through his Ravenor books as well). This is more of what you'd expect from a man of such talents.

The characters are for the most part superficial...but they're Space Marines and are MEANT To be fairly superficial...however, each character has their hook - precisely as one sees in a film like "The Dirty Dozen" or "Where Eagles dare". The action is rollercoaster and pretty much non-stop, and Abnett has managed to engineer interesting scenarios for his creations to battle through.

This is not a great piece oof literature, but if you want something straightforward and simple to read and relax with, and you're a fan of the setting then Abnett is as reliable as ever.