War is unending in the life of a Space Marine. After defeating tau forces, Captain Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines has returned to the Chapter's home world of Macragge, but there is little respite. The Ultramarines are thrust back into battle, and this time the enemy is the Chapter's greatest nemesis. The traitorous Iron Warriors, led by renegade Warsmith Honsou, have gathered together a massive and brutal warband. Their target is the realm of Ultramar. Their objective is total annihilation. It is a final showdown between legendary Space Marines, and Uriel Ventris must take on the might of Honsou if he is to save his Chapter's home world.
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Book Description
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About the Author
Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill worked for over six years as a Games Developer in Games Workshop's Design Studio before taking the plunge to become a full-time writer. Graham's written a host of SF and Fantasy novels and comics, as well as a number of side projects that keep him busy and (mostly) out of trouble. His Horus Heresy novel, A Thousand Sons, was a New York Times bestseller and his Time of Legends novel, Empire, won the 2010 David Gemmell Legend Award. Graham lives and works in Nottingham and you can keep up to date with where he'll be and what he's working on by visiting his website. Join the ranks of the 4th Company at www.graham-mcneill.com
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in Surveyinh to join Games Workshop, where he worked for six years as a games developer. In addition to many novels, including False Gods, Fulgrim and Mechanicum for the prestigious Hoeus Hersey series, Graham has written a host of sf and fantasy short stories. He lives in Nottingham, UK.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
McNEILL disasspoints again,
By Armaghetto "Millennius" (Cypress,) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Chapter's Due (Ultramarines) (Hardcover)
I'm gonna make this short. The ultramarines portrayed in this book come off as weak, dumb, and ineffective. How have they held ultramar as long as they have if they always do like in this book, underestimate and allow themselves to be outsmarted by the enemy. The Ultramarines didn't make a single tactically brilliant move in this entire book. In fact, we're lead to believe that an enemy force that's never even been to ultramar know their defenses better than the ultramarines do. Tigurius, the most powerful librarian in all the Imperium, comes off as weak and ineffective against the demon forces of M'kar. I mean, Tigurius should have been able to banish M'kar himself, he's so powerful in the
background information, but in this book, he can barely hold off minor demons. Mephistion of the blood angels in the novels comes off as far more powerful than his peer, Tigurius, who was once able to scan the mind of an entire hive fleet and live to tell the tale. Too bad he's not effective at all in this book. And how was M'kar able to stand up to the Gauntlets of Ultramar, which have taken down Daemon Lords as well as Khaine avatars? M'kar was literally shrugging off blows from gauntlets that are Dark Technology Age wonders, with no explanation as to how he could do so. Calgar could beat M'kar before, but not now with Tigurius and Captain Agammon at his side? And after all the trouble he causes Hansou conveniently escapes again? With no reason as to how? The Ultramarines fleet is that weak as to be dominated like they were? I thought they were the most powerful Imperial Organization on the Eastern Fringe? Why were inquisition members in this book? They accomplished nothing. When it came down to it, why was Uriel Ventris and Cato Sicarius so not effective against Honsou and the pirate queen? Honsou was ten times the fighter Ventris was for no apparent reason all of a sudden. Even Vaanes the Raven Guard was ineffective as a hero. But he was effective as a villain. In fact, all the villains in the book cause terrible devastation while the heroes can't pull their heads out of their you know whats to figure out what's going on. And even when they do, they still make the same muck ups. Having a not so bright Uriel clone meant the Iron Warriors could override all the defense protocols of the Ultramarines? I could go on and on pointing out the flaws in this book, but I think I've said enough.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disapointing,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Chapter's Due (Ultramarines) (Hardcover)
I have followed this series since the beginning. The I bought the Ultramarines Omnibus (a great deal) and was swept away by the adventures of Uriel Ventris. Before I picked up the omnibus I held the Ultramarines in low regard, as a space marine chapter they seemed pretty bland in comparison to the Black Templars or the Space Wolves. Uriel Ventris grudgingly earned my respect and I've been a fan of McNeill's ever since.
As amazing as the first three books in this series are, the two preceding Chapter's Due were lack luster. After following Uriel's exploits against a tyranid splinter fleet and a daemon world teeming with traitor marines his last two adventures were unfulfilling. The Killing Ground was aggravating and small scale, worst of all is McNeill's portrayal of the Grey Knights (my favorite space marine chapter). Courage and Honour was larger scale but lacked the atmosphere of earlier entries in the series. When I read the description for Chapter's Due I thought McNeill was finally returning to his roots and despite my unease I paid hard-cover price. What most excited me about this book was the return of Warsmith Honsou of the Iron Warriors. Honsou makes for a wonderful villain, having risen to power in Storm of Iron and having faced off against Uriel in Dead Sky, Black Sun. There was also a short story called Skull Harvest in the Heroes of the Space Marines anthology that makes for a good precursor to this book. This is not a bad book, McNeill is a great author of the Black Library and this is much better than most of the lesser author's works. This book is better than the previous two in this series but it no where near the level of the first three. What should have been an epic show down between Uriel and Honsou held no where near the emotional power I expected. This book is on a much larger scale than the others, *spoiler* by the end of the book there are three hundred and some less Ultramarines *end spoiler* and the whole Chapter gets involved including Marneus Calgar himself. The plot follows three campaigns. One finds Marneus Calgar and the First Company in an endless siege against a never ending tide of daemons. This campaign is pretty boring and does little to further the plot but McNeill dosn't linger on it too long. Another campaign finds Captain Sicarius and Second Company fighting against pirates. This campaign is also pretty boring, standard Astartes warfare and a little more time is wasted on it. The real focus of the novel is Uriel's battle against Honsou in the caverns of his homeworld. The battle of the Four Valley Gorge is definitely a gripping fight and probably the most fun to be had in the book. Where the book falters is the conflict between Honsou and Uriel. Honsou is no where near as interesting in this book, having been reduced to a daemon's errand boy. The ultimate showdown at the end is short lived, the Newborn (Uriel's evil clone) plays a much smaller role in the story than expected and *spoiler* Honsou escapes to fight another day *end spoiler*. No main characters die, and Learchus disappears for half the book only to return at the end with little explanation. All in all this is by no means a bad book. The action is adequate even if the plot and character development are lacking. If you are a major WH40K fan like me go ahead and buy it for your collection, maybe wait for the next omnibus instead of forking over 25 bucks. If you are new to the 40K universe pick up the original Ultramarines omnibus, I usually induct newbs by having them read that. This is not McNeill's best work but I'm sure I'll buy the next one regardless.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great +1,
By
This review is from: Chapters Due (Warhammer 40,000 Novels: Ultramarines) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book was great. The more of Graham McNeill's books in the Ultramarines the better they get. I am waiting for the next one.
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