Customer Reviews

Dark Apostle (Warhammer 40,000 Novels: Chaos Space Marines)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book is written well! Sometimes 40k books can get caught up in the technicals, trying to show off how much they know about the lore of the universe or introduce as many different units as possible in the story. The writer only adds as much as he needs to advance the story. Some people complain about the scenes of carnage or lack of character development, and I must echo the comments of other reviewers: this is the world of 40k! To say that it is not a happy place is an understatement. There is nothing but violence in the grim dark future. These guys play rough and lots of them die, if you can't take it, go read a romance novel instead :)

As a last note, as a Chaos Space Marines player, I would also like to add that I like the fiction is set from the point of view of Chaos, and of my favorite Chapter, the Word Bearers. It's refreshing to read 40k fiction that isn't completely focused on the pawns of the false Emperor struggling valiantly to succeed against all odds.

Dark Apostle follows several Chaos Space Marines as they assault a distant Imperial world, searching for a lost artifact seen in the visions of Jarulek, the Word Bearer Dark Apostle, who has to fend off the Imperials long enough to complete his scheme while keeping his own men at bay from pouncing on him in a moment of weakness.

This book conveys the point of view from the forces of Chaos, almost always antagonists in other books, giving insight into how the Ruinous Powers manage to corrupt and seduce with such apparent ease. It gives good insight into how such a group functions without ripping itself to pieces, which is still an ever-present possibility.

I would say the only drawback is, if you're a fan of the universe, the ending leaves it to possible to seriously disrupt the status quo. The 40k verse seems to be on the verge of collapsing in on itself, as there are too many enemies, who're too powerful, and in too great a number. Without going into too much detail, it is very easy to see how, following this book, the Imperium could well and truly be crushed.

This book wasn't too bad. It's an interesting change to see Chaos so featured, from their perspective, and so successful. Clearly Chaos Space Marines, at least in this book, are pretty rough customers. Some of the rather extensive combat scenes are a bit over exaggerated, and become repetitive. The combat scenes, however, do evoke images of a massive almost planetary scale conflict, and true to WH40K there are grisly and desperate deaths. The book takes a weird turn near the end as it completely shifts where you think the story line is going. The very end certainly leaves it open for more books in this particular series.

I'll probably look into them because this book wasn't too bad, though certainly not one of the better ones I've read.

One story arc stood out above all the rest in the book -- the one of an Imperial Enforcer who becomes enslaved by the invading Chaos forces. His story becomes one of slow perversion as he is twisted and turned toward Chaos. I won't say much more because it would be a spoiler, but afterwards it kind of makes you think about all the Chaos cultists described in other books -- and how they got that way.

Overall, an interesting change from the steady flow of Imperial-centric Hero-Against-All-Odds style of WH40K stories. A fan of WH40K will want to read this, but a casual reader may want to select other more solidly written books.

I have waited along time for an in depth series focused on the Chaos Space Marines and this quick read doesn't disappoint. Although not as good as Storm of Iron (the quintessential Chaos novel and one of the most popular in the 40K canon) its still a great insight into the heretic legions and a good start to what promises to be an enjoyable series. My response to some of these other reviews;
1. its a 40K novel, not tolstoy - lighten up on the literary pretensions. The plot is interesting enough, but this is obviously setting us up for the rest of the series.
2. Of course the future looks bleak - its a chaos novel... and I fail to see how the imperium is going to fall over after they take one planet
3. Its a dark novel - but there is plenty of heroic Imperial types falling from the sky, etc for all those boring Space Marine fetishists out there. Chaos is interesting take on the Sci-Fi horror genre and its nice to see them kick arse for a change

This is good fun and Im looking forward to the rest of series

Dark Apostle is a good book about the Word Bearers and what it is like to be at the receiving end of a Chaos Space Marine force. The main characters are, irrevocably evil and have just enough personality to make them work. The inclusion of the Elysian and Mars forces are a nice touch.

Overall it is no literary masterpiece, but 40K books don't have to be. They are fun, if dark, stories about a dystopian future that offers little hope. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it particularly to someone interested in the Word Bearers, or if they have an interest in the forces of Chaos.

Dark Apostle is the quintessential novel for anyone who loves Word Bearers. Mr.Reynolds writing style fits the "grim-dark" 40k universe like no other author I now of. From the well paced action scenes to the well developed characters this novel oozes attitude and shows just how malicious the Word Bearers can be. Definitely now in my top 5 Black Library novels.

This book is written from the perspective the word errors, an evil group of space Marines. If you've read any Warhammer books then you know that most of the stories written from the perspective of the Imperium. I used to wonder about that, after reading some fairly bad books from the bad guys point of view I got an idea how hard it is actually write one of these books. It's okay to have a raving group of tainted warriors running your stoic good guys, but it's an entirely different situation to write about how those tainted warriors go home at night, make some dinner, and watch Seinfeld reruns to relax. In other words, it's hard to write from the perspective of a race that has entirely alien principles to your own and still make it plausible and interesting.

This author does an excellent job with maintaining that balance. The story is about the word errors coming to an Imperial planet in search of something of value. Naturally the imperials aren't too keen on this prospect and try to put up a fight. Due to betrayals early in the book, the evil forces take root on the planet and it becomes a matter of will leave Imperial's rescue the planet before the Chaos Marines finish their dark work. Considering this is book one of the trilogy from the bad guys point of view, don't count on the good guys coming out on top...However, as far as I was concerned the individual battles were handled very well and it was never quite sure whether the good guys or the bad guys would win them.

It was really cool to see a full on assault against the bad guys from their point of view, including a Titan and a gigantic Mechanus vehicle. You also get to see the dissent into chaos from the point of view of a regular person. Those really one of the stellar parts the book. Told from the point of view of an ordinary citizen after the occupation begins, you get to see how he slowly loses himself to chaos, but how he fights it off better than most; the true question is will he redeem himself in the end? The good guy characters are also handled very well and I liked all of them. When any character died, there were missed.

I guess by now you can figure out by now that I really enjoyed this book. I've already bought the sequel and plan to start reading it soon. Even if you can't find this book or the sequel in stores, and they're getting significantly harder to find, could still read Dark Creed which is the final book (though I read it first) in the series and excellent in its own right. It's much easier to find for purchase.

Wow. The beginning of the book was as boring and dreary as...actually I cant think of any 40k material that starts so slow. I was bashing my skull against my coffee table reading the first few chapters wondering when something, ANYTHING, would happen. Sometime between the fading in and out of consciousness I found that it actually picks up. And dare I say it? It actually gets quite good. If I must recommend this book, I'd say just skip the first few chapters, they don't actually explain anything.

I found this to be pretty entertaining beginning of the Dark Apostle trilogy. Most of the time the stories about Chaos is through the eyes of the Imperials so it is neat to see what goes on in the background of a Chaos Space Marine chapter. To be expected with anything revolving around Chaos, the violence and gore are right up there. The battles are engrossing and I felt that I could not put the book down at times.

Was I entertained reading this?: yes.

Would I recommend this to a friend?: yes, only if they are familiar with the Warhammer 40K universe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, not just because of the plethora of action, but also because of the knowledge it gave me of the Chaos perspective. I have a better understanding altogether now of not just Chaos, but also of the Imperium, Mechanicus, and even, in a small way, the Necron. I am also excited because I see this is the first book in a series, in which the next couple books have been rated even higher than the first one. As a result I am on my way to pick up the next as we speak. Please don't let some of the negative reviews here turn you away, many of them were left by those who, if you look, historically rate any novel negatively that is not told from the Imperial perspective. *Sorry, I like reading about the bad guys once in awhile* If you even have just a passing interest in Chaos, or in Warhammer 40k, then it is well worth your time to read this novel.