Dawn Of War II (Warhammer 40,000) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Action-packed tie-in novel to the Dawn of War 2 computer game by THQ.

About the Author

Chris Roberson's novels include Three Unbroken, The Dragon's Nine Sons, Set the Seas on Fire, The Voyage of Night Shining White and Paragaea: A Planetary Romance.  He is the editor of the anthology Adventure Vol. 1 and co-founder of publishing house Monkeybrain Books.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844166864
• ISBN-13: 978-1844166862
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #557,998 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, June 4, 2009

By	Joanne Miller (Towaco, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In some ways, I think Roberson should stick to writing children's books (you'll find he wrote "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" novels). His prose are abysmal, his descriptions of things are absolutely horrendous (ex. He'd say "The marines were attacked by a Genestealer that jumped off a rock they were sheltering beneath", instead of something like "A humanoid creature with six-limbs, covered in thick, slimy carapace shells that resembled a mutilated spider with a human head sewn on, crawled over the granite rocky edifice with inhuman grace. With a savage hiss it jumped down to attack the prone marines sheltering beneath it"), and overall, I found this to be boring.

The only reason I can't give him a single-star is because of the fact that he did something which 40k fans have been clamoring for, for years; he actually incorporated real world science instead of pulling things out of his you-know-what (though he messed up saying that the Marine's specialist clotting cells, the Lahrimann cells, would travel with the Leukocytes seeing as how Leukocytes are White Blood Cells as opposed to Erythrocytes, which are Red Blood Cells, but it was a good effort none the less!), and he treated the lore with respect. Thus, even though I consider this novel to be a failure, I see good things coming from him in the future.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Painfully boring, April 17, 2009

By	Brian Long "Brian" (Ogden, UT USA) - See all my reviews

I have a high bar for these novels. After reading the prose of Abnett, McNeil, Counter, and even several of the new authors, I expect a certain level of quality even in these splatterfest sci-fi books. This one is a blatant letdown in that regard. Its not bad per se, but no effort was put into it. The plot, although left open for possible exploitation and innovation, feels like the author was writing a term paper he wanted done with. Combat was slow and incredibly boring, and while I accept that its hard to write your thousandth combat scenario, and while I'll accept the flamers knee jerk response that I probably couldn't do better, it doesn't excuse the fact that there was no vitality in this. While its not the bottom of the barrel, it comes close. On my first attempt, I was unable to finish more than ten pages before a headache began to set in.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Will the Dawn of War series ever have a decent book?, August 9, 2009

By	R. Bush - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It isn't often that I don't finish a Black Library novel, but here's one that I had to put down before causing an aneurysm. Yes, I freely admit I didn't finish it but this is a review of the first 1/3 of the book that I could choke down.

The writing is drab and I can't find myself actually caring about what happens to the characters. Actually, I was hoping for a total party wipeout just to put a quick end to the book, but I wasn't so lucky. At times I felt like I was inside the head of a petulant teenager hefting a bolter and was waiting for him to throw a tantrum.

I will admit, Roberson did a better job with keeping with the details of the 40k universe than the trash C.S. Goto wrote. But in all, if I see Dawn of War on the cover, I'm going to quickly move on to something worthwhile. Like tax law.