Customer Reviews

Dawn Of War II (Warhammer 40,000 Novels: Space Marine Battles)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

There isn't too much I can add which others haven't already, except as an avid BL/WH40k reader this book is FAR more disappointing than even the lackluster first Dawn of War book.

The characterization is terribly flat and uninspired, the psychology and decision-making of the Space Marines is way off. It's obvious the author is not familiar at all with the source material and lacks any sort of understanding of the mentality or mind-set of Marines, not to mention the incredibly one-dimensional personalities. Space Marines aren't merely dudes in powered armor. I could cite half-a-dozen different glaring inconsistencies but it would be a waste of time.

Bottom line: Do not read this book if you enjoy 40k fiction. The 5-star reviews above are absurd, they were either paid for or the reviewers have not actually read the book.

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.

Most of the Black Library writers are great! But this particular novel just plain stank!

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.

Okay I don't know if some of you people are English professors who criticize every single detail or if someone tore the last half of the book out of your copies because I loved this book. My friend let me borrow this book and it's what got me into the 40K series. It's not my favorite of the 40K series, but that's because I've read Space Wolf: The First Omnibus and The Blood Angels Omnibus. Of course it can't compare to those books because they're each 600+ pages long I'm probably going to get the Dawn of War Omnibus by Goto, but you all need to lighten up a bit. It's full of adventure and futuristic spartans.

And I own them all.

My issue with this book is not it's childish prose (My Autistic 11 year old writes better than this guy.) It is not with the many pathetic mistakes in the background fluff (Service Studs are for 100 years of service not 50. They are called Gargoyles, not Hellbats, I could go on for day's) Not for the fact that, for the first time, I actually had to force myself to finish a Black Library book.

My beef is with the Black Library Editing, or total lack therof. This piece of literary garbage should have never been released from the Black Library in the first place! Chris Roberson has managed to give Black Library publishing a big black eye. I whole heartedly disagree with R. Bush's statement above, C.S. Goto kicks this guy's ass!

Chris Roberson really needs to stick to writing childrens and comic books. I'm willing to bet a hundred bucks that the only good reviews for this piece of junk is from the Authors friends or from Drones who have never read any of the Black Library's books.

One Blood Raven and one Apothecary are the only survivors of a mission on Prosperon (now a dead world) to retrieve a relic. Ten Blood Ravens fell. Nine gene-seeds were recovered. Needing to recruit additional warriors to the Chapter, the Blood Ravens go to Calderis, a desert world. Humans and feral orks populate the planet. The Blood Ravens are surprised when the orks attack Argus Township. The feral orks from beyond the mountains have never before attacked the human settlements on this hemisphere. The Blood Ravens launch into action.

Feral orks are not the only problem though. Behind them are developed orks, spacefaring greenskins armed for war, and they have a legendary warlord leading them. Worse, the Blood Ravens within Argus Township are exposed to an unexpected enemy, xenos!

***** Trust me when I say that my synopsis of this book barely touches the surprises I found within its pages. I gave enough to show the problems that will later spring more than one unexpected twist to the plot line. Author Chris Roberson has a great imagination that is able to take a bad problem, turn it into two problems, make them worse, and when it is not possible for events to get any worse, Roberson succeeds in accomplishing the impossible before adding a twist. This story is a shining tribute to the W40K saga. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

"Dawn of War II" is a tied-in novel to the new computer game from Relic of the same name. But this should not deter you from reading the novel, if you are not a fan of the computer game, because the novel stands firmly on its own legs.

I happen to be a fan of both the game and the Black Library 40K novels, but you do not need to know anything about either to enjoy Roberson's book. It seems clear to me that he consciously made an attempt to educate any newcomers to the 40K universe in a series of what I will call for lack of a better word--"information clusters." I made the term up for those moments in the novel in which Roberson explains space marine esoterica--like the importance of the "gene-seed," the special function of the "apothecary," the command structure of a space marine company, the cultural differences between Blood Raven space marines and other chapters, the way in which orks spawn, and, most importantly for this novel, the way in which the space marines recruit "initiates" to their elite society. The "information clusters" might annoy some 40K aficionados but I found them to be informative. Obviously, Roberson has studied the novels of Cassem Goto extensively for Blood Raven "facts," and I detected a nod and a wink to the brilliant Ultramarine novels of Graham McNeil.

The novel concerns the fifth company of the Blood Ravens, a space marine chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, who carry the sobriquet of "the fated." In this novel, the marines are fated to struggle against two foes--the orks and the tyranids. The book begins with a squad searching for a relic on the planet Prosperon. Prosperon is dying under the attack of tyranids, the insect-like scourge called the great-devourer.

Roberson structures the book like a game--he starts small with a squad and then escalates in action until the last battle includes the whole company.

Roberson has a fluid and pellucid prose style, which I found quite readable. The 40K world is Gothic in tone; however, Roberson's style belies that. He creates the Gothic world and fully inhabits it but he does not get bogged down in turgid Gothic prose.

"Dawn of War II" is Chris Roberson's first novel for Black Library. He is the author of "Set the Seas on Fire" and "The Dragon's Nine Sons" for Solaris. I recommend these books highly for people who enjoyed this book.

Finally, I love tyranids. If you enjoyed them in this work I also recommend McNeil's "Heroes of the Ultramarines," and Lucien Soulban's "Desert Raiders."