Customer Reviews

Fifteen Hours (Warhammer 40,000)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

From the first sentence: "The sky was dark, and he knew he was dying" Mitchel Scanlon's first Black Library novel, Fifteen Hours, sweeps the reader up in a darkly evocative and almost sublimely grim tale of the recently conscripted Imperial Guardsmen Arvin Larn. It is clear that due to his attention to detail and the novel's seamless transition from the pastoral agri-planet of Jumal IV to the war-torn streets and trenches of the city of Broucheroc that Scanlon has a firm grasp of both the facts and the nuance of the bleak and violent future of humanity. He shows this knowledge in both in the far-distant future universe of Warhammer 40,000 in general and it's foremost military machine, the Imperium of Mankind's Imperial Guard in particular.

Scanlon further punctuates the first person experiences of Trooper Larn with the occasional interlude where we are presented with insights into the characters and personalities of the Imperium that caused Trooper Larn to come to be at this hell-hole of a planet where he doesn't belong and in a war he has no part. We see through eyes and hear the thoughts everything from an Administratum Scribe to the Grand Marshall of a planetary army. Through these interludes we gain a further insight and the very real sense of an ominous future.

This is not a novel for the feint of heart. Mitchel Scanlon is almost aggressive in his realistic portrayal of the dark and at times hopeless life of a lowly infantryman of the Imperial Guard. He is, without a doubt, the first author of the Warhammer 40k universe that may actually present the universe as too grim, if such a thing can be said and it is clear he is no fan of the officer ranks. At times, this reality he confronts you with is so surprising that it will hit you in face and leave you jarred for a chapter or two. However, there is a method to Scanlon's madness, his sensuously morbid portrayal of the universe makes those rare moments of Pyrrhic victory, of laugh-out-loud levity, and even of hope feel all the more powerful and moving. I don't mind telling you, its one hell of an experience.

This is proper war fiction. There's nothing glorious or pompous here ... its guts and hardship and brooding shadows. The concept works well, and Scanlon is clearly talented ... but something just seems not quite right, somehow. A great read, but it left me a little unsatisfied. Perhaps 15 hours is not enough, after all?

I'll admit it right away: a significant proportion of the 40K fiction that I've read seems almost as though it's written itself. While this certainly has something to do with how rich the universe is -- and how well Games Workshop has fleshed out so many aspects of that richness -- it can leave Black Library novels feeling a bit stale.

I have found very few BL books satisfying -- the only three in the past few years have been the uniformly wonderful Uriel Ventris novels from Graham McNeill. This book was certainly satisfying, but in a much different way.

As a child, I read Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and it helped to change my boyish illusions of war forever. This book -- truly, a novella more than a novel --, while certainly not "All Quiet" by any means, evokes those same feelings. There is a power in this story that is well-expressed by the soldier who reviewed it: this is how it is. This is not madmen in power armor cleaving through thousands of tyranid monsters while sustaining minor scratches -- it's war.

To those that mentioned the unsatisfying ending, the unpolished prose, and the ease with which they were able to put the book down, I ask: do you believe that reality always has a satisfying ending, especially for those that take up arms to protect us? Are you certain that you were not tempted to take up a more formulaic and rosy book, rather than face the harsher ugliness of this one?

As for the unpolished writing -- I agree, there were some spots that could have been better edited. However, I question any unfavorable comparison between this and other pieces of Black Library fiction: even the excerpts from "Gaunt's Ghosts" included in the Imperial Guard codex itself could have used some fairly heavy editing.

In short, I found this book to be a readable, evocative account of life and death. That it took place within the 40K universe is secondary. The story itself was excellent and well-told. In a way, I feel as though this book may, as mentioned by another reviewer, have been a bit darker than other 40K fiction, and therefore a bit mature for the folks who have come to expect the sword-spinning antics of superhuman genetically-engineered monsters.

A great book: definitely worth a read.

As a active duty soldier in the Army, having served in Afghanistan, and deploying to Iraq within the next week, and a military history buff, I was very impressed with this story. Very true to form with regard to aspects of trench/urban combat, the personalities of the characters/soldiers (I was reminded of several guys I have known), the behaviors and rank structure with regard to heavy casualties, and the knowing belief that "higher" has no idea on what the situation really is, the difference between doctrine & reality, etc.

The story itself goes quick given the title, the ineptness of command, and several other factors. The slight touch of how an individual's actions have 2nd & 3rd order effects on others, and how long, or short, a time you've been in a combat situation, death waits for you. Patiently.

Left me wanting more, especially what happens to the various minor/major players and the objective that is trying to be held/taken, even though it is obvious what the eventual outcome will be.

Imperial Guard... ATTACK!!!

Wow.. I've read this book in two days. For me it's fast 'cause I don't have much time unless you count the trips to work and so...

This is Mr. Scanlon first book. I think he did an exclent work. I've read the reviews and most of all agreed this is a fast turning book. It's catching and it's not for the feint. I've read some parts that make me feel I was in that battlefield.
It remind me some stories about WW I in the trenches. It add some good perpective about the guardsman life and the connection between them and their superiors.

There is one part that blow me away and made me tremble..

"From the corners of his eye Larn caught gimpses of the others around him. He saw Bulaven, a lasgun in his hands taken from other Guardsman. He saw Davir. Scholar. Zeebers. He saw Chalker, his expression cool and detached, working the slide of his shotgun to send round after round into the enemy. He saw Vladek. Medical Oficer Svenk. The cook, Trooper Skench, a laspistol blazing in his one remaining hand as he stood besides others. He saw their faces. Scholar drawn yet steadfast. Bulaven dutiful, Zeebers nervous, Davir spiting obscene and angry oaths at the advancing orks. He saw steely determination and a refual to go easily to death. AS he saw it, Larn felt a feelting shame that he had doubted these men when he had first met them. Whatever their manner they were all wahat a Guardsman should be. Brave. Resolute. Unbending in the gace of the enemy. These were the men on which the Imperium had been built. The men who had fought its every battle. Won its every victory. Today, they were hoepelessly outnumbered.
Today it was their final stand.
(page 227)

After reading this book, and before as well I prefer the guardsman stories than to Marines stories.

Other reviewer said this was a teeneger writing or something. I agree. It's not like Dan Abnett or Ian Watson. But I guess this "teenager" writing made this book even greater. The common soldier is not a writer or poet. I guess that made us see almost from the eyes of the main character. It was good also 'cause the pages were turning even faster.

Overall.. If you want to read about a common guardsman and not a hero like Rambo I would reccomend this book.
You won't see here a man who have kill 1001 orks while drinking beer.

Mitchel Scanlon's debut novel is an excekkebt entry into the 40k canon!

With the barrage of 40k books out there chronicling the space marines, I thought it was interesting to see a writer take a different approach and offer us a glimpse of the warhammer universe from a more understandable perspective, that of the Imperial Guardsmen.

Don't come into this book expecting all of the fantastic and gruesome elements we typically associate with a 40k book. This story is much more intimate, focusing on a fireteam of Guardsmen dug into the trenches of a war they know they're losing, and Larn, a new Guard who, through a tragic, trivial turn of events, is accidentally brought into their ranks and forced to survive the next fifteen hours under their tutelage.

Scanlon's writing is simple, effective, and true, and he does a great job of conveying the camaraderie that the Guardsmen share in the face of insurmountable odds and a relentless enemy.

Looking forward to reading more of Scanlon's work!

from the first sentince this book pulls you in and you do not want to put it down. it feels like you are there in the trench with them.
I could not put this book down i read it in two days. it would have been less but work got in the way.
This book is a must for a new reader of warhammer 40,000 or loyal fan.

I love junkfood. That's why I read the WH novels. They're really good junk food for your brain. That being said I was really disappointed with how boring and completely unoriginal this book turned out to be. Don't waste your time with this one lads move on to the Ultra-marine Omnibus.

Want realism in you sci fi?
Can you handle it?

No, it's not always "fun", but it seems very close to the truth in a war of attrition. Read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque and then read "Fifteen Hours". Or read "Fifteen Hours" first, but read them both. Then you'll understand Scanlon's achievement.

I wait in rapt anticipation for his next book.

I just finished reading this one, and I could barely put it down! The book is very well written, although the proof-reader could use a new set of glasses. For the authors "first novel" I would have to say that this is a good showing.

The book follows the misadventures of Arvin Larn, recruited into the Imperial Guard and shipped off to fight the Emperors' wars. Suffice to say the massive machine that is the Imperial Administratum rears it's ugly head and ships recruit Larn off to the "wrong" place... I'll stop there - the rest of the book is an excellent window into how the Imperial Guard command structure works (or doesn't work) and how disenfranchised the common trooper becomes. With the occasional appearance by other characthers to fill in some of the background of the war and the palnet on which it is taking place, this book paints an incredibly detailed picture of both the guardsmen who are stuck in the trenches to the common citizens that are affected by the ravages of war in the 41st Millenium.

All in all I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a vivid look at the life of a Guardsman.