Customer Reviews

Hellforged (Warhammer)

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

 

 

One of the first Black Library books I ever read was Crimson Tears, so I naturally have an affinity for the Soul Drinkers. Since then, I have read and re-read all of the novels in the series thus far. I was quite eager to see this next installment; Hellforged. First off, I'll say that as an overall story, it was quite an entertaining read. Perhaps it was not as good as some of Dan Abnetts better work, but as a WH40K novel, it was right on par with the quality you look for in a BL novel. Even if you have never read any of the previous books, this one is a stand alone, providing an energetic and interesting story, as well as a few twists. (Though if you have never read a Soul Drinker Novel you might want to Wiki them so you have a better understanding of what the bigger picture is) However, if like me you have read the long running series, you might be a little disappointed in the lack of answers to questions raised by previous novels, and yes, there is kind of a cliff hanger at the end, but then again, the story might just end there, leaving the reader to contemplate how the whole saga ends. But the overall quality of the novel depends on what the reader expects from it; it you wanted an entertaining story with Space Marines tearing around in their usual fashion decimating the enemy with bolter and chainsword, then this novel does not disappoint. If you wanted in depth answers to the deeper questions raised in the previous novels, you might just want to find a summary to get you up to speed. In the end, based on the quality of the novel itself, I give it a 4 out of five.

In brief, novels in the "Warhammer 40,000" line are set about 40,000 years in the future, when the galaxy is a very nasty place indeed. Humanity is the nominal dominant galactic species, but there are threats galore and to survive the human empire has become the sort of fascist dystopia that would give Reynhard Heydrich nightmares. The "Space Marines" are the elite elite bio-engineered super-human shock troops, and one group of these superhuman warriors - the Soul Drinkers - has rebelled against the oppression of the empire and gone rogue. This book is an ongoing series, and the first couple of titles in the series were very good indeed, at least for escapist military SF. But as many other reviewers have attested, this book has not quite kept up to standard. In particular there are too many egregious unresolved issues and blind plot alleys, and too many sympathetic characters get killed off for little reason and they do not get replaced.

Nonetheless, while not as good as we usually expect from this author, it's not a total wash. The parts dealing with the "mechanicum" - the empire's cult of science and engineering - are quite good, and there are plenty of bits and pieces to enjoy here and there throughout the book.

In summary: did not beat the point spread, but still a more entertaining read than most of what is out there, including most of what is in this genre. Let's hope the sequel gives the fans something other than the protagonist being pointlessly tortured to death by fanatics over 300 pages...

Ben Counter is one of my favorite Black Library authors. His Grey Knights series, his work in the Horus Heresy series and the first few Soul Drinkers novels were very readable.

However, the quality of the Soul Drinker series has severely nose dived in the last couple books. Chapter War was an exercise in futility, and all felt very meaningless. Did it serve any purpose to suddenly kill off the resourceful Eumenes and have all the new Soul Drinkers scouts desert? It was almost as if he discarded everything that he was building towards in the first three books.

I gave the series another chance with Hellforged, and it was perhaps, even worse.

There were some bright moments. I liked how he dealt with the Mechanicus, who were by far the most interesting characters. Sadly, he continued the tradition of introducing a mildly interesting human character, and then killing him/her off in an unsatisfying way. Though, I will say that the human characters in this book received especially wretched treatment.

Perhaps the most damning flaw of the book, was that the whole time as I read it, I was wondering if Games Workshop had seen a slump in Necron army sales, and so needed them to get some exposure. There was a rather unfortunate litany of encounters with Necron units, that read as if he were going down the army list, even referring to them specifically. I.E, here are the Immortals, here are the Flayed Ones, watch out for Wraiths, etc.

The Adeptus Mechanicus suffered from several terrible incidents of deus ex machina. The ending, as some have mentioned, was particularly atrocious in this regard.

I felt Ben Counter had a really good theme, that he developed pretty well for the first three books of the series. I just don't understand what happened to make him pretty much have the series commit suicide.

Perhaps he had a lack of inspiration going forward. Or maybe, he had to remove the Soul Drinkers so as to not upset the 40k playing field by having them actually succeed. But I personally felt that the most alluring point of the story, was them clawing back from oblivion and rebuilding as an independent chapter. Not being constantly thrown back into the hole. It makes all the previous struggles seem worthless.

There are a few more minor issues.

One is that the editing of the book was generally shoddy. There were a couple times that he got his own squad names turned around. Such as claiming a squad escorted a character in the beginning of the chapter, and ending with a different squad escorting them.

Secondly, Chaplain Iktinos, who was one of the more interesting and well written characters in the first few books, is nearly unrecognizable. Where once he was charismatic, now he has become rather wooden with awkward dialogue, showing no trace of his former self.

Sarpedon has also become a serious chore to read. There are quite a few instances throughout this book, where he exchanges dialogue that is so lame and stilted, that it makes one actually put it down and wince.

Black Library is not exactly renowned for the conversational skills of their protagonists, but I always felt Counter made a strong effort.

That said. It's not a /bad/ book by Black Library standards. The action scenes were superb, even if I found myself skimming or skipping them. I had gotten so exasperated in where he was taking the story, that I didn't have the patience to read in aching detail, the destruction of another necron. Who are probably the most boring antagonists in the 40k universe.

In conclusion, Hellforged will mostly disappoint those who really enjoyed the first two novels in the series, as he has completely changed the thematic scope of the series.

This novel was very disappointing. I'm a Ben Counter fan, and this novel did not represent his best work.

Read further at your own risk, here be spoilers.

The series comes to a crashing halt.

I read the novel all the way to the end, but the story was filled with despondency and malaise from start to finish. Several of the Soul Drinkers reveal to Sarepdon that they are tired of fighting and would prefer to settle down on some world and raise corn; OK, I just made the last part up, but it is not a stretch. Mr. Counter also kills off many of the colorful Soul Drinkers from the first four novels.

The Soul Drinkers are on the run and trying to find refuge in a largely unexplored frontier. What they find is the Necrons.

The Mechanicum is still on the Soul Drinkers' heels. Through a bit of extreme creativity, Mr. Counter explains that, even though the Imperium declared the Soul Drinkers to be heretical and expunged the records of the Soul Drinkers' existence, the Mechanicum expended considerable resources to find and save all of the information about the Soul Drinkers that was available. That plot device stretched my willing suspension of disbelief, but Mr. Counter had not let me down in past novels - I pressed on.

The chapter is down to one-quarter strength, and in the open salvos of the novel the Mechanicum critically wounds the Soul Drinkers' home ship.

The Soul Drinkers elect to help the remnants of a human civilization fight the Necrons.

The Soul Drinkers have to make a bargain with the Mechanicum to survive and fight the alien intelligence at the core, literally the core, of the crypt world.

Sarepdon fights the Necron over-mind and quite surprisingly wins, but the victory is at the cost of the chapter's adeptus.

Sarepdon emerges onto the surface of the crypt world to find that the Mechanicus has betrayed him. A chapter of the Imperial Fists awaits the Soul Drinkers. Sarepdon challenges their captain to an honor battle. Sarepdon loses, and at the end of the novel his forces are being rounded up to be taken to face trial before Rogal Dorn.

In a further display of "tell me without showing," the chaplain's evil intentions are mentioned, but they are not further revealed.

There could be some Deus Machina that could rescue the series, e.g., an unexpected Warp storm means that the Soul Drinkers are given a chance to escape, but to be candid I would probably not read another novel in this series.

Never again will I buy a Soul Drinker novel. What started as a decent concept has been bogged down with bad writing and half-formed plot concepts. Once more Ben Counter's habit of making side characters (and Adpetus Mechanicus in particular) that are most interesting than the actual main characters came to light. Nothing is solved, nothing is revealed, and I can only question what the whole point of this was. The only bright side to this whole thing is that the book makes a very, very nice coffee cup holder. If you want an overly expensive coaster, then you're in luck here.

When Archmagos Voar of the Adeptus Mechanicus spies the fallen Chapter of the Soul Drinkers, he orders their total elimination. No survivors! But the Soul Drinkers manage to escape via warp at the last critical moment. A chase begins.

Sarpedon, Chapter Master and senior Librarian of the Soul Drinkers Chapter had thought no one would find them in the uncharted region of space. Fleeing the wrath of the Imperial Fists leaves them low on fuel and in need of repairs. Once they make landfall, Sarpedon finds the planet to be stripped of all life. Even the wildlife is missing. The buildings are empty of people, though evidence shows the people had fought whatever devastated their world. It is not long before he learns what wiped out all life and the Soul Drinkers are fighting for their own lives.

The chase will continue with the Mechanicus and the Soul Drinkers pitted against one another, as well as with the necrons of the Veiled Region.

***** FIVE STARS! As usual, Ben Counter has written an outstanding story with his own unique flair. Battle scenes come to realistic life due to Counter's vivid writing style. I found myself unwilling to stop reading and lost an entire night of sleep. It was worth it though. The necrons are a force to be reckoned with. Highly recommended reading. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

While the battle scenes, and there are more than a few, are as excellent as ever, this episode of the Soul Drinkers' journey lacked the demonstrable character growth, mystery, and drama that was the hallmark of the previous books. While I'm not so dedicated as to go back and count pages, it felt like more time was spent developing the Mechanicus characters, and much of the action with them as well. Not a bad thing normally, but as usual with the 'Drinkers, the Mechanicus are the bad guys, and frankly I didn't buy the book for them - some development is awesome, but this was too much and rather obviously due to the lack of material about Sarpedon's crew. Nonetheless, it's definitely worth reading if you've read the other Soul Drinker books, if only to be ready for what comes next, as this book was clearly written from a very short outline with a Deus Ex Machina cliffhanger ending, filled out with Mechanicus fluff to get it to the right length and set the stage for what comes next.

Ben Counter is a mature author with an intrinsic grasp of the 40K universe and it's background. He is very skilled in his chosen vocation. His writing transports me to the places he dreams up in his mind. As good as Ben may write, this is my least favorite book in the series, though the cliffhanger ending raised my eyebrows. I am looking forward to the next book, The Soul Drinkers just keep fading away...

Hellforged continues the sojourns of the Soul Drinkers, a renegade offshoot of the Imperial Fists Adeptus Astartes. Sarpedon, desperate to find supplies for the rapidly dwindling Chapter, ducks into a mostly uncharted region of space, and directly into a Mechanicus Explorator Fleet. After making a break, the Soul Drinkers wind up entangled in the last days of a war between a small, undiscovered human empire and the necrons.

The Soul Drinkers series has managed to remain a ongoing series thanks to its indepth characters, entertaining storylines, and subtle background action thats brewed across the series. Apart from the last, none of this is really present. The story isn't bad, its just very blah. Two sides are thrown together, and most of the twists can be seen over the horizon, granted because the reader has far more knowledge than the characters, and the one neat trick that the necrons has is repeated about 8 times. Several characters that brought tension and intrigue are gone or are rapidly replaced by more cookie cutter Space Marines. The civil war is largely over, so the tension is gone, replaced with a rather trite bitterness. Overall, the plot feels exhausted, and while the book has a good ending that sets up the next installment as one that could breath life back into it, its only by the virtues of the storyline as a whole that makes this worthwhile.

Once again Ben Counter's Soul Drinkers in an exciting and perilous adventure. This is highly recommended for Warhammer 40K readers. However, read the first 4 books before this one to get the sense of the overall story line.
First 3: The Soul Drinkers Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)
Chapter War (Warhammer 40,000)