Nightbringer: An Ultramarines Novel (Warhammer 40,000) [Mass Market Paperback]

Graham McNeill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2002

After her return from Drachenfels, Genevieve Dieudonne - the vampire femme fatale - embarks on an odessey of perilous self-discovery in which she must face monsters and magicians, intrigue and evil. Her journey takes her frome the labyrinthine depths of an old Altdorf theatre to an accursed mansion.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The action and relentless violence starts in merely rip-roaring fashion and then steadily escalates - SFX --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Hailing from Scotland, Graham narrowly escaped a career in surveying five years ago to join Games Workshop's Games Development team, which, let's face it, sounds much more exciting. He's worked on loads of codexes since then, the most recent being Codex: Space Marines. As well as six novels, he's also written a host of short stories for Inferno! and takes on too much freelance work than can be healthy. At present, Graham's thinking up ideas for a 40K ghost story (as well as where to take Uriel and Pasanius next) and is having to seriously think about evicting his life-size cardboard cut-out of Buffy after 'the scary incident'. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743442997
• ISBN-13: 978-0743442992
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,020,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in Surveyinh to join Games Workshop, where he worked for six years as a games developer. In addition to many novels, including False Gods, Fulgrim and Mechanicum for the prestigious Hoeus Hersey series, Graham has written a host of sf and fantasy short stories. He lives in Nottingham, UK.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Send in the Ultramarines!, April 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightbringer: An Ultramarines Novel (Warhammer 40,000) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was, quite frankly, stunned by how good this book is. As far as I know, this is Graham McNeil's first long-form work. Readers of White Dwarf and Inferno! magazines will know him as a writer of Warhammer 40K gaming background and short stories. As Gav Thorpe (13th Legion) has unfortunately proven, game designers and writers of game "fluff" don't always make such a smooth transition "to the big screen" (as it were), but McNeil has arrived with a vengeance. Nightbringer displays the kind of character depth, background density, plot complexity and gift for believable place and character names that we see in the supremely talented Dan Abnett (Ghost Ghosts series and the Eisenhorn Trilogy).

Nightbringer finds us on the troubled planet of Pavonis where an Ultramarines squad and a mysterious Administratum official have been dispatched to find out why the planet's governor has not been meeting the required Imperial tithes. Once there, the Imperial delegation is plunged into a complex web of government corruption, secret alien manipulation and an evil guilder on the verge of awakening an ancient alien entity that nightmares are literally made of.

There is action here galore (for those who feel the need for constant carnage), but there is also fascinating insight into the complexities of Imperial governorship of a distant planet, the shakey collaborations between corrupt humans and alien exploiters, and the fragile nature of Imperial domination of the universe. We also get some welcomed insight into the creepy and perverted world of the Dark Eldar.

Ths novel was obviously timed to be released with the new Nercon miniatures and Codex book from Games Workshop. A bad writing effort might have made one resentful of this obvious "product placement," but McNeil manages to only increase our excitement for what dimensions the revamped Necrons (and future Graham McNeil novels) might add to the already endlessly fascinating 40K universe.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Distinctly Above Its Peers..., November 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightbringer: An Ultramarines Novel (Warhammer 40,000) (Mass Market Paperback)

From the cover and fluff, you might think this is just a shoot'em up story about the space marines, the 40K Universe's ultimate human warriors. This is deceptive and I am glad that it is! There is a lot more to the book than advertised.

This includes excellent characterization of characters, including humans, aliens, and secondary roles. The plot was also very well drawn out. The horror of the times and various aliens and sociopathic humans is well presented, gruesome but not overdone and ridiculous. If I had to summarize it, the book is a combination of Stephen King horror, gritty sci-fi, and war novel.

It is also faithful to the fluff of the Games Workshop 40K world. If you are a gamer or even just a reader of that imagiverse (which is beginning to rival Tolkein's Middle Earth in breadth and depth...granted, only through the efforts of hundreds of people!), this book fleshes out many plot details and events of 40K.

Basically, the plot revolves primarily around a missing Necron vessel that has been haunting the warp for millions of years. A complicated set of schemes involving the dark eldar, the humans, psycho evil humans, and the faithful Space Marines emerges with various characters trying to stop others from locating the missing ship and the C'Tan god known as the Nightbringer (which is why the title of the book suits it. So it is NOT just a space marine novel, it is really much more.

I would recommend this for anyone who was interested in gritty, action oriented sci-fi with the usual plot twists and teases to keep you excited and reading. You should also be able to tolerate explicit violence, including torture, which crops up occasionally. If you like that style of book, you will love this book. If you want Star Trek style heavily cleansed sci-fi universe heavily guided by modern morality and delicate sensibilities, this probably isn't for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book from any angle, September 28, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Nightbringer (Warhammer 40,000 Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Warhammer40k universe just got a whole lot more interesting than it already was. From start to finish this was a good book.
Which starts with a promtoed ultramarines captain setn on a simple misson. This mission as it would turn out isn't all that simple. On the planet of Pavonis there is more than meeets the eye. this book has an amazing plot and a nice twist right in the middle, making it a good book to get even if you don't like warhammer 40k universe. But it isn't for people who can't handle reading a book with violence in it.

I recomend this book to anyone 13 or older espeacially if your a warhammer 40k fan like me.
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