Customer Reviews

Nightbringer: An Ultramarines Novel (Warhammer 40,000)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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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NIGHTBRINGER is a fantastic book. I'm not a huge fan of the Space Marines but this is not a just a Smurf novel. It has Necrons, Inquisitors and Smurfs. There are some good twists and turns that are unexpected. This book actually made me care for the Smurfs and Captain Ventris.

There was good treatment of the Necrons & the C'Tan - nothing that would violate the given fluff from the Necron Codex.

Overall, a very good book & well worth the read. I can't wait to read the rest of the series: Warriors of Ultramar; Storm of Iron; Dead Sky, Black Sun.

In the Warhammer mythos, there are certain subjects, which I surmise are difficult to write. Even Dan Abnett has admitted to a certain trepidation before he wrote his first Space Marine book. The difficulty arises from the characters themselves. First, they are basically invincible, ageless supermen, who sputter onto the scene and spray the area with bolter fire. Second, the Space Marine myth is arcane and complicated. Third, the Space Marines are loyal to the Emperor and this simple fact seems to have to be sprinkled around the narrative like a Chaplain's holy water. Fourth, their dialogue usually unwinds like linebackers reciting a Latin liturgy.

With these limitations in mind, let's turn to Graham McNeill. He has succeeded in writing a Space Marine novel in the style of Dave Gemmell, which elevated the tone of the novel and overcame the game "tie-in" platform. As a result, the novel stands apart as solid military science fiction.

The narrative does, however, contain a myriad of items that will appeal to the gamer, including planet bigwigs conspiring with Dark Eldar to take over planet and awaken the Nightbringer; well crafted subsidiary players, which you care about; plenty of revealed facts (arcane facts about weapons, suits, tactics, organization); buckets of gore all around; and the appearance of the C'tan and the Necrons.

Some people have been confused as to the order they should read these novels. I was one of those and I would have really appreciated someone to tell me which book to start with.

Ok here it is: 1)Nightbringer, 2)Warriors of Ultramar, 3)Storm of Iron, 4)Dead Sky.

Read them in this order. Note that Storm of Iron are about the forces of Chaos, but the final book combines both forces, and if you don't read about the events and people in Storm of Iron, you will likely be confused in the final book, Dead Sky.

They are all good; Nightbringer and Warriors of Ultramar were my favorites. Be prepared for disturbing scenes of violence. Hey these are stories of brutal war. What do you expect? Not for the squeamish.

This is, I believe, one of the best Warhammer 40K books written. It has an excellent detailed plot, lots of wonderful memorable characters and excellent story development. The best attribute though is it completely captures the "flavor" of the Warhammer 40K universe better then other books. Some books try to imprint the 21st century world view on their characters in the 40K universe but this author does not do that. He takes the 40K universe and brings it alive for you on its own terms. A great read!!!

If you have never checked the Warhammer 40,000 world out. Boy, are you missing the boat. Do you like storys of mystery, battles of Good-vs-evil, and war?? Then these books will be your Fix!! This Book is about the new captain of the Ultramarines 4th company( too see how he became Capt. see the book of short storys "Words Of Blood" and check out the short story "Chains of Command" ). There is a spaceship battle,Space Marines-Dark Eldar-Necrons, hand to hand combat, governmental corruption, civil uprising, and a attempt to awaken a ancient evil..."The Nightbringer".

This was a very nice, action-packed book. It had a weirdly written prologue, but other than that it was a page-tuner.

It's about the first-mission of newly-promoted Ultramarine's Captain Uriel Ventris of the 4th Company after the previous Captain died. On the small, isolated planet of Pavonis, civil violence is breeding at an alarming rate as the Dark Eldar plague the planet and other nearby planets with constant raiding. The Ultramarines are sent there to protect an Inquisitor by the name of Baranzo, who is investigating the insurrection, and to halt the constant Dark Eldar attacks. (Warning, spoliers ahead). As they press on, it turns out one of the Cartels lead by a man named Kasimir de Valtos was using the civil violence as a smoke-screen to unearth the tomb of the Nightbringer, an ancient, evil god who is currently sleeping under the planet's mountains while the Dark Eldar search for the keys. Once this is realized, the Ultramarines decided to attack the mine where this creature is sleeping. But they were too late. Despite the Nightbringer being incredibly weakened, almost to the point of death, it cannot be defeated, and eventually escapes to feed on a nearby star to return to full power.

There's plenty of action, some boring parts with dialogue, a decent adventure, but it is one of the greatest Warhammer 40,000 Books I ever read. A must read for all Space Marines, and Necron fans.

"Nightbringer" is a very disappointing foray into the Black Library novels.

It's a safe bet that anyone reading this book is already familiar with the Warhammer 40K universe, which is good, because the book only skims the surface of a much larger setting. Instead, this book ignores the more interesting parts of 40K, and ends up a weak tale of political "intrigue" with an ending that just doesn't fit.

Most of the story surrounds the bureaucratic faction heads of an unimportant world whose main export is bad bureaucracy. The Ultramarines, mankind's greatest fighting force and 40K's most prolific warriors are little more than a wrench thrown into the works by a bigger bureaucrat to stop the bickering bureaucrats long enough for the bigger bureaucrat to discover that what's really going on in the story has nothing to do with bureaucracy at all.

If a bad story and worse ending aren't enough, there's McNeill's style. His prose is cheesy, his sentences are clunky and redundant, and his vocabulary is inconsistent. Obscure and unnecessary in some places, monotonous and unimaginative in others. His descriptive ability is also poor, and McNeill often bites off more than he can chew.

Graham McNeill isn't the worst writer ever, but he shops at the same stores.