Customer Reviews

Ragnar's Claw: A Space Wolf Novel (Warhammer 40,000)

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

 

 

This book tells of Ragnar Blackmane's first adventure off-world of Fenris. He and his claw are sent to assist an inquisitor on a mission to collect an ancient artifact and save a hive city from a deadly plague. Their mission takes them through vast distances to fight orks, genestealers, and daemons in a multitude of different environments. The character of Ragnar is further developed, with him again being critically wounded only to be revived with a new fear of mortality. There is an undercurrent of uneasiness throughout the book that is only explained in the last couple of chapters as the heroes discover the true puppeteer of their mission.

The fighting scenes and descriptions of the Space Wolf Space Marines are excellent, and as Ragnar discovers the vastness of the Imperium the reader develops a better understanding too. Perhaps the best aspect of this book is the sheer epic feel. The multitude of enemies Ragnar encounters and the vast spaces he travels make this stand out as an excellent resource for those wishing to learn more about the WH40K world. The only complaints I have with the story arise from the writing of King. He tends to over-use descriptive words and phrases, creating a very repetitive feel to some of the scenes.

Overall, this is a fun and interesting read that you'll enjoy if you're ok with some cases of poor writing style.

Although i am a Tyranid collector (Giant bugs) i found this tale of the young blood claw , Ragnar Blackmane , extremly exciting and quite easy to read.
One of the extremely few negative aspects about it is that if you don't know a lot about Warhammer or Games Workshop products then you cannot understand the book.
It is very good fun to see the plot unravel as they release the Demon and one of the inquisitors reveals his Chaos tendencies and is promoted to the status of Demon Prince in honor of Nurgle (The Chaos god of disease and pestilance).
In conclusion i think that this book is very , very good book.

As a book, this is very well written. Ragnar continues to develop as a character, and the reader can progress with him as he learns more about the universe around him. The secondary characters are well written and you really start to care about them by the end.

However, the foreshadowing was too much. By the time the Wolves and Inquisitors find out what is really going on, the reader has known for quite a while. It really takes away a lot of the drama when you know what is going to happen.

This is a good book. As an avid 40k player and fan, it is a really good read. There is a lot that is conflicting with what you find in codexes and other sources, but it really doesn't subtract from the storyline. You really don't need to read the first book in the series to understand this one, but I'm sure it'll help.

Also, who ever knew that the Great Unclean Ones of Nurgle were British?

No relation but I'm a bit of a space Wolves fan. The Space Marines are meant to be hard fanatical worriers who's training and life style has desensitized them to basic human notions. I liked the supper human world of sub human emotion. King caught this well in a book I feel out stepped the first Space Wolves.
This book is a must to anyone interested on the 40k universe.
Ragnar shows a mavric chapter unlike that of Ultra Marine, This book gives atmosphere and insight but would be aimed more for people interested in Warhammer 40k them general public. Not to be judged in 50 pages.

this book was action packed. It showed how bad ass the Space marines are and had them killing every one. The plot was good and if your a fan of Warhammer 40k you should love this book i wish the 1st one space wolf was like Ragnar's Claw.

Very poorly written, I couldn't get past page 50 or so. For example, in opening pages each paragraph uses the word "superhuman" to describe space marines. Action sequences are similarly redundant. Nothing comes to life in this book. Re-read the Warhammer rulebooks, they're better written and far more entertaining.