Customer Reviews

Soul Hunter (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It has been quite some time since Simon Spurrier's very enjoyable "Lord of the Night", and finally, the Night Lords Legion is deigned with another novel dedicated solely to them. Somewhat different in tone and atmosphere from much of the Warhammer 40,000 fiction, "Soul Hunter" is a well written, atmospheric romp centering on this enigmatic Legion that is a real page-turner.

Your enjoyment of this novel will likely be heavily based on three things. First, it requires you to be somewhat steeped in Warhammer 40,000 lore, and is not a very good introduction to the universe from someone not already familiar with it (I would point you to Dan Abnett's "Eisenhorn" omnibus as a good first introduction to Warhammer 40,000 universe instead). If you have never read a novel based in this universe, many references integral to the enjoyment of this book will be lost, or will break the flow of the book as you attempt to look them up. Therefore, it is a great Warhammer 40,000 novel, but perhaps not a great general science fiction novel, especially for those not familiar with the universe. I have rated "Soul Hunter" as a Warhammer 40,000 novel, since probably 90% of the readers looking at this entry have arrived here because it is one, but had I not been a universe affictionado, the rating would have probably been somewhere around 3 stars, as it holds far less appeal to the general public outside of the fans of the universe.

Second, while "Soul Hunter" is not a direct sequel to "Lord of the Night", it does throw in more than a few Easter eggs to those who have read the previous Night Lords novel. It should be noted that reading "Lord of the Night" is not necessary for you to enjoy "Soul Hunter", but it does enhance the experience (not to mention that "Lord of the Night" is a very enjoyable novel on its own merits).

Third, while there are numerous action scenes, the overall pace of the novel can be a bit slower at times, as the characters are often brooding and pensive, spending quite a bit of time in flashbacks, thoughts of the past, or pondering on their future. Personally, I find it to be a refreshing change from some of the faster paced Warhammer 40,000 fiction, but if you are looking for constant, non-stop action, there are many introspective parts within "Soul Hunter" that may not be to your liking.

Now that the basic criteria is out of the way, I shall spend a little time discussing the plot. Talos, a former Apothecary turned de-facto sergeant of the 10th Company of the Night Lords Legion is afflicted with a prophetic ability, which makes him valuable to both the leader of his warband, and to Warmaster Abaddon, the leader of the fractuous forces of Chaos Space Marines. Throughout most of the book, Talos is subject to the manipulations of his immediate superior, as well as powerful Abaddon, which place him and his warriors in mortal danger time and again.

The portrayal of the main character is rather sympathetic, and the many flashbacks give him depth, while parts written from the perspective of human serf Septimus provide for a good contrast with the Space Marine sections. The portrayal of the degenerate, disintegrating remains of the Night Lords 10th Company is handled very convincingly, and the novel succeeds in maintaining a gloomy, "grimdark" atmosphere that is a trademark of Warhammer 40,000 universe. Talos' struggles against the slow descend of the warband and the Legion into Chaos worship and corruption are portrayed well and with sympathy, The quotations at the beginning of each chapter are appropriate to the story, and add more to the ambience of "Soul Hunter" without being too predictable.

My only issue with the book was the ending, which felt like it left a lot of loose ends, and had some rather uncharacteristic behavior from one character (who shall not be named for the fear of spoiling the surprise). I understand that it is supposed to be a first novel in the series, and it does make me wish to see the series continued soon, but some of the events feel almost a bit rushed, their potential not fully realized (for example, the impact of Malcharion appears to have been much smaller than the earlier parts of the novel led me believe). At the same time, I hope that the sequel will resolve those lingering issues, so that they are seen as lead-ins into the next book in the series.

Overall, if you are a Warhammer 40,000 or Night Lords fan, I would highly recommend "Soul Hunter".

I've always been one of those people that played the `good' side of any game. When I played World of Warcraft, it was as an Alliance character. I make all the good and moral decisions in Dragon Age and Mass Effect. So it was no surprise that I was, as many are, drawn to the forces of the Imperium when I found myself diving into the Warhammer 40k universe. From the Inquisition to the Astartes and the Imperial Guardsman, there is a dearth of literature and information on the "forces of good." And that's really all I've ever read. I knew of the Word Bearers books, but much despised them due to the Blood Angels series, and never really had any interest in any of the other traitor tomes.

And then Graham McNeill's A Thousand Sons came out.

In that book, I was first introduced to--what we now know as a traitor faction--a group of Astartes that, while in the current canon are heretical, intrigued me. Then I went to Adepticon and had the pleasure of chatting up Aaron Dembski-Bowden and his book, Soul Hunter, made its way into my luggage.

Being really unfamiliar with any of the fluff surrounding not only the Night Lords, whom Soul Hunter is about, but also the Chaos Space Marines in general, I didn't know what to expect when I cracked open the pages and began to read. What I got was a 2-day adventure into the unknown, and hopefully the start of an intriguing series.

Soul Hunter, again, focuses on a the Astartes of the Night Lords; more specifically, it focuses on Talos, a sergeant of the much diminished Night Lords 10th company and his compatriots, as they carve our their piece of the galaxy in the face of enemies, both Imperially aligned and otherwise. More so, Soul Hunter is an exploration of the character of a traitor Astartes chapter, with Talos as the focal point.

Talos is unique for quite a few reasons. First, Talos suffers from prophetic visions, much like his martyred Primarch Konrad Curze. They are debilitating and occur randomly, but they are a great boon to the company Talos keeps and a sought after commodity to those seeking power. He is also quite unique is his viewpoints of the Chaos gods. Quite simply, Talos does not accept the Chaos gods as his own, nor does he think highly of those that accept their power. We see this exemplified in his interaction with his superior, a Chaos-mutated Astartes named the Chosen and his slavering, Khorne-worshipping comrade, and the disdain in which he approaches them. Finally, Talos' has an affection for his serfs that is quite unexpected for a traitor Marine; his relationship with his serf Septimus is interesting and really adds to the novel's plot.

The crux of the plot focuses on Talos' efforts to keep his once proud, now depleted company of Astartes, from being completely annihilated and eventually return them to glory. Talos' prophetic abilities greatly help his cause, though they are not without problem. The first major plot event finds Talos' prophecies discovering an asteroid that is more than it seems, allowing him to acquire a slave that can benefit the chapter. Later, his abilities are sought after by the Warmaster Abbadon, to a less than harmonious result. The fractious nature and uneasy alliances of the Chaos Space Marines rears it's head in full force here, to great effect. The plot is well focused and driven, though I'd say the real strength of the plot is in the harmonious weaving together of the characters.

Dembski-Bowden has done a marvelous job of creating Talos as a sympathetic and relatable character, despite the fact that he is not a `good' character. Creating likeable bad guys is one of the hardest things to do in literature; amoral characters are by nature unlikable, so creating one such as Talos is really something. I think the real genius of the character, and the reason I found myself liking him, is the fact that he is affectionate towards Septimus and that he is opposed to the Chaos powers--the thing I find most objectionable about the Chaos Marines. Dembski-Bowden crafted a real winner with Talos.

The other facet of the novel that stood out so completely to me, and helped me to enjoy the book as thoroughly as I did, was Dembski-Bowden's prose. It is descriptive without being overly so, and is written with purpose and clear direction. Whereas some authors in the Black Library seem to occasionally wander with their narrative, Dembski-Bowden's is terse where it needs to be and more fully developed when appropriate. In addition, his pacing is spot on; he blends enough narrative and background information with more climactic sequences very well, and the novel reads quickly (I finished it in two days) as a result.

Because of his masterful character creation and well-paced plot, Aaron Dembski-Bowden has crafted a real winner in Soul Hunter. Talos ranks up there with my favorite Black Library characters (I'm even modeling a miniature after him!) and Soul Hunter is a great entry level novel for any Imperial fanboy that is looking to dip his toe into the heretical, and a must read for those of you already invested in the dark powers.

(8.5/10) Highly Recommended.

You don't see that many books written from the bad guy's point of view. If you try to keep them pure evil, you end up with a boring cast of cardboard cutout characters. I mean how many times can Mayor McEvil kick a kitten into a ceiling fan before it just gets old? Yeah you're unspeakably evil and you tortured that guy; we got it already. If you try to give them nobility and human decency, then it feels wrong. The author went that direction; characters were sometimes untrustworthy cut throats who'd just as soon kill each other as the enemy, but other times they seemed extremely noble and loyal to each other.

Talos is the central character. He's one of the cursed Astartes (Space Marines) of Chaos. His main claim to fame is his ability to see the future. He sees himself as more pure and untainted by Chaos than the leadership and most of his brothers. The saga centers around a crusade against the Imperium, but also a struggle between Talos and the Exhaulted for control of the chapter. The Exhaulted's jealousy over Talos' psychic gifts is obvious, but how much of Talos actions undermining his leadership are intentionally seeking power is open for debate. I won't spoil how things turn out, but I didn't see it coming.

I enjoyed Talos' two slaves. In many ways they stole the show from the Astartes of the story. Both Septimus and Octavia (slave names) were interesting and had some decent character development. In Septimus, you saw how somebody adapts to long term service in a place they'd rather not be just to survive. In Octavia, you see a person just coming to grips with that. It's a pitty that while they play a big part early on, they sort of trail off as the story progresses and get less and less screen time.

My two favorite battles were a squad of Astartes taking on a fully powered Titan and the battle versus the assassin that killed their Primarch. The first one was both exciting and plausible. Despite it being a squad of soldiers against a gigantic mech, I appreciated that it didn't seem beyond belief. The flashback to the assassin was equally good in its own way, a one on one fight with speed vs brawn. Very cool. I believe this is the second book by this author, the first being the remarkable Cadian Blood. He'd be a good author to look for in the future.

I don't think I've ever done this, but I feel I have to dock the book a star for its price. Let me explain. I realize that prices rise, but $9 for this book is just to much. I could see that for one like Titanicus at 600+ pages or Rynn's World because it was one of those over-sized paperbacks that had a fancy cover and color maps, but this is just a plain Jane book of unremarkable length (413 pages). However, Amazon is doing a deal with four books for the price of three so if you have some other books you want to get at the same time, you could maybe spread it out to a more reasonable price per book. Maybe try first three Horus Heresy novels?

There were some great tidbits in this book. I loved the description of what it feels like to be the person inside a Dreadnought; how they breath and how they sometimes feel their true bodies instead of their mechanical ones was fascinating. The disclosure of exactly how hurt for resources Chaos Marines are and the revelation that time doesn't affect the Chaos legions hiding in the Warp the same way as normal space; having ten thousand years to the Imperium being a mere hundred for Chaos was intriguing. Despite this, I never really felt compelled by the overall story. The only other Chaos book I've read and can compare with, Dark Creed, was superior. I wouldn't say don't buy it, but if you're on a tight budget you could skip it.

Having read the author's first book, I was expecting good, but not great here. To my pleasant surprise
I found myself really liking this book and was pleased with the polished effort. It is a great start to
the Night Lords series, which appears interesting and full of kick-butt characters. Dembski-Bowden is rising to the level of an Abnett, in my opinion, and this only bodes well for the Black Library.

Some have complained about this novel. I suspect they fall into what is known in the modeling world as " rivet counters". I also suspect there is a conspicuos lack of significant other type companionship and an abundance of free time involved in their opinions. I loved this novel. Its different. There is only so much of " For the Emperor !, and " blood for the blood god ! " that even a fan can take. A lot of w40k novels lately read like the never ending fight scene in matrix 2, and are about as involving. If you are a marginal Night Lord fan, you will be ready to go get a Night Lords tattoo by the end of this book.

In _Soul Hunter_, Aaron Dembski-Bowden changes pace from his prior book (_Cadian Blood_) and gives us a wonderful tale of the remnants of a Chaos Marine company.

Having survived the Horus Heresy and escaped the failed Siege of Terra, the 10th Company of the Night Lords Legion fled into the warp. Some 10,000 years later, they still roam the spaceways, though to them a mere century has passed thanks to their forays into the immaterium. The 10th Company has degraded significantly from their glorious days under Konrad Curze, their slain Primarch. Many are possessed by demons or insane in the worship of the foul creatures. Few have resisted the taint of chaos. One, who himself suffers precognitive dreams that torment him, is Talos, named by Curze as Soul Hunter. His fellow survivors of 10th Company refer to him as the Prophet because of his cursed dreams.

Talos is a wonderful character. An anti-hero who hates the Empire for the Emperor's betrayal of the ideals of secularism and of the Night Lords Legion in ordering the assassination of the Primarch, owing mostly to their obedience to Horus in the Heresy, Talos is at once touched by chaos as indicated by his dreams but revolted at the infections amongst his fellows. He loathes them for their betrayal of Curzes ideals, but he performs his duty and joins them in battle against various enemies. He is a ruthless combatant, but he keeps and cares for two human slaves who serve him. His response to the assassination of the Primarch was itself a betrayal of Curze's wishes, a stigma he suffers through constantly. Facing the degradation of time and extreme combat, his power armor shows decay like his fellows, so outwardly he appears as they do. It is his inner strength, the hatred for those things incompatible with his philosophy, that keeps his drive true.

While the introduction of the various characters makes the initial chapters of the book a bit slow, the book soon becomes a page-turner, especially in Part II which essentially is the latter half of the book. Dembski-Bowden has taken a member of a Traitor Legion and made him someone the reader can empathize with instead of telling a tale of purely reprehensible chaos-infected characters. The perspective of the human slaves gives us a viewpoint of helplessness in the face of terrible circumstances to balance out the power of the Chaos Marines. Truly, this tale of betrayal and stalwart dedication to principles is a worthy read.

This is a good Warhammer 40K novel but not great. I don't blame the author at all. When writing a Chaos Space Marines novel you have to develop feeling for main characters which is really tough when you are talking about a group of people that have been represented as pure evil for so long. "Lord of the Night" showed a Night Lords chapter that was completely turned to chaos and evil where "Soul Hunter" shows one that is still fighting the effects of the warp. Although I like the inference that these Marines are fighting for something bigger than being traitors, it's never well defined and you really can't get sympathetic to their plight. Also, the author seems to be a little lacking in background information, continual references to "machine-spirits" by a Chaos Legion that had no belief in them and no reason to develop should have been caught by an editor. A good read and worth buying, but not anywhere near the level of the greats like Abnett and McNeill. Zembreski shows promise, and I liked his Imperial Guard novel, but this project looks a little to ambitious for his current skill.

ADB does a really nice job of painting the bleak picture that is the post-heresy 40k universe. The Night Lords are nothing like their more virtuous loyalist Astartes, and this story is all about showing how different the two mindsets are. Overall, the story moves along very quickly and is a fun read, and highlights how the Astartes' will to survive cuts across all loyalist and traitor lines. Excited to read more about the Soul Hunter in the future.

This book is about Chaos Space Marines, renegade former servants of the Imperium. The story is about the four surviving members of a ten-man team of elite veterans.
There's Talos, Xarl, Cyrion, and Uzas. Each has his own unique personality. Talos is a prophet. Cyrion is a empath. Uzas is a Khorne cultist (helps to understand 40K to really get this - but Khorne is the god of slaughter). Xarl just basically has a bad attitude. The other two characters are Septimus amd Octavia; they are Talos' slaves. Octavia is a psyker (telepath) and a starpilot.

Talos forsees a large battle. Talos' commander sells him and his company out to gain favor with Abbandon the Despoiler. Talso returns to his legion and they seige a planet alongside the Black Legion. As it becomes clear that the Black Legion is using Talos and his troops as cannon fodder, his commander takes the company and flees, leaving Abbadon to his fate.

I liked the characters in the squad. Every character was unique and memorable. The author takes advantage of the irreverence of the Chaos Space Marines. HE writes dialogue that would not be appropriate for loyal servants of the Imperium. It's snarky and fun.

Whether you're a fan of 40k fiction, the board game, the video game, or simply new to the genre and are wondering about this novel; let me give you some insights:

It's possible Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" may have been an inspiration for the mythos of the Night Haunter and his legion, the Night Lords.

For those of you unfamiliar with "Heart of Darkness", think "Apocalypse Now" the movie. It in turn was inspired by Conrad's book.

In both, the movie and book, there is a main character who has plumbed the darker side of humanity and utilized it for a purpose. In "Heart of Darkness", it was for profit. In "Apocalypse Now", it was to assist American interests during the Vietnam War.

With Konrad Curze (Night Haunter), it was the complete compliance of human worlds to the rule of the Imperium, without any possibility of insurrection.

"The ends justified the means."

The Night Lords are influenced by the early life experience of their Primarch (Konrad Curze). He grew up in a world of darkness (figurative and literal), intrigue, ruled by the worst elements of mankind's character. However, the child who would grow into the Night Haunter was noble in his own way. He assumed the role of enforcer of justice through fear. His ultimate goal was for a society without corruption, enforced by fear of punishment. The trade-off was a complete sacrifice of humanity.

This is the basis behind the Night Lords Legion. They were not originally aligned with Chaos. They saw the Imperium of Man and its leader, The Emperor - as corrupt.

Fast-forward ten thousand years to when the novel in question takes place:

Talos is a member of the Night Lords, 10th Company currently led by a Chaos-tainted former captain self-styled as "The Exalted". According to the narration of the novel, Talos is symbolic of the Night Lords who are more loyal to the original ideals of their Primarch. "The Exalted" is symbolic of what the Night Lords have degenerated into over the millenia during their exile from the Imperium and its resources, as well as, their constant exposure to the temptations offered by Chaos.

Talos sees the visible signs of Chaos taint in his former captain and while disgusted with it, is more concerned with the continuance of the Legion so their assassinated Primarch and his vision may finally be vindicated. Ironically, "The Exalted" is a genius when it comes to naval battles in space. (So keeping him around is good for the Legion, while his corruption is something to be mitigated)

The action in the novel is well written and isn't necessarily integral to what I see as the bulk of the story. It's merely a backdrop for the real tale. While there are combat sequences, unrealistic as they may be portrayed, it's the battle for the heart and soul of 10th Company that is central to this novel.

For those of you familiar with the 40k franchise, understand that while this is a 40k novel, it's more than that. In other words, not simply a novelization of what is written in a compendium or codex.

If it were, than I wouldn't bother writing a review.