Customer Reviews

Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was with great excitement that I ordered the Second Omnibus, and I quickly reread the Space Wolf Omnibus: Spacewolf / Ragnar's Claw / Grey Hunter (Warhammer 40,000) to refresh myself. The Second Omnibus keeps the pace, story, and flow of the First Omnibus and keeps going strong. It was a book that I was hard pressed to put down each night. Ragnar has definitely grown up.

I believe someone who has not read the First Omnibus could pick up this book and would get most of the story, which is nice for a book series. It is also some of the most interesting reading in the Wh40k universe out side of Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn (A Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus).

After finishing the first omnibus I bought the second. I should have just bought Wolf Blade as a stand alone novel and stopped when WK (William King) did. Which is my advice for anyone thinking of buying this omnibus. Stick with King. I couldn't finish Sons of Fenris cause I couldn't stand what LL (Lee Lightner)did to WK's work, so I never read Wolf's Honor either. True, my opinion may be a bit slanted, but I read enough to know that I wasn't going to enjoy their work regardless of how much better it got later. You can quit reading here if you like, the rest is just me complaining.

LL picked up where WK left off and immediately dropped the baton. They never get into the heads of the preexisting characters so they just rewrote them as they saw fit. A perfect example is Haegr the Mountain. In the WK novel Haegr was a character that was not only competent, but also played his appearance as an advantage. The big, goofy acting, fat space marine was also fast, deadly, and had FOCUS. The Haegr in the LL novel was a bumbling idiot that was dumb, clumsy, and acted ridiculous. WK Haegr could not only SMELL the scent of gunmetal in a sewer, but could also determine the distance the guns were from him. LL Haegr bonked his head on the inside of a refrigerator and couldn't find a hunk of meat that was literally sitting behind him. They skimmed the book and turned Haegr into a walking cliche instead of building on the character that WK had already made.

Also disappointing was how LL only gave absolutely no personality to any new space wolves at all. You don't even learn their names until long after their mentioned the first time. They had a perfect opportunity to add new characters to the fold, but instead chose to just give them names and let them drop like flies. I also find it hard to believe that 3/4 of the entire Wolf Blades who were tasked to protect an entire Household of navigators would be sent to follow 1 navigator to a backwoods planet, especially since the house was still recovering from the MAJOR tragedy where their guards and soldiers were almost completely whipped out. But they send away almost all of their greatest source of martial power to protect one person? No. Sorry, doesn't make sense to me.

I spent the last 4 weeks reading these two space marine omnibus books. I wasn't a fan of science fiction books or books in general until I picked the 1st omnibus up. I'm a heavy PS3 / XBOX 360 / PC gamer. But I took time to put down my controls to read the first omnibus recommended by a friend at work and read the 1st then 2nd omnibus almost single everyday. Now I am seriously hooked and want to go know more about the 40k series and find a good one to read next. Any recommendations?? I dont know if I will play the associated board game, I visited a GW workshop and found they're kinda expensive but I might go for a set of wolf chapter marines, who knows.*

((SPOILER ALEART)) don't blame me if didnt read it yet and you read this next part.

P.S. I miss Haeger. brave soul. RIP. That made me sad after putting this book down one last time today. And I hope theres a story or book about the lost 13th company inside the the eye of terror coming back to Fenris one day, that would be cool. overall great story.

It's hard to write a review about all the cool plot twists that this trilogy takes without spoiling the fun. However, I can personally guarantee if you are a fan of spacewolf lore and/or Ragnar Blackmane, the coolest of the Wolf Lords, you will love this book.

Reading this one now, and it's just as good as the first one. That was the one that really turned me on to the Space Wolves.

Great book that carried the first omnibus book forward. If you read the first omnibus you will enjoy this one. A short but sweet review.
Enjoy

I loved this book from start to finish! It was a very easy read, effortless and enjoyable with a correct mix of intrigue and action, exactly what you want out of a 40 K novel!
Further to that the first book in the omnibus describes how Ragnar pays his penance for losing the spear of Russ on earth serving as a member of the Wolfblade. The other two books take him from one encounter to the other where it finally climaxes in a rather desperate battle where Ragnar finally redeems himself and the his wolfblade brothers show their mettle.
I could easily read this book again, especially book 2 and 3

I really cant imagine someone reading these books without being an avid player of the game... I guess they could still enjoy the epic war saga. Anyhow, I picked up this collection out of order since I have yet to read the first Space Wolf Omnibus... I somehow missed the giant type on the cover saying "THE SECOND OMNIBUS" but I digress.

I love the Space Wolves and these books were a joy to me. I cant wait to get and read the first three! I also hear the Horus Heresy books were very good... I will be picking those up very soon.

This is an excellent continuation of Ragnar's growth and battles following the first Space Wolf omnibus. A familiar villian comes back and Ragnar's future history is further revealed. A must read and on par with the other top Space Marine characters such as Captain Gabriel Angeles (Blood Ravens), Justicar Alaric (Grey Knights), and Captain Uriel Ventris (Ultramarines). I can't wait for the third Space Wolves omnibus!

I love WH40k books, but I am not a huge Space Marine fan.
AND no I am not a worshiper of Tzeentch.
I generally like the little 40k guys better,
the Guard, Inquisitors, and Arbites for example.
Ragnar makes for a good main character tho.
Even for a Space Marine.
btw wasn't Ragnar the name of Kirk Douglas's character in "The Vikings"?
In this SM onmi Rag doesn't come off as an omnipotent stick up ur ass as some of the other SM omni's do.
SOOOoooo all and all this is a good group of omni's.