Customer Reviews

Storm of Iron

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kudos to Graham McNeill for escaping the all too common trap of resorting to portrayals of the traitor legions as nothing more than thoroughly wicked, single-minded pawns of the Ruinous Powers. I have always felt that at least some of the denizens of the Eye (my beloved Iron Warriors in particular), deserved a much more in-depth treatment than the stereotypical, two-dimensional, comic book approach employed by many Black Library authors. A 40K novel narrated primarily from the point of view of a lucid and oftentimes sympathetic chaos marine was a welcome treat indeed.

McNeill's story centers around the protracted siege of an ancient Imperial stronghold by a vast contingent of Iron Warriors hoping to wrest a prize of incalculable value from the Imperium of Man. The highlight of the book for me was McNeill's detailed account of the painstaking, systematic breach of the stronghold. I do not know whether McNeill is a student of military history and medieval siege techniques but I certainly found his narrative to be both believable and compelling.

The rather surprising end to the novel leads me to believe as though a sequel is perhaps in the works and if memory serves me correct, McNeill confirmed as much when I met him briefly last year at a Games Day event. I eagerly await the second installment in this unique saga.

This short, quick read blew me away by delivering a war story of epic proportions. How such a colossal battle was shrunk into those few pages is beyond me! My favorite out of the black library books. A very fun, quick-paced novel that I found tremendously difficult to put down. Contains violence and destruction to satisfy even the most bloodthirsty reader, matched with an engaging plot. For anyone interested in the WH40K universe this book gets my highest recommendation.

I'll start by being honest...I'm not really all that familiar with this genre. I'm a huge fantasy fan, and have read every Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc novel. That being said, I'm running out of material, and that is why I've branched into Warhammer 40k.

To make a long story short, I don't regret that decision whatsoever. This is just the second Warhammer 40k book I've read, and both of them were tremendously awesome, 5 out of 5 stars easy. *The other one I read was Grey Knights, in case you were wondering*.

Why I liked the book: One, it was very well written. The grammar was well constructed and I could read it very quickly and fluidly. Another is that there was literally never a dull moment, not once did I ever get bored while reading this book. The book transitioned from Chaos to Imperium and back quite often, each never overstaying their welcome before it transitioned to the next and back again. Also, the characters were all extremely interesting, each one different in their own right yet tied together to influence the novel in one way or another. Another reason is that you didn't have to be a Warhammer 40k expert to understand what the author was referring to, which is great for someone that isn't hardcore into the genre, only once did I actually have to Google an answer to a question. *to understand what a gene seed was* Last but not least, coming from a Fantasy background where characters can often seem to be invulnerable and live forever, it was nice to know that no character could be given immunity from a cruel and violent end, sometimes unexpectedly. There was one other great quality about this novel, but to mention it would be a spoiler. Suffice to say, the book is well worth reading by anybody even remotely interested in Science Fiction.

This book absolutely blew me away! Finally a story where the good guys don't get their 'happy ever after'. This story is action-packed from begining to end. Never a dull moment, and it offers some truly insightful looks at the Iron Warriors Space Marine Chapter.

This book has everything you could want in a 40K Novel. Great Characters, awesome battles, and very, very cool plot-lines. The story telling is soo good in this one, that while reading about a Plasma Weapon's use...it burned off my beard!

There is very little tension in this book as evil wanders into an imperial fortress with really in the end little resistance. The Empire never had a chance, and the chaos space marines are far to organized for Chaos. Nothing but a minor incident with a torpedo can dampen. The Imperials are protrayed as bumbling morons who have little reason to actually be commanders. Really, they were stupid enough to take poison the entire time? For years on end. Lazy story telling to say the least.

What really annoyed me was the obvious setups. A loyalist titan commander loses his sanity and throws away his titan in a foolish waste. This of course allows Chaos to win the day, as they do this whole novel. It would at least have been something if the Chaos Marines had somewhat of a struggle. But they don't. They murder with abandon, and the imperials just sort wilt away. So, you read page after page of death with little meaning or emotional impact. Chaos won because the Imperial forces fought amungst themselves.

In the end this felt like a slate of blood thirsty nothing.

One of the most popular WH40K novels of all time, STORM OF IRON delivers something unique to the now-enormous genre. This is the only book (at least that I am aware of) where the point of view characters include Chaos Space Marines. While every bit as evil and corrupted as you'd expect, the Iron Warriors that star in this book command grudging respect from the reader, as we learn more about the individuals and their personal motivations. Telling this story from the perspective of both sides of the conflict worked very well here, creating an epic feel to this single-volume tale, and presenting the battle in an even-handed way that allows the reader to choose sides and that makes the outcome unpredictable.

This book details the brutal siege of an Imperial stronghold on Hydra Cordatus by an unstoppable-seeming force of Iron Warriors Chaos Marines hellbent on domination. Taking place during the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, this novel helps fill out an important piece of WH40K lore. From Imperial Fists to Chaos Titans to the Adeptus Mechanicus, STORM OF IRON includes a wide variety of WH40K factions and units. McNeill's exact and descriptive writing takes the reader through an extremely bloody and wearying siege, as the tides of battle sway one way then another, and the forces of good and evil both are reduced little-by-little by relentless combat. Breath-taking, non-stop action, along with detailed contributions to WH40K fluff make this one sure to please.

STORM OF IRON loosely ties in with Graham McMeill's Ultramarines novels, coming between Warriors of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun, but is not included in the The Ultramarines Omnibus. That being said, you do NOT need to read those novels to fully enjoy this one. In fact, you could read this one at any point in the series (even first) as long as you read it before DEAD SKY, BLACK SUN, as that novel contains plot items that would prove spoilers for STORM OF IRON.

With this novel, Graham McNeill now challenges Dan Abnett as being my favorite Black Library author. Very highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Good book but you probably want to read it BEFORE Dead Sky, Black Sun of the Ultramarines series unless you like knowing the ending before you get there.

When I think of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this is exactly the kind of thing that comes to mind. Epic warfare, tactically described with excellent imagery. This book, as with all good WH40K stories, starts small but evolves into a massively pivotal event that manages to stamp the universe's rich history in a completely remarkable way. This book does not fail to deliver. This book reminds me that Warhammer 40,000 is a slowly disintegrating universe in its very tortured and unstoppable death throes.

In WH40K there are no happy endings. There is only death, struggle, torment, and war.

This book tells the story of a remote planet hiding a long-forgotten secret defended by the armies of the Imperium and besieged by the Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors chapter.

For the most part the story rushes along at breakneck speed from one huge battle to another as McNeill captures the epic conflict from perspective of the grunt in the trenches to the generals at the lofty heights of command. From the many excellent battle scenes painted in the narrative to the authentic siege tactics (the Iron Warriors' speciality), this book truly brings to life the war-torn age of Warhammer 40,000 and leaves you guessing as the ending approaches if - for the first time in a WH40K book - will the bad guys win?

this is a great book, I almost bought this edition, until I realized that this is a REPRINT with a new cover. But none the less it is a GREAT book it was one of the first Space Marines novels that I read & I hardily recommend it to all WH40K fans who missed it the first time around. enjoy.