The Ultramarines Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) [Paperback]

Graham McNeill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2008 | Series: Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus

Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

This omnibus edition follows the career of Uriel Ventris through three novels and two short stories. The Ultramarines series is one of the best selling sf series in the 40K universe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (December 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844164039
• ISBN-13: 978-1844164035
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in Surveyinh to join Games Workshop, where he worked for six years as a games developer. In addition to many novels, including False Gods, Fulgrim and Mechanicum for the prestigious Hoeus Hersey series, Graham has written a host of sf and fantasy short stories. He lives in Nottingham, UK.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy the ride with the Sons of Guilliman, May 8, 2007

By 

Rajiv Krishnaswamy (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ultramarines Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)

An advantage of being a relative newcomer to the Warhammer 40K world is you get to read the Omnibus editions of some of the best books from the Black Library. The new covers are very pleasing to see and you get 3 books for the price of 1. And more importantly, the ones I have read thus far have been awesome, the Ultramarines Omnibus is no exception, I did not hesitate to give it a full 5 stars.

The Ultramarines Omnibus follows the story of Uriel Ventris who has recently become the Captain of Ultramarines Chapter 4th company. The author does a good job of making Uriel's character exactly how one might expect a Space Marine of the Imperium to be...traits like his fanatical loyalty to the emperor, burning hatred of his enemies, willingness to kill and die for his emperor and chapter.

But Uriel isn't just that, we see a very nice representation of his other emotions that most people in the Warhammer Universe may not notice or might even be shocked to know a Space marine can have. His genuine concern for the common people of the Imperium, his doubts about his ability to command, his worries about diverging from the Codex Astartes - the code of war that the Space Marine must follow, and his anger and sometimes despair at the actions of some of his allies, particularly the Inquisition.

The books themselves have great plots and fast paced action that are well written and will not disappoint.

The first book Nightbringer's plot is an interesting mix of action and politics in a world of the Imperium and has one of the most interesting characters I have read about in the Warhammer Universe (Ario Barzano - can't say more than revealing the characters name to avoid any spoilers).

The second book is my favorite. Warriors of Ultramar is one of the best War novels I have read...its about a desperate attempt by the Imperium to defeat an unimaginably huge Tyranid invasion at an Imperial World Tarsis Ultra, which the Ultramarines are oath bound to defend.

The Ultramarines together with the Mortificators Chapter space marines, Ordo Xenos arm of the Inquisition and their associated Deathwatch space marines, 2 Imperial Guard regiments and the defenders of Tarsis Ultra, and the Imperial navy stuggle to fight the Tyranids. You get immersed into the action you could almost feel like you are in it, whether in a huge space fleet action or in the trenches and the walls of the defenders.

The 3rd book, Dead Sky, Black Sun, is set in a world deep in the Chaos held Eye of Terror. Its a brilliant portrayal of a world in the hands of Chaos, with Uriel trying desperately to do his duty and keep his sanity amidst the horrors around him, which include daemons, renegade space marines and factions of the Chaos Space marines of the Iron Warriors chapter battling each other for power.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ultramarines Omnibus two parts great, one part average., December 28, 2007

By 

Guy Love (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ultramarines Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)

Yes, I liked reading the book and found the Ultramarines fairly interesting. I had just finished reading the compilation of short stories in the "Let the Galaxy Burn" omnibus and saw several crossover characters in this collection of novels. As I learn more about the W40K universe, I think it makes the overall story line more interesting but could also lead to confusion as to why certain characters are in a story (i.e. the gang in the second story).

The first story was very good as mentioned by other reviewers and I thoroughly enjoyed the lawful good aspect of the Ultramarines coming up against a very evil space god during a corporate civil war.

The second story was my favorite as I just like the Tyranoids (think Aliens with an attitude) as the opposition to the Ultramarines. In this case I liked how the Ultramarines found themselves working with other Space Marines that had completely different world views. Very over the top planetary destruction scenes, but that's what makes W40K so fun to read.

The third story was by far the weakest and apparently had multiple crossovers of stories that I was unaware of when I read it. This led to some confusion but did not ruin the story. The realm of Chaos was overly depressing to wade through and I agree with a previous reviewer that it was like watching a long splatterhouse gore flick. However, this does capture the W40K version of hell which is the Chaos plane. If one was unaware of the Horus Heresy and the history of W40K this story might be really confusing. One must understand that history to appreciate the opposing Chaos Marines in this story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good choice for those new to the Warhammer 40K novels, July 29, 2009

By 

J. S. Osthoff (Minneapolis, Mn USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ultramarines Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)

I have been a great fan of the Warhammer universe, both Warhammer Fantasy & 40K, for many years.
Having finally decided to read some of the novels, I browsed the possible selections and ordered a few. The Ultramarines Omnibus was a treat for me to read. I was unable to do any tabletop gaming with anyone because of my busy schedule and this was just the thing to slake my battle lust!

Uriel Ventris makes a magnificent central character and is fleshed out well. Graham McNeill does a superb job of capturing both the martial spirit of the battle brothers of the Ultramarines and all of the foes they face, both from the Xenos without and corruption within the Imperium of Man.

As others have said, the stories are fast-paced and keep one interested in the action. A lot is packed into the tales and it was a joy to read them. The first story in the omnibus, Nightbringer, is an excellent overview of much of what the Warhammer 40,000 universe is like; skilfully incorporating many elements that those that are familiar with it know and love. My only criticism is the ending of that tale is a bit rushed, like it is wrapping up loose elements, where it really doesn't have to do so for the story to end well anyway.

Beyond that minor criticism - which is just a mechanics of writing nitpick and does not affect the enjoyability of the rest of it - I would recommend this book to anyone that likes this genre, especially those new to the Warhammer 40K novels.

I will be reviewing a few more of the Black Library books that I have read since this omnibus, soon.

Hail the Emperor!
Burn the heretic, purge the xenos!