Warhammer 40,000: Red Fury (Blood Angels, Bk. 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

James Swallow (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Swallow has written several books, including Star Trek: Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers and Seeds of Dissent (from Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism); the Sundowners quartet of ‘steampunk’ science fiction Westerns (Ghost Town, Underworld, Iron Dragon and Showdown); the best-selling novelization of The Butterfly Effect; The Flight of the Eisenstein, Faith and Fire and Jade Dragon; the 2000AD tie-ins Eclipse, Blood Relative and Whiteout; Stargate Atlantis: Halcyon; and the Blood Angels duology Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius.

In addition, Swallow’s short fiction has appeared in Inferno! and Stargate magazine, the anthologies Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores, the Doctor Who Short Trips collections Dalek Empire and Destination Prague, Something Changed, Collected Works, What Price Victory and Silent Night.

His non-fiction includes Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher and books on writing, genre television and animation; he has also written for Star Trek: Voyager, Doctor Who and Space 1889, along with several scripts for audio and videogames.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844165604
• ISBN-13: 978-1844165605
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Swallow has written several books, including Star Trek: Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers and Seeds of Dissent (from Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism); the Sundowners quartet of 'steampunk' science fiction Westerns (Ghost Town, Underworld, Iron Dragon and Showdown); the best-selling novelization of The Butterfly Effect; The Flight of the Eisenstein, Faith and Fire and Jade Dragon; the 2000AD tie-ins Eclipse, Blood Relative and Whiteout; Stargate Atlantis: Halcyon; and the Blood Angels duology Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius.


In addition, Swallow's short fiction has appeared in Inferno! and Stargate magazine, the anthologies Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores, the Doctor Who Short Trips collections Dalek Empire and Destination Prague, Something Changed, Collected Works, What Price Victory and Silent Night.


His non-fiction includes Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher and books on writing, genre television and animation; he has also written for Star Trek: Voyager, Doctor Who and Space 1889, along with several scripts for audio and videogames.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bordering on fan-fic lunacy., March 1, 2010

By 

Jason N. Giroux (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Fury (Warhammer 40000) (Paperback)

This novel picks up where the previous two Blood Angels novels--Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguine--left off. However, it deviates from Swallow's previous attempts to straddle the line between character development of newly created and envisioned persons with established canonical heroes and famous environs and begins to trek into the mires of far-reaching "imagination" that comes perilously close to mirroring a fan-fic plot.

This book sees a rather randomly selected villain pull off an amazing surprise attack on the homeworld of one of the most legendary and powerful of Space Marine Chapters with really little explanation as to preparation or motive for the attack. Bland and uninteresting mutants begin to violate the most sacred, holy, and dubiously under-protected places on the Blood Angel homeworld. Add into this a weak plot device to include "super cool, awesomah" characters from even more SM Chapters and my eyes begin to roll.

I'd advise GW to ignore this fiction for all intents and purposes when it comes to Blood Angel lore in the future and to respectfully remove Swallow's hands from his keyboard for future BA novels. And for any readers that thoroughly enjoy the rich and well constructed Warhammer 40,000 background that includes dark and gritty realism I'd point you elsewhere for your fix. This book doesn't have what you're looking for.

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Review, February 3, 2009

By 

M. Leland Gross "Weylander" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Warhammer 40,000: Red Fury (Blood Angels, Bk. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved the first two books in this series by James Swallow but after finishing Red Fury I have some issues. Being a regular reader of Warhammer 40k fiction I believe Swallow went a little too far with his liberal use of legendary characters and the defiling of a Blood Angel artifact for what seems like purely shock value. It seems the Horus Heresy series has taken away the taboo of writing about chapter masters, and primarchs. The authors are now trying to one up these tales and I although the story is well written and continues the series well these hang ups left me annoyed at the end of the book. I will most likey continue to read his books but would like to see Swallow (and other 40k fiction writers) return to good story creation without feeling they need to add in the historical paragons....its a 4ok "universe" there are unlimited possibilities!!!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great background and description, but a few flaws, November 26, 2008

By 

Brian Long "Brian" (Ogden, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Warhammer 40,000: Red Fury (Blood Angels, Bk. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Red Fury picks up after the Blood Angels Akrio insurrection. After gathering the succesor Chapters of the Blood Angels to Baal, Dante leads a discussion of the potential survival of their Chapter. At the same time, the Apothecaria is working on a radical new procedure to replenish the ranks of the Blood Angels in one swift stroke: the lost art of replicae.

This book is beautiful, with fantastic flavor for all of the arriving Chapters, as well as the structures on the Blood Angels homeworld. the description of the coffin of Sanguinus, the chapel of the Red Grail. Character interactions are rife with strain, without being either over the top or seeming like petty whining. The storyline starts slowly, in runs at a breakneck pace from about 2/3 of the way through the book.

Probably my biggest criticism of Red Fury, and indeed the majority of recent 40k fiction, is the overarching drift. The Imperium fails, and fails, and fails some more. The concept of victory is now turning a slaughter into a mere disaster. Chaos wins and wins and wins, and while the Guard or the Marines gets a lieutenant here, and a commander there, there has not been a definitive Imperial victory since Sabbat Martyr, and not one before then to my memory. Everything crumbles, and only the bad guys seem to grow stronger at every conflict. GW better have another worldwide campaign soon so the good guys have a chance to turn the tide, because its going to be hard to reconcile a 2-4,532 record into a "narrow defeat" of the Imps.