Warhammer: Inquisitor [Paperback]

Ian Watson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Games Workshop Ltd (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425132781
• ISBN-13: 978-0425132784
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,193,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, brutish, and nasty, May 13, 2000

By 

Jeph Gord - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warhammer: Inquisitor (Paperback)

I am only an occasional Warhammer player, but still feel inclined to read all the novels. I'm very glad I have. All Warhammer novels are great, but this is the best of the lot.

Over the 12+ years that it has existed, the Warhammer 40,000 universe has become one of the most detailed science fiction/fantasy/horror settings ever created, via the massive amounts of flavor text contained in all of the publications. The monstrously over-populated hive worlds, the steaming alien jungles, the towering titans, the clunky war machines, the war-loving Orks, the hideous Tyranids, the cthulan Chaos Gods, and the terrifying fascist theocracy of the human Imperium have become a permanent part of my mentality.

Ian Watson, in a dense, poetic stylie, brings this universe to life better than anyone else. His protagonist is Jaq Draco who, after a long career of mercilessly slaughtering the Emperor's "enemies", has stumbled upon a horrifying conspiracy to overthrow the Imperium. He must stop it, but is not quite sure where to start... Along the way, Draco begins to develop a conscience. For a man who lives to kill and destroy, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen... Draco's slow, painful transformation from an unfeeling killing machine to a feeling (and internally tormented) killing machine is one of the best parts of the story (which continues in Harlequin and Chaos Child, both highly recommended).

One of the coolest (and scariest) parts of the Warhammer 40,000 game setting is that there are no good guys. The Tyranids and the Chaos Gods may be terrible, but it is hard to say that the human Imperium is any better. The horribly mutated Judeo-Christian religion which has sprung up around the Emperor is completely and utterly intolerant, calling for the brutal extermination of even the slightest heresy. In order to defend "national security", the Imperial defense forces are perfectly willing to destroy entire inhabited planets. This situation, also, is brilliantly handled by Watson. At the beginning, it is clear that no one has any freedom of thought whatsoever. Only slowly and painfully does Draco begin to develop this freedom, and it does not make him a happy man... And although this Imperium spans a million stars, it is obvious throughout that there is nothing even slightly progressive about it. From the absolute thought control, to the suffocatingly over-crowded cities, to the povery-stricken masses, the overall feeling is that of a reactionary empire in a state of unending decay. Late in the book, Draco visits the Imperial capital on Ancient Earth. Here, in the glorious human homeland, he finds a horribly polluted, horribly crowded world-spanning city, where gang members struggle in vain for meagre civil-service positions, where endless rows of scribes spend their entire lives copying records with simple pens, where people happily kill their neighbors as heretics, and cybernetically-modified cripples live in permanent darkness, knee-deep in sludge, struggling to maintain the city's rusting infrastructure. Next to this life, being enslaved by the Draka seems like Shangri-La.

Since reading this book, I have read many of Ian Watson's other novels, and have loved them all. None, however, have compared to the style, dark poetry, and utter nastiness of Inquisitor. More than any other novel, this one truly proves that game-related fiction can stand its ground against the best the mainstream has to offer. And the sequels are just as good. If remorseless pessimism doesn't bother you, it is hard to imagine a better read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Warhammer: Inquisitor (Paperback)

Just to qualify, there are two sequels written to this book. The second book in the trilogy is called "Harlequin" and the third is called "Chaos Child".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, pioneering work in the WK40K universe!, August 29, 1999

By 

OoOoOoO "OoOoOoO" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warhammer: Inquisitor (Paperback)

I am not a RPG Gamer, but a long-time Watson fan. This is an excellent read! In fact, it made me a WH40K fan. This is a gripping, epic tale of mankind's far-future struggles against weird and dangerous evil beings. Written in a tightly-plotted, delightfully detailed, deliriously baroque and wonderfully atmospheric prose that is Watson's inimitable housestyle, this is a SURE FIRE GOOD READ!! In case anyone is not familiar to the WH40K universe theme, the future of mankind in the forty-first millenium is a galactic human empire beset on all fronts by demon infestation (''Chaos''). The Emperor is some sort of psychic god on earth - half-dead, conscious only by din of sheer force of willpower sustained by technology - presiding over a huge Theocratic empire spanning lightyears, the ecclesiastical structure employing deadly force and ruthless subterfuge to protect human race against being overwhelmed by demonic contamination. Imagine the Spanish Inquisition ruling a galactic empire. The imaginative vista is panoramic, sweeping and jaw-dropping. The opportunities for good yarn-spinning is enormous:- this is a cross between the Spanish Inquisition and Isaac Asimov's galactic empire, only this time the Inquisitors are the good guys trying to keep humanity, well, human. Ian's plotting is fantastic, and his command of dramatic tension absolutely masterful. This is a classic and an amazing work. Anyone knows Watson's email? Been trying to compliment him personally for the longest time now ...B-)