Product Description

Blood Angels or not?, Thursday, December 01, 2005

I confess that I LOVE the Blood Angels. They're one of my favourite chapters of space marines, so I was really looking forward to this book. However, I must also confess that I was disappointed and even a little frustrated whilst reading this. The problem is not the writing (which is pretty good), and its not the plot (which, leaving a few niggles aside, is also pretty good). The problem is the fact that Swallow's Blood Angels are not the same as mine! I had such a strong image of them already, after all the background fluff published by BL, and Swallow seems to have interpreted it differently.
Sitting down after finishing the book, I realised that it wasn't fair to condemn this book simply for being written by someone who isn't me! In its own terms, this is an exciting and interesting read ... certainly worth your time (and a little cash). I'm even going to try the sequel ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

A very bad book, Thursday, June 23, 2005

The author does not understand the storyline / universe in which the story is set. A reader who is new the Warhammer 40K books may enjoy it, but a reader who is familiar with the Warhmmer 40K story will find the glaring errors annoying. It is as though the author was given a 10 minute "overview" of the Warhammer 40K story just covering the major points.

Additionally, this book (and the sequel) are both examples of amateurish writing. There are numerous internal inconsistencies within the story.

Rating: 1 out of 5

Flawed But Still Entertaining., Monday, May 02, 2005

Deus Encarmine is apparently James Swallow's first foray into the 40K universe and at times, his unfamiliarity with the setting shows. He does not appear to be as well versed with the background material as are some more familiar Black Library authors and as a result, he sometimes takes liberties with his story that long time Games Workshop fans might find a bit disconcerting. That having been said, Swallow does manage to craft a fairly engrossing tale.

Deus Encarmine chronicles a small band of Blood Angel space marines assigned to ceremonial garrison duty on an isolated cemetery world. When the planet is unexpectedly attacked by a determined force of Word Bearer chaos marines, the Blood Angels are aided by some comrades returning from a successful crusade to recover an ancient artifact belonging to the Blood Angel Chapter. Although the initial attack of the Word Bearers is blunted, the Blood Angels struggle internally with how to best address the continuing threat posed by the Word Bearers and how to best use the recently recovered artifact. Fueled in part by some old animosities and conflicts, different factions emerge and tensions arise which threaten to pit Blood Angel versus Blood Angel.

For the most part, Swallow's overall story is more sophisticated and nuanced than are his characters. Swallow admirably weaves together several different story arcs and the book benefits from layers of intrigue and betrayal. To the very end, readers are left guessing as to the true motivations and goals of the various main characters. Unfortunately, these characters still tend to remain relatively two dimensional and cliched. The bad guys tend to be angry, reflexively violent and downright psychotic while the good guys often come across as arrogant, aloof and overly pious. Swallows' battle scenes are a bit too simplistic with perhaps too heavy a focus on the blood and gore aspect and far too many casualties. Still, Deus Encarmine remains an entertaining light read and I found myself looking forward to the next installment in the series.

Rating: 3 out of 5