Dark Creed

This book is the third instalment in Anthony Reynolds's Word Bearers trilogy.*

    Plot-wise I'll be more sparing this time than I was with the prior two as this is where the series culminates and I don't want to spoil the whole thing. Basically, having worked out how to use the necron artifact obtained in the first book, Marduk now has to side with other hosts of the Word Bearers legion amidst questionable political internal intrigue, in order to squash the White Consuls, a chapter of loyalist Space Marines, defending the target planet of Boros Prime - a task that seems to be largely going well, until the necrons themselves turn up to reinstate their claim upon their artifact.

    So, I've covered the plots - now for some reflections.

    Having recently completed a re-read of Dan Abnett's stellar Gaunt's Ghosts series (see the April posts from this year for most of these) I was in a real Warhammer 40,000 hype mood, and having spent so long with Imperial loyalists wanted a bit more of a taste of the bad guys. Hence the Word Bearers - whom I've always thought were the most interesting of the traitor legions. I mean, most of them just slash and kill and destroy, but the Word Bearers actively root themselves into places to set up religious cults in a very sustainable manner. It's grim-dark to the hilt still, but it's a tad more interesting. And Reynolds writes them this way - they are evil characters, sure, but there is a degree of genuine faith and fervour there that makes you as a reader genuinely come to appreciate how compelling it must be to exist as a nigh-immortal warrior in the service of empirically-demonstrable gods. Reynolds writes action well, if a bit repetitively - I suppose there are lexically only so many ways you can describe what happens to someone's skull when a bolt-round enters it without either becoming overtly floral or simply repeating yourself - and his dialogue is, I will say, serviceable. None of the characters are particularly likeable (except Burias - he's my dog in this fight) but that's to be expected of a series about a traitor legion; sadly though this often means there is a real lack of humour. The only real human moments come from the scenes that centre on the point-of-view of antagonists, i.e. Imperial soldiers and personnel, and I will say that Reynolds in these scenes does show a real versatility in conveying the scope and destructiveness of conquest in the 41st millennium in a way neutral enough to make you genuinely sympathise with both sides, even if one is defending humanity while another serves the powers of Chaos.

    To conclude - I really enjoyed re-reading** these. If you're a 40k fan you'd probably get a kick out of them, unless you're one of those weirdo closet fascists who genuinely sides with the Imperium out of an ethical prerogative and can't just appreciate the fictional satirical setting for what it is. This is an action packed, twisty and fun trilogy, and even if you know nothing about 40k I bet you could still enjoy it as a well-packaged anti-hero blockbuster.

* That said, I read all three as part of the omnibus edition, so technically it was all one book, but three separate novels, hence I hope you will appreciate the three separate posts. Also included in the omnibus is a bonus short story called Torment, which is a harrowing and grim walkthrough of the punishments Burias is forced to undergo following his betrayal of Marduk.

** Yes, re-reading - I'd read the whole trilogy in separate instalments borrowed from my local library back when I was but a youngling still several years away from starting this damn blog.

Dark Disciple

This book is the second of Anthony Reynolds's Word Bearers trilogy. I'll continue in the same manner as the first post commenced.

    Having secured the artifact (which seems to be of necron origin, though this is still basically a mystery to the main characters it is obvious to the readers who are familiar with 40k lore), Marduk (now no longer First Acolyte but acting Dark Apostle, following the tragic death of Jarulek at the end of book one - sorry, spoilers) is now tasked with tracking down an elusive Imperial adept of the Mechanicus who might be able to help decode and thus make utilizable the artifact. This leads them to the planet Perdus Skylla - though things rarely go exactly according to neat little plans, and not only does this adept prove incredibly inconvenient to track down, but the planet in question is A) currently under seige from a cohort of Dark Eldar who are enslaving as much of the population as they can for torture farms & B) directly in the path of an encroaching tyranid hive-fleet which will annihilate and consume everything possible. Marduk has to find a way of masterminding this adept-retrieval mission in such a way that not too many Word Bearers get either kidnapped for endless torture or simply eaten, all while contending with his own army leader Kol Badar and possessed icon bearer Burias-Drak'shal, both of whom are starting to have their own questions as to the legitimacy of their new leader.

Dark Apostle

This book by Anthony Reynolds is the first in the Word Bearers trilogy - I'll do a full reflection in the final post but here will just give a very brief overview of what's going on.

    Basically, the Word Bearers, who were at founding the XVII Legion of Space Marines but have since turned heretic, are still fighting their endless war against the Imperium. If that all sounds like jargon-blabber then what are you doing reading my blog if a post or two hasn't made you need to google one or two Warhammer 40,000-related terms. Marduk, the First Acolyte of the 34th Host under Dark Apostle Jarulek, harbours secret ambitions, but is patiently biding his time for these to come to fruition, as the Host is undertaking some major actions: mainly the invasion and thus conquest of a planet called Tanakreg, where the Word Bearers plan on building a gehemahnet (essentially a giant tower built of rock and reconstituted corpses) to summon a huge build-up of warp energy and thus burst open the planet, concealed within which, according to legend, lies an artefact the likes of which could be an ultimate game changer for the Legion as a whole...

    And yeh, they basically manage it. But a few things go awry. I won't spoil it.