[Lord of the Night]

I received the Soul Drinkers Omnibus and Hellforged, Chapter War is a bit late, in the mail two days ago. Ive finished the first story Soul Drinker and I must say it was excellent. A very interesting take on the Adeptus Astartes, and their mutations kick ass. Sarpedon, Tellos, Luko and Graevus are the best of the entire Chapter. Tellos especially is kick ass, even as a near-mindless mutant.

Sometimes I felt the Soul Drinkers were portrayed perfectly as Space Marines, when Graevus leads 130 marines against 200 Chaos warriors I thought that not a single marine would die and I was right. But when they go against the Plague Marines at least 4-6 marines are killed in an instant by a opening blast, maybe 1 or 2 should have died or at least been wounded but it seemed they started dying a bit more easily once they reached the beachhead.

A Daemon Prince in the form of a virus was quite interesting as well, even if Ve'Meth did die rather easily, he did kill quite a lot of the Soul Drinkers but killing him wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Abraxes was very cool as well, a giant made of gleaming crystal with wings of light. And his trickery of the Soul Drinkers and the Mechanicum was masterfully played, plus his death was pretty awesome.

One thing that I found annoying is that the Imperium has no sense of double standards. The Soul Drinkers kill a few thousand Mechanicum tech-guard and they are excommunicated. The Blood Ravens decimate an entire regiment of the Imperial Guard, and get off with a light Inquisitorial investigation. What makes the Blood Ravens more important then the Soul Drinkers, that they are not punished for their transgressions and the Soul Drinkers are.

I am starting the second novel The Bleeding Chalice in a little bit and I look forward to it, and I hope that Phalanx will be released soon as well.

 

[Lord of the Night]

Interesting review of what you've read so far Lord of the Night; though in regards to the possible double standard. Keep in mind that overall, for the Blood Raven's it was their word that would be taken, they were not fleeing from possible retribution. The Soul Drinkers attacked a Mechanicum ship and fled, later having to deal with the inquisition and fleeing after that. It does not paint a good picture for them no matter what you say or do; but to excommunicate the entire chapter because of the actions of one or two companies is a tad severe.

Punishing the whole chapter with something less, while having those 'bad' companies dealt with would likely have been far more appropriate. (Though doesn't exactly set things up for the series.)

I know its a part of the story but the Inquisition seemed to think they were instantly guilty and heretics. Not even willing to hear the Soul Drinkers out on why they did it. Its not exactly the same as the Blood Ravens but the reasons are exactly the same, recover a chapter artefact. Yet only one is punished for defending their actions, and the other is let off. Just seems very unfair.

Although the fact they ran didn't help their case. If they had stayed and defended themselves then I think things would have turned out very differently.

Im starting The Bleeding Chalice today and what I have read of it, the Teturact sounds badass, is quite promising.

 

[Lord of the Night]

Im getting it, Daenyathos looks very good.