Vital Stats:
Page Count: 279
Era: 40k (no specified year)
Perspective: Dark Angels
Major Characters: [Inquisitor-text]Interrogator-Chaplain Boreas, Chapter Master Astelan, Zaul, Nestor, Hepaestus
Special Guest Stars: Two in non-speaking parts. (Can't say! It would be giving it away).
Location: Piscina System
One Sentence Review: Definitive Dark Angels novel with Lost-esque* flashbacks.
A Few Musings: [Inquisitor-text]This is a re-release of Gav Thorpe's 2003 novel about the mysterious Dark Angels. The novel is the story of Interrogator-Chaplain Boreas and his hunt for Fallen. In alternating chapters, one story concerns a "present day" Boreas and his duties as overseeing a chapter keep in the Piscina system. This story has some interesting passages about recruiting new space marines, the functions of apothecaries and techmarines.
The "flashback" story concerns the Interrogator-Chaplain's "attentions" to a captured fallen named Astelan. The Astelan story is compelling as Astellan gives a history after his "awakening" and a history of living during the Great Crusade. It is these juicy bits about Luther, the Lion and the Emperor that are very well put together. The book also leaves a lot of room for interpretation and extrapolation. As discussed in a new afterword by Thorpe, this was intentional. It is also probably the best "thing" about the book.
Many of the action sequences are average. There is nothing particularly gripping about space marines dealing with sub-PDF humans fighting them. I also did not care for a few passages where things inexplicably happen without any discussion of their consequences. For example Boreas' conversion of the Dark Angels following him (to something greater) was something that left a bad taste in my mouth. I just could not see that happening the way it did. The better parts of the book are long monologues told by the characters discussing their beliefs or their past history.
Thorpe has a tendency to take popular 40k quotes and spice up his prose with them. Sometimes they work and sometimes it feels like a stretch.
The ending was good and did not feel rushed (which is always a pleasant surprise from BL books). Although I disagreed with the ending, that is "OK." It was well written however. In all, I would recommend this book to hard core 40k fans and especially fans of Dark Angels. For the casual 40k reader, I would pass.
Bolters (Out of Five): Three
* I know this novel was written well before the TV show Lost. I just thought this was a good description.
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