|
Brothers of the Snake Softback (Warhammer 40, 000) | 
| Author: Dan Abnett
Publisher: Black Library
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £4.19
You Save: £2.80 (40%)
New (39) Used (5) from £2.21
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 13849
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1844165477
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781844165476
ASIN: 1844165477
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A collection of linked short stories November 11, 2008
If you're a fan of Warhammer 40,000 and Games Workshop in general then you'll probably love this book as you'll be familiar with the background to the stories before the action starts. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you'll probably still like the book, but you might not enjoy it quite so much. That said, the author stays away from too much terminology that won't be familiar to the casual reader.
This book is essentially a series of short stories that all feature the same squad of space marines from the Iron Snakes chapter. They are sworn to protect a particular region of space and are called upon to fight their way through various enemies, defending the human inhabitants. The stories do follow a chronological order, but you can read any of them in isolation and they would still make a good read. I'll try and summarise the seven chapters below:
1) "Grey Dawn" - New recruit Brother Priad is summoned by an ancient distress beacon to semi-developed world in order to rid them of a group of primul raiders (dark eldar).
2) "Black Gold" - Damocles Squad is sent to liberate a vital oil producing facility from a group of chaos cultists.
3) "White Heat" - The space marines take over where the Imperial Guard has failed to capture a city in enemy hands.
4) "Red Rain" - An Inquisitor asks the space marines for help in uncovering a chaos uprising in a farming community.
5) "Crimson Wake" - Squad Damocles returns to their home world of Ithaka where one of their comrades is accused of demonic possession.
6) "Blue Blood" - The marines are forced to attend a coronation, but of course it doesn't go smoothly.
7) "Greenskin" - A large force of Iron Snakes is sent to stop an ork invasion.
All in all, this is a great collection of stories with none that seem like fillers. They provide some excellent action scenes but also a lot of interesting background about the chapter, the squad and the individual marines. My one criticism is that the space marines in this book, although not invincible, are shown as being much more powerful than their counterparts from the Games Workshop wargames. Although I think that an officially licensed novel should be true to the spirit of the original games, I can look beyond these minor niggles, and can recommend the book.
 Probably only 3 stars August 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Dan Abnett has a great flair for writing in the 40K universe and he shows it again in this novel. However, there's something missing in this one. It reads more as a series of short-stories than a proper novel. His action-sequences are great - as always - but the character-growth and especially the bits between the fighting sequences are missing... almost entirely so.
And here is the crux of my complaint with this book. I like the writing, I like the characters, but I didn't really like the abrubt shifts between fighting. There wasn't any downtime for us to get to know the characters better. No time for us to savour the anticipation of severe blood-letting that is the hallmark of the 40K universe.
Abnett did much the same with his first 'Ghost' story (sorry, couldn't not do it) and introduced better, more developed story-lines in the following novels. If this book is just the first in a new series, I'll accept it as an introductory novel, but if it's a stand-alone novel, then it just doesn't show what Abnett is capable of.
Marines that actually wear their helmets. July 20, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Finally a Space Marine book that moves away from the pseudo-Gothic caricature that has been so prevalent for the past decade or so in Warhammer 40K literature.
Instead here are marines that understand their high technology equipment, think for themselves, and even cover up the most vulnerable pasts of their bodies (i.e. they actually wear their helmets - imagine that!).
It is both a refreshing read, harking back to the very earliest Warhammer 40K books of the early 90's in flavour, and is a very well structured book allowing for plenty of action and variety without a silly twisting and overly convoluted plot.
In all honesty one of the best Space Marine books to date.
More from The Iron Snakes please Mr Abnett and Black Library! June 26, 2008
I remember just being amazed by the old PC game Space Hulk years back. Ever since then I've loved Warhammer 40000. Then I started reading the books... which I think on the whole are brilliant with the exception of the "Dawn of War" trilogy which is quite poor in my humble opinion. How the first novel ever went to print is beyond me. Still I never forgave the programmers for giving the Orks "Mockney" accents in the game the book tied into. So, I put down the Omnibus edition of "Dawn of War" feeling rather disappointed ( sorry C S Goto ) and picked up "Brothers of The Snake" I treated myself to the hardback edition.
Basically it follows the exploits of Priad a Space Marine who's steadfast and loyal but with a poor grasp of humour. Priad has a goodness which comes across. You really connect with him. Dan Abnett really gets across how marines are more than human yet still human in some ways. This novel actually got to me at the end and I felt for the characters. Check out the excellent use of the female character and the dog who marks the passage of time... the dog also enforces the loyal, steadfast aspect. There is a real sense of the passage of time in this book. Can't say no more it'll spoil it! This novel works on many levels. Oh yeah, you'll love the laidback Librarian who fights and jokes with equal passion. I thought it would just be some short stories but it's actually a proper novel that comes full circle... oh man! Well done Dan. If ever the Space Marines make it to a full blown Sci-fi movie then this would surely be the book to use. I now have a third character that I really like from the Warhammer 40000 universe. the other two being Uriel Ventris and Ragnar Blackmane. I'm going to go back to the Gaunt's Ghosts series. It didn't really click with me initially although that's probably more to do with the fact that I like the Space marines to be the main characters.
Other must read Warhammer 40000:
Ultramarines series.
Space Wolf Series.
Angels of Darkness.
All the Horus Heresy titles!
Storm of Iron ( superb! )
Dark Apostle.
The Blood Angels series.
Soul drinkers series ( very good! )
The Grey Knights series isn't bad... bit of a slow burner.
Warrior Coven's ok but I just don't think Goto's up there with the other writers... sorry.
To the Black Library and Dan Abnett... please write more Iron Snake novels. This is what we all want. Priad is a great character!
The best loyal marine book I have read June 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
In many ways this book from the author of the Gaunt's Ghosts series of books is more of a series of short stories than a traditional novel as each section of the book, despite involving the same characters, is generally self contained and could easily be read individually. The book tells the tale of Brother Priad of the Iron Snakes Space Marines as he embarks on missions for the Chapter and rises through the ranks. Each of the seven sections of the book details one of the missions he is involved in and although separate there are things that tie all seven together.
Dan Abnett is a talented writer and although I am not personally a fan of the Gaunt's Ghosts books I do like both the Ravenor and Eisenhorn trilogies. I feel he has outdone himself with `Brother of the Snake', able to do something that any others have tried but few have succeeded in, humanising the Space Marines. Abnett brings all his characters to life and his action scenes are all very well written and easy to follow. This book is the best loyalist Marine book I have read and I would also include it in my top five favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels. This book is a very well written and enjoyable novel and I hope we will se the characters from this book again in the future.
|
|
|
| |
