‘Thunder from Fenris’ – Nick Kyme (Black Library)

I had a couple of issues with ‘Heart of Rage’ (the last audiobook that I listened to from the Black Library) but overall it was a lot of fun to get stuck into and a great way to spend those early hours when you just know you’re not going to go back to sleep any time soon. With this in mind, when ‘Thunder from Fenris’ came through the door I was definitely looking forward to more of the same. I got what I was hoping for but at the same time, it wasn’t quite the same this time round…

Of all the Space Marine chapters, the Space Wolves are the most feral of all. Hailing from the planet Fenris, these proud warriors carry the wulfen curse into battle with them; the lupine spirit that can burst forth at any time…
The ice planet Skorbad has come under attack from the forces of Chaos and a squad of Space Wolves is assigned to the war effort there. In the aftermath of battle, one of their number suddenly goes wulfen and leaves a trail of destruction in his wake. His remaining brothers must rescue him before he can do any more damage but is he really the warrior behind the death of his Space Marine brother? The wulfen warrior’s rampage must be stopped but the Space Wolves will find that the war for Skorbad is not yet over…

Since I listened to ‘Heart of Rage’ I’ve had a go at a few more audiobooks so found this one easier to follow. That’s not to say that I didn’t hit the rewind button a few times but this was more to do with being stuck on the tube (and not being able to hear what I was listening to) than anything else!

Toby Longworth takes on the narrative duties once more and does a sterling job much like the last time. You wouldn’t believe that he’s providing a different voice for each and every character but he is. Every character is distinctive from the rest (although one of them sounded very much like Arnold Schwarznegger…) and I never got confused about who was talking at any one time.
I wasn’t too convinced by the accompanying sound effects though… You never really got much of a sense of where it was all taking place. I know the characters needed to be heard above the background but… this was an ice planet! Where were the howling winds? Where was the crunching of footsteps in the snow? I wasn’t too impressed by the fight sequences either, it sounded like they were playing the same ‘grunting track’ on a constant loop. In ‘Heart of Rage’ you actually felt like it were the characters who were fighting, not this time…

On the plus side, Nick Kyme does give Longworth a tale worth telling. I could tell what was coming but the journey to get there was what it was all about. Kyme gives the listener plenty of moments where you think it’s all going to happen. You get worked up for the finale… and then it keeps going. The tension is skilfully racked up to a suitably impressive finale that I was glad to be around for. It didn’t end there though; the Space Wolve’s original mission was still to be completed and although you never see it through to the end you are left in no doubt as to what must happen. Here’s an ending that smacks you in the chest like a bolt round and leaves you quiet for a long time afterwards…

I felt that ‘Thunder from Fenris’ suffered from a lack of the care and attention that made ‘Heart of Rage’ such an atmospheric experience. The story itself saved things though, here’s a tale that will be on my iPod for a while to come…

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten