Because there’s no denying it, sometimes all you want to do is read about genetically engineered super soldiers blowing each up in the universe of the forty first millennium :o)
This is all well and good on it’s own but it also helps a hell of a lot if there’s a story that fleshes out the not so random acts of violence. This is where Graham McNeill comes into his own as one of my favourite authors writing in the Warhammer 40K universe. He may not hit the target every time with his tales (although he is growing on me in this respect) but McNeill knows that’s there’s a line to be walked, in terms of plot and action, and always walks it.
The last few lines of McNeill’s ‘Courage and Honour’ had me eagerly waiting the next book in the ‘Ultramarines’ series, a book that totally blew my reading schedule out of the water when I realised it was perched rather handily on the reading pile. It’s not a bad read at all…
Chaos has come to the Ultramar system although these rampaging enemies of humanity are divided in their intentions. Revenge is the order of the day though…
Whatever the motive of the horde, it is down to the Ultramarines Chapter to defend this bastion of humanity against the ultimate terror; the alternative is the total annihilation of their homeworld. The coming war will be a little more personal for Captain Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines. Warsmith Honsou, a traitorous marine who has sworn to see Ventris dead, leads the Chaos army. Uriel has sworn a similar oath himself… As cities and entire planets burn around them, which one of the two marines will still be alive come the end…?
Graham McNeill takes a step away from the more localised conflicts of his last two books and goes for something a lot more epic in scale; system wide conflict with a cast and death toll running into the millions. When you have a whole galaxy to play in you can really go for it and that’s what Graham does, throwing a whole kitchen sink full of firepower (and power armoured antagonists) at the Ultramar system and seeing what happens next. The results are suitably cataclysmic and any fan of the Warhammer 40K setting, or military sci-fi in general, could do a lot worse than check out ‘The Chapter’s Due’ for three hundred and eighteen pages of full on futuristic warfare. It’s not just the warriors either, McNeill decorates the landscape with enough hardware that renders the Warhammer 40K universe as distinct from other, similar, settings as well as making it plain just how much warfare is a part of daily life. You can pretty much feel the rush of combat as these genetically engineered warriors clash on the field of battle and fight for the fate of humanity itself. McNeill spares no expense in letting his readers know just exactly what this entails for people on both sides of the conflict and as a result the reader gets a pretty good idea of the motivations of the combatants. To be fair, there isn’t a lot to these motivations. Both sides want to kill the other; it’s that simple and if you’re not on the attack then you’re defending for your life! On it’s own, this normally wouldn’t be enough to carry a full length novel but the sheer energy of McNeill’s prose does that admirably and carried this reader along before he knew what was happening! ‘The Chapter’s Due’ is certainly a quick read but only because you have to know what’s going to happen next…
McNeill also supplies his reader with a gorgeous backdrop to all the fighting that really gives you a clear picture of what is being fought for. The Warhammer 40K universe is as dark and brooding as ever and McNeill does well not only to show his reader just how big it all is but also just how close humanity comes every day to being wiped from the universe completely. It’s a fine line for a whole species to walk…
McNeill reinforces this through the Chaos attack on the system of Ultramar. If you play the game (or even if you don’t but know a bit about the background history) then you’ll know that the system of Ultramar is one of humanity’s most stalwart bastions against the encroaching darkness. By setting his conflict here, McNeill really rams it home that there is no such thing as a safe haven in this setting. If Ultramar could fall then what hope for the rest of the galaxy…? It’s a question that kept me reading and when the stakes are that high the odds are that it will keep you reading too. It’s a question of ‘all or nothing’ at every level…
If there’s one area where I felt McNeill fell down (albeit slightly) is that he spreads the action a little too thin across the course of the book. With fighting taking place on at least four worlds (I think), as well as in between, there isn’t a lot of time to get to know the combatants. I’d still say that the energy of the novel carries things overall but there isn’t a lot of time for much else.
To be fair, as the sixth novel in the series, ‘The Chapter’s Due’ can be excused if it’s a little light on character detail. If you want to get to know the characters beforehand then it probably isn’t ideal if you start with this book (‘Nightbringer’ is probably your best bet here). Having said that though, I’ve read three of the six books and was left wondering if perhaps we could have had a little more about Ventris. As a Space Marine though, is there any more to the character than a man with a keen sense of honour and a big gun? I don’t know but I wouldn’t have minded finding out a bit more about him…
This is a relatively minor complaint though. As a straight slice of military sci-fi (with a hint of the gothic…) you can’t go wrong at all with ‘The Chapter’s Due’. The way is left open for more sequels and I’ll be around to see what fate throws in the way of Captain Uriel Ventris…
Nine out of Ten
3 comments:
Excellent review!
Great review, but i found that i had learned quite a bit about Ueiel Ventris having read all six books. WHERE IS OUR 7TH MCNEILL?!?!? :)
If you're going to read the most recent book in a series without reading all of the ones leading up to it, of course you're not going to understand Uriel Ventris. He's a man motivated by a deep sense of honor, an honor instilled by both training, and his former commander. He went to the farthest reaches of the Universe for his brothers, suffered through ordeals and torments great enough to break any lesser man. Uriel Ventris is a hero of heroes, built up through this incredible series. Please... go read the other books.
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