‘Firedrake’ – Nick Kyme (Black Library)

I told you it would probably be a ‘Black Library Week’ on the blog didn’t I...? The last couple of weeks have seen me realise that although it’s always good to test yourself on something that you wouldn’t normally read, sometimes all you want is to have a little fun with a book. If you don’t enjoy what you’re reading then you have to ask yourself what the point is really...
This realization invariably leads me back to the Black Library ‘Warhammer 40,000’ line; books that are never anything less than entertaining and are generally very well written. When the nights start to draw in and the daily commute becomes more and more of a grind, these books take care of it all.
I read Nick Kyme’s ‘Salamander’ way back in August last year and, despite a couple of niggles, enjoy it immensely; certainly enough to have the sequel firmly in my sights when it was published. It took me a little while longer to actually get round to reading it and, despite some new niggles, enjoyed this one immensely too...

The people of Nocturne have had a long and bitter relationship with Dark Eldar slavers, an enmity that stretches back millennia. When the Dark Eldar are on the prowl, the Salamander Space Marines can always be counted upon to rise to the challenge and strike back hard. Other parties know this and this is how Salamander Chaplain Elysius comes to fall into enemy hands... That the Salamanders will mount a rescue attempt is beyond any doubt but there is far more at stake than the life of the Chaplain. The armour of Elysius holds secrets that could well shed new light on the eventual fate of Nocturne itself; this rescue attempt is a race against time in more than one sense.
On another planet entirely, newly inducted Librarian Dak’ir accompanies his mentor Pyriel on a mission to ascertain the intentions of their enemies; perhaps more important is the fact that they must determine just exactly what Da’kir’s place in prophecy is. Salvation or damnation is promised but Dak’ir could easily be either...

‘Firedrake’ is the second book in the ‘Tome of Fire’ trilogy so it stands to reason that this isn’t one you can jump straight into (check out ‘Salamander’ first, it’s worth it). With over a year having passed since I read the first book I found this to be even more the case. Main characters aside, I found that it took me a little while to get my head around who was who again; it might just be me but the ‘Tomes of Fire’ trilogy could well be the first Black Library series to require its own dramatis personae list...
Having said all that though, I think that a large part of what made ‘Firedrake’ initially inaccessible to me was Kyme’s approach to the timeline of events. Space Marines are notoriously long lived and their idea of something that happened recently can be anything upwards of fifty years ago. This led to some massive jumps back into the past (to explore prior events) that weren’t particularly well signposted at the time. Everything ties together very neatly at the end but again, it’s a bit of a slog to get your head around it initially. At least, it was for me.

What I would say though is to stick with it (if you’ve already read ‘Salamander’ then I guess that’s what you’ll be doing anyway) as ‘Firedrake’ does come up with the goods while setting things up nicely for the third instalment.

That’s not to say that it’s all plain sailing though. The book is split into two separate strands with Dak’ir and Pyriel’s quest for knowledge running alongside the mission to rescue Elysius. Dak’ir’s plot in particular suffers from the inaccessibility that I mentioned earlier with Kyme’s approach (regarding timescale) taking a little while to properly ‘click’ and dovetail with the rest of the book. Dak’ir’s plot is also set up to be resolved in the final book and is perhaps cut a little too short right at the end of this one. What you’re left with is a character who has taken half a book to answer some smaller questions but not the big one. While I’m sure that ‘Nocturne’ (the third book in the trilogy) will tie things up, we’re left with something that feels like it should be a cliffhanger but seems to go out with a little whimper instead...

Not to worry though, not only is there some nice character development on Dak’ir’s part (to balance things out) but the ‘rescue Elysius’ side plot is well worth the price of entry. Despite being asked to just accept that some things happen off stage (I’m still not 100% au fait with the setting but could the Dark Eldar really capture Elysius as easily as that...?) this plot runs very smoothly, throwing up moments of real spectacle and excitement and properly introducing us to the antagonists in such a way that a real sense of tension is apparent and I was left wanting to see how it all plays out in the final instalment. The world of the Dark Eldar is gloriously... erm... dark and the perfect setting for a real game of ‘cat and mouse’ to play out with all its dead ends and seemingly hopeless confrontations. There are a lot of these and the pace rockets along as a result.

In ‘Salamander’, the Space Marine Tsu’gan was in danger of becoming seriously one dimensional as he was locked into a downward spiral of self hate that didn’t seem to be going anywhere relevant. Perhaps one of the best things that Kyme does is to spend more time working out what makes Tsu’gan tick and then placing him in situations where his character is forced to develop. As a result, Tsu’Gan’s character is fascinating to follow and is perhaps the main reason why I will be picking up ‘Nocturne’ when it is released (late next year I think). There is more to him than you would think...

I have a suspicion that after having read ‘Nocturne’ I will be forced to revise my opinion of ‘Firedrake’ (as part of a larger story rather than a book on its own). ‘Firedrake’ is the ‘middle book’ in a trilogy and falls foul of some of the associated pitfalls but there is a lot to recommend it at the same time. If you’re reading this series, there’s no reason to put it down just yet and every reason to carry on...

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten