First thing first:the only negative i can find is the same of I am slaughter:i wantd more of it and it could have been a regular-size novel instead of the 250-and something-pages it ended being
Second thing second: let's adress the yellow elephant in the room
Imperial fists surviors of Ardamantua:4
Of those 4,3 are killed by the AdMec "for science".
Imperial fists survivors of Ardamantua then:1
Yes,one.Out of the full chapter
BL has outdone itself in the long lasting tradition of KILL ALL THE FISTS.
We are then introduced to another space marine chapters,the Fists Exemplar.As the name suggests,they are 7th legion blood.Unsurprisingly,they suffer casualties too :shifty: With them,Sanders also adds new second founding IF chapters to his portfolio (second time he does it after the Excoriators)
And then,we have a small black templar crusade showing up briefly.Yep,some of them die too
This leads me to the "how the hell are the IF going to continue existing up to the 40k millennium."
Well,they could rebuild from nothing (they have the geneseed on Terra and a 99.9% new founding could be masked by the imperial powers) but i think the book suggests 2 other options
Option one:
Why dont we know anything of the 5th IF secound founding chapter during the 41 millennium?Wellll....
It was the moment Dorn decided to break up his beloved Legion and embrace the Codex Astartes, creating numerous successor Chapters from his stalwart and loyal Imperial Fists. Thane loved the window not least because the Fists Exemplar had been created in that moment. Like all of the Imperial Fists Second Founding Chapters, their character came from the individuals making up their ranks. The Chapter crusaders and zealots gravitated to Sigismund, while to Alexis Polux went the younger, more impressionable brothers. Many of the attrition fighters that would make up the Excoriators had held the Palace walls during the siege of Terra and had found brotherhood with Demetrius Katafalque. It was well known that the primarch and his genetic sons struggled with the decision to break up their Legion. There were some, however, that came around to Guilliman’s wisdom – as Dorn himself did at last – swifter than others. Captain Oriax Dantalion had spoken for the sense and necessity of such drastic action among the Imperial Fists early in the process. This had initially earned Dorn’s disappointment, and some said enmity. When Dorn himself searched his soul and reached the conclusion that the window illustrated, he remembered Dantalion’s earlier wisdom. He rewarded the captain with a Chapter of his own – made up of progressive battle-brothers not unlike himself. They were deemed exemplars of the new order, and named the Fists Exemplar by the primarch.
Just think about it for a second..40k Fists are the epithome of codex astartes right behind the Ultramarines...
Option two:
‘What would you have me do?’
‘I would have you do nothing, captain. What we must do – brothers all – is gather our strength. The savages will be stopped here no more than they would have been at Aspiria. We must consult with Chapter Master Mirhen; with my own High Marshal; with Scharn; with Quesadra of the Crimson Fists and Issachar of the Excoriators. It is time for the scattered successors of all loyal Legions to join once again in defence of humanity. This will not happen here, Thane; it will not happen now. But we must be as one and ready for Dorn’s call, when it comes.’
A.k.a the blood angels solution.We know that something like that will be done in the future,why not now?Sure,at this point in the story no one,aside from the high lords and their staffs/special agents on the field,knows the Fists have been functionally wiped out but if the united 2nd founding chapters find out,the step isnt that long...
I personally bet on the first one.Anyway,not a good time to be yellow indeed...[/spoiler]
As with I am slaughter,we have different viewpoints this time too,mainly dealing with how the segmentum solar is crumbling before the ork tide
-The imperial senate.Once again Gran Master of the Assassinorum Vangorich is the main character here,and Sanders writes him as interesting as Abnett did.We see him making moves and plans for his own plan to steer the imperium on the path of non-destruction.At the same time,it shows that while he can seemingly reach all the High lords with ease,they aren't as easy to manouvre as he makes it sound.As a footnote,we are introduced in a short part to a new team of assassins,including a temple vanus operative.I'm not sure that's a first (using them,i know they have been in the bg forever) but surely it's not common
-The oceanic hive world of Undine,following a PDF officer.And here the story turns to the "there is only the laughter of thirsting gods" side of 40k...The world is doomed,the characters know it,the ending isn't pretty(the choice of placing the BT last chapter right before the Undine last chapter,connected as they are by a really tiny but important plot point,works way better than the opposite would have done for that)
-The AdMec.Easy to hate the priests of mars when shown acting the way they do here.The few that show some form of emotions or concerns above cold logic and scheming are actually considered as flawed or useless by the others...And at the same time,that cold logic leads to one disaster after the other,with just little being saved out of it so far.Can't say it's not in-character for the organisation.Also,the book underlines in more than one place how the mechanicus is more interested in it's own survival than in that of its ally,the imperium of man
-The space marines.Obviously this time the IFs dont have much pagetime >.> Their places is taken by the Fists exemplar and,in a smaller role,by the black templars Not much happening here,above bolters firing and stuff being killed.Seems more of a setup for what will come of them in the following books,because for good or worse the adeptus astartes will have to take a more important role in the events
And the orks?Well...We dont see anything from their PoV but they have more of a presence compared to the first book...And what we are shown is that...Well,numbers,strenght and technology they are unstoppable at that moment in time.
Also interesting (and maybe a little strange) a little piece that shows how 32k imperium still knows nothing about them
A magos biologist does an authopsy on an ork and he discovers
-that the brain center that controls "the understanding of technology" instead of being in the more recent (from an evolution point of view) parts of the ork brain sits in the older parts and so look to have been enginereed there from the start of the ork race (we know that's exactly it,Slaan and all)
-he detect a strange wave of energy of unknown quality that emanates even from the freshly dead bodies and that,in some way,aids their tech in working where it should not (i think i dont even have to say what that is,right? :p )
I say strange because....Well,orks have been around forever,seems odd that the imperium doesnt know at least about the waaaagh field...But then,back during the great crusade the legion armies had little need to know that..
And the lack of knowledge lends itself to the fact that the post-crusade Imperium left itself open to the orks rise[
So,at the end of this all...Thumb up for the second book too...Now off to wait another month for the third one
