Love 8th Edition and Primaris Marines? You’ll be pleased to know this new edition comes with its own novel. Read on for the breakdown.
A bold new era for the Warhammer 40k table top game gets an accompanying novel series, the first penned by Games Workshop veteran writer, Guy Haley. Dark Imperium documents the end of Roboute Gulliman’s Indomitus Crusade and its immediate aftermath.
The release of the 8th edition of Warhammer 40k not only revitalized the game, which was mired by a bloated rule set but also pushed the narrative surrounding the game forward some 100 years. Ultramarine Primarch Roboute Guilliman awoke from death to find his father’s dream of a united Imperium in a state of ruin, the progress of humanity corrupted by strict religious doctrines, and a war that was supposed to have been won still raging across the galaxy.
His Indomitus Crusade, led by the new Primaris Space Marine strain created by techno-rebel/heretic Belisarius Cawl, was successful in taking back large sections of the galaxy from the forces of Chaos, and now the Primarch has set his sights on re-uniting the 500 worlds of his home system of Ultramar, and defeating his returned daemon-primarch brother, Mortarion.
While Haley certainly references these important elements throughout Dark Imperium, he rarely gets his hands dirty playing at war in the sandbox he has constructed, creating a rather curious duality – a book that is very interesting, but where almost nothing exciting happens.
There is plenty in Dark Imperium that will appeal to fans of the game’s lore. The appearance of various Primaris Marines born of different primarch gene-seed other than that of Guilliman will delight the player base, and Haley’s treatment of them shows his innate understanding of the universe in which he is meddling. From the boisterous Space Wolf to the honorable Blood Angel, Haley displays a keen understanding of how each of the Chapters tick, and does so with limited space. He also knows his audience, and a particular comment from Cawl relating to the extent of his heretical shenanigans will send 40k geeks into rapture.
It is his examinations of the hidden impact of Guilliman’s return, on both the Primarch himself and those that orbit him, where the real power of Dark Imperium can be found. Anyone who figured the Space Marines, both old and new, for emotionless war machines will find their preconceived notions shattered.
His Marines are all too human, cursed with the same frailties and flaws as the lowliest hive world inhabitant, but in possession of power great enough to cause mass destruction should they succumb to the darker aspects of that latent humanity. Guilliman’s own inner turmoil provides the novel’s finest examination of what it means to be Adeptus Astartes. Guilliman must project an aura of invincibility and assuredness at all times, such is the burden of the ruler of mankind.
This is just a mask, however, hiding a man suffering from acute loneliness (a brief mention of his sadness at the lack of one of his brothers to talk to is heart wrenchingly powerful) and uncertainty. It is a remarkably subtle treatment of the demi-god.
The novel is not without its problems, almost all of which stem from the book’s villains. The invasion of Iax buy the denizens of Nurgle’s dimension is far too slapstick, sucking all importance from the situation. The argument could be made that their cavorting is entirely within character, but there are surely ways to retain their particular peculiarities without portraying them as the rotting 40k version of the Three Stooges. Mortarion makes an all too brief cameo, threatening much but achieving very little. I
n the infrequent battle scenes, Plague Marines are dispatched with little or no trouble, robbing the heretics, who should be terrifying unstoppable monsters, of all threat. At no point in the book do the main players feel like they are in trouble. They are simply a polished war machine dispatching their goofy adversaries.
Dark Imperium $15.99 (ebook)
That said, Dark Imperium’s purpose was always to set the scene for the future 40k narrative, with specific intent to firmly establish Primaris Space Marines and their various subsections and vehicles within the lore of the game. Thus, the ongoing status of Games Workshop’s Marine cash cow is assured. In this sense, Dark Imperium is a success. These books are the table-top war gaming version of a Saturday morning cartoons from the 1980s, their main purpose being selling toys to kids, or in this case, adults who have never grown up.
Guy Haley has taken the advertising vehicle concept and managed to breathe some very real soul into something that could come across as soulless. It is a novel short on danger but stuffed with heart and a fine introduction to the new 40k status quo for the veteran and new initiate alike.
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About the Author: David Smyth
