Nick Kyme classic

This is a novel clearly intended to move pieces across the board and catch up with many of the seemingly random characters we have meet so far.

This reminds me of Nick Kyme's work in the Heresy Series. Nobody's farvorite but keeping the story moving.

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Dull

The book seems to be entirely about moving characters into their designated places for a finale, but it does so functionally and without almost any flair. Every single Imperial character is the same sort of steadfast, resolute and noble soul, even those who previously displayed some flaws or depth. Individual voices are lost, with multiple characters using the same purple prose and terminology. A particular character who undergoes a significant development comes out the other side much the same as they were before, with the whole affair feeling very ordinary when it should be anything but.

Only the Red Corsairs warband were interesting to follow, and that's partially because they break from the stereotypical backstabbing of the Chaos aligned. Even then the conclusion of that narrative thread is unsatisfying, feeling anticlimactic rather than the gut-punch it was intended to be. Even John Bank's usually solid narration feels a bit flat here. Servicable, rather than good. There's a lot of scenes that might have landed better if it didn't sound like he was just trying to get through the text.

It's a real disappointment after the Iron Kingdom, where the author portrayed the Imperial forces as fractious and divided by flawed leadership, and Sea of Souls, which was also about moving a piece of the metaplot into place but used the opportunity to tell an excellent self contained story.

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Better than reviews mention

Well it was to me anyway, I’m not a fan of the the DoF series, a wasted opportunity methinks but this and sea of souls are above the average in this series, I’m team Herrick all the way

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Just not that good really

Nothing much happening, there is enough characters and scope in this series to be an epic second HH style story. But it’s not sadly

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Good character development.

Good character development and reintroduction of past characters, but weak ending, hopefully not the last in the series.

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Clumsily written with an obvious agenda

After the meandering rubbish that has padded out the meagre plot line of the Dawn of Fire series in the last three or four books, I was really hoping Hand of Abaddon would be a return to the main plot and hopefully some progression. And it is - sort of.

In another sense, this book is a bit like that episode of the Simpsons where the Itchy and Scratchy Show gets a new character. The Simpson kids sit down to watch the latest installment of their favourite cartoon cat and mouse hyperviolence, only to witness the two sworn enemies lay down their weapons and say 'Hey look it's our friend Poochie!" The kids watch in bewilderment, then growing dismay as a dog wearing shades proceeds to skateboard, rap and mouth meaningless slogans. Then the episode ends. The cat and mouse are relegated to minor characters in their own show, their role now nothing more than to inform the audience how awesome Poochie is. Needless to say,it's a ratings disaster—everyone hates Poochie.

When Inquisitor Rostov reappears early on in Hand of Abaddon, it feels as though we might finally be back on track with the series' main plot. But we quickly learn that this isn't the Rostov we knew from the previous books. He's a broken man. A physical and psychical mess. it's implied this decline has been a growing problem for him since the earlier books, but this is just Nick Kymne rewriting past events to recast Rostov as a weak man. In earlier Dawn of Fire novels, Rostov was depicted as a ruthless, iron-willed inquisitor who would torture Chaos marines to death and psychically absorb their pain in order to get what he needed. That's tough. Yet, suddenly he's now a physically incapable man plagued by doubt. Now treated more carefully, this could be a challenge for Rostov - to come to terms with and succeed despite his limitations, as part of a satisfying character arc, but no: everything that happens to every character in Hand of Abbadon is done with a clumsy crashingly obvious agenda driving it.

Rostov is now a weakling because his new feeble persona is needed to cast his companions in a better light - his brand new companions. For reasons that Nick Kymne doesn't expend any energy on explaining convincingly, Rostov's retinue of Antonio, Lecrante and Chilka, a rather endearing and likeable gang from the previous books, are left behind as Rostov goes off pursuing the Hand. It makes absolutely no sense—until with a sinking heart the reader feels the heavy hand of the author pushing them onward, while whispering in their ear: "Forget about those old characters, here's your new characters — better characters!"

"Who are these incredible bad-asses?" I do not hear anyone saying. No of course not, because you've already guessed who they are. Yep — a series of utterly unloveable girl bosses: Inquisitor Greyfax, the appalling Helwinter rogue trader woman who showed up like two books ago and does nothing but whine and complain and criticize everyone (and comes from Fenris which makes no sense at all), The Sister of Silence from the Kymne novel which was so forgettable I'd forgotten about her, the leader of a bunch of squats, and Mordean sergeant Kes, who at least came in during Gate of Bones but who is now space jesus (as if a character being gifted utterly unearned superpowers is somehow going to make them likeable). "Deus Ex Machina! It's a miracle, Emperor be praised, we're saved!" is now how every book in this series seems to end, and by the end of this I couldn't have cared less.

It's like the early books in the series served no purpose at all. There's no Antonio, Lecrante or Chilka and their oddly endearing spiky relationship, there's no Fabien Guelphrain and Sergeant Lucerne whose unlikely friendship is a joy to behold, there's no Guilliman and Moldovar Colquan—another intriguing love-hate relationship. The early books set this series up with great characters, who have all been summarily dropped in favour of unloveable, paper thin characters for painfully obvious reasons that are nothing to do with telling good stories or providing readers with rounded, likeable characters.

Like the kids in the Simpsons, we can spot a cheap switcheroo when it's being pulled on us before our eyes. And to be frank, Nick Kyme is not a good enough writer to pull this off. When the introduction of new characters to a book or series is done well, you don't notice it, it happens invisibly. I don't recall anybody having any beef with Dan Abnett's Beta Bequin, and she got introduced to the reader with huge fan favourites Inquisitors Eisenhorn and Ravenor reduced to secondary characters in her story. But who cares when the writing is as good as Dan Abnett's is in Pariah and Penitent? Go listen to them instead of this nonsense.

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The obvious pandering.

It's a real shame gamesworkshop/warhammer are going thus way. It's the inevitable demise of yet another great and interesting universe to pander to the few joyless individuals. Yet another nail and a significant one at that in the coffin of decent warhammer lore. Ruining a precious childhood thing for me and my wife who's also always been a huge warhammer fan is finding it more and more patronising at the pure shoehorning of characters to appeal to a fan base that isn't even attatched. The next star wars. The narrating was also jarring with the inconsistency of the characters from previous dawn of fire books in voice acting and writing. Really bad addition to what started out fairly strong and has just declined the more warhammer appease the few idiots that want everything the same.

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3 people found this helpful