So, as I mentioned before I rediscovered my pile of warhammer 40k books. And wanting to keep a bit of a record of my progress through them I said I might collect my thoughts on the books as I go through them. So thus, this topic is made!
Now, admittedly. I'm not the best writer, reviewer or even have the best taste. But I decided why the hell not? It keeps me typing, reading and opens potential for discussion so I should go ahead and do it.
So to get started... First book I went through, Fifteen hours.
Fifteen Hours is the first of the black librarys "Imperial guard" series. Detailing unconnected and varied stories about different regiments of the imperial guard and their missions and duties. While not a proper series with an overarching narrative, it seems more aimed to give a genred experience for fans of the imperial guard to get some adventures and stories to fold into their lore.
This is also the authors first published novel according to both the book itself and my quick research. Which is a bit worrying to someone just cracking the book open for the first time, given it creates a sudden expectation of quality that's not wholly flattering.
The first chapter indeed didn't do much to bolster my opinion, a disconnected and unexplained intro at the beginning of the book details a guardsman laying grievously wounded in a no mans land. We aren't told who this man is, why he's there. Or what there is of his world besides the frantic thoughts running through his mind. And just as quick as we get a chance to start piecing things together we're thrown into the first chapter of the book proper.
We are then introduced to our protagonist, Arvin Larn. An unremarkable man from an unremarkable world. The Agriworld of Jumal IV. A few people may in fact recall Jumal IV as the home of the Jumal first regiment, also known as the Lucky aces thanks to their survival of a warp storm. This is however not that story. And Larn is on top of that, thoroughly not a lucky man.As I mentioned earlier, the first chapter is one of the least interesting parts of this book. We're introduced to our protagonists family, characters that aren't given much of a chance to be anything other than humanizing aspects of the wider character of Larn. But given the nature of the imperial guard in 40k this is about as much as can be expected. And throughout this up till his arrival on the parade grounds for mustering there's a certain sense of something... Off. Which Ill get to in just a moment.
Afterwards we are shown a fairly vivid and at that also decently accurate portrayal of life aboard a imperial guard troopship, zooming through the warp at it's destination. Scanlon starts redeeming himself here, as the more colorful life aboard the ship is entertaining. And a few dark laughs are had at a squadmates expense due to an invisible grenade. Shortly after we're introduced to another "Character" in a meta sense. That Scanlon begins to rely upon somewhat through this work. An interlude. After this interlude is the moment that stuck with me the most through the book, the harrowing shooting down and crash landing of the company's lander. It's brutal and relentless. To the point that I wondered for a moment if Scanlon had some steam he wanted to blow off, and it ended up blowing in the face (In one case, literally) of our unlucky protagonist and the rest of the 6th company, Jumael 14th Volunteers
This is my largest complaint with Fifteen hours, Scanlon allows this to become something routine. We quickly learn that when focus switches, bad things happen. And happen they do right away. Without going into much detail, Larns company is detached from his regiment and sent to the wrong planet. Bad things follow all throughout from this first mistake. It is there that Larn meets another group of characters that carry him through the rest of the story. In short order, we meet the diminutive and sardonic Davik, the obligitory heart and also big guy of the squad Bulaven. The negative and hostile Zeebers and... The unfortunately named Scholar. Yes I'm sure that's not his real name, but we never hear his real name.
The rest of the story is a slow paced, but still entertaining adventure through the horrors of trench warfare. Yes, trench warfare. This is what I said I'd get back to, between the longcoats, trenches and oppressing gray and cold, the majority of Fifteen hours reads like world war 1, done warhammer 40k style. This isn't a bad thing, but it's not exactly ambitious combined with the somewhat stock nature of the main cast. You don't need to be original, that is true but there was always a feeling that a little more could of been done with the themes than Scanlon ultimately left to formula.
As a story fixed on trench warfare, much of it is spent waiting and brooding between highs of action. Swapping between long moments of introspection and bickering and combat. Both are handled well, and with no expense paid to show how nasty both can be. As the story draws to a close however, the grim realization that the reader already knows the ending begins to set in.
Ultimately. Would I suggest someone read Fifteen hours? Personally, I would reccomend it should the reader have an interest in the first world war and trench warfare. The fact that this is a book published by the black library is often something pushed a bit to the side and it ultimately feels like Scanlon did want to write about the first world war. Though, yes I personally enjoyed reading this book, and I can't help but wonder where scanlon could of went from here given some time. As my research leads me to find that outside of a companion short story contained in the Imperial Guard volume one omnibus, he has no further entries into the black library.
As for what I'm going to read next? I'm currently undecided. If I want to trawl through the imperial guard series before moving on that would make my next book Death world, by Steve Lyons. But I have a wealth of choices and variety is the spice of life after all.
Also to any prospective writers reading this, I would not put a huge clue as to the meaning of something you want a slight mystery in the very title and tagline of your book. While they ultimately made me choose to read this book first, it doesn't make much sense to hint at why "Fifteen hours" is such an important time scale and leave it as the galaxy's worst kept secret for a few chapters. It's silly.
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Topic: Gunner-Chan and the unexpected black library. (Read 769 times)