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Word Bearers #1
Dark Apostle
Book 1 in the Word Bearers series
Driven on by dark visions, Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine Legion and his force lay waste to the imperial planet of Tanakreg.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's the start of a series based around the twisted zealots of the Word Bearers... and everyone loves an apocalyptically evil warband of depraved Chaos Space Marines going about their business, right?
THE STORY
Driven on by dark visions, Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine legion and his force lay waste to the imperial planet of Tanakreg. After brutally enslaving the population, they set them to work building a monstrous tower. But what is the Word Bearers' vile purpose, and can they achieve it before the Imperial forces arrive to reclaim the planet?
Driven on by dark visions, Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine Legion and his force lay waste to the imperial planet of Tanakreg.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's the start of a series based around the twisted zealots of the Word Bearers... and everyone loves an apocalyptically evil warband of depraved Chaos Space Marines going about their business, right?
THE STORY
Driven on by dark visions, Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine legion and his force lay waste to the imperial planet of Tanakreg. After brutally enslaving the population, they set them to work building a monstrous tower. But what is the Word Bearers' vile purpose, and can they achieve it before the Imperial forces arrive to reclaim the planet?
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 25, 2007
38 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Reynolds
93 books168 followersAnthony Reynolds was a Games Developer and manager at Games Workshop in the UK. Since then he's written freelance for a number of companies, including Black Library Publishing, Mantic Games, THQ, Bandai-Namco, Behaviour Interactive, and River Horse Games. He currently lives in California.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Anthony^Reynolds
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Anthony^Reynolds
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
October 4, 2021
Granted, this book is nothing much when compared to such literary greats as Moby Dick, Tom Sawyer, or even The Stand; it is fluff reading, plain and simple, and it doesn't try to be anything else, but even that appellation does it too much justice.
This is far and away the weakest of the books that I have read thus far involving the Warhammer 40,000 universe. One should expect a certain amount of pointless violence when reading the WH40K books - that's the main reason I read them in the first place - but this one is nothing but pointless violence. Characters are introduced only to be killed in spectacular and gory fashions, and the thin, almost nonexistent plot doesn't show up until well into the second third of the book. Even then, most of the book is mired down in endlessly repetitive descriptions of how terrible the Bad Guys are, and how helpless the Good Guys are to stop them from completing the Nefarious Evil Plan of Darkety-Darkest Evil, which is in itself never really clear until the last forty pages or so, which gives the whole thing a tacked-on, 'afterthought' feel, as though the author had no idea of WTF he was actually doing right up until the home stretch.
Not only that, but the author could seriously benefit from expanding his vocabulary. I can't remember the number of times I saw words repeated ad nauseum, and thought to myself how a thesaurus would come in very handy. Othe authors of the WH40K universe (James Swallow, as a for-instance) have work that is far more entertaining, because they all have style that includes the use of synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms, as well as the basic tenets of writing...such as plot, theme, and character development.
Frankly, this book fits into a genre I refer to as 'gore porn' - no substance, no in-depth development, just endless battle scenes, warfare, killing in (semi)interesting ways, and a sparse-to-nonexistent plot. Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for. It's just that there are better examples of this kind of writing in the WH40K milieu than Dark Apostle. My recommendation would be to go find another one to go with, and don't waste your time on this one.
This is far and away the weakest of the books that I have read thus far involving the Warhammer 40,000 universe. One should expect a certain amount of pointless violence when reading the WH40K books - that's the main reason I read them in the first place - but this one is nothing but pointless violence. Characters are introduced only to be killed in spectacular and gory fashions, and the thin, almost nonexistent plot doesn't show up until well into the second third of the book. Even then, most of the book is mired down in endlessly repetitive descriptions of how terrible the Bad Guys are, and how helpless the Good Guys are to stop them from completing the Nefarious Evil Plan of Darkety-Darkest Evil, which is in itself never really clear until the last forty pages or so, which gives the whole thing a tacked-on, 'afterthought' feel, as though the author had no idea of WTF he was actually doing right up until the home stretch.
Not only that, but the author could seriously benefit from expanding his vocabulary. I can't remember the number of times I saw words repeated ad nauseum, and thought to myself how a thesaurus would come in very handy. Othe authors of the WH40K universe (James Swallow, as a for-instance) have work that is far more entertaining, because they all have style that includes the use of synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms, as well as the basic tenets of writing...such as plot, theme, and character development.
Frankly, this book fits into a genre I refer to as 'gore porn' - no substance, no in-depth development, just endless battle scenes, warfare, killing in (semi)interesting ways, and a sparse-to-nonexistent plot. Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for. It's just that there are better examples of this kind of writing in the WH40K milieu than Dark Apostle. My recommendation would be to go find another one to go with, and don't waste your time on this one.
March 17, 2019
Ah the Word Bearers series. It's been on my list for quite some time, and I figured it would be a good series to kickstart my reading of BL fiction again.
Dark Apostle is a novel filled to the brim with everything that makes 40K so much fun. There's more war and grimdark than I think most normal folks would like, and a cast of the most motley and gruesome characters in the galaxy, and you just can't help but root for them.
We're introduced to our main characters of First Acolyte Marduk, Burias, Kol Badar and Dark Apostle Jarulek and the 34th Host of the Word Bearers as they bring about the apocalypse of a Imperial Wold. Our cast of characters was well written, with all of our main and supporting characters having their own unique personalities, motivations, and allegiences(so long as Chaos is the main one). Their relationships were all fantastic to watch bloom(or explode) and I genuinely fell in love with Burias. The action and pacing were spot on, though I do feel the IG put up a bit too good of a fight in some instances.
This novel does a fantastic job of detailing what it means to be a Word Bearer in 40k, really delving into their ideology and Legion Organization. Having mostly read of them in the Heresy or as villains, it was really nice to see them from their own perspective. It really shows how they can be a terrifying enemy, as forces like the Emperor's Children are so fractured as to be nearly useless as a fighting force, but the Word Bearers have kept enough discipline to remain as a mostly un-fractured Legion.
Altogether this was a ridiculously fun and blood-fueled most-read for any 40K fan.
**This bit is just for the folks that follow my reviews**
Hey all, been a while! I guess life got busy, and I stopped having time to read as much and as such stopped really writing reviews. I plan to try and get my shit together and start working on them again, as well as just reading more in general. my reviews will likely be much "short and sweet" affairs going forward as I get back in the swing of writing the damn things. Thanks!
Dark Apostle is a novel filled to the brim with everything that makes 40K so much fun. There's more war and grimdark than I think most normal folks would like, and a cast of the most motley and gruesome characters in the galaxy, and you just can't help but root for them.
We're introduced to our main characters of First Acolyte Marduk, Burias, Kol Badar and Dark Apostle Jarulek and the 34th Host of the Word Bearers as they bring about the apocalypse of a Imperial Wold. Our cast of characters was well written, with all of our main and supporting characters having their own unique personalities, motivations, and allegiences(so long as Chaos is the main one). Their relationships were all fantastic to watch bloom(or explode) and I genuinely fell in love with Burias. The action and pacing were spot on, though I do feel the IG put up a bit too good of a fight in some instances.
This novel does a fantastic job of detailing what it means to be a Word Bearer in 40k, really delving into their ideology and Legion Organization. Having mostly read of them in the Heresy or as villains, it was really nice to see them from their own perspective. It really shows how they can be a terrifying enemy, as forces like the Emperor's Children are so fractured as to be nearly useless as a fighting force, but the Word Bearers have kept enough discipline to remain as a mostly un-fractured Legion.
Altogether this was a ridiculously fun and blood-fueled most-read for any 40K fan.
**This bit is just for the folks that follow my reviews**
Hey all, been a while! I guess life got busy, and I stopped having time to read as much and as such stopped really writing reviews. I plan to try and get my shit together and start working on them again, as well as just reading more in general. my reviews will likely be much "short and sweet" affairs going forward as I get back in the swing of writing the damn things. Thanks!
Want to read
August 26, 2008Seems like a nice, pulpy read; the building of a tower seems to give it a bit of Biblical breadth, and the...well, the apocalypse is right there, isn't it? I mean, 40K into the future and Bob's your uncle as far as eschatological scope, innit?
Here's how Martin Amis would start it, perhaps:
My name is Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers, though you wouldn't think it to look at me. It's such a gurgle, such a gag and such a hiss; all title and no tune, as me mum would say. You'd think with a name like that that I wouldn't blend into the spiritual light of the breakfast table. But there I am, going for the orange juice with a leather (elven, if I may be permitted a vanity), silver-studded ogre gauntlet, probably causing the orange molecules to juice themselves all over again with fear and, bam, mum has me hand all ready for a bandage - goddamn her spatula - and it's really like that every day. A wonder I didn't become a delicate child, all moue and prim and cocoa-eyed. A wonder, because a guy like me shouldn't have to ask to be passed the Sugar Toasts, the blurry melon (I need eyeglasses; and how long have I put that off?) or the damned orange juice. It's a wonder I'm a bearer of words, living at home and watching my language around mum. It's a wonder.
"Georgie," I say to my brother Georgie. "Can you pass the orange juice. Please."
Georgie looks at me and looks at mum. Mum has gone back to using her spatula for what it's for. Eggs. He looks back at me, and his eyes are two unapologetic lanterns under the loafy fog of his hair. Oi, but he thinks something sly. And he goes and says, "Get it your goddamn self."
Here's how Martin Amis would start it, perhaps:
My name is Dark Apostle Jarulek of the Word Bearers, though you wouldn't think it to look at me. It's such a gurgle, such a gag and such a hiss; all title and no tune, as me mum would say. You'd think with a name like that that I wouldn't blend into the spiritual light of the breakfast table. But there I am, going for the orange juice with a leather (elven, if I may be permitted a vanity), silver-studded ogre gauntlet, probably causing the orange molecules to juice themselves all over again with fear and, bam, mum has me hand all ready for a bandage - goddamn her spatula - and it's really like that every day. A wonder I didn't become a delicate child, all moue and prim and cocoa-eyed. A wonder, because a guy like me shouldn't have to ask to be passed the Sugar Toasts, the blurry melon (I need eyeglasses; and how long have I put that off?) or the damned orange juice. It's a wonder I'm a bearer of words, living at home and watching my language around mum. It's a wonder.
"Georgie," I say to my brother Georgie. "Can you pass the orange juice. Please."
Georgie looks at me and looks at mum. Mum has gone back to using her spatula for what it's for. Eggs. He looks back at me, and his eyes are two unapologetic lanterns under the loafy fog of his hair. Oi, but he thinks something sly. And he goes and says, "Get it your goddamn self."
May 22, 2024
Suitably horrific for the arch traitors.
Incredibly descriptive passages really paint a picture throughout this one, I can see why the Word Bearers omnibus is often cited as a great introduction to 40K reading
Incredibly descriptive passages really paint a picture throughout this one, I can see why the Word Bearers omnibus is often cited as a great introduction to 40K reading
October 27, 2017
This is my second time reading this book, and I have to say, I enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first.
Reynolds does a good job writing the Word Bearers and how their chapter works. He sticks to many things laid down in their fluff and adds some newer stuff to flush them out. The inner conflicts, how the long war has affected them, etc. It is interesting to watch the war of the novel play out, and Reynolds does a good job keeping the reader's interest without losing them to the random details that crop up when writing mass combat.
That said, the ending of this book felt off. I know it is setting up the next book, but it still felt as if the novel should have ended with the revealing of what lay in the planet, rather than continuing forward for more pages. It stole a lot of the previous action and where the previous war felt full of energy, the last part felt like Reynolds really didn't want to write it.
Still, this is a good novel and I really enjoyed it. The writing is solid, the characters are enjoyable, and a lot of what appeals to players of Chaos is taken into consideration. If someone was looking for a Warhammer 40K novel involving chaos, this would be one I would recommend.
Reynolds does a good job writing the Word Bearers and how their chapter works. He sticks to many things laid down in their fluff and adds some newer stuff to flush them out. The inner conflicts, how the long war has affected them, etc. It is interesting to watch the war of the novel play out, and Reynolds does a good job keeping the reader's interest without losing them to the random details that crop up when writing mass combat.
That said, the ending of this book felt off. I know it is setting up the next book, but it still felt as if the novel should have ended with the revealing of what lay in the planet, rather than continuing forward for more pages. It stole a lot of the previous action and where the previous war felt full of energy, the last part felt like Reynolds really didn't want to write it.
Still, this is a good novel and I really enjoyed it. The writing is solid, the characters are enjoyable, and a lot of what appeals to players of Chaos is taken into consideration. If someone was looking for a Warhammer 40K novel involving chaos, this would be one I would recommend.
July 24, 2018
Dark Apostle by Anthony Reynolds is focused around a host of Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines. They differ from the rest of the traitorous super-soldiers in their devotion to the pantheon of the Chaos Gods (as they see them - the pantheon of Chaos Undivided). While most of the heretical Astartes serve the pantheon in order to gain more power and long to terrorize, bloody and ultimately conquer the Imperium of Man, the Word Bearers truly believe in the gods and relish in the purpose and meaning their fate gifts them with. These devout warriors seek to bring enlightenment and the Primoridal Truth to the rest of humanity. The legion is united in its religion, while most of the other Chaos Space Marine legions - all the hosts are guided and coordinated by the Dark Council of the most powerful Dark Apostles - spiritual leaders of the hosts and interpreters of the divine will of the deities.
I really wanted to enjoy Dark Apostle, because I really like the Word Bearers and their genetic father, primarch Lorgar, is one of the most interesting characters among his brethren. I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. The Word Bearers here are murderous maniacs, who are bullying their supplicants, normal human cultists of Chaos, and whose idea of preaching involves bathing the infidels with bolter fire.
The Dark Apostle Jarulek, with the assistance of his First Acolyte Marduk, prepares invasion on the Imperial world of Tanakreg but to Jarulek all of this is just means to an end - uncovering of an alien artifact of terrible power. The mission is jeopardized on two fronts. On one hand, The Imperium of Man is looking to reclaim the planet and has dispatched great numbers of Imperial Guardsmen - from the elite Elysian Drop Troops regiments who are supported by impressive contingent of the cybernetic soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus - the somewhat autonomous tech-priests of the Imperium and they bring giant machines of war. On the other hand. On the other level, intrigues in the Word Bearers's host present equally great danger. The First Acolyte Marduk (ostensibly the protagonist) admires Jarulek, but is willing to vanquish him to become a Dark Apostle. At one time he is even seizing him. Kol Badar, the warlord of the Host, hates Marduk for personal reasons and is even willing to kill him, even without knowing the designs of Jarulek. We have Burias, a friend of Marduk, whose loyalty can be bought.
This leads me to my main problem with the book - the main characters, the Word Bearers, are pretty unlikable. I know they are the villains in Warhammer 40k. but when yo sare writing about the bad guys, I find it even more pressing to make them relatable to a degree.
Marduk is young, willing to prove himself, ambitious and in ways insecure. He is also scheming, spiteful and arrogant. He guns down competent cultists for looking at him, he kills cult leaders for boring him.
Burias, the Icon Bearer (a standard bearer), is loyal friend to Marduk, he still resents him, because of their friendship Kol Badar would not induct him into the Cult of The Anointed (the host's Terminators - the deadliest, most durable warriors, clad in the best Space Marine armor). Oh, and Burias is a host to a daemon with whom he shares sadism and blood lust (Burias is one of the lucky few of the Possessed marines who is the dominant in their relationship and not the daemon).
Kol Badar is the most likable of them, I think. A honourable warrior, he thirsts for challenging combat. He is a leader who cares for his men. He is willing to suffer the Dark Apostle's wrath for his mistakes, for this what is required of him. And he is willing to od what must be done. The episode in which Kol Badar lead the Anointed inside the Imperial Titan (one of the terrible gigantic war-machines brought by the Mechanicus) is truly awe-inspiring. Kol Badar is also hateful and has a low tolerance for lesser men pointing his mistakes. He hates Marduk enough, to let him know he will kill the First Acolyte personally.
Two of the Word Bearers stand out - we do not see them frequently and we do not see things from their point of view or at lest we see it for a paragraph. I suspect that this is purposeful and is actually beneficial. We have the Warmonger - a Dreadnought - a dying marine, put into a cybernetic sarcophagus to keep him alive and who is also a combat walker. Chaos Dreadnoughts are quite insane by default. The Warmonger is mostly lucid and wise but from time to time believes he is fighting in the past as a man of flesh and bone. And his past is remarkable - he was a Dark Apostle who fought during the attack of The chaos forces on Terra during the Horus Heresy. At this time Jarulek was his First Acolyte and admired his teacher exceedingly.
Jarulek is fascinating. He is a man of immense confidence, faith and charisma. His warriors live for him and fight for him. The Dark Apostle is very calm and polite, almost always smiling and paternal in his demeanor. He is also very adaptable - at one point he threatens Marduk and in the next he forgives and comforts him. Jarulek follows his visions of the future without question. He actually knows of Marduk's ambitions and has made arrangements. In the end, he is upset, not because he is dying, but because he had not understood his prophecy correctly. Oh, and his plan to use cultists on Tanakreg in order to weaken the defenses of the planet and destroy its leaderships is extremely efficient.
What is frustrating for me - the characters I liked most, were dispatched quickly, or just died. We have colonel Boerl - a guardsman so badass he manages to kill a heretic Space Marine, a daemon engine (daemon-machine hybrid) and plant an explosive on a dreadnought.....the Warmonger. lucid enough to remove the explosive and turns Boerl into Swiss cheese. We have Tech-priest Darioq - a secretive, literal-minded individual, ruled by extremely cold pragmatism and inhuman in his demeanor. His reasons for going to Tanakreg are not made entirely clear, but they do involve an exploratory expedition from his past. Darioq, as a priest of Mars, belives creativity is heretical, but hr decides to install a device that gives him imagination in order to secure victory and prevent disaster and maybe even greater Techno-heresy. Well, Darioq does not die in the end, but his future is even darker..
We have the Imperial Guard Commander Ishmael Havron. He is an old soldier, harsh with his subordinates, even threatening when he decides it is necessary, but actually he cares for them immensely. He also has little stomach for Darioq, his secrecy and inhuman pragmatism. Havron may be prone to lose his cool at times. He gets killed by Burias, who survived the encounter because of his daemon.
Captain Laron (later acting-colonel Laron) is not very talkative, no non-sense officer who holds Boerl in high esteem and initially dislikes Havron. Later, he begins to understand the tribulations of command and Havron's burden and also grows in responisiblity. He has a good ol' dirty soldierly humorous chat with a friend. Gets blown up by a daemon near the end of the novel.
Karalos is a brave and resourceful Chaos cultist (and he knows his proper place in relation to the Word Bearers), who dispatches two imperial walkers with ease. Since he is Chaos worshipper, here he is kind of an asshole - he smiles when Marduk kill his cult-leader out of boredom. Well, Marduk, who likes Karalos, uses his body to manifest a flying daemon. the cultist to his credit, after a few seconds of pain, smiles blissfully. The description of the possession is very good, by the way. Karalos - two scenes, all in all.
We have comissar Kehler. Imperial Guard comissars are dour, relatively silent sort, distant. Their job is to boost morale, which they do often by shooting wanna-be deserters. Kehler does the shooting, but he is also a good deal of an expert on other matters of motivation. Being assigned to acting-colonel Laron, he teaches him the importance of good speeches and appearing confident in front of the men. What is even more interesting - Kehler is a jovial fellow, an avid conversationalist. In the end he is a comissar - he shoots a deserter he was having a very nice chat with before the battle. It is a testament to Kehler's charisma that the guardsmen almost instantly forget how he shot their comrade. Kehler is smart enough to realize how to boost Laron's authority and modifies his language according to the situation at hand. Kehler dies bravely and defiantly in the last battle, vanquished by the crazed slave Varnus.
Aaah, Varnus - of all these described up to here, he has a story-line. In the beginning of the novel, he is officers of the Enforcers (the planetary police force) who uncovers a cultist cell (to Varnus it looks like a gang, but he notices the insignia is of no known gang). He insists on pursuing the matter further even ater his superior informs him it is not their problem anymore. On the planet a high-ranking member of the Adeptus Arbites (inter-planetary more authoritative police force, dedicated to upholding the wider Imperial Law) who wants Varnus in his investigation and who wishes to make him a member of the Adeptus Arbites. And we could have had a nice criminal investigation story with flashes of great action, garnered with horrific supernatural events.....but no. I think it would have been more interesting story, to be honest.
Varnus manages to harm Marduk in the initial attack, but is quickly swept aside and later mad into a slave, conscripted to build some terrible tower, alive with the power of Chaos.
I had to pause here and make a description of the warp-energy-channeling tower, the Gehemahnet. This is an arcane edifice, the secret of which are known by the Dark Apostles. The building has to be sanctified by draining arcane rites and daemons must be bound to it - many Dark Apostles die to complete their Gehemahnet. Once completed, the structure transforms the planet that it is built upon, into a Daemon world, in real space. Jarulek's Gehemahnet is different - it is intended to tear a giant hole into the planet and reveals the abode of the alien artifact.
The Gehemahnet is able to transport enemy ships into the Warp, to feel if anyone intends to harm it, and once near completion, it becomes invulnerable and to a degree defies the laws of the physical world. It can materialize the hands of Daemons, bound into it or release them into battle. The scenes which show this are really scary and evocative.
What may be the most horrible ability of the living structure is her ability to instill devotion to the Gods of Chaos, hatred for the Emperor and blind rage into slaves who work on it.
This is precisely what happens to Varnus, who is very hardy victim. His ultimate fall is very interesting - the slaves are garbed a cultists, forced to wear heretical clothing and insignia by their masters. When, during a drop, a guardsman lands next to Varnus, the Gehemahnet twists their hearing and understanding, the guardsman sees him as a heretic, and Varnus cannot understand why the he is being attacked. The rage consumes Varnus, who kills the soldier. He takes weapons against the Guard, his rage at them for being too late to deliver him and the rest of Tanakreg's survivors twisted into cultish devotion and hatred. He kills Kehler and has a moment of lucidity. Feeling the madness is going to reassert itself and that he is going to lose himself and that he will like it, Varnus chooses to kill himself and die as a sane man. I expected Varnus to do something important, not to die like this, at least to die hurling himself at a Word Bearer, but the death is a good one, despite being ultimately underwhelming. Varnus is brave, active officer, ready to disregard regulations to get the job done, ready to discipline his Enforcers physically when they forget themselves, points mistakes and foolish decisions to his superiors in a rude way, but he is ultimately decent, if temperamental man. I had a better time reading about him, than of the Word Bearers.
The book has some very good qualities. It shows us the culture of the Word Bearers. Here I understood the role of the Coryphaus (in our case Kol Badar) - the field leader, tactics specialist, the one who realizes and fleshes out the Dark Apostle's vision for the battle plan. The Coryphaus has other functions, which may be even more important to the Word Bearers - he represents the legionnaires' views to the Dark Apostle (as ordinarily, battles and rites excluded, the D.A. isolates himself from the warriors to create an aura of mystery and sanctity); during rites he answers the sermons and questions of the D.A. on the behalf of the host. We have the Icon Bearer who always walk before the Dark Apostle, the First Acolyte and the Coryphaus during processions and other ceremonies. Also there is shown a special hall in the main ship of the Word Bearers fleet where the Apostle speaks before his men , a special chamber, in which the Apostle or the First Acolyte isolate themselves before battle to receive visions from the Gods and to meditate.
The dialogue is good, mostly. A friendly conversation between Marduk and Burias come to mind, but it is not the only instance.
Battle, viscera and the like are very well described, if may be a little in too much. Reynolds utilizes a very neat narrative trick - he begins a duel scene from one character's point of view. cuts it and finishes from the point of view of his opponent. It does not get old and betrays the dynamics of combat well in my opinion.
The book shows Space Marines as the inhuman force the lore of the game describes them to be, but the war game can't allow them to be. The Word Bearers manage to withstand and even to drive back titanic multitudes of soldiers. When they fall back, it is slow and painful for the Imperials to gain ground.
All in all, Dark Apostle is a flawed, often very tedious book. The good parts are really good tough, and Reynolds shows promise. And, historically speaking, this is his second attempt at fiction writing, and the first involving the WH40k universe. I will get to the next part of his Word Bearers series after a time.
I really wanted to enjoy Dark Apostle, because I really like the Word Bearers and their genetic father, primarch Lorgar, is one of the most interesting characters among his brethren. I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. The Word Bearers here are murderous maniacs, who are bullying their supplicants, normal human cultists of Chaos, and whose idea of preaching involves bathing the infidels with bolter fire.
The Dark Apostle Jarulek, with the assistance of his First Acolyte Marduk, prepares invasion on the Imperial world of Tanakreg but to Jarulek all of this is just means to an end - uncovering of an alien artifact of terrible power. The mission is jeopardized on two fronts. On one hand, The Imperium of Man is looking to reclaim the planet and has dispatched great numbers of Imperial Guardsmen - from the elite Elysian Drop Troops regiments who are supported by impressive contingent of the cybernetic soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus - the somewhat autonomous tech-priests of the Imperium and they bring giant machines of war. On the other hand. On the other level, intrigues in the Word Bearers's host present equally great danger. The First Acolyte Marduk (ostensibly the protagonist) admires Jarulek, but is willing to vanquish him to become a Dark Apostle. At one time he is even seizing him. Kol Badar, the warlord of the Host, hates Marduk for personal reasons and is even willing to kill him, even without knowing the designs of Jarulek. We have Burias, a friend of Marduk, whose loyalty can be bought.
This leads me to my main problem with the book - the main characters, the Word Bearers, are pretty unlikable. I know they are the villains in Warhammer 40k. but when yo sare writing about the bad guys, I find it even more pressing to make them relatable to a degree.
Marduk is young, willing to prove himself, ambitious and in ways insecure. He is also scheming, spiteful and arrogant. He guns down competent cultists for looking at him, he kills cult leaders for boring him.
Burias, the Icon Bearer (a standard bearer), is loyal friend to Marduk, he still resents him, because of their friendship Kol Badar would not induct him into the Cult of The Anointed (the host's Terminators - the deadliest, most durable warriors, clad in the best Space Marine armor). Oh, and Burias is a host to a daemon with whom he shares sadism and blood lust (Burias is one of the lucky few of the Possessed marines who is the dominant in their relationship and not the daemon).
Kol Badar is the most likable of them, I think. A honourable warrior, he thirsts for challenging combat. He is a leader who cares for his men. He is willing to suffer the Dark Apostle's wrath for his mistakes, for this what is required of him. And he is willing to od what must be done. The episode in which Kol Badar lead the Anointed inside the Imperial Titan (one of the terrible gigantic war-machines brought by the Mechanicus) is truly awe-inspiring. Kol Badar is also hateful and has a low tolerance for lesser men pointing his mistakes. He hates Marduk enough, to let him know he will kill the First Acolyte personally.
Two of the Word Bearers stand out - we do not see them frequently and we do not see things from their point of view or at lest we see it for a paragraph. I suspect that this is purposeful and is actually beneficial. We have the Warmonger - a Dreadnought - a dying marine, put into a cybernetic sarcophagus to keep him alive and who is also a combat walker. Chaos Dreadnoughts are quite insane by default. The Warmonger is mostly lucid and wise but from time to time believes he is fighting in the past as a man of flesh and bone. And his past is remarkable - he was a Dark Apostle who fought during the attack of The chaos forces on Terra during the Horus Heresy. At this time Jarulek was his First Acolyte and admired his teacher exceedingly.
Jarulek is fascinating. He is a man of immense confidence, faith and charisma. His warriors live for him and fight for him. The Dark Apostle is very calm and polite, almost always smiling and paternal in his demeanor. He is also very adaptable - at one point he threatens Marduk and in the next he forgives and comforts him. Jarulek follows his visions of the future without question. He actually knows of Marduk's ambitions and has made arrangements. In the end, he is upset, not because he is dying, but because he had not understood his prophecy correctly. Oh, and his plan to use cultists on Tanakreg in order to weaken the defenses of the planet and destroy its leaderships is extremely efficient.
What is frustrating for me - the characters I liked most, were dispatched quickly, or just died. We have colonel Boerl - a guardsman so badass he manages to kill a heretic Space Marine, a daemon engine (daemon-machine hybrid) and plant an explosive on a dreadnought.....the Warmonger. lucid enough to remove the explosive and turns Boerl into Swiss cheese. We have Tech-priest Darioq - a secretive, literal-minded individual, ruled by extremely cold pragmatism and inhuman in his demeanor. His reasons for going to Tanakreg are not made entirely clear, but they do involve an exploratory expedition from his past. Darioq, as a priest of Mars, belives creativity is heretical, but hr decides to install a device that gives him imagination in order to secure victory and prevent disaster and maybe even greater Techno-heresy. Well, Darioq does not die in the end, but his future is even darker..
We have the Imperial Guard Commander Ishmael Havron. He is an old soldier, harsh with his subordinates, even threatening when he decides it is necessary, but actually he cares for them immensely. He also has little stomach for Darioq, his secrecy and inhuman pragmatism. Havron may be prone to lose his cool at times. He gets killed by Burias, who survived the encounter because of his daemon.
Captain Laron (later acting-colonel Laron) is not very talkative, no non-sense officer who holds Boerl in high esteem and initially dislikes Havron. Later, he begins to understand the tribulations of command and Havron's burden and also grows in responisiblity. He has a good ol' dirty soldierly humorous chat with a friend. Gets blown up by a daemon near the end of the novel.
Karalos is a brave and resourceful Chaos cultist (and he knows his proper place in relation to the Word Bearers), who dispatches two imperial walkers with ease. Since he is Chaos worshipper, here he is kind of an asshole - he smiles when Marduk kill his cult-leader out of boredom. Well, Marduk, who likes Karalos, uses his body to manifest a flying daemon. the cultist to his credit, after a few seconds of pain, smiles blissfully. The description of the possession is very good, by the way. Karalos - two scenes, all in all.
We have comissar Kehler. Imperial Guard comissars are dour, relatively silent sort, distant. Their job is to boost morale, which they do often by shooting wanna-be deserters. Kehler does the shooting, but he is also a good deal of an expert on other matters of motivation. Being assigned to acting-colonel Laron, he teaches him the importance of good speeches and appearing confident in front of the men. What is even more interesting - Kehler is a jovial fellow, an avid conversationalist. In the end he is a comissar - he shoots a deserter he was having a very nice chat with before the battle. It is a testament to Kehler's charisma that the guardsmen almost instantly forget how he shot their comrade. Kehler is smart enough to realize how to boost Laron's authority and modifies his language according to the situation at hand. Kehler dies bravely and defiantly in the last battle, vanquished by the crazed slave Varnus.
Aaah, Varnus - of all these described up to here, he has a story-line. In the beginning of the novel, he is officers of the Enforcers (the planetary police force) who uncovers a cultist cell (to Varnus it looks like a gang, but he notices the insignia is of no known gang). He insists on pursuing the matter further even ater his superior informs him it is not their problem anymore. On the planet a high-ranking member of the Adeptus Arbites (inter-planetary more authoritative police force, dedicated to upholding the wider Imperial Law) who wants Varnus in his investigation and who wishes to make him a member of the Adeptus Arbites. And we could have had a nice criminal investigation story with flashes of great action, garnered with horrific supernatural events.....but no. I think it would have been more interesting story, to be honest.
Varnus manages to harm Marduk in the initial attack, but is quickly swept aside and later mad into a slave, conscripted to build some terrible tower, alive with the power of Chaos.
I had to pause here and make a description of the warp-energy-channeling tower, the Gehemahnet. This is an arcane edifice, the secret of which are known by the Dark Apostles. The building has to be sanctified by draining arcane rites and daemons must be bound to it - many Dark Apostles die to complete their Gehemahnet. Once completed, the structure transforms the planet that it is built upon, into a Daemon world, in real space. Jarulek's Gehemahnet is different - it is intended to tear a giant hole into the planet and reveals the abode of the alien artifact.
The Gehemahnet is able to transport enemy ships into the Warp, to feel if anyone intends to harm it, and once near completion, it becomes invulnerable and to a degree defies the laws of the physical world. It can materialize the hands of Daemons, bound into it or release them into battle. The scenes which show this are really scary and evocative.
What may be the most horrible ability of the living structure is her ability to instill devotion to the Gods of Chaos, hatred for the Emperor and blind rage into slaves who work on it.
This is precisely what happens to Varnus, who is very hardy victim. His ultimate fall is very interesting - the slaves are garbed a cultists, forced to wear heretical clothing and insignia by their masters. When, during a drop, a guardsman lands next to Varnus, the Gehemahnet twists their hearing and understanding, the guardsman sees him as a heretic, and Varnus cannot understand why the he is being attacked. The rage consumes Varnus, who kills the soldier. He takes weapons against the Guard, his rage at them for being too late to deliver him and the rest of Tanakreg's survivors twisted into cultish devotion and hatred. He kills Kehler and has a moment of lucidity. Feeling the madness is going to reassert itself and that he is going to lose himself and that he will like it, Varnus chooses to kill himself and die as a sane man. I expected Varnus to do something important, not to die like this, at least to die hurling himself at a Word Bearer, but the death is a good one, despite being ultimately underwhelming. Varnus is brave, active officer, ready to disregard regulations to get the job done, ready to discipline his Enforcers physically when they forget themselves, points mistakes and foolish decisions to his superiors in a rude way, but he is ultimately decent, if temperamental man. I had a better time reading about him, than of the Word Bearers.
The book has some very good qualities. It shows us the culture of the Word Bearers. Here I understood the role of the Coryphaus (in our case Kol Badar) - the field leader, tactics specialist, the one who realizes and fleshes out the Dark Apostle's vision for the battle plan. The Coryphaus has other functions, which may be even more important to the Word Bearers - he represents the legionnaires' views to the Dark Apostle (as ordinarily, battles and rites excluded, the D.A. isolates himself from the warriors to create an aura of mystery and sanctity); during rites he answers the sermons and questions of the D.A. on the behalf of the host. We have the Icon Bearer who always walk before the Dark Apostle, the First Acolyte and the Coryphaus during processions and other ceremonies. Also there is shown a special hall in the main ship of the Word Bearers fleet where the Apostle speaks before his men , a special chamber, in which the Apostle or the First Acolyte isolate themselves before battle to receive visions from the Gods and to meditate.
The dialogue is good, mostly. A friendly conversation between Marduk and Burias come to mind, but it is not the only instance.
Battle, viscera and the like are very well described, if may be a little in too much. Reynolds utilizes a very neat narrative trick - he begins a duel scene from one character's point of view. cuts it and finishes from the point of view of his opponent. It does not get old and betrays the dynamics of combat well in my opinion.
The book shows Space Marines as the inhuman force the lore of the game describes them to be, but the war game can't allow them to be. The Word Bearers manage to withstand and even to drive back titanic multitudes of soldiers. When they fall back, it is slow and painful for the Imperials to gain ground.
All in all, Dark Apostle is a flawed, often very tedious book. The good parts are really good tough, and Reynolds shows promise. And, historically speaking, this is his second attempt at fiction writing, and the first involving the WH40k universe. I will get to the next part of his Word Bearers series after a time.
May 26, 2025
the most boring WH40K book I have read, so far.
August 7, 2022
This is the second time I read this novel. I still remembered the main plot even if the characters names had eluded me.
Dark Apostle follows the story of a Warband of Word Bearers, the most fanatical of the Chaos Space Marines Legion. As you know, they don't follow a single chaos god but the pantheon. This particular Warband is led by the Dark Apostle Jarulek as they attack the Imperial Planet of Tanakreg. There they must find the PDF and built an moumental tower called the Gehemahnet. Usually this towers are built as they let the fiends from the Warp go through the material world.
This warband is quite large with thousand space marines. They are led by Kor Badar the Coryphaus (symbolic title granted to the most trusted warrior). There is also Marduk the first Acolyte who was learning with Jarulek to form a warband of his own. Marduk's first warrior was Burias/Dark'Shal, the Icon Bearer. This space marine was part daemon part human. There is also the Dreadnought Warmonger who fell in Calth in HH. Of all dreadnought he is the most sane, even if he has lapses and still thinks he is fightining in the Horus Heresy alongside Lorgar.
On the other side of the war you've got Varnus who we witness his fall from the light of the emperor, through the construction of the damned tower and in the end fighting the imperial guard.
There are also other small characters from the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Elysians Imperial Guard. They are famous for fighting from the skies and not the imperial trenches.
I really enjoy this novel from the begining of the attack until the end when the necrons are awaked.
Until the very end of the novel we don't know why the Word Bearers are striking the planet and building a Gehemahnet and why the Adeptus Mechanicus are so eager to defeat the Chaos Space Marines.
Criticisms
It seems that the Chaos Space Marines were dying in masses but their ranks were replenish from where? I thought there were only 2000 chaos space marines in that battle
What happened to all that gene-seed and armour? Dozens of Rhinos, Land Raiders, Dreadnoughts, Terminator armour were left in that planet. How are the Word Bearers replenish their ranks?
Praises
The fall of Varnus
The Conflicts within the Host
The images Reynolds gave us of the battle scenes, Gehemahnet and chaos description.
Notable Quotes
Dark Apostle & First Acolyte
"The way you appear to the Host is paramount, First Acolyte," he remember Jarulek lecturing him. "Always you must project an aura of authority and religious awe. We are beyond the warrior-brothers of the Legion, we are the chosen of the gods, exalted by Lorgar's eyes and raised beyond the morass of lower warrior. Our warriors must worship us. And Why? We must appear glorified and exalted so that always we can inspire uter devotion in the Host. A warrior fuelled with faith lights with twice the hatred and twice the strenght of one that does not, and he will fight past the point when he would otherwise give in to death. A dark apostle must always inspire such devotion in his flock" said Jarulke, his eyes filled with passion and belief. "That is the reason that we need a Coryphaus, Marduk. The Dark Apostle must be separate and aloof from the Host to maintain the utter devotion of the warrior brothers. He must not be one of them, he must be beyond them. The Coryphaus is the war leader of the Host. For once you take on the mantle of Dark Apostle, you must be one apart from the Legion. Always you must project a holy aura that will inspire utter, fanatical loyalty and devotion."
Mechanicus
(After The Mechanicus ask the General of the Elysians for their dead and wounded so they could fuel their own Skitarii troops)
"There really is not an ounce of humanity left in you is there, you wretched, base machine?" Said Havorn, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Correction. There are exactly thirty-eight Imperial weight units of living flesh and tissue upon my frame, Brigadier-General Ishamel Havorn. I am neither wretched nor bas, althought their usage in such a context is a new piece of data memory to be stored. And I thank you for calling me "Machine", though I am not yet so fully esteemed within the priesthood of Mars as to become truly one with Omnissiah"
"You answer magos," said Havorn," is that you can go and burn in hell before I hand over any of my soldiers to you, dead or alive.
Seeing no immediate response forthcoming from the magos, he added,"That means no, tou cold hearted bastart".
Conclusion
Nice adition to the Chaos Space Marines and the first trilogy dedicated wholesome to them. Truly good. I really want to dig in the next two novels as we see how Marduk will handle the mantle of Dark Apostle and fighting between the host fanatic devotion to late Jarulek.
Dark Apostle follows the story of a Warband of Word Bearers, the most fanatical of the Chaos Space Marines Legion. As you know, they don't follow a single chaos god but the pantheon. This particular Warband is led by the Dark Apostle Jarulek as they attack the Imperial Planet of Tanakreg. There they must find the PDF and built an moumental tower called the Gehemahnet. Usually this towers are built as they let the fiends from the Warp go through the material world.
This warband is quite large with thousand space marines. They are led by Kor Badar the Coryphaus (symbolic title granted to the most trusted warrior). There is also Marduk the first Acolyte who was learning with Jarulek to form a warband of his own. Marduk's first warrior was Burias/Dark'Shal, the Icon Bearer. This space marine was part daemon part human. There is also the Dreadnought Warmonger who fell in Calth in HH. Of all dreadnought he is the most sane, even if he has lapses and still thinks he is fightining in the Horus Heresy alongside Lorgar.
On the other side of the war you've got Varnus who we witness his fall from the light of the emperor, through the construction of the damned tower and in the end fighting the imperial guard.
There are also other small characters from the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Elysians Imperial Guard. They are famous for fighting from the skies and not the imperial trenches.
I really enjoy this novel from the begining of the attack until the end when the necrons are awaked.
Until the very end of the novel we don't know why the Word Bearers are striking the planet and building a Gehemahnet and why the Adeptus Mechanicus are so eager to defeat the Chaos Space Marines.
Criticisms
It seems that the Chaos Space Marines were dying in masses but their ranks were replenish from where? I thought there were only 2000 chaos space marines in that battle
What happened to all that gene-seed and armour? Dozens of Rhinos, Land Raiders, Dreadnoughts, Terminator armour were left in that planet. How are the Word Bearers replenish their ranks?
Praises
The fall of Varnus
The Conflicts within the Host
The images Reynolds gave us of the battle scenes, Gehemahnet and chaos description.
Notable Quotes
Dark Apostle & First Acolyte
"The way you appear to the Host is paramount, First Acolyte," he remember Jarulek lecturing him. "Always you must project an aura of authority and religious awe. We are beyond the warrior-brothers of the Legion, we are the chosen of the gods, exalted by Lorgar's eyes and raised beyond the morass of lower warrior. Our warriors must worship us. And Why? We must appear glorified and exalted so that always we can inspire uter devotion in the Host. A warrior fuelled with faith lights with twice the hatred and twice the strenght of one that does not, and he will fight past the point when he would otherwise give in to death. A dark apostle must always inspire such devotion in his flock" said Jarulke, his eyes filled with passion and belief. "That is the reason that we need a Coryphaus, Marduk. The Dark Apostle must be separate and aloof from the Host to maintain the utter devotion of the warrior brothers. He must not be one of them, he must be beyond them. The Coryphaus is the war leader of the Host. For once you take on the mantle of Dark Apostle, you must be one apart from the Legion. Always you must project a holy aura that will inspire utter, fanatical loyalty and devotion."
Mechanicus
(After The Mechanicus ask the General of the Elysians for their dead and wounded so they could fuel their own Skitarii troops)
"There really is not an ounce of humanity left in you is there, you wretched, base machine?" Said Havorn, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Correction. There are exactly thirty-eight Imperial weight units of living flesh and tissue upon my frame, Brigadier-General Ishamel Havorn. I am neither wretched nor bas, althought their usage in such a context is a new piece of data memory to be stored. And I thank you for calling me "Machine", though I am not yet so fully esteemed within the priesthood of Mars as to become truly one with Omnissiah"
"You answer magos," said Havorn," is that you can go and burn in hell before I hand over any of my soldiers to you, dead or alive.
Seeing no immediate response forthcoming from the magos, he added,"That means no, tou cold hearted bastart".
Conclusion
Nice adition to the Chaos Space Marines and the first trilogy dedicated wholesome to them. Truly good. I really want to dig in the next two novels as we see how Marduk will handle the mantle of Dark Apostle and fighting between the host fanatic devotion to late Jarulek.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2025
GOODREADS LET ME GIVE HALF STARS GOD DAMMIT
Cosmic horror 🤝 culty/folk horror
Okay, context: I heard Helsreach was insane, but it was fine for me. I heard this was fine, and it was insane for me. I love Word Bearers along with both the world building and the narrative conventions they inherently bring.
The first few chapters had some amazing atmosphere building - the culty, horror imagery was a delight.
The human character subplot slowly losing sanity and becoming a follower of chaos caught me off guard with how it became my favourite part of the story.
The initial barrage of the planet has an interesting undertone that I love seeing in 40k literature. They created these self-sustaining super soldiers who developed their own cultures and way of lives, as a weapon to conquer the galaxy… but it didn’t go to plan and they still exist, as their own people thousands of years later. They were equipped with the best weaponry, and now they can’t be defeated. It’s the ultimate “consequences of your own actions” tale, on a macro level.
I also loved the POV swaps mid action sequence. Hearing a horrifying, tension-filled description from the POV of a soldier only to jump to the named character exact their brutal kill - so satisfying and always surprised me.
I want to give this 4 1/2 stars exactly. But fuck it, I just know I’m going to reminisce about this so much that it’ll clock into 5 stars in my mind anyway
Cosmic horror 🤝 culty/folk horror
Okay, context: I heard Helsreach was insane, but it was fine for me. I heard this was fine, and it was insane for me. I love Word Bearers along with both the world building and the narrative conventions they inherently bring.
The first few chapters had some amazing atmosphere building - the culty, horror imagery was a delight.
The human character subplot slowly losing sanity and becoming a follower of chaos caught me off guard with how it became my favourite part of the story.
The initial barrage of the planet has an interesting undertone that I love seeing in 40k literature. They created these self-sustaining super soldiers who developed their own cultures and way of lives, as a weapon to conquer the galaxy… but it didn’t go to plan and they still exist, as their own people thousands of years later. They were equipped with the best weaponry, and now they can’t be defeated. It’s the ultimate “consequences of your own actions” tale, on a macro level.
I also loved the POV swaps mid action sequence. Hearing a horrifying, tension-filled description from the POV of a soldier only to jump to the named character exact their brutal kill - so satisfying and always surprised me.
I want to give this 4 1/2 stars exactly. But fuck it, I just know I’m going to reminisce about this so much that it’ll clock into 5 stars in my mind anyway
July 20, 2012
Definitely not the best in this franchise. Not my worst vote either. This book could have seriously improved with a better plot and more detailed characters, by the end, I hardly felt I knew the "main character" at all. Even for a 40k novel, a little too much action and too little progressive plot and development.
The other thing that I didn't really enjoy about this book was the fact that, although this is supposed to be a "from the bad guy's point of view" and a novel about the "bad guys winning" in the authors own words (paraphrased from his introduction), it just wasn't done right. Instead of a novel from the "other" perspective (Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords books are a great example of how this can be done well), it felt like a book about the good guys losing--and there's a difference. It felt like a book that just went wrong, because it felt like the focus was still on the good guys and making them almost seem to win, but then lose horribly. Both sides had equal spotlights and this seemed to confuse this issue.
Still, the book did what it set out to do, and the ending was intriguing. I plan on reading the sequel, and hoping that it works a little better.
The other thing that I didn't really enjoy about this book was the fact that, although this is supposed to be a "from the bad guy's point of view" and a novel about the "bad guys winning" in the authors own words (paraphrased from his introduction), it just wasn't done right. Instead of a novel from the "other" perspective (Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords books are a great example of how this can be done well), it felt like a book about the good guys losing--and there's a difference. It felt like a book that just went wrong, because it felt like the focus was still on the good guys and making them almost seem to win, but then lose horribly. Both sides had equal spotlights and this seemed to confuse this issue.
Still, the book did what it set out to do, and the ending was intriguing. I plan on reading the sequel, and hoping that it works a little better.
August 12, 2022
Best of the series, which in practice means it's acceptable Black Library adventure fiction but fairly disposable. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
November 6, 2023
It’s an odd thing writing about the baddies in 40k. Either they are believable and relatable beings with a justified thought process, or they are as generic and dull as they can be just because the author was told that ‘these are the baddies, write them to be evil’.
The Dark Apostle falls into the latter category, the baddies are bad just because they need to be, and the goodies are incomprehensibly stupid just so that this can allow them to win. Many questionable command decisions are made by the good guys in this story that you wonder how they would even survive any other day of the week. Several times the good guys have the upper hand, and are actually winning their battles, but then the bad guys magically gain the upper hand and completely obliterate their foes. The amount of plot armour which the main characters are allowed is astounding, several times in the story said characters are pushed against impossible odds - which even they make note of - yet are able to emerge relatively unhindered a few pages after. We get that Space Marines are strong, but it just becomes pandering after a certain point. If the baddies are so powerful, and their end goal is just to do evil for it’s own sake, then what to we, as a reader, care for what happens?
As the fanbase has affectionately labelled this genre of books in the Warhammer universe, ‘Bolter P**n’, this book definitely falls into that category, and never succeeds to crawl past that.
Skip this book and read the Soul Hunter trilogy instead, much better story, and the characters in that weren’t just chosen randomly from some generic novel-tropes checklist.
The Dark Apostle falls into the latter category, the baddies are bad just because they need to be, and the goodies are incomprehensibly stupid just so that this can allow them to win. Many questionable command decisions are made by the good guys in this story that you wonder how they would even survive any other day of the week. Several times the good guys have the upper hand, and are actually winning their battles, but then the bad guys magically gain the upper hand and completely obliterate their foes. The amount of plot armour which the main characters are allowed is astounding, several times in the story said characters are pushed against impossible odds - which even they make note of - yet are able to emerge relatively unhindered a few pages after. We get that Space Marines are strong, but it just becomes pandering after a certain point. If the baddies are so powerful, and their end goal is just to do evil for it’s own sake, then what to we, as a reader, care for what happens?
As the fanbase has affectionately labelled this genre of books in the Warhammer universe, ‘Bolter P**n’, this book definitely falls into that category, and never succeeds to crawl past that.
Skip this book and read the Soul Hunter trilogy instead, much better story, and the characters in that weren’t just chosen randomly from some generic novel-tropes checklist.
May 7, 2014
Even in the dark and twisted nightmare future of Warhammer 40,000 getting the reader to root for a villain is always a difficulty. While at least with the Imperials and eldar you know they are fighting something far worse, but something so self serving as Chaos? It’s like walking a tightrope. Go too far into their villainous nature and no one has a reason to root for them, stray too far away from it and you betray the essence of the characters. While it can be done, many of the most successful ones seem to find ways to tone down these elements. Henry Zou’s Blood Gorgons showed them as monsters, but they were still far better than the true soldiers of the Long War. Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s works are highly deserving of all credit, but it also seemed to often sidestep association with daemons or the more unrepentant aspects. Often with the marine protagonists themselves being exceptions within an otherwise insane, backstabbing and utterly corrupt legion. Dark Apostle meanwhile shows the Word Bearers in full daemon worshipping mode, killing innocents and yet manages to keep them as the heroes.
Set in the days leading up to Abaddon the Despoiler’s 13th Black Crusade, the 34th Host of the Word Bearers legion has departed on a mission of great importance. Guided by the visions of Dark Apostle Jarulek has sought out the world of Tanakreg. Falling within hours of their arrival, the Host need to now hold it against the vengeful Imperial Guard and Adeptus Mechanicus deployed against them. However, even the most loyal of Jarulek’s followers are not privy to his personal ambitions and few realise just what their leader is seeking to accomplish. Or the price they will pay to achieve such ambitions.
As the opening quote says, this is arguably the best introduction to Chaos a new reader could ask for. Along with being set in the current age of the Imperium, the writing minimalises background and history to a point people can easily accept without too many questions. Rather than leaving a vast number of allusions to the greater scope of the Heresy or the Emperor’s plans, it sticks to the basics when it comes to the facts while leaving emphasis upon the action. It drops enough names and ideas to help players look up future lore information, but leaves enough interesting details to encourage players to look up the more diverse facts for themselves. This is important as it doesn’t leave the book’s plot bogged down with exposition and it leaves it just as enjoyable to fans familiar with the setting.
The novel is tightly written, getting to the meat of the action very early on and maintaining focus on the battles from there on. While a few opening chapters do devote themselves to establishing the book’s major viewpoint characters, it rapidly moves onto the actual campaign itself and the developments throughout. While so quickly leaping into the main conflict, or devoting almost the entirety of the book to endless fighting, has easily sunk novels it works here.
You’re given a good idea of how carefully the Word Bearers planned their assault very early on and the battles always find a new way to escalate the conflict. As soon as the Imperium’s counter assault arrives to drive the Chaos worshippers off the world, it quickly becomes a case of each trying to outwit and outfight the other. This typically involves the deployment of Mechanicus war-machines, but quite often the ingenuity of the battlefield commanders and troops as well. Even as one side deploys a weapon which can totally destroy them, the other invents a risky plan to bring it down. It’s important to note this as, along with keeping the story’s momentum moving ever forwards, this treats both sides with equal levels of respect. You’re given a very clear insight into how both forces work and at no point is it ever apparent that one is utterly dominating the other. In these respects it emulates many of the best aspects found in Storm of Iron.
Unfortunately while the book does succeed on many levels, there are definite areas in which it has problems. The characters themselves often feel very one note at times. The many introspective scenes often lack punch, and they are often far more memorable thanks to certain past actions or events within the book. As such, Dark Apostle works far better as an examination of armies and the greater forces involved than it does as a character piece. Even accounting for that however, certain bigger facts often seem to be lost within the tale. The Word Bearers lack the apparent variety you would expect for a force devoted to the entirety of Chaos, with no time taken to examine any offshoots or bothers who might be influenced more by one god than any other. Furthermore, the subject of gene-seed is not mentioned at all and we see no effort to collect it nor the valuable equipment left on the battlefield.
These would be fine in of itself, but there are a few distinct other flaws which do hold the book back from true greatness. The mystery behind Jarulek’s objectives only holds up for so long and the eventual lack of reveals behind it does become a point of frustration. There are few details which are ever built upon it until the end reveal, and being left out of focus or without development does harm the story. It’s easy to becomes less interested in the Word Bearers’ campaign than why the hell they are there in the first place. The major flaw however comes from the variety of words and terms used by Reynolds to describe the events taking place. Certain words and terms were repeated ad nauseam to describe certain scenes, a damning shame given how easily fixed this error could be with another rewrite and a wider vocabulary. Especially in regards to “kill” “shot” or “died” when it comes to describing certain battle scenes.
Despite these failings, Dark Apostle is a decent start to a decent trilogy. It’s flawed to be sure, but the novel does offer exactly what is promised and depicts an entertainingly gory engagement between Imperial and Chaos forces. The insights into how the legion operates make it a must buy for anyone wanting to create a Word Bearers army following the Heresy, and the surprise reveal gives one faction far more dignity than anything seen in their last codex. It stands up relatively well on its own, though later books would greatly improve upon a number of the failings found here. Pick this one up if you like the looks of it and want some good old fashioned Chaotic villainy.
Set in the days leading up to Abaddon the Despoiler’s 13th Black Crusade, the 34th Host of the Word Bearers legion has departed on a mission of great importance. Guided by the visions of Dark Apostle Jarulek has sought out the world of Tanakreg. Falling within hours of their arrival, the Host need to now hold it against the vengeful Imperial Guard and Adeptus Mechanicus deployed against them. However, even the most loyal of Jarulek’s followers are not privy to his personal ambitions and few realise just what their leader is seeking to accomplish. Or the price they will pay to achieve such ambitions.
As the opening quote says, this is arguably the best introduction to Chaos a new reader could ask for. Along with being set in the current age of the Imperium, the writing minimalises background and history to a point people can easily accept without too many questions. Rather than leaving a vast number of allusions to the greater scope of the Heresy or the Emperor’s plans, it sticks to the basics when it comes to the facts while leaving emphasis upon the action. It drops enough names and ideas to help players look up future lore information, but leaves enough interesting details to encourage players to look up the more diverse facts for themselves. This is important as it doesn’t leave the book’s plot bogged down with exposition and it leaves it just as enjoyable to fans familiar with the setting.
The novel is tightly written, getting to the meat of the action very early on and maintaining focus on the battles from there on. While a few opening chapters do devote themselves to establishing the book’s major viewpoint characters, it rapidly moves onto the actual campaign itself and the developments throughout. While so quickly leaping into the main conflict, or devoting almost the entirety of the book to endless fighting, has easily sunk novels it works here.
You’re given a good idea of how carefully the Word Bearers planned their assault very early on and the battles always find a new way to escalate the conflict. As soon as the Imperium’s counter assault arrives to drive the Chaos worshippers off the world, it quickly becomes a case of each trying to outwit and outfight the other. This typically involves the deployment of Mechanicus war-machines, but quite often the ingenuity of the battlefield commanders and troops as well. Even as one side deploys a weapon which can totally destroy them, the other invents a risky plan to bring it down. It’s important to note this as, along with keeping the story’s momentum moving ever forwards, this treats both sides with equal levels of respect. You’re given a very clear insight into how both forces work and at no point is it ever apparent that one is utterly dominating the other. In these respects it emulates many of the best aspects found in Storm of Iron.
Unfortunately while the book does succeed on many levels, there are definite areas in which it has problems. The characters themselves often feel very one note at times. The many introspective scenes often lack punch, and they are often far more memorable thanks to certain past actions or events within the book. As such, Dark Apostle works far better as an examination of armies and the greater forces involved than it does as a character piece. Even accounting for that however, certain bigger facts often seem to be lost within the tale. The Word Bearers lack the apparent variety you would expect for a force devoted to the entirety of Chaos, with no time taken to examine any offshoots or bothers who might be influenced more by one god than any other. Furthermore, the subject of gene-seed is not mentioned at all and we see no effort to collect it nor the valuable equipment left on the battlefield.
These would be fine in of itself, but there are a few distinct other flaws which do hold the book back from true greatness. The mystery behind Jarulek’s objectives only holds up for so long and the eventual lack of reveals behind it does become a point of frustration. There are few details which are ever built upon it until the end reveal, and being left out of focus or without development does harm the story. It’s easy to becomes less interested in the Word Bearers’ campaign than why the hell they are there in the first place. The major flaw however comes from the variety of words and terms used by Reynolds to describe the events taking place. Certain words and terms were repeated ad nauseam to describe certain scenes, a damning shame given how easily fixed this error could be with another rewrite and a wider vocabulary. Especially in regards to “kill” “shot” or “died” when it comes to describing certain battle scenes.
Despite these failings, Dark Apostle is a decent start to a decent trilogy. It’s flawed to be sure, but the novel does offer exactly what is promised and depicts an entertainingly gory engagement between Imperial and Chaos forces. The insights into how the legion operates make it a must buy for anyone wanting to create a Word Bearers army following the Heresy, and the surprise reveal gives one faction far more dignity than anything seen in their last codex. It stands up relatively well on its own, though later books would greatly improve upon a number of the failings found here. Pick this one up if you like the looks of it and want some good old fashioned Chaotic villainy.
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February 21, 2025This was certainly a 40k novel I've read.
I'll be honest, I didn't dislike it. There were a lot of things about it I genuinely enjoyed, the prose isn't bad, and it had enough going for it that I was legitimately entertained while reading, as opposed to just feeling an obligation to finish it. I liked a bunch of the characters, and will happily read about their next hilarious misadventure (though probably after a break/as a lower priority).
My issue really is that I wish it was more character-focused than it is. I do like Marduk and I think the weird tripartite relationship he has with Jarulek and Kol Badar is really fun, but every time there was a scene with them I found myself thinking "I wish this was what the book was about". This is most definitely an issue of personal preference, but I think you become more invested in the outcomes of battles, etc. if you're more invested in the people taking part in them. And perhaps the entire conceit of the next book is these guys being catty at one another and scheming back and forth and I'll be forced to eat my words, but for now I can't help but feel just a little bit disappointed. I love the weird space Catholics and their weird space Catholic dad so very much, but I need something of just a little more substance to latch onto.
I'll be honest, I didn't dislike it. There were a lot of things about it I genuinely enjoyed, the prose isn't bad, and it had enough going for it that I was legitimately entertained while reading, as opposed to just feeling an obligation to finish it. I liked a bunch of the characters, and will happily read about their next hilarious misadventure (though probably after a break/as a lower priority).
My issue really is that I wish it was more character-focused than it is. I do like Marduk and I think the weird tripartite relationship he has with Jarulek and Kol Badar is really fun, but every time there was a scene with them I found myself thinking "I wish this was what the book was about". This is most definitely an issue of personal preference, but I think you become more invested in the outcomes of battles, etc. if you're more invested in the people taking part in them. And perhaps the entire conceit of the next book is these guys being catty at one another and scheming back and forth and I'll be forced to eat my words, but for now I can't help but feel just a little bit disappointed. I love the weird space Catholics and their weird space Catholic dad so very much, but I need something of just a little more substance to latch onto.
February 2, 2017
I love the Word Bearers, so I was very excited to start this trilogy. Anthony Reynolds is pretty hit or miss for me, and this book was no exception.
Here's my big problem: It takes a really deft craftsman to write a Space Marines novel, I think. It's difficult to take these big hulking humanish characters and make them stand apart. This goes even moreso for Chaos SM's, since it's easy to turn them all into growly villains. Unfortunately, that's what I felt overall with this book.
Reynolds tries to get around this by focusing a lot on the human side of things, which I MOSTLY found dull. I REALLY enjoyed the Varnus subplot, right up until it abruptly ends, making me wonder why we bothered with it in the first place. I guess that was the point, but still, kind of a letdown. Every other human is pretty instantly forgettable.
The climax was decently fun. We finally get to see what the Word Bearers were here for, and I enjoyed that section. It sets up a sequel pretty well. I'm hoping I'll enjoy where the story goes more than where it started.
I don't have anything against bolter porn, but I have a bit of a higher bar than this.
Here's my big problem: It takes a really deft craftsman to write a Space Marines novel, I think. It's difficult to take these big hulking humanish characters and make them stand apart. This goes even moreso for Chaos SM's, since it's easy to turn them all into growly villains. Unfortunately, that's what I felt overall with this book.
Reynolds tries to get around this by focusing a lot on the human side of things, which I MOSTLY found dull. I REALLY enjoyed the Varnus subplot, right up until it abruptly ends, making me wonder why we bothered with it in the first place. I guess that was the point, but still, kind of a letdown. Every other human is pretty instantly forgettable.
The climax was decently fun. We finally get to see what the Word Bearers were here for, and I enjoyed that section. It sets up a sequel pretty well. I'm hoping I'll enjoy where the story goes more than where it started.
I don't have anything against bolter porn, but I have a bit of a higher bar than this.
January 18, 2023
DNF at 36%. Fails as a book. Are the protagonists the villains or the victims? Author failed whichever of the two you choose.
If the villains are supposed to be the protagonists, the book is an utter failure because I've read 36% of the book without there ever being any conflict or danger to the protagonists whatsoever. Just boring descriptions of effortless victory, effortless victory, effortless victory, effortless victory.
If the people getting killed by the evil word bearers are supposed to be the protagonists, they get almost no limelight and just helplessly go SPLAT the second they encounter the villains, so... it entirely fails as a novel on that side too.
There are a hundred other books in same genre (and even same setting) which don't fail miserably to create tension and conflict and an actual plot. Immediately switched to reading one of those instead of continuing to waste time on this.
If the villains are supposed to be the protagonists, the book is an utter failure because I've read 36% of the book without there ever being any conflict or danger to the protagonists whatsoever. Just boring descriptions of effortless victory, effortless victory, effortless victory, effortless victory.
If the people getting killed by the evil word bearers are supposed to be the protagonists, they get almost no limelight and just helplessly go SPLAT the second they encounter the villains, so... it entirely fails as a novel on that side too.
There are a hundred other books in same genre (and even same setting) which don't fail miserably to create tension and conflict and an actual plot. Immediately switched to reading one of those instead of continuing to waste time on this.
April 10, 2019
Love the dark tone. The Chaos Space Marines are vile, sadistic, and downright evil. The Imperium Of Man are nearly helpless against the sudden invasion of their planet. Great action and mood, but is just way too long for what little story there is here. It sits at about 415 pages, but you could easily cut out 150 without losing anything of importance. About 3/4ths of the way in, it starts introducing a ton of new characters that have zero impact on the story and it ignores the main characters on both sides of the battle. It just really lost steam at that point and I really had to fight to finish it. I still plan on reading the second book because the end really piqued my interest.
May 23, 2021
More interesting than I expected it to be but not nearly as good as I had hoped it would be.
I was pleased to see a personality to the word bearers; as a concept they are interesting but I had not seen much. I found it very interesting the extreme focus they place on signs of respect and gestures of faith.
But their religious zealotry was in my opinion not well fleshed out. There was an opportunity to show how they balance their faith and how they can risk becoming too devoted to one god over another.
All in all an entertaining enough read. Probably won’t bother revisiting it though.
I was pleased to see a personality to the word bearers; as a concept they are interesting but I had not seen much. I found it very interesting the extreme focus they place on signs of respect and gestures of faith.
But their religious zealotry was in my opinion not well fleshed out. There was an opportunity to show how they balance their faith and how they can risk becoming too devoted to one god over another.
All in all an entertaining enough read. Probably won’t bother revisiting it though.
August 27, 2025
Pretty schlocky and bogged down in bolter porn, although there is some interesting bits of Word Bearer lore dropped in here and there. Some character studies are very well done but for every one that feels interesting we're introduced to a bland, generic soldier character who dies by getting run over by a tank a few pages later (I wish I was exaggerating - that's war I guess.) Starts and finishes well at least - the epilogue has convinced me to try reading the next book in the trilogy. Also, please someone get this man a proofreader!
March 9, 2017
This was a really fun look into the Word Bearer Legion's point of view as they attack an Imperial world in search of a powerful artifact. Both sides are fairly portrayed and the characters are intense and interesting. The scale of battle is beautifully apocalyptic and is one of the reasons I am in the hobby. And the deaths? Bravo. In the grim darkness of the far future life is cheap.
December 1, 2024
I read this after finishing the Night Lords omnibus. I thought the Night Lords were dark but I think the Word Bearers are on another level! Particularly enjoyed the insight from a human who is radicalised by them. Step by step torture, religious rhetoric and corruption. Starting on the 2nd book straight away. This is a Warhammer Girlys dream 😍
July 15, 2020
Actually, it is rather 4.5/5.
While the main plot follows Word Bearers legionary Marduk, First Acolyte, on his quest for greatness, the stories of hapless enforcer and Elysian captain balance the tone of the book.
Great insights into WB legion and Elysian way of life.
While the main plot follows Word Bearers legionary Marduk, First Acolyte, on his quest for greatness, the stories of hapless enforcer and Elysian captain balance the tone of the book.
Great insights into WB legion and Elysian way of life.
December 22, 2021
I really enjoyed parts of it, but the action scenes are just dull bolter porn and I found myself skipping over some.
There is also this feeling of "let us introduce this new imperial characters just so he can be killed within the same chapter" which I found tiresome.
There is also this feeling of "let us introduce this new imperial characters just so he can be killed within the same chapter" which I found tiresome.
January 13, 2022
From the point of Word Bearers and one of their Dark Apostle armies invading an Imperial world. Very dark, grim and brutal but also showing how this Legion embraced the Dark Gods.
Apart from Imperials there is a lot of Mechanicus and all their levels of fighting force.
Apart from Imperials there is a lot of Mechanicus and all their levels of fighting force.
June 7, 2024
I liked parts of this story and enjoyed reading further about the Word Bearers. Parts of it are too much bolter porn for me which I turned off on. The Tannakreg native working on the tower was the most interesting story to me and the ending was more interesting than I expected.
July 12, 2020
Awesome dark read. Love it. =)
May 6, 2021
It was a good read!
January 29, 2022
Great start
April 24, 2024
Good start to the series. I particularly enjoyed seeing a chaos invasion from an imperial citizens perspective.
January 15, 2025
Quite boring.
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