Word Bearers: The Omnibus

Word Bearers #1-3

by Anthony Reynolds

A Warhammer 40,000 omnibus

Following the fanatical exploits of First Acolyte Marduk and the 34th Host, this omnibus edition collects all three novels of the Word Bearers series along with brand new content.

READ IT BECAUSE
Delve into the daemon-worshipping mania of the Word Bearers as they battle the forces of the False Emperor, and see their perspective on the Imperium as they try to tear it down.

THE STORY
The Word Bearers are among the most feared and reviled of all Chaos Space Marines. Fierce warriors with a fanatical religious zeal, they blaze across the galaxy in the service of their Dark Gods. Worlds will burn, and entire civilisations will fall before the fury of the XVIIth Legion. In the dark days of the 41st millennium, First Acolyte Marduk leads his fanatical warband, the 34th Host, in service to the Ruinous Powers, with but a single goal: to tear down the Imperium of Man

CONTENTS
Torment
Dark Apostle
Dark Disciple
Dark Creed

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

768 pages, Paperback

Published January 3, 2012

About the author

Anthony 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

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most interesting and exciting series I've read since the Horus Heresy. The best part of this story is the fact it is told from the viewpoint of the Chaos Marines-specifically the infamous Word Bearer's Chapter.

This omnibus collects three books and a short story.
The first book- Dark Apostle starts the story of Marduk a First Acolyte in the Word Bearers and his struggles to ascend to the elite position of Dark Apostle. It is a great firsthand view of what happens to Imperial worlds under the grip of Chaos. A truly dark and grim look at how terrible it is to be on the receiving end of a Chaos Legion's assault.

The second book- Dark Disciple has First Acolyte Marduk dealing with an ancient device that may allow the Word Bearers to assault an Imperial Stronghold. But they need to do so quietly, as the Imperium is evacuating this world before a Tyranid Hive fleet appears. As the Word Bearers operate clandestinely, they find they aren't they only enemies of man operating on the planet. Awesome story with two of the worst enemies of man- Chaos forces and Dark Eldar.

The third book-Dark Creed tells the tale of new-elevated Dark Apostle Marduk and his struggles to root out a conspiracy within his Brotherhood. The Host has decided to use the Nexus to assault an Imperial Stronghold world that protects a wormhole. Another story with another famous enemy-the Necrons.

The final short novella was "Torment" and it tells the tale of Word Bearer champion Burias and his consequences from the events of Dark Creed.

All the stories were truly fun and well written. The stories reinforce my idea that the absolute worst enemies are Dark Eldar and Chaos forces. Other enemies (Necrons, Orks, Tyranids, etc) will kill you-but these two forces will make you wish you had died. Lots of action and very cool lore on the Warhammer 40k Universe and the Word Bearers Legion.

[Josh Loomis · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Word Bearers are a legion of the infamous Chaos Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who betrayed their Emperor in favor of the gods of Chaos for reasons I'm not going to get into. The ranks of the traitors are many and varied, from the foaming-at-the-mouth World Eaters to the stoic and eerie Thousand Sons. The Word Bearers are a middle-of-the-road bunch of incredibly powerful killers, favoring a unified approach to the Chaos god foursome over following a single deity. While twisted and warped, theirs is a doctrine based on faith, and the potential is there to examine and explore what motivates and perpetuates the hearts and minds of those bound to such a doctrine.

I spent most of Dark Apostle, the first book in the omnibus, waiting for these ideas to arise, then I waited for the story to get going. For a long time, Anthony Reynolds introduces us to characters and begins fleshing them out just before killing them, often in a rather grotesque fashion befitting the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000's dark future. If a character doesn't die and isn't a Chaos Space Marine, than something even more horrible is going to happen to them the next time we see them. It does something that is the death knell of just about any work: it makes things dull. The repetition not only defangs the entire enterprise right from the start, it kills the story's momentum and throws the pace way off. On top of this inherent flaw, the main characters, the Word Bearers of the title, are also dull and uninteresting. Their rivalries are flat and boring, and their battles are unexciting. A lot of bolters get fired into a lot of chests and a lot of faceless humans are killed instantly by this. Reynolds just really likes to talk about it.

Dark Disciple began, and to be honest, I was waiting for a twist. If the first novel was just so much 'bolter porn' to draw in some of the target audience of the miniatures game, perhaps the author was setting things up to become more interesting later on. Perhaps this is part of my disappointment, expecting this sort of development, as it never showed up. More bolter fire, more pointless characters, more dull and uninteresting ranting on how weak the false Emperor is and how his followers need to suffer as gloriously as possible. The story has no momentum, the characters have little motivation, and stakes never escalate, meaning the ultimate end of this tedious tale is a tedious ending. Considering all the things that could be done with warrior-priests of Warhammer's interesting pantheon of Chaos gods, the disappointment merely deepens.

I must confess I only read the first few pages of Dark Creed. I was not invested in any of the characters. I was not interested in how the plot was developing. Reynolds had had two whole novels to engage me, and had failed utterly in doing so. I actually started to feel anger at the book in my hands, which somehow had stumbled into publication likely due to its licensed tie-in nature, and its author, who really should have known better than to waste so much time with this absolutely interminable dreck. For a cadre of warriors chosen by both the Emperor and the Chaos gods for their faith and their skill in battle, there's no real conflict to be had in any of this story, not in any of the three novels. There's no scheming by or on behalf of the Chaos gods, no interesting rivalry or betrayal within the ranks as they vie for position, nothing. Everything plays out in the most flat and boring ways possible, any potentially engaging plotting or characterization is smacked down almost the moment it's raised, and even possessed chainswords and face-violating tentacle masks can't save this entire omnibus from being a complete waste of time.

With all of the potential tension and rivalries between the Chaos gods, the inherent dichotomy of the nature of faith with the nature of perpetual warfare, and the colorful history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Word Bearers Omnibus could have been an interesting work of licensed fiction. It could have cast the villains of many a tale in this setting as complex, diverse characters instead of just heretics to be gunned down. Instead, we get over 700 pages of pointless gore and meandering plot that goes nowhere and adds nothing to either the overall fabric of the universe nor our lives. Save yourself the time and money this omnibus would waste, and skip it. I hear there are better novels on the Word Bearers in the Horus Heresy series, and I may check those out. This, however, shames the followers of Chaos, and the devotees of the dark gods should likely destroy it on sight. I could see followers of Khorne, especially, getting so pissed at its go-nowhere story and flat, dull characters that they start eating it.

[Matias · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Lorgar! For the holy empyrean truth!
I recommend this one for 40K fans and soon-to-be-fans. Whole lot of cool stuff from the beginning to the end and, as being three full stories in one, if you dislike the first one you might enjoy the other two.

Dark Apostle
Mostly action. I enjoyed the cultist followed in the story, and the climactic appearance of a new foe in the end.

Dark Disciple
Gives really the feeling how bad the situation is around the Word Bearer host with new enemies just popping up along the plot, and once you manage to avoid one of them the other one is right there.

Dark Creed
Being a Horus Heresy series fan, this is an amazing story just because of its beginning. No spoilers! And yeah, the beginning being awesome creates an awesome path to follow. At this point of the story, you know what the Necron Artifact does that the Word Bearers host found in the first story, and you start thinking, "oh all the things they could do with it". The plot is also a lot deeper IMO than in the first two.

The first I've ever read from Anthony Reynolds was a shortstory in Treacheries of the Space Marines called Vox Dominus which I don't remember much about except it had the same characters as this novel.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and entertaining reading. A great omnibus!

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it happens, I’ve been awaiting for an omnibus of Word Bearers novels ever since I heard about them. You see, when I first started to become a fan of Black Library novels (I believe my first was Henry Zou’s Emperor’s Mercy), I was enthralled by the tales of battles in the far future, and I wanted more. Not long after that, I started getting the Horus Heresy series, and expanding to include stuff like Nick Kyme’s Tome of Fire Trilogy. I’d had my taste of loyalist forces back then. The Salamanders, loyalist Luna Wolves, loyalist Emperor’s Children – and I wanted to read something from the traitor perspective, so I stumbled across Dark Creed, the latest book in the Word Bearers Trilogy, and upon finding out that it was part of a trilogy, I wanted to find the previous two books, Dark Apostle and Dark Disciple. However, I couldn’t find them no matter what store I went into, and no matter what I typed into Amazon. (For the only copies of Dark Disciple on there were used books and had a starting price of 18-odd pounds.)

So I waited patiently, and was relieved when they finally announced The Word Bearers Omnibus, and even more excited when it arrived on my doorstep as an advanced review copy from the kind folks at Black Library. So I delved right into it as soon as I had finished off a few other books that I had been currently reading, and as soon as I started Dark Apostle, I knew that I had stumbled across a winner.

The Word Bearers Omnibus follows the tales of the 34th Host, part of the Word Bearers Legion, a band of renegade Space Marines who threw in their lot with Horus during the Heresy. In fact, the Word Bearers are perhaps one of the most interesting Chaos legions of the lot, but that’s another story. Indeed, if you want to find out their backstory, then I’d recommend giving The First Heretic by Aaron Dembski-Bowden a look out. However, chances are, if you’re a Black Library fan, you’ll have read that already, so let’s get back to this particular Omnibus, and let me tell you what I thought of Dark Apostle, the first book in the trilogy.

Dark Apostle is basically a slaughter-fest, as the Word Bearers are on the world of Tanakreg, currently ruled by the Imperium, and lay waste to the planet easily destroying the PDF forces entrenched there. However, the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Jarulek has more than just slaughter in mind, and sets the enslaved citizens of Tanakreg to work building a tower that stands several kilometres high off the ground. However, time is running out for the sons of Lorgar. Can the Word Bearers accomplish their tasks before the Imperial forces arrive to reclaim the planet?

The first novel in the Omnibus is going to have to be good in order to make the reader continue to read further, and in this matter, Reynolds excels, captivating the reader from the get go with bloodthirsty violence told from both sides of the conflict, from the viewpoint of the Imperium but mainly the Word Bearers, who are effectively the ones we’re meant to be rooting for in this novel, but I couldn’t help but rooting for the Imperium instead, which is strange, seeing as A) I knew they were going to lose, and B) I found myself rooting for the Night Lords portrayed in Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Night Lords Series.

The pace is brutal, and Dark Apostle is essentially two hundred and fifty (give or take) of all out, nonstop war. This is where Reynolds excels, and I couldn’t help but want more when the novel came to a conclusion, and couldn’t have hoped for a better start for a series that I’ve been waiting to read for a while. My high expectations didn’t let me down, and I’m quite pleased by that. Next to read though, was Dark Disciple, the next book in the Omnibus.

Dark Disciple picks up where Dark Apostle left off, and follows the footsteps of new Dark Apostle Marduk. The Word Bearers this time find themselves driven to a world of the Imperium that is about to become overrun by Tyranids. Thrust right into the action again, Reynolds includes a third, dark and mysterious faction that Warhammer 40,000 fans should be able to recognise from the words, “sadistic as it is mysterious.” I had my suspicions of course from the get go, and was unsurprised when they were proved to be correct, and whilst Dark Disciple is a tad predictable, it’s a journey that you’ll enjoy undertaking. Like Dark Apostle, you get POV told from not only the Word Bearers but also the Imperium. The pace doesn’t let up, and Dark Disciple was just as good as the previous novel, if not made better by the inclusion of an additional faction. Although both novels use a ‘race against time’ plot, Dark Disciple is the one that pulls it off a lot better than Reynold’s first Word Bearers novel.

Once again, there are a variety of action scenes in this novel as the Word Bearers are thrust from one fight to the next. We learn more about what makes the Word Bearers tick, and there’s even a guest appearance by Erebus himself. Dark Disciple also moves the trilogy forward, and as this is the second book, that is only expected.

Despite that though, I felt that there were some issues with Dark Disciple. There was a couple of characters that could have either been improved or left out of the novel altogether. That said, Dark Disciple was still a page-turning read and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Even though you’ll know the overall outcome of the novel, Dark Disciple manages to keep you hooked as you want to find out what happens in-between its pages.

Thus, I bring you to the final novel, the conclusion to the trilogy, Dark Creed, where the stakes are raised and confrontation in the legion come to the forefront, and you learn about a secret organization in the Word Bearers legion themselves, an organization with mysterious purposes that could tear the legion in two.

This time, in Dark Creed, the Word Bearers find themselves journeying to the Imperial Subsector, Boron’s Gate, protected by the White Consuls Chapter in order to aid Warmaster Abaddon’s Black Crusade. Marduk has control of the Nexus Arrangement, a Necron device that can help the Word Bearers defeat the Imperial forces guarding Boron’s Gate. However, just as victory is for the taking, the Chaos Space Marines run into a powerful, ancient enemy that might be too strong even for the Word Bearers to defeat.

The conclusion to the Word Bearers Trilogy, although not the strongest book in the Omnibus is certainly a good novel, one that kept me turning pages one after the other in order to see what the outcome would be. All the old characters return and we are introduced to a couple of new ones that become central to the plot.

If I had one problem with the series as a whole, it’s the Space Marines themselves. They’re so powerful and innumerable that you almost know what the outcome is going to be right from the get go, and which robs the Omnibus of some suspense. However, when the Adeptus Astartes start to stab everyone in the back, suspense starts building and you don’t know who’s going to emerge victorious.

Several interesting characters appear in the series, Burias being a particular favourite of mine.

If you’re after nonstop science-fiction warfare in all its forms told from the point of view of the bad guys, you can’t really go wrong with the Word Bearers Omnibus, which also includes an all-new short story Torment, which reveals the fate of one character who displeases Dark Apostle Marduk.

Throughout the omnibus, the pace remains roughly the same, and there is little change between the novels. There is no noticeable change from one novel to the next, which helps, in my opinion at least. Also, there is loads of action going on, and I applaud Reynolds for making it easy to follow and help the reader to understand what is going on.

Although the ending is a bit anti-climatic, you won’t really care about that too much as you’ll have enjoyed the journey that you’ve undertaken whilst reading this omnibus.

There’s one thing that irks me, though. Even though the first novel, Dark Apostle has an original publishing date of 2007, that’s right, four years ago, throughout the entire Omnibus bar Torment, you still see the odd grammar mistake and typo. However, that’s just me nitpicking; hopefully it shouldn’t put you off reading The Word Bearers Omnibus completely. The characters (most of them) are fantastic, and although most of the time you’ll find yourself rooting for the Imperium, there are a few Chaos Space Marines who you will become attached to.



Verdict for Dark Apostle: 4/5

Verdict for Dark Disciple: 3.5/5

Verdict for Dark Creed: 3.5/5

Verdict for Torment: 4/5

Verdict for The Word Bearers Omnibus: 3.5/5

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Apostle:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dark Disciple:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dark Creed:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Torment:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

All in all, a really damn good series. I hope we see more from Anthony Reynolds in the future!

[Andrew Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp with the galaxy's naughtiest altar boys. Character development, growth, and tragedy mixed in with the classic bolter porn we're all here for. Bit of shock value, edgy bad guy stuff to create the atmosphere and cement that this legion is full of troublemakers and scamps.
Erebus does show his face a couple of times, which hurts the overall enjoyment of the book.

[Clara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whew. It was a rough read.

It was very poorly written, in my opinion. The biggest thing was the author's poor descriptions and over-emphasis on the word bearers being 'super duper evil'.

I was also really disappointed because the one character that I actually liked, Varnus I believe, killed himself and I feel like the author could have done so much more with that character. He had depth and was very interesting in that he opposed the word bearers but was forced to become one of them and began falling to chaos.

[Βασίλειος · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome non-stop action!

I read this, after I finished the first Siege of Terra book, and once again realized just how much these books have changed throughout the years. Modern Warhammer titles just aren’t fun anymore. They take themselves way too seriously. They try too hard and the end result is just not fun.

So it was great reading a classic 40k book, from back when 40k was still a setting and not an evolving plot.

Anthony Reynolds does not sprinkle every book with references to other stories that you probably haven’t read. He does not try to be fancy with his prose, by using a thesaurus or shoehorning poetic descriptions everywhere either. And there is no forced diversity!

His writing is just perfect for what it is.

At the end of the day, I just want to read a fun, action packed page-turner, with an over the top plot. And the Word Bearers trilogy delivers!

[Karl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review of Word Bearers Omnibus (2023)

The 2023 reprint of the Word Bearers Omnibus is a letdown. After an 11-year gap, you’d expect something more than just a reprint with fewer pages and missing content. It doesn't include the author commentary or the latest stories like Dark Heart, The Purge, Children of Sicarus, Vox Dominus, and The Tallyman, which is a major disappointment for collectors and fans who have been hunting for those stories in the first place.

For the price, it feels like a missed opportunity and more like a cash grab than a proper omnibus. If you're a fan, the 2012 version is still the better choice.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had it not been an omnibus, I might have given this one star. Book 1 was a pure gorefest, bolter porn. Books 2 and 3 evolved somewhat and, in turn, carried more appeal. Unfortunately, the books suffered from a lack of character development. Interesting side characters we meet along the way are killed off or fade into obscurity. The main antagonists are usually two dimensional. All in all, if you're a fan of the Warhammer 40k setting, it's a good dive into the Word Bearers legion. If you are not a fan, however, give this one a miss.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of Word Bearers Omnibus (2012)

If you're a Chaos Space Marine fan, the Word Bearers Omnibus is definitely worth reading. It follows Marduk’s rise through the ranks of the Word Bearers Legion. The story is fast-paced and filled with action, but also gives a good look at the Legion’s twisted beliefs.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s commentary, which adds a nice extra layer of insight, and there’s a short story included too, which is a nice bonus.

A great pick for anyone into Chaos Marines or Warhammer 40K lore.

[Austin Aja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book is an Interesting Take on the nature of Chaos and how it works in the Warhammer 40K world. It also takes you in depth to the inner motivation of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, and specially Marduk and the 34th Host. It takes you into the inner conflicts of these warriors and some of the conflicts that can tear the Word Bearers asunder.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There're 3 main stories and one short story. The first is mostly about action, the second is about adventure and action. The third is actually more of improvement for the last two. You can read the third story without have to read the first two story. The short story is served as an epilogue of the trilogy, it more of psychological thriller or horror.

[Michael F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want more of word bearers from this author. He puts you right there as if you were watching everything happen. All the great action scenes, the messed up sh!t, and the detail. Not to uncommonly was like OMG or holy sh!t. If you like sci-fi you have to read it but it may ruin other books for you.

[Wesley Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For being about one of the most hated chapters in warhammer 40k it was a very good read. Especially liked the short story Torment in the end. A very good look into the horror that is chaos and how they torment their own.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is really hard to empathise with chaos worshiping psychotic egomaniacs yet somehow even though you don’t empathise with them you want them to win 😳

[Matthew Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Word Bearers scare me

[Jonathan Damato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good bolter pron

Violent. Poetic. Exciting. A worthy read. Fourteen more words. Um... Blood red armor. Demon talons. Doom. Towers, bells. Doom. Bolters. Blood. Doom.

[Violet gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice long book to sink into.

[Ulzeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring.

[Henry Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing series! A must read for the word bearers. Pure grimdark action and heresy.

[Qasim Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun epic, with some despicable characters. Some inconsistencies and Deus ex machina events did ruin the immersion.

Compared to the Night Lords Omnibus, this was clearly the inferior read.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This omnibus collects three novels, which I'm going to review separately:

Dark Apostle: This book kicks off the omnibus, and I liked it well enough, but I have two nits to pick, one big and one small. The small one is that the Word Bearers are about as evil as you get, and that's saying something in Warhammer 40k; I feel that the author goes a little overboard in trying to drive home that these guys are scum, to the point where they don't just light a candle, they light the BLOOD WICK on a BLOOD CANDLE, because, btw, they are evil. The larger issue is that these guys are chaos Space Marines, some of the baddest MFers out there, and when they invade an Imperial world and start snotting stuff up, the loyalists send in..... the Imperial Guard. This is like sending in your local middle school's football team to play Green Bay. Even the chaos space marines comment on how silly this is, which is cute, but doesn't excuse the issue. There's a little less tension than there could be because the Word Bearers never face credible opposition. These issues aren't huge, but the second one especially keeps the book at a good-not-great level.

Dark Disciple: This is where it really picks up. There's a little bit of a refresher for those just joining us, and then it's straight into the ultraviolence. Most of the book is our heroes (is that the right term?) racing to unlock the macguffin from the previous book, backdropped against the Tyranids battling an Imperial fleet trying to stop them. Oh, and there's also a spoiler race hanging out up to no good (who ever is in Warhammer, though?). I really enjoyed this book - there's not a wasted page here, and once it gets going, I believe this may be the most violent novel I'e ever read. The amount of humans, space marines, tyranids, and race I can't name because it's a spoiler getting shot, stabbed, cut, blown up, burned, bludgeoned, and otherwise dispatched is truly impressive. I don't want to sound like a psycho and say I enjoyed it just because it's so violent; it's just tremendously action-packed, and I'm not sure I can say more without sounding like a back of the book quote.

Dark Creed: Now with the mcguffin ready to go, the Word Bearers plan is sprung. The first half of the book is setup and a big naval battle, which is nice and tense. In the second half, the Word Bearers finally (!) come up against loyalist Space Marines. I'm kind of amazed it took three novels for this, and unfortunately when it does come it's kind of an anticlimax. In fact, the second half as a whole is a bit weak, culminating in a not so fulfilling ending (there's one thing the Word Bearers do to save the day that had me wondering why they didn't just do it sooner). This is still a pretty good book - lots of 40k novels unfortunately have less than great endings, and judged against some of the ones I've read, this one is just a mild letdown - but I can't really say more without giving the whole plot away. Having come this far, it's nice to see everything get wrapped up. Dark Creed's not quite as good as the second book in the omnibus, but thanks to the cracking first half is better than the first.

The omnibus closes out with a extra short story called "Torment" that wraps up the fate of one of the series main characters. It's not really necessary reading, but it's a nice little bonus. Overall, this omnibus is pretty easy to recommend - $10 for three pretty good full-sized novels is nothing to sneeze at.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an Omnibus covering perhaps the most fanatical faith-based Legion, Lorgar's Word Bearers. Before the Horus Heresy, they were the ones to spread the light of the Imperium and specifically worship of the Emperor as a divine being to those civilizations long separated from mankind. However, while this is indeed a driving focus of the Imperium post-Heresy, the Emperor disdained any form of secular or superstitious beliefs. He publically censured the Word Bearers and his Primarch son Lorgar for portraying him as a God, as it went against his vision for the Universe, but Lorgar felt his foundation was faith. If the Emperor wasn't a God, then there were other forces that could be...

As First Chaplain Erebus corrupted the Warmaster Horus and set forth the events of the Heresy, the Word Bearers threw themselves into the worship of the Chaos Gods. Now, 10,000 years after the divide, they are one of only a few Traitor Legions to have a semblance of unity, and do not dedicate themselves to one particular god like the Thousand Sons or the Death Guard. This omnibus focuses on a rising Dark Apostle (equivalent of a Chaplain Force Commander) Marduk and how he interacts within his legion and with the other power Word Bearers. He comes across a powerful Xenos artifact which could turn the tide of the war against the Imperium. But can he survive against the might of the Imperium, the Xenos seeking to reclaim their device, and even those in his own legion?

"From the fires of betrayal unto the blood of revenge we bring the name of Lorgar, the Bearer of the Word, the favoured son of Chaos, all praise be given unto him. From those that would not heed we offer praise to those who do, that they might turn their gaze our way and gift us with the boon of pain, to turn the galaxy red with blood, and feed the hunger of the gods." -345th Book of the Epistles of Lorgar

[Gavin Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests this is an omnibus made up of ‘dark apostle, dark disciple, dark creed’ and finished off with a new piece titled ‘torment,’ all following the exploits of ‘First Acolyte Marduk and the 34th Host’ Each novel by itself is superb, non stop marauding and murder but sadly (and I can’t believe I’m writing this) put together is all just a bit too much to get on with, Marduk is great, the 34th Host are brutal and pretty much every page is spilling blood without mercy, that’s the lot in a nutshell. Great fun over short bursts but 766 pages without anything much else backing it up is hard going. When I first opened the cover and started I had good fun but made the mistake of going right through without any breaks from it. Too much killer without the much needed filler. I did then go back and read it as 3 novels and one novella while reading something else between each one and it all separately became a brilliant read.
As far as value for money goes this is top notch, as far as a load of separate novels go, perfect, all together in one go, hard work.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprising the books Dark Apostle, Dark Disciple and Dark Creed, as well as the short story Torment, this hefty tome collects all of Anthony Reynolds’ Word Bearers saga into one place. Charting the rise of First Acolyte Marduk through the ranks of the Word Bearers legion, as a set this is a solid slab of typically grim and dark Warhammer 40k action. There’s a neat arc running through the series as we watch Marduk step out from under the wing of his mentor, Dark Apostle Jarulek, and strike out on his own quest for power and glory.

See the full review at http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/201...

[Jeff Sedlak · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as i hate the Chaos space marines you kinda grow to like some of them in this series of books. Hate that they seem damn near impossible to kill but the "good" space marines fall by the dozen. All it all, i love the Warhammer 40k line and this book proves why I still hold that love for these books. Great read.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started liking this story more once I got to the third book so I went to 3 stars. It was nice to see the inner conflicts of a Chaos chapter though more of that and less blood and guts would have been better. But then again, we are talking chaotic evil.

[Samus5678 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good first read in the 40k universe. It was good that the author told the story from perspectives of all the people involved Except for the 'nids.