There is Only War

Warhammer 40,000

by Christian Z. Dunn (Editor), Dan Abnett (Contributor), David Annandale (Contributor)

Across mankind's Imperium, battle rages. From the lowly troopers of the Imperial Guard to the elite Space Marines, humanity's defenders are ever beset by threats. Alien races encroach on the edges of the galaxy, bringing worlds to ruin with blade, gun and claw. On countless worlds, mutated servants of dark gods seek to do their masters' bidding and bring ruin to all that the Emperor sacrificed himself to build. And in the nightmare realm of the Eye of Terror, the arch-traitors who tore the Imperium apart ten millennia ago still lurk, plotting their revenge... In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

Contents
One Hate (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Kraken (Short Story) by Chris Wraight
The Iron Without (Short Story) by Graham McNeill
Deus ex Mechanicus (Short Story) by Andy Chambers
Pestilence (Short Story) by Dan Abnett
Torment (Short Story) by Anthony Reynolds
Cold Trade (Short Story) by Andy Hoare
The Relic (Short Story) by Jonathan Green
Faces (Short Story) by Matthew Farrer
Beneath the Flesh (Short Story) by Andy Smillie
Even Unto Death (Short Story) by Mike Lee
Orphans of the Kraken (Short Story) by Richard Williams
Black Dawn (Short Story) by CL Werner
Unforgiven (Short Story) by Graham McNeill
Shadow Knight (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Survivor (Short Story) by Steve Parker
Emperor's Deliverance (Short Story) by Nick Kyme
The Last Detail (Short Story) by Paul Kearney
Master Imus's Transgression (Short Story) by Dan Abnett
The Long Games at Carcharias (Short Story) by Rob Sanders
Helion Rain (Short Story) by George Mann
Echoes of the Tomb (Short Story) by Sandy Mitchell
Voidsong (Short Story) by Henry Zou
We Are One (Short Story) by John French
Bitter End (Short Story) by SP Cawkwell
Apostle's Creed (Short Story) by Graham McNeill
Mistress Baeda's Gift (Short Story) by Braden Campbell
Flesh (Short Story) by Chris Wraight
Twelve Wolves (Short Story) by Ben Counter
Suffer Not the Unclean to Live (Short Story) by Gav Thorpe
The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf (Short Story) by Barrington J. Bayley
Snares & Delusions (Short Story) by Matthew Farrer
Gate of Souls (Short Story) by Mike Lee
The Wrath of Khârn (Short Story) by William King
The Returned (Short Story) by James Swallow
A Good Man (Short Story) by Sandy Mitchell
Hell Night (Short Story) by Nick Kyme
At Gaius Point (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Midnight on the Street of Knives (Short Story) by Andy Chambers
The Carrion Anthem (Short Story) by David Annandale
Playing Patience (Short Story) by Dan Abnett

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Anthologies

992 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2013

About the author

Christian Dunn, sometimes credited as C.Z. Dunn, is a senior editor for Black Library.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't read all of the stories in the collections, just the ones from my favorite authors (that weren't part of other omnibi). Read this as a way to stoke my own creative energies for my own Black Library submission (which will get rejected), and my own work.
Some of these stories were really quite good, others were passable. Your mileage may vary.
Overall it was ok.

[Mel Marx · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories from the warhammer 40k universe. Some good, average and bad stories mixed in but I'm not complaining that much since I just love 40k. If you're a fan of 40k and the imperium in particular pick this one up!

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quality of writing varies from writer to writer when it comes to The Black Library, not only in skill but also the essence of the 40k universe. But there are so many of the writers who get it right in this anthology that it's worth picking up, even if you'll inevitably skip quite a few.

[Matt J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This stuff is so boring.

[RobLovesBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overall singlemindedness of the stories wore me out. One thing I'd like?......give me a story from the enemies perspective.

[Allisonperkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

So hit and miss. I read this as an intro to the 40k universe and it was ok for that. Overall, much of the writing was meh but there were standouts. Abnett is truly underrated.

[Sven Mysterioso · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little disarming. The blurb and cover have you thinking it will be an anthology of small Space Marine stories. Untrue. They are 40k Imperial war stories. Space Marines aren't the focus at all here.

Also, the Space Marines stories that do result... are derived from other books elsewhere. I counted 4 that I had already read elsewhere. So there's that.

The other facets of Imperial society have their own stories though, and I rather enjoyed some of them. The story of the elite air force of the regional PDF was particularly a solid read in here (you'll find it if you look hard enough).

All in all, these were decent, well-assembled stories. But the advertising is such that you feel like a bait-n-switch has taken place. More damning for me is that I read four of these elsewhere, and you really should be getting entirely new content for the enormous price tag that GW puts on this line of reading (the omnibus collection style they so favor now).

I recommend some of the stories, but caveat emptor.

[Joelendil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The aptly titled There Is Only War provides the reader with hours of gory military sci-fi set in the bleak Warhammer 40,000 universe. With over 40 short stories, the reader gets to see a little bit of everything that "The Imperium of Man" has to offer (various chapters of space marines, guardsmen, inquisitors, eldar, tyranids, chaos lords, etc.).

It make for good escapist reading when you're in the mood for something dark/violent, but if you read too much of it at a time it all starts sounding the same...I spread it out over 7-8 months just reading now and then. Having some acquaintance with the Warhammer 40K universe can be helpful (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/), but isn't essential for the most part. There were a few stories where I could tell I was missing some of the punch because I didn't know anything about the main (apparently recurring) character, but there weren't too many of those.

Overall, good escapist stuff if you like your sci-fi dark and gory.

[Dan Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a third of the way through this book (I go straight for the space wolves ones first) and im finding it really good. The two wolves ones i've read are cool and capture the wolves character very well.

The other story i found great was 'orphans of the kraken' which was about hive fleet kraken and the salvage squads of the scythes chapter.

Well worth picking up if you like your short stories in the 40k universe.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories covering various groups in the Warhammer 40K universe. There are stories dealing with the inquisition, the youth of one of the Imperiums' most famous Commisars, Space Marines, Imperial Army, Chaos Marines, Eldar and others.