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Blood Angels #2
Deus Sanguinius
Their future lies in the hands of one man!
The Blood Angels Space Marines are on the verge of being torn apart by a religious schism. Brother Arkio claims to be a reincarnation of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels' spiritual father, and has laid down the law: follow me or die.
Arkio's brother Rafen has his doubts, but all who question Arkio's authority are silenced. Meanwhile, under the treacherous plotting of the sinister Inquisitor Stele, the scene is set for what could be the destruction and damnation of the entire Blood Angels Chapter.
The nightmarish future of Warhammer 40,000 is brought to shocking life in the explosive conclusion to the Blood Angels saga.
The Blood Angels Space Marines are on the verge of being torn apart by a religious schism. Brother Arkio claims to be a reincarnation of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels' spiritual father, and has laid down the law: follow me or die.
Arkio's brother Rafen has his doubts, but all who question Arkio's authority are silenced. Meanwhile, under the treacherous plotting of the sinister Inquisitor Stele, the scene is set for what could be the destruction and damnation of the entire Blood Angels Chapter.
The nightmarish future of Warhammer 40,000 is brought to shocking life in the explosive conclusion to the Blood Angels saga.
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 2005
3 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
James Swallow
309 books1,091 followersJames Swallow is a New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author and scriptwriter, a BAFTA nominee, a former journalist and the award-winning writer of over sixty-five books, along with scripts for video games, comics, radio and television.
DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.
Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.
For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow
Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.
You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.
DARK HORIZON, his latest stand-alone thriller, is out now from Mountain Leopard Press, and OUTLAW, the 6th action-packed Marc Dane novel, is published by Bonnier.
Along with the Marc Dane thrillers, his writing includes, the Sundowners steampunk Westerns and fiction from the worlds of Star Trek, Tom Clancy, 24, Warhammer 40000, Doctor Who, Deus Ex, Stargate, 2000AD and many more.
For information on new releases & more, sign up to the Readers’ Club here: www.bit.ly/JamesSwallow
Visit James's website at http://www.jswallow.com/ for more, including ROUGH AIR, a free eBook novella in the Marc Dane series.
You can also follow James on Bluesky at @jmswallow.bsky.social, Twitter at @jmswallow, Mastodon at @jmswallow@mstdn.social and jmswallow.tumblr.com at Tumblr.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 18, 2015
Very impressive read, although a tad less impressive than the first one. The first half is dragging a bit, but the second was full with brutal action and extreme scifi violence - what you want from a Space Marine novel.
December 9, 2024
Just because you grow some wings it doesn’t make you Sanguinious!!!
What a series I couldn’t stop reading from the first novel to the second one I really enjoyed it!
What a series I couldn’t stop reading from the first novel to the second one I really enjoyed it!
March 20, 2016
This was an amazing novel. James Swallow has captured perfectly a few things that I feel other authors sometimes fail with.
1. Making the protagonists genuinely seem that they are going to lose. This novel had surprisingly little "plot armour" and I think it was all the better for it.
2. A lot of the Black Library releases I have read are rather anti-climactic. The entire book is so fast paced and intense that the ending ends up feelings rushed. I did not feel that at all with this book, the climax of the novel was a small series of climaxes leading to a VERY satisfying ending.
I am eager to start the second omnibus, and I think everyone that likes the 40K or specifically the Blood Angels should read it.
The only thing I didn't like about it was that I felt Warmaster Garand of the Word Bearers was not focused on enough, or near EVIL enough, though that may just be my love of chaos coming in!
1. Making the protagonists genuinely seem that they are going to lose. This novel had surprisingly little "plot armour" and I think it was all the better for it.
2. A lot of the Black Library releases I have read are rather anti-climactic. The entire book is so fast paced and intense that the ending ends up feelings rushed. I did not feel that at all with this book, the climax of the novel was a small series of climaxes leading to a VERY satisfying ending.
I am eager to start the second omnibus, and I think everyone that likes the 40K or specifically the Blood Angels should read it.
The only thing I didn't like about it was that I felt Warmaster Garand of the Word Bearers was not focused on enough, or near EVIL enough, though that may just be my love of chaos coming in!
August 4, 2011
Read my review about Deus Encarmine. Same holds true.
May 26, 2025
A bit more quiet than the first one. More space marines doing space marine things. Conceptually I don't hate the villain, but I think it shoots its load a bit too early and ends up just kind defaulting to your basic "Big Battle Scene" at the end.
August 22, 2018
I liked this more than Deus Encarmine. Can tell author is improving. Story was what I was looking for-Space Marine fun.
April 4, 2019
Glorious and fun. Great read. =)
January 8, 2024
A fun read.
July 9, 2025
This did not end how I wanted it to, but was pleasant regardless. Unclear why this and the book prior were not one book.
July 20, 2015
The second half of the first Blood Angels series, this one finishes off the events started in DEUS ENCARMINE.
I think it was a fitting conclusion, and was satisfying overall.
Unlike some of the later Space Marine books I've read, this one had characters who acted very human. While some might not like adding that vulnerability to them, I find that it makes them much more interesting to read about.
There is a little bit of hand-waving to keep the plot moving along, and there are a few odd inconsistencies. For example, one battle has "hundreds of Blood Angels dead", which last I checked would have been a pretty significant portion of the Chapter.
The protagonists are surprisingly naive here, which leads to a lot of the setbacks they encounter, but none of it was ever so bad that it tore me from the story. It definitely provided more inspiration to continue my Blood Angels successor chapter, and as far as Space Marine fiction goes, it's certainly one of the least bland that I've read in a while.
I think it was a fitting conclusion, and was satisfying overall.
Unlike some of the later Space Marine books I've read, this one had characters who acted very human. While some might not like adding that vulnerability to them, I find that it makes them much more interesting to read about.
There is a little bit of hand-waving to keep the plot moving along, and there are a few odd inconsistencies. For example, one battle has "hundreds of Blood Angels dead", which last I checked would have been a pretty significant portion of the Chapter.
The protagonists are surprisingly naive here, which leads to a lot of the setbacks they encounter, but none of it was ever so bad that it tore me from the story. It definitely provided more inspiration to continue my Blood Angels successor chapter, and as far as Space Marine fiction goes, it's certainly one of the least bland that I've read in a while.
February 5, 2008
Part II of Deus Encarmine. The two are really just one solid story broken into two mass-market paperbacks to make more money: that's Games Workshop for you! Anyway, this finishes the tale, same comments as last one - kind of cool if you're into Space Marines, not if you're not. A guilty pleasure for me...
October 1, 2015
A great end to the first Omnibus of the Blood Angel Chapter, This is the Warhammer 40K i like, if more of the written content of that universe held this level of writing and language, id be all over those books.
This is a book ill definitely read again a few times. That's for sure.
This is a book ill definitely read again a few times. That's for sure.
April 14, 2016
Great craic! Epic battles of immense scale followed by scenes of exposition, then straight back to the carnage. Fuck yeah! My inner child's blood lust is sated. A good read for any 40K fans, particularly the Blood Angels Chapter. For the Emperor and Sanguinius!
August 2, 2012
Ok finish. I really hope Swallow gets away from this style of small scale writing and embraces the larger conflicts. It was kinda, like this review, ho-hum.
September 8, 2013
Delightfully dark and blood filled story of deception and resistence in the face of corruption.
March 19, 2015
I reviewed this in the combined form The Blood Angels Omnibus.
September 20, 2016
Sometimes you just have to read a bit of sci-fi hack and slay. Relentless action from the start. Warhammer 40k is an adrenaline ride from the very first page and Deus Sanguinius is no different.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews