What do you think?
Rate this book
Space Marine Legends
Azrael
The Dark Angels Chapter sprang from the First Legion of Space Marines to fight and die at the Emperor's side. But over ten thousand years, even the most staunchly loyal warriors of the Imperium can fall from grace, and the Dark Angels guard their own murky secrets most carefully - only Supreme Grand Master Azrael knows them all. A legend among Space Marines, he has fought for centuries and ever at the forefront of battle. Now, with the enigmatically alien eldar as his uneasy and unlikely allies, he must tread the fine line once more between the pursuit of victory, and keeping the Chapter's past safely buried...
Read it because
Gav Thorpe, without a doubt the Supreme Grand Master of Dark Angels fiction, returns to Azrael in a tale that delves deep into the character's psyche and motivations.
- Genres40kScience Fiction
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 23, 2017
25 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Gav Thorpe
377 books581 followersGav spent 14 years as a developer for Games Workshop, and started writing novels and short stories in the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 when the Black Library imprint was launched in 1997.
He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.
Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.
He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.
Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 15, 2016
Slowly we are getting to the end of this long, hard and scrupulous year. Under the accompaniment of Advent Calendar 2016 - we are getting the last stories of the year. November already has shown us it's greatness with The Master of Mankind and Fabius Bile: Primogenitor. It's time for December to surprise us and deliver. And thus - another day goes by and another review follows. This time we have another character building novel(la) (You could say whatever you want - but 200 pages is not a novel, tis novella) from the loremaster of W40K and Dark Angels in particular - Gav Thorpe.
Azrael follows right on heels of Fabius the Primogenitor release and focuses on 'rise' and first conflict of the newly appointed by circumstances Grandmaster Azrael. And through it could never beat Fabius, and it was never it's goal - sadly I can't rate it highly.
Gav Thorpe without a doubt has long been and are a Supreme Grand Master of Dark Angels fiction. He knows a lot, he can create a masterful story if he want to, but very often what he lacks is a needed level of suspence, danger and Edgar Allan Poe level of prose. I do like First Legion and successor DA chapter and author could do them in amazing style as already proved with Angels of Caliban, Angels of Darkness and The Unforgiven. But in case of Azrael something didn't worked. Especially after the release of the AWESOMELY cool Fabius Bile: Primogenitor.
THE STORY
Thorpe returns to Azrael in a tale that delves deep into the character's psyche and motivations. We have DA on a frontline - a frontline of their own making, on which they suffer for over ten thousand years. So as totally expected Dark Angels guard their own murky secrets most carefully - only Supreme Grand Master Azrael knows them all. A legend among Space Marines, he has fought for centuries and ever at the forefront of battle - and that's the character we have at the midnight time of W40K. But in this story - story of a character building/unmaking we saw him differently. He is not stubborn and unstoppable. He had his share of doubts and problems.And thus Gav Thorpe uses small excerpts from the lad past to show how did he get to that point. The main story of this battle book starts with DA retreating in the face of danger. Chapter Master (Grandmaster) slain (or believed to be slain) by Night Lords CSM traitors - Azrael makes a move and nominate himself as a Grandmaster. Further follows an amazing chapters how he was tested on a Rock and why he is (or he is not) - deserve to have that title.
Sadly after that - story goes downhill and became usual bolter porn which we can expect from that kind of novella. Ambush, counterambush, planetary onslaught, infantry/armor assault/teleportation/magic/ Chaos reigned - all that we have in abundance. But what it lacks - level of prose. It's like a story right from the tabletop with saves and rerolls. Only Azrael seemed competent enough will the end.
One of the story saving graces - is the character Thorpe got from Guy Haley books. Skraivok, Painted Count and greatly changed individual leads his Night Lords warband on that world. Painted Count became a Daemon Prince. He has a lovely Chaos Cthulchish spawn on a leash :) His warband with the help of 'Dark Sorcerer' invades a world - almost slaughter DA under Azrael. But help from the unexpected quarter has arrived. Enigmatic eldar help DA and give them a choice - help them to stop Skraivok and NL or die trying alone. Now, with the enigmatically alien eldar as his uneasy and unlikely allies, Azrael must tread the fine line once more between the pursuit of victory, and keeping the Chapter's past safely buried. But it doesn't work too.
Characters
Except for Azrael and Watchers in the Dark - they are all blank and subpar. Even Painted Count appearance doesn't make characters better. He has 5 dialog strings, appear on 2 pages, lol.
Only Grandmaster doubts and worries are shown if full, as his ambition and future plans. His Character is shown exactly as others should have been shown. And most importantly - author should have shown Azrael 'communication' with DA integral structure - with Wings masters, Librarians, sergeants, squads etc. Except for the dialogs with Ezekyle - it is not done properly, sadly.
Verdict
That is not the DA story I was expecting to get from a DA Grandmaster Gav Thorpe. Especially after the AWESOMNESS of Fabius Bile.
Due to the good depiction, character traits and worries of Azrael himself (after all it's his book) and enigmatic eldar and Painted Count Azrael warrants 3 out of 5 stars
I know for sure that Gav Thorpe could create an interesting story with vivid characters. And I also know he CAN write an awesome DA story. But this one is not so.
Azrael follows right on heels of Fabius the Primogenitor release and focuses on 'rise' and first conflict of the newly appointed by circumstances Grandmaster Azrael. And through it could never beat Fabius, and it was never it's goal - sadly I can't rate it highly.
Gav Thorpe without a doubt has long been and are a Supreme Grand Master of Dark Angels fiction. He knows a lot, he can create a masterful story if he want to, but very often what he lacks is a needed level of suspence, danger and Edgar Allan Poe level of prose. I do like First Legion and successor DA chapter and author could do them in amazing style as already proved with Angels of Caliban, Angels of Darkness and The Unforgiven. But in case of Azrael something didn't worked. Especially after the release of the AWESOMELY cool Fabius Bile: Primogenitor.
THE STORY
Thorpe returns to Azrael in a tale that delves deep into the character's psyche and motivations. We have DA on a frontline - a frontline of their own making, on which they suffer for over ten thousand years. So as totally expected Dark Angels guard their own murky secrets most carefully - only Supreme Grand Master Azrael knows them all. A legend among Space Marines, he has fought for centuries and ever at the forefront of battle - and that's the character we have at the midnight time of W40K. But in this story - story of a character building/unmaking we saw him differently. He is not stubborn and unstoppable. He had his share of doubts and problems.And thus Gav Thorpe uses small excerpts from the lad past to show how did he get to that point. The main story of this battle book starts with DA retreating in the face of danger. Chapter Master (Grandmaster) slain (or believed to be slain) by Night Lords CSM traitors - Azrael makes a move and nominate himself as a Grandmaster. Further follows an amazing chapters how he was tested on a Rock and why he is (or he is not) - deserve to have that title.
Sadly after that - story goes downhill and became usual bolter porn which we can expect from that kind of novella. Ambush, counterambush, planetary onslaught, infantry/armor assault/teleportation/magic/ Chaos reigned - all that we have in abundance. But what it lacks - level of prose. It's like a story right from the tabletop with saves and rerolls. Only Azrael seemed competent enough will the end.
One of the story saving graces - is the character Thorpe got from Guy Haley books. Skraivok, Painted Count and greatly changed individual leads his Night Lords warband on that world. Painted Count became a Daemon Prince. He has a lovely Chaos Cthulchish spawn on a leash :) His warband with the help of 'Dark Sorcerer' invades a world - almost slaughter DA under Azrael. But help from the unexpected quarter has arrived. Enigmatic eldar help DA and give them a choice - help them to stop Skraivok and NL or die trying alone. Now, with the enigmatically alien eldar as his uneasy and unlikely allies, Azrael must tread the fine line once more between the pursuit of victory, and keeping the Chapter's past safely buried. But it doesn't work too.
Characters
Except for Azrael and Watchers in the Dark - they are all blank and subpar. Even Painted Count appearance doesn't make characters better. He has 5 dialog strings, appear on 2 pages, lol.
Only Grandmaster doubts and worries are shown if full, as his ambition and future plans. His Character is shown exactly as others should have been shown. And most importantly - author should have shown Azrael 'communication' with DA integral structure - with Wings masters, Librarians, sergeants, squads etc. Except for the dialogs with Ezekyle - it is not done properly, sadly.
Verdict
That is not the DA story I was expecting to get from a DA Grandmaster Gav Thorpe. Especially after the AWESOMNESS of Fabius Bile.
Due to the good depiction, character traits and worries of Azrael himself (after all it's his book) and enigmatic eldar and Painted Count Azrael warrants 3 out of 5 stars
I know for sure that Gav Thorpe could create an interesting story with vivid characters. And I also know he CAN write an awesome DA story. But this one is not so.
September 25, 2025
I am the beacon. I am the light.
Fun book. Covering the beginnings of Azraels rise to Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels. The story was good but not great. It was saved by having some other notable Dark Angels inner circle members like Ezekiel, Belial, etc. What the book did best was the battle scenes that took place throughout the book. They were all descriptive and engaging. The eldar introduction was intriguing as well. Having the Dark Angels and Eldar “work together” was something I had not read before in other 40K novels.
Looking forward to the next book I decide to pick in my quest for nerdiest Dark Angel historian.
Fun book. Covering the beginnings of Azraels rise to Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels. The story was good but not great. It was saved by having some other notable Dark Angels inner circle members like Ezekiel, Belial, etc. What the book did best was the battle scenes that took place throughout the book. They were all descriptive and engaging. The eldar introduction was intriguing as well. Having the Dark Angels and Eldar “work together” was something I had not read before in other 40K novels.
Looking forward to the next book I decide to pick in my quest for nerdiest Dark Angel historian.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2017
Gav Thorpe once again tells a good story however it feels that there is something missing. The book tells the tale of how Azrael ascended to the rank of chapter master and it is perhaps here that the story needs a bit of fleshing out as it seem he is just given the role without having to do anything other than survive the latest battle.
It's still worth reading though as Gav Thorpe writes well and does tell a compelling story.
It's still worth reading though as Gav Thorpe writes well and does tell a compelling story.
December 2, 2025
mainly enjoyed the ascension of Azrael to Chapter Master and the rituals which followed that, was a good insight into the Dark Angels culture. The action scenes were fun too, even if the sudden appearance of the Eldar was a bit of a Deus Ex Machina. I think it would have been better for the plot had Azrael showed his worth in being able to beat the overwhelming odds of the Night Lords sudden attack.
March 16, 2018
Great book for the Chapter master but I would have like some more fighting!
December 6, 2019
Its a pretty average tale. Apparently Azrael is a tactical genius, but the author fails to get across. Even the fights are pretty generic and boring.
December 16, 2025
I didn’t realise that this book is in a omnibus that i had already read. So beware of that.
I enjoyed it a 2nd time.
I enjoyed it a 2nd time.
April 20, 2018
wow the last 100 pages or so almost made it a 5, couldn't stop reading, great fight to save the planet and work with the Eldar
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews