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The Beast Arises #4
The Last Wall
Despite the Imperium’s best attempts to forestall the ork plague that is wreaking havoc in human space, an ork attack moon now hangs over Terra. As its malevolent presence gazes down at the Imperial Palace, terrified citizens run riot in the streets. In a last-ditch attempt to destroy the attack moon, a proletarian crusade is launched. Thousands of ships large and small head to the moon carrying billions of citizens, all eager to take the fight to the enemy. It seems the attack has a chance of success as the invasion force lands safely, but the orks have yet to spring their trap...
Read it because
The Imperium makes an audacious attempt to defend the Throneworld... and interesting things are happening elsewhere as well, as the Iron Warriors find themselves in the path of the orks, and the Imperial Fists' successor Chapters fall back on a plan left behind by Rogal Dorn himself... but just what are they up to and will the High Lords allow it?
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2016
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August 10, 2016
Review also published here
The Last Wall is my favorite in the series yet. It thus continues the upwards tendency of the series in my eyes. It also ramps up the stakes even further, which leaves us with a truly horrifying situation at the end of the first third of the series.
Now I see these Orks as terrifying for real.
The end of the previous book left us with one of the Ork attack moons above Holy Terra - and that is what The Last Wall primarily deals with. While there are scenes with the sons of Dorn at Phall once more, and also some unexpected rivals, almost the entirety of the novel is set on Terra, or within the Sol System. That does not necessarily mean that there aren't plenty of plotlines to follow.
Right in chapter one, we get confronted with the Adeptus Arbites attempting to control the rioting masses of Terra's population. All hell broke loose when the attack moon arrived, and much revolves around this herd mentality here. This raging mass of humanity is the key to the plot on multiple levels.
The High Lords, in their sheer arrogance, incompetence and ignorance decide to send a "Proletarian Crusade" to the ork death star - shipping the countless masses of Terra's population to the enemy in the hopes of overwhelming them in their base and bringing down the moon. They feed the despair of the people they are supposed to govern and protect, and stoke the fires of fanaticism of crusaders.
David Annandale is, for all intents and purposes, Black Library's specialist when it comes to stories revolving around questions of faith and fanaticism. I have gone into detail about that before, so I shan't repeat my praise yet again. TLW presents its own angle on the theme, which I felt were very well executed. The sheer madness and overwhelming sense of purpose of the crusaders is palpable throughout - reading the book, I could see the heaving masses of humanity ebb and flow across the surface of the attack moon, assemble in loading bays and scream in the streets of their home planet.
Annandale managed to create a horrifying, mind-numbing picture of dread and despair, directed into weaponized barbarity and disregard for the individual person. This made the eventual twists towards the ending even more stunning, and I loved the way things played out.
The Last Wall, more than any other installment so far, subverts our expectations of the orks. It draws upon the familiar while adding new layers that make them feel far more alien and mortifying than we are used to. And it does so not just through showing us what acts of violence and brutality they are capable of, but also their restraint, tactical expertise and newfound search for diplomacy.
If anything, this entry turns the roles of mankind and the Beast's waaagh on their heads. In the end, we are left wondering which side is really uncivilized and barbaric, and which developed and able to operate in somewhat good faith. The depravities man is willing to commit to are laid bare, not only via the High Lords' and Inquisition's schemes and petty rivalries, but also through the way they channel the regular, powerless citizens through chains of faith and righteousness.
All the while, the orks don't have to lift a finger while Terra tears itself apart.
On the matter of the scions of Rogal Dorn, we don't have much progression in terms of volume. The Astartes are still gathering their forces at Phall and deliberating their course of action. Thankfully, this plotline picks up right where it left off in The Emperor Expects, so we don't miss out on anything I'd have liked to see come off it.
Captain Koorland is finally settling down in his role as the last Imperial Fist, and the underlying rivalries between the various successor Chapters were a highlight to me. Still, I would have wished for more on this side of the overall story. It is hardly the author's fault, though, as this is simply how the series was laid out. The Fists' time will come.
Back on Terra, the Inquisition's internal strife is entering its next stage, as events between Wienand and Veritus escalate further, and draw in more actors. I don't want to spoil this succession of chases, assassination attempts and the wider Inquisition's reactions to it all, so I'll just say that I am thrilled to find out where this is all going next. I expect some big moves from the =][= in the upcoming volumes.
At the end of the day, though, things are rapidly spinning out of control. As if the arrival of the attack moon in the last book wasn't enough already, I feel like the end of TLW has even greater repercussions. The stakes have never been higher, and neither has my excitement for the series, thanks to this highly impressive fourth installment.
The Last Wall is my favorite in the series yet. It thus continues the upwards tendency of the series in my eyes. It also ramps up the stakes even further, which leaves us with a truly horrifying situation at the end of the first third of the series.
Now I see these Orks as terrifying for real.
The end of the previous book left us with one of the Ork attack moons above Holy Terra - and that is what The Last Wall primarily deals with. While there are scenes with the sons of Dorn at Phall once more, and also some unexpected rivals, almost the entirety of the novel is set on Terra, or within the Sol System. That does not necessarily mean that there aren't plenty of plotlines to follow.
Right in chapter one, we get confronted with the Adeptus Arbites attempting to control the rioting masses of Terra's population. All hell broke loose when the attack moon arrived, and much revolves around this herd mentality here. This raging mass of humanity is the key to the plot on multiple levels.
The High Lords, in their sheer arrogance, incompetence and ignorance decide to send a "Proletarian Crusade" to the ork death star - shipping the countless masses of Terra's population to the enemy in the hopes of overwhelming them in their base and bringing down the moon. They feed the despair of the people they are supposed to govern and protect, and stoke the fires of fanaticism of crusaders.
David Annandale is, for all intents and purposes, Black Library's specialist when it comes to stories revolving around questions of faith and fanaticism. I have gone into detail about that before, so I shan't repeat my praise yet again. TLW presents its own angle on the theme, which I felt were very well executed. The sheer madness and overwhelming sense of purpose of the crusaders is palpable throughout - reading the book, I could see the heaving masses of humanity ebb and flow across the surface of the attack moon, assemble in loading bays and scream in the streets of their home planet.
Annandale managed to create a horrifying, mind-numbing picture of dread and despair, directed into weaponized barbarity and disregard for the individual person. This made the eventual twists towards the ending even more stunning, and I loved the way things played out.
The Last Wall, more than any other installment so far, subverts our expectations of the orks. It draws upon the familiar while adding new layers that make them feel far more alien and mortifying than we are used to. And it does so not just through showing us what acts of violence and brutality they are capable of, but also their restraint, tactical expertise and newfound search for diplomacy.
If anything, this entry turns the roles of mankind and the Beast's waaagh on their heads. In the end, we are left wondering which side is really uncivilized and barbaric, and which developed and able to operate in somewhat good faith. The depravities man is willing to commit to are laid bare, not only via the High Lords' and Inquisition's schemes and petty rivalries, but also through the way they channel the regular, powerless citizens through chains of faith and righteousness.
All the while, the orks don't have to lift a finger while Terra tears itself apart.
On the matter of the scions of Rogal Dorn, we don't have much progression in terms of volume. The Astartes are still gathering their forces at Phall and deliberating their course of action. Thankfully, this plotline picks up right where it left off in The Emperor Expects, so we don't miss out on anything I'd have liked to see come off it.
Captain Koorland is finally settling down in his role as the last Imperial Fist, and the underlying rivalries between the various successor Chapters were a highlight to me. Still, I would have wished for more on this side of the overall story. It is hardly the author's fault, though, as this is simply how the series was laid out. The Fists' time will come.
Back on Terra, the Inquisition's internal strife is entering its next stage, as events between Wienand and Veritus escalate further, and draw in more actors. I don't want to spoil this succession of chases, assassination attempts and the wider Inquisition's reactions to it all, so I'll just say that I am thrilled to find out where this is all going next. I expect some big moves from the =][= in the upcoming volumes.
At the end of the day, though, things are rapidly spinning out of control. As if the arrival of the attack moon in the last book wasn't enough already, I feel like the end of TLW has even greater repercussions. The stakes have never been higher, and neither has my excitement for the series, thanks to this highly impressive fourth installment.
April 5, 2016
Well what can I say. David Annandale delivers yet again! He picks up where The Emperor Expects left off an it was brilliant. The story was extremely well written, with a fairly large cast of characters that were a treat to read about. The politics on Terra were very interesting, and I think Annandale did the struggling High Lords of Terra very well. His orks were awesome, especially that twist at the end! Oh man I could NOT have seen that coming! As pretty much my favourite Chaos writer for Black Library, it was nice to see Annandale flex his writing muscles on these other areas of 40k. Every bit of the story involving the 'Proletarian Crusade' was just perfectly done. From bloody riotous beginning to bloody riotous end it was a joy. I do think I would have really liked to see Annandale tackle a little more of the Iron Warriors, as I think he could have done an amazing job if they were given a larger page count. Though I do really like what he has done with them thus far for sure. So, the story was awesome. The politics and action were phenomenal, and it definitely left me wanting more. Can't wait for the next book in the series, and I sure as hell hope to see more of David Annandale in the series!
June 19, 2017
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
We are now getting to the point where the series is starting to pick up some momentum. The first three novels have laid out the conflict and we now are starting to see some real movement every which way. Leading up to the fourth novel in the series, we are now in that particular mode where you can start to predict how certain characters are going to react to certain situations and that anticipation is what is driving this series more than anything else because in the meta-sense, these characters and their strife really do leave a mark.
David Annandale’s The Last Wall had a lot to deliver on, given how Gav Thorpe ended The Emperor Expects. It was certainly a very unexpected ending, and the questions that it raised got me to push through this novel, finishing it in less than a day, as the clock counts. It is full of some amazing action and tons of intrigue all of which deepens the mysteries behind the resurgent Ork threat and I feel that it is a great addition to the series as a result. David definitely didn’t disappoint in any way.
Note: Some major spoilers from the previous novels and this novel are mentioned here.
In Gav’s The Emperor Expects, the big set-piece action scene was a massive space battle between the Imperium and the Orks. As the first major response to the Ork threat since they unleashed themselves on Ardamantua at the end of the first novel, it had a huge expectation rider on it, and thankfully Gav delivered in spades. Now however we deal with the aftermath of that battle, even as things take a turn for the worse in the final pages. And none of that is pretty.
Before we get to that however, I do want to touch upon the narrative that hangs around Captain Koorland of the Imperial Fists, the last surviving member of his Chapter as it turns out since everyone else was annihilated in Ardamantua’s death-throes. In the last novel, the message was sent out to all the Imperial Fists Successor Chapters that the Last Wall was being called. When the Primarch Roboute Guilliman broke down the Legiones Astartes into the Adeptus Astartes Chapters, reducing armies of these post-human warriors that numbered in the tens of thousands to just a thousand strong each, Primarch Rogal Dorn did not agree wholeheartedly. That is putting it rather mildly, I admit, but for the sake of brevity it is so. Dorn built in a contingency plan for his sons as they were divided up, a fail-safe to be acted out should a great enough need ever exist. And that is now.
In the last novel, we saw the beginnings of this as Koorland appeared before the Chapter Masters of the Fists Exemplars, Crimson Fists and the Excoriators to make his case for the Last Wall. Some of the Successors such as the Iron Knights and the Soul Drinkers could not attend in time and were left out of the deliberations, but that’s a minor point. I really enjoyed this particular narrative since it hearkened back to the glories of the Great Crusade while also melding in the sensibilities of what followed. And David Annandale continues that in this novel as the Last Wall gathers its forces in the Phall system before it takes action.
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
We are now getting to the point where the series is starting to pick up some momentum. The first three novels have laid out the conflict and we now are starting to see some real movement every which way. Leading up to the fourth novel in the series, we are now in that particular mode where you can start to predict how certain characters are going to react to certain situations and that anticipation is what is driving this series more than anything else because in the meta-sense, these characters and their strife really do leave a mark.
David Annandale’s The Last Wall had a lot to deliver on, given how Gav Thorpe ended The Emperor Expects. It was certainly a very unexpected ending, and the questions that it raised got me to push through this novel, finishing it in less than a day, as the clock counts. It is full of some amazing action and tons of intrigue all of which deepens the mysteries behind the resurgent Ork threat and I feel that it is a great addition to the series as a result. David definitely didn’t disappoint in any way.
Note: Some major spoilers from the previous novels and this novel are mentioned here.
In Gav’s The Emperor Expects, the big set-piece action scene was a massive space battle between the Imperium and the Orks. As the first major response to the Ork threat since they unleashed themselves on Ardamantua at the end of the first novel, it had a huge expectation rider on it, and thankfully Gav delivered in spades. Now however we deal with the aftermath of that battle, even as things take a turn for the worse in the final pages. And none of that is pretty.
Before we get to that however, I do want to touch upon the narrative that hangs around Captain Koorland of the Imperial Fists, the last surviving member of his Chapter as it turns out since everyone else was annihilated in Ardamantua’s death-throes. In the last novel, the message was sent out to all the Imperial Fists Successor Chapters that the Last Wall was being called. When the Primarch Roboute Guilliman broke down the Legiones Astartes into the Adeptus Astartes Chapters, reducing armies of these post-human warriors that numbered in the tens of thousands to just a thousand strong each, Primarch Rogal Dorn did not agree wholeheartedly. That is putting it rather mildly, I admit, but for the sake of brevity it is so. Dorn built in a contingency plan for his sons as they were divided up, a fail-safe to be acted out should a great enough need ever exist. And that is now.
In the last novel, we saw the beginnings of this as Koorland appeared before the Chapter Masters of the Fists Exemplars, Crimson Fists and the Excoriators to make his case for the Last Wall. Some of the Successors such as the Iron Knights and the Soul Drinkers could not attend in time and were left out of the deliberations, but that’s a minor point. I really enjoyed this particular narrative since it hearkened back to the glories of the Great Crusade while also melding in the sensibilities of what followed. And David Annandale continues that in this novel as the Last Wall gathers its forces in the Phall system before it takes action.
October 2, 2024
I have posited in the past that David Annandale tends to draw the short straw when it comes to Black Library author assignments. The trend continues, as this time out he is lumped with the FOURTH book of dire political maneuverings undermining a colossal Ork invasion. Instead of focusing on impending doom as the great green menace strikes at the heart of the Imperium we are treated to a Succession-lite squabblefest, with the delightfully hedontisic and egomaniacal Roy siblings replaced by wet and wearisome High Lords it is almost impossible to care about one way or the other.
The book is so similar in tone and pace to the previous three that a strong editorial hand is rendering the authors relatively powerless to put their own stamps on proceedings, thus sucking spark and creativity from the endeavour. And the Orks themselves receive so little screentime that they may as well be replaced by Nameless Alien Race #372. Indeed the biggest contribution the Green Tide makes to the story is to give our political fun-vacuums the opportunity to repeatedly include the phrase 'that's not typical Ork behaviour' in their endless inner-monolouging.
So, far from my favourite 40k novel. A shame, because Annandale is capable of much stronger stuff when given a little more to work with.
The book is so similar in tone and pace to the previous three that a strong editorial hand is rendering the authors relatively powerless to put their own stamps on proceedings, thus sucking spark and creativity from the endeavour. And the Orks themselves receive so little screentime that they may as well be replaced by Nameless Alien Race #372. Indeed the biggest contribution the Green Tide makes to the story is to give our political fun-vacuums the opportunity to repeatedly include the phrase 'that's not typical Ork behaviour' in their endless inner-monolouging.
So, far from my favourite 40k novel. A shame, because Annandale is capable of much stronger stuff when given a little more to work with.
November 21, 2025
Incompetence and political maneuvering continue to push Terra towards the brink of annihilation. We're getting closer to some resolution with what's happening with the Inquisition and Assassinorum. It's cool to see some different factions in the mix, as the orks are attacking galaxy-wide instead of focusing on just the Imperium. My favorite part of this book has to be the People's Crusade, though. The Orks are using advanced tactics and outmaneuvering humanity at every turn, while Terra decides to do a good old fashioned Leroy Jenkins Zerg rush. Talk about an Uno Reverse. Each of these book has a sudden "WHAT!?" moment on the last page, and The Last Wall doesn't change course there. I loved the last two, but wasn't as crazy about this one's twist. Your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about the faction in question.
September 16, 2022
With my negative reception to ‘Predator, Prey’ and my lukewarm views towards ‘The Emperor Expects’, I was worried The Beast Arises series would continue to languish in mediocrity. Thankfully, The Last Wall swings the pendulum back the correct way. Honestly, of all the books in The Beast Arises I’ve read so far, this was the one I was worried about. David Annadale is the book’s author, which is notable because he wrote the very first 40K book I listened to - ‘Robute Gulliman: Lord of Ultramar’, a novel I thought was okay at the time, but in retrospect I feel was pretty weak. Thankfully, though, The Last Wall is much, much better than my previous outing with his work, and that’s for one reason and one reason alone.
The Last Wall is bloody insane.
With the Ork Attack Moon in orbit around Terra, it seems like all is lost. The Imperial Navy, still locked up fighting the Orks as seen in the previous novel, have left Terra undefended. The High Lords - or at least, all the ones Vangorich is trying to corral - settle on one plan; a mustering of the merchant navy, and a call to arms from the civilian population, to swarm the Orks with their very on tactics - a Zerg rush, if you will. This situation - named the Proletariat Crusade - makes up the bulk of the Last Wall, with only glimpses of the greater situation outside Terra to be seen.
There is a very genuine sense of desperation-inspired madness in this novel - the Proletariat Crusader is heavily inspired by political and religious dogma, and it’s a really interesting midpoint between the science-focussed society present at the outset of The Horus Heresy, and the zealous religious autocracy present in the core 40K setting. People worship the Emperor, no denial there, but this feels like one of the first times the Emperor’s name is invoked to spur the people to action.
The Proletariat Crusader itself is insane - millions of upon millions of souls, indoctrinated by religious fervor, charging hopelessly onto the Ork Attack Moon. The sense of unity, indoctrinated or not, is palpable, and it truly feels like a precursor to the way the Imperium’s society is operated in the grimdark future awaiting them.
There are some very genuine questions surrounding the situation on Terra - like, where are the Custodes, more powerful than Space Marines, localized entirely on Terra? Why didn’t Vangorich try and get members of his department to sneak onto the Attack Moon? There are a bunch of strange, potentially canon-breaking moments in the Last Wall, but the way the fervor and whatnot all compounds itself but culminating on the Ork Attack Moon assault makes me just not care. This book is insane, and it has by far my favorite depiction of warfare thus far in The Beast Arises. Seeing the Ork’s Green Tide ‘strategies’ be reversed upon them by the civilians was incredible - and the way it all ends up for them is horrifying. This is very much a ‘Rule of Cool’ book (Rule of Lunacy might be more accurate, but oh well), and I’m the first to admit there are a lot of holes in its writing… but it’s so much fun, I could barely care.
Additionally, seeing how the Orks ‘develop’ in this book… Well, I’m not going to spoil that, but for the first time the Orks don’t just feel like a Green Tide. I’ve heard mixed things about their actions at the climax of the book, but I genuinely loved it.
Beyond the Terra storyline, we see glimpses of the Imperial Fist-based chapters arguing about what they’re going to do next, but this is by far the weakest section of the book, but also the shortest. The other main storyline deals with the Iron Warriors legion, a Space Marine chapter that had fallen to Chaos. They don’t really do a whole lot, but I always love a decent Chaos viewpoint, and seeing how the Ork invasion isn’t just affecting the Imperium, but the Archenemy too, is really notable and provides a great sense of scale as to what’s happening across the galaxy. There are also bits and pieces of the ongoing political struggles faced by Vangorich and his allies, but they definitely take a back seat here. It’s as good as previous novels, but I’ve already talked at length about those sequences.
This series hasn’t shied away from brutality in previous novels, but man, The Last Wall is one of the more hardcore Warhammer books I’ve read yet. The Iron Warriors are real jerks, and some of the stuff the Orks do… geez. Didn’t expect the Red Tide from the Green Tide, ey?
The Last Wall is a bit of a mess, but it has a sense of lunacy and entertainment that matches that of the first book in the series. In some ways, it sums up The Beast Arises (at least so far) in a nutshell: A bit of a mess, but man, am I having a good time with it. Really hope it keeps up the kind of pace it’s holding so far.
The Last Wall is bloody insane.
With the Ork Attack Moon in orbit around Terra, it seems like all is lost. The Imperial Navy, still locked up fighting the Orks as seen in the previous novel, have left Terra undefended. The High Lords - or at least, all the ones Vangorich is trying to corral - settle on one plan; a mustering of the merchant navy, and a call to arms from the civilian population, to swarm the Orks with their very on tactics - a Zerg rush, if you will. This situation - named the Proletariat Crusade - makes up the bulk of the Last Wall, with only glimpses of the greater situation outside Terra to be seen.
There is a very genuine sense of desperation-inspired madness in this novel - the Proletariat Crusader is heavily inspired by political and religious dogma, and it’s a really interesting midpoint between the science-focussed society present at the outset of The Horus Heresy, and the zealous religious autocracy present in the core 40K setting. People worship the Emperor, no denial there, but this feels like one of the first times the Emperor’s name is invoked to spur the people to action.
The Proletariat Crusader itself is insane - millions of upon millions of souls, indoctrinated by religious fervor, charging hopelessly onto the Ork Attack Moon. The sense of unity, indoctrinated or not, is palpable, and it truly feels like a precursor to the way the Imperium’s society is operated in the grimdark future awaiting them.
There are some very genuine questions surrounding the situation on Terra - like, where are the Custodes, more powerful than Space Marines, localized entirely on Terra? Why didn’t Vangorich try and get members of his department to sneak onto the Attack Moon? There are a bunch of strange, potentially canon-breaking moments in the Last Wall, but the way the fervor and whatnot all compounds itself but culminating on the Ork Attack Moon assault makes me just not care. This book is insane, and it has by far my favorite depiction of warfare thus far in The Beast Arises. Seeing the Ork’s Green Tide ‘strategies’ be reversed upon them by the civilians was incredible - and the way it all ends up for them is horrifying. This is very much a ‘Rule of Cool’ book (Rule of Lunacy might be more accurate, but oh well), and I’m the first to admit there are a lot of holes in its writing… but it’s so much fun, I could barely care.
Additionally, seeing how the Orks ‘develop’ in this book… Well, I’m not going to spoil that, but for the first time the Orks don’t just feel like a Green Tide. I’ve heard mixed things about their actions at the climax of the book, but I genuinely loved it.
Beyond the Terra storyline, we see glimpses of the Imperial Fist-based chapters arguing about what they’re going to do next, but this is by far the weakest section of the book, but also the shortest. The other main storyline deals with the Iron Warriors legion, a Space Marine chapter that had fallen to Chaos. They don’t really do a whole lot, but I always love a decent Chaos viewpoint, and seeing how the Ork invasion isn’t just affecting the Imperium, but the Archenemy too, is really notable and provides a great sense of scale as to what’s happening across the galaxy. There are also bits and pieces of the ongoing political struggles faced by Vangorich and his allies, but they definitely take a back seat here. It’s as good as previous novels, but I’ve already talked at length about those sequences.
This series hasn’t shied away from brutality in previous novels, but man, The Last Wall is one of the more hardcore Warhammer books I’ve read yet. The Iron Warriors are real jerks, and some of the stuff the Orks do… geez. Didn’t expect the Red Tide from the Green Tide, ey?
The Last Wall is a bit of a mess, but it has a sense of lunacy and entertainment that matches that of the first book in the series. In some ways, it sums up The Beast Arises (at least so far) in a nutshell: A bit of a mess, but man, am I having a good time with it. Really hope it keeps up the kind of pace it’s holding so far.
March 14, 2016
Well - here we go with another review for the next installment in TBA (The Beast Arises). Minor spoilers ahead.
Fourth book in the cycle lead the story forward and starts exactly the moment the previous one (amazing novel by Gav Thorpe) has left us wondering. David Annandale tried to create a great continuation for that story, add new ideas to it and make simply good book. He was successful in it - but only partially. I promised to my friends that I will eat my hat if this book would be amazing - sadly the hat stays with me.
I do enjoy reading novels written by David Annandale. They have interesting stories, cool stuff added by the author himself and decent consistency to them. But it was always 50/50 with his novels for me. For example - his stories about old Yarrick is beyond good and definite read for W40K fans (especially the ones invested into Armaggedon campaign). At the same time the stories about younger Yarrick are blank, uninspiring and miss the coolness and interest of the old one. Especially then someone knows that nothing will happen to the main protagonist. Alas, they simply does not invest you on the level of the stories about 'war torn' Yarrick. But David has also written 'Damnation of Pythos' HH novel. Which is pretty cool from the point of Chaos and events, but lack anything vital or lifechanging for the Horus Heresy series.
But let's get back to the Beast Arises. First - we should discuss the general opinion on the TBA. Let's be clear - David has done a commendable job continuing the story which reads exactly like the new episode of your beloved TV show. And TBA is actually that - amazing TV season on par with the monsters like Game of Thrones. And that is one of the general problems with the TBA. It would be much cooler if the books from the cycle should have been 400 pages long like the old BL books. I know, I know that the series is posting itself as a season of TV shows which could be read/watched/listened in several hours - exactly like watching the 40-minutes episode one by one. But that's the problem - season of 10 episodes would be ended in 3 months. TBA covers all the year. And it's really hard to wait for a month till the next novel - that would be read in 3 hours time.
Another general problem is consistency of characters. Due to the series being written by the different authors - the main characters has a very different view/personality, even if authors tried to make them the same. Annandale's Veritas/Udo/Lansung/Koorland for example are very different from the same characters of Rob Sanders and Gav Thorpe. And not due to the events happening below, above and around them.
Now to the 4th book itself - it's major plot is a convergence of 5 storylines:
1) Koorland and Fists successor Chapters and their struggle with the Galaxy spining events.
2) Imperial court and High Lords manipulations.
3) Marsian priests being total dicks.
4) Orcs impact on the galaxy at large.
5) Everyone else in the Galaxy.
All in all the characters for all 4 storylines are as good as the previous books, but what this book lack - is something actually lifechanging happening at all. Koorland and his brothers are still making stratagems and deciding what to do. Orcs attacking all the sectors. And even getting their hands into the zones of Chaos followers. Everyone else fighting. Marsian line get it's story just in one chapter - with some interesting consequences in the future for sure.
But what this book accented the most - is maneuvering of High Lords. All the story is rounding upon Proletarian Crusade. Crusade that was manipulated, created, organized and done just for the vainglory of High Lords and political struggle between them. What David does good - is showing the true face of all the political nitwits ruling the Imperium with small exclusions. All the reason for the 'Crusade' - is that Tull will be a 'saviour' and get's additional power in ruling the Imperium. In that, in showing the bottomless pit of propaganda madness author has been able to show several things.
First - how Imperium of Mankind has fallen. Scenes with the arbiters and propaganda speeches shows how all the imperium citizens has fallen into the fools and pinheads area (Well done David - I think that some people who would read the novel will actually decide to study and learn things instead of eating popcorn while watching pre-paid news and movies every day).
Second - it shows clear parallels (even if author hasn't intended them soo) with the abyss of lies and brutality of French revolution regime and Stalin USSR. All the Tull and Mesring propaganda flakes - are exactly what Girondins, Jacobins, Stalin and our newests Goebbels/Hitler president Putin would be proud off.
Third - number of casualties and total madness of stuff happening around. The person should have a total disregard for human life to be able to pull the plug, the one Mesring and Tull did. Even after the previous novel Veritas seems like a very rational and good fella compared to them. Only totally insane person or very desperate, reckless one could have done that. (And Tull and Mesring are not desperate - because even having the ORC ATTACK MOON ABOVE TERRA, THIS FELLAS STILL TRY TO SQUIZE SOME JUICE FROM TERRA).
Now to the point of writing style and credence of the plot. What Annandale always do with great care and style - is a recital; delineation and portrayal of general stuff. Like events, planets, houses, culture etc. But at the same time - 80 % of the times the action scenes (especially on bigger army scales) are too lackluster and bolter porn like. All the chapters with the IW's are exactly that.
David always able to create great personalities with unique and truly immersive characters. But sometimes his characters (especially the ones, which wasn't created by him in the first place) are uninspiring and simply blank. Here it happens with some poor inquisitorial agents.
Plus in this novel we have some of (one of David writing faults I think) supernatural abilities implied upon human being - like 'counter the bolter round with the flat of her hand'. REALLY?
Also the novel suffers from some interesting writer choices with depicting the events.
For me (and I have the unlimited imagination) - the scene with the mountain rising on the moon is too inextricably and weird to follow. In case of some paragraphs it is inapprehensible. 3 previous novels does not deliver me to that point. I never had a hard time reading them. In this one - 4 pages made for me a 30-minutes marathon, trying to decipher what is happening. Classical example:
'Mountains rise..... (here we have people between mountain peeks)... And a river of blood, foaming, torrential,rushed ahead of her. It lapped at the doors as if it would quench their thirst. The mountains were less than ten meters apart. The edges of the world closed in. The entrance shrank... Grind and rumble and screams torn apart by the edges of splintering bones. The sound of an ocean snapping into shards. The blood surged. Torrent became deluge, became tidal wave. It lifted her up...' I just can't imaging how wide contracting mountain expanding vertically could squash thousands of people to make tidal wave? I once experimented will ballon of water crushed between two chairs - which rained on both sides, but deluge?
But to give the courtesy to the author he did tried to write a cool book. And actually (in general) - he did that. Especially considering that he was tasked to converge the points from the 3 previous books in TBA and depict the most uninteresting event in the serie so far. It's definitely better than 'I'am Slaughter' and just another good episode for TV show. But if I would have reviewed the episode - I would have given it a 7 out of 10. So given the good continuation of the plot, some interesting characters, courage to write about something like 'Proletarian crusade' and in courtesy to David Annandale I will give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. But in my not so charitable mood I would have given it a 3 out of 5.
Anyway - it's totally worth a read. So do it and have a good time while you are at it.
Fourth book in the cycle lead the story forward and starts exactly the moment the previous one (amazing novel by Gav Thorpe) has left us wondering. David Annandale tried to create a great continuation for that story, add new ideas to it and make simply good book. He was successful in it - but only partially. I promised to my friends that I will eat my hat if this book would be amazing - sadly the hat stays with me.
I do enjoy reading novels written by David Annandale. They have interesting stories, cool stuff added by the author himself and decent consistency to them. But it was always 50/50 with his novels for me. For example - his stories about old Yarrick is beyond good and definite read for W40K fans (especially the ones invested into Armaggedon campaign). At the same time the stories about younger Yarrick are blank, uninspiring and miss the coolness and interest of the old one. Especially then someone knows that nothing will happen to the main protagonist. Alas, they simply does not invest you on the level of the stories about 'war torn' Yarrick. But David has also written 'Damnation of Pythos' HH novel. Which is pretty cool from the point of Chaos and events, but lack anything vital or lifechanging for the Horus Heresy series.
But let's get back to the Beast Arises. First - we should discuss the general opinion on the TBA. Let's be clear - David has done a commendable job continuing the story which reads exactly like the new episode of your beloved TV show. And TBA is actually that - amazing TV season on par with the monsters like Game of Thrones. And that is one of the general problems with the TBA. It would be much cooler if the books from the cycle should have been 400 pages long like the old BL books. I know, I know that the series is posting itself as a season of TV shows which could be read/watched/listened in several hours - exactly like watching the 40-minutes episode one by one. But that's the problem - season of 10 episodes would be ended in 3 months. TBA covers all the year. And it's really hard to wait for a month till the next novel - that would be read in 3 hours time.
Another general problem is consistency of characters. Due to the series being written by the different authors - the main characters has a very different view/personality, even if authors tried to make them the same. Annandale's Veritas/Udo/Lansung/Koorland for example are very different from the same characters of Rob Sanders and Gav Thorpe. And not due to the events happening below, above and around them.
Now to the 4th book itself - it's major plot is a convergence of 5 storylines:
1) Koorland and Fists successor Chapters and their struggle with the Galaxy spining events.
2) Imperial court and High Lords manipulations.
3) Marsian priests being total dicks.
4) Orcs impact on the galaxy at large.
5) Everyone else in the Galaxy.
All in all the characters for all 4 storylines are as good as the previous books, but what this book lack - is something actually lifechanging happening at all. Koorland and his brothers are still making stratagems and deciding what to do. Orcs attacking all the sectors. And even getting their hands into the zones of Chaos followers. Everyone else fighting. Marsian line get it's story just in one chapter - with some interesting consequences in the future for sure.
But what this book accented the most - is maneuvering of High Lords. All the story is rounding upon Proletarian Crusade. Crusade that was manipulated, created, organized and done just for the vainglory of High Lords and political struggle between them. What David does good - is showing the true face of all the political nitwits ruling the Imperium with small exclusions. All the reason for the 'Crusade' - is that Tull will be a 'saviour' and get's additional power in ruling the Imperium. In that, in showing the bottomless pit of propaganda madness author has been able to show several things.
First - how Imperium of Mankind has fallen. Scenes with the arbiters and propaganda speeches shows how all the imperium citizens has fallen into the fools and pinheads area (Well done David - I think that some people who would read the novel will actually decide to study and learn things instead of eating popcorn while watching pre-paid news and movies every day).
Second - it shows clear parallels (even if author hasn't intended them soo) with the abyss of lies and brutality of French revolution regime and Stalin USSR. All the Tull and Mesring propaganda flakes - are exactly what Girondins, Jacobins, Stalin and our newests Goebbels/Hitler president Putin would be proud off.
Third - number of casualties and total madness of stuff happening around. The person should have a total disregard for human life to be able to pull the plug, the one Mesring and Tull did. Even after the previous novel Veritas seems like a very rational and good fella compared to them. Only totally insane person or very desperate, reckless one could have done that. (And Tull and Mesring are not desperate - because even having the ORC ATTACK MOON ABOVE TERRA, THIS FELLAS STILL TRY TO SQUIZE SOME JUICE FROM TERRA).
Now to the point of writing style and credence of the plot. What Annandale always do with great care and style - is a recital; delineation and portrayal of general stuff. Like events, planets, houses, culture etc. But at the same time - 80 % of the times the action scenes (especially on bigger army scales) are too lackluster and bolter porn like. All the chapters with the IW's are exactly that.
David always able to create great personalities with unique and truly immersive characters. But sometimes his characters (especially the ones, which wasn't created by him in the first place) are uninspiring and simply blank. Here it happens with some poor inquisitorial agents.
Plus in this novel we have some of (one of David writing faults I think) supernatural abilities implied upon human being - like 'counter the bolter round with the flat of her hand'. REALLY?
Also the novel suffers from some interesting writer choices with depicting the events.
For me (and I have the unlimited imagination) - the scene with the mountain rising on the moon is too inextricably and weird to follow. In case of some paragraphs it is inapprehensible. 3 previous novels does not deliver me to that point. I never had a hard time reading them. In this one - 4 pages made for me a 30-minutes marathon, trying to decipher what is happening. Classical example:
'Mountains rise..... (here we have people between mountain peeks)... And a river of blood, foaming, torrential,rushed ahead of her. It lapped at the doors as if it would quench their thirst. The mountains were less than ten meters apart. The edges of the world closed in. The entrance shrank... Grind and rumble and screams torn apart by the edges of splintering bones. The sound of an ocean snapping into shards. The blood surged. Torrent became deluge, became tidal wave. It lifted her up...' I just can't imaging how wide contracting mountain expanding vertically could squash thousands of people to make tidal wave? I once experimented will ballon of water crushed between two chairs - which rained on both sides, but deluge?
But to give the courtesy to the author he did tried to write a cool book. And actually (in general) - he did that. Especially considering that he was tasked to converge the points from the 3 previous books in TBA and depict the most uninteresting event in the serie so far. It's definitely better than 'I'am Slaughter' and just another good episode for TV show. But if I would have reviewed the episode - I would have given it a 7 out of 10. So given the good continuation of the plot, some interesting characters, courage to write about something like 'Proletarian crusade' and in courtesy to David Annandale I will give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. But in my not so charitable mood I would have given it a 3 out of 5.
Anyway - it's totally worth a read. So do it and have a good time while you are at it.
November 13, 2019
"Here we are at Book Four in the The Beast Arises series. The Last Wall marks the first entry by David Annandale; who will be the most prolific author in the series with three books contributed. This will also be the first full-length book by him that I've read; having mostly dealt with his short stories. Those have been a little hit or miss for me; a bit of cause for concern, seeing as though if you really don't like his writing then this may not be the series for you. Let's see how it worked out...
Another mention; at this point, I'm assuming that those reading this have read the previous installments. So, as much as I try to avoid spoilers, a lot of these stories pick up from pretty significant cliffhangers, and they will be mentioned.
At the end of The Emperor Expects, Lansung, Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy, was returning to Terra to much celebration and fanfare after destroying an ork attack moon off of Port Sanctus. And then, to the surprise and horror of all, another ork attack moon simply materialized....right over Terra.
Over a Terra that, post-Heresy, post-annihilation of the Imperial Fists, and without a Navy that is still returning from Sanctus, finds itself virtually undefended. Truly the worst case scenario.
A lot of the action which transpires in The Last Wall occurs on and around Terra, and Annandale wisely opts to kick off the proceedings with a snapshot of the utter panic that unfurls directly following the moon's arrival. Here we meet Galatea Haas; a dedicated and dutiful officer in the Adeptus Arbites, who is also one of our primary protagonists. This scene gives the reader and excellent bird's eye view of the sheer magnitude of this event on the common Terran, and it is masterful. So, so far, so good.
Even though all of the introduced story arcs get advanced a little for continuity's sake, the centerpiece of this book is the Proletarian Crusade. This little slice of military genius was concocted by Juskina Tull, Speaker for the Chartist Captains, and one of the High Lords of Terra. As part of the perpetual jockeying for ascendancy among that group, her plan is to unite all of the merchant ships under her purview, and have them carry millions of members of the Imperial Guard (to be cobbled together by volunteers from the general public), and take the fight to the ork moon itself (which, to this point, has been laying completely stationary in low orbit). With the Navy still absent, this would essentially be an orbital Normandy landing, without any fire cover, to initiate a ground assault on a moon which, as far as I understood, no one even checked to see whether or not had any breathable atmosphere on it.
It is a concept of unparalleled idiocy and lunacy. And yet, coming from the mouth of such an emotive orator, it resonates with hope and heroism. The fact that this ludicrous reality of the human mindset is so believable, and conveyed in such an authentic manner, was my crash course in realizing how good an author Annandale is. When it comes to writing about the core levels of belief inside all of us, he does so with a frightening mastery. Whether he is illustrating it by showing us how easily even rational people get caught up in a jingoistic call to arms, no matter how ill-conceived, or showing us the fierce, yet futile raging of an sole, insignificant person against a force that stands ready to crush it in a heartbeat, he does it with utter realism. This is a trait that I saw a glimpse of in his kaiju short story The Conversion, and now I can see that it was no fluke.
With that all being said, let's see how the other elements here were represented.
Characters:
The new characters introduced here, most notable Haas and Leander Narkissos (a Chartist Captain), are all well done and well-rounded. One of the nicest surprises here is that we also get an appearance by the Iron Warriors as they do battle with the ork menace. I really enjoyed the character of warsmith Kalkator. I really did not want the Iron Warrior chapters to end (although I stopped thinking of them when the focus on the Crusade started heating up).
Annandale's treatment of the established characters is excellent as well. Although I still prefer Sanders' Vangorich a smidge more, we get a return to some of that character's snark; though; thankfully not in the amount that Abnett saturated him in. His handling of the Space Marine confluence of Koorland, Bohemond, Quesadra, Issachar and Thane is superb as well. At least here they sound like the leaders they are. They exhibit the right balance of concern and reserve.
The only real storyline that did not do much for me, yet again, was Wienand's. I don't even attribute this to authorial error; nobody has really been able to make this character compelling. The ante of the Inquisitorial squabbling has been upped, with Veritus stepping in to take Wienand's place. His philosophy leans more towards the fanatical; with the Ruinous Powers being his primary concern, even with an ork moon in plain view.
Bad Guys:
I love these orks. We all know by now that these specimens are smarter than the average greenskin. However, Annandale seems to take pure joy in concocting wonderfully complex tactics and traps that the minions of the Beast use to trip up the hapless 'humies at every turn. Terrifying in the flesh, and terribly fun to read about.
Action:
The action scenes are good, and are nicely conceived and choreographed. I would say that they don't 'pop' or that they aren't as visceral as the scenes in other books, but that's not the point. I enjoyed this more because my concern for the characters was the paramount concern. If you can be emotionally invested, everything else is good. And, again, the scenes we get are done very well.
Now, one exception is this: tank battles. We get tank action in the scenes that deal with the Iron Warriors, and with those that deal with the Imperial Guard. And these are amazing. Bonecrushing, devastating, beautiful.
Pacing:
The Last Wall moves along at a nice clip. As mentioned, there were certain scenes that I never wanted to end. Other ones, I don't know if it was Annandale or myself that weren't into them, just kept moving. Cases in point: the Wienand scenes (although the early on assassination attempt is nicely done), and the chapter focusing on what the AdMech is up to on the sly. We close once again with a huge cliffhanger. The last few pages, I'm not going to say they feel rushed, but there was something about what was going on that I felt was a bit.....I don't know, silly? Even by the standards of what the 40K universe has to offer. Maybe it all just seemed a bit flippant after the emotional draining that occurred with the conclusion of the Proletarian Crusade.
In the end, for all of the emotional notes this book hit for me, I'd list The Last Wall as my current favorite entry in the series."
You can read my full review here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
Another mention; at this point, I'm assuming that those reading this have read the previous installments. So, as much as I try to avoid spoilers, a lot of these stories pick up from pretty significant cliffhangers, and they will be mentioned.
At the end of The Emperor Expects, Lansung, Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy, was returning to Terra to much celebration and fanfare after destroying an ork attack moon off of Port Sanctus. And then, to the surprise and horror of all, another ork attack moon simply materialized....right over Terra.
Over a Terra that, post-Heresy, post-annihilation of the Imperial Fists, and without a Navy that is still returning from Sanctus, finds itself virtually undefended. Truly the worst case scenario.
A lot of the action which transpires in The Last Wall occurs on and around Terra, and Annandale wisely opts to kick off the proceedings with a snapshot of the utter panic that unfurls directly following the moon's arrival. Here we meet Galatea Haas; a dedicated and dutiful officer in the Adeptus Arbites, who is also one of our primary protagonists. This scene gives the reader and excellent bird's eye view of the sheer magnitude of this event on the common Terran, and it is masterful. So, so far, so good.
Even though all of the introduced story arcs get advanced a little for continuity's sake, the centerpiece of this book is the Proletarian Crusade. This little slice of military genius was concocted by Juskina Tull, Speaker for the Chartist Captains, and one of the High Lords of Terra. As part of the perpetual jockeying for ascendancy among that group, her plan is to unite all of the merchant ships under her purview, and have them carry millions of members of the Imperial Guard (to be cobbled together by volunteers from the general public), and take the fight to the ork moon itself (which, to this point, has been laying completely stationary in low orbit). With the Navy still absent, this would essentially be an orbital Normandy landing, without any fire cover, to initiate a ground assault on a moon which, as far as I understood, no one even checked to see whether or not had any breathable atmosphere on it.
It is a concept of unparalleled idiocy and lunacy. And yet, coming from the mouth of such an emotive orator, it resonates with hope and heroism. The fact that this ludicrous reality of the human mindset is so believable, and conveyed in such an authentic manner, was my crash course in realizing how good an author Annandale is. When it comes to writing about the core levels of belief inside all of us, he does so with a frightening mastery. Whether he is illustrating it by showing us how easily even rational people get caught up in a jingoistic call to arms, no matter how ill-conceived, or showing us the fierce, yet futile raging of an sole, insignificant person against a force that stands ready to crush it in a heartbeat, he does it with utter realism. This is a trait that I saw a glimpse of in his kaiju short story The Conversion, and now I can see that it was no fluke.
With that all being said, let's see how the other elements here were represented.
Characters:
The new characters introduced here, most notable Haas and Leander Narkissos (a Chartist Captain), are all well done and well-rounded. One of the nicest surprises here is that we also get an appearance by the Iron Warriors as they do battle with the ork menace. I really enjoyed the character of warsmith Kalkator. I really did not want the Iron Warrior chapters to end (although I stopped thinking of them when the focus on the Crusade started heating up).
Annandale's treatment of the established characters is excellent as well. Although I still prefer Sanders' Vangorich a smidge more, we get a return to some of that character's snark; though; thankfully not in the amount that Abnett saturated him in. His handling of the Space Marine confluence of Koorland, Bohemond, Quesadra, Issachar and Thane is superb as well. At least here they sound like the leaders they are. They exhibit the right balance of concern and reserve.
The only real storyline that did not do much for me, yet again, was Wienand's. I don't even attribute this to authorial error; nobody has really been able to make this character compelling. The ante of the Inquisitorial squabbling has been upped, with Veritus stepping in to take Wienand's place. His philosophy leans more towards the fanatical; with the Ruinous Powers being his primary concern, even with an ork moon in plain view.
Bad Guys:
I love these orks. We all know by now that these specimens are smarter than the average greenskin. However, Annandale seems to take pure joy in concocting wonderfully complex tactics and traps that the minions of the Beast use to trip up the hapless 'humies at every turn. Terrifying in the flesh, and terribly fun to read about.
Action:
The action scenes are good, and are nicely conceived and choreographed. I would say that they don't 'pop' or that they aren't as visceral as the scenes in other books, but that's not the point. I enjoyed this more because my concern for the characters was the paramount concern. If you can be emotionally invested, everything else is good. And, again, the scenes we get are done very well.
Now, one exception is this: tank battles. We get tank action in the scenes that deal with the Iron Warriors, and with those that deal with the Imperial Guard. And these are amazing. Bonecrushing, devastating, beautiful.
Pacing:
The Last Wall moves along at a nice clip. As mentioned, there were certain scenes that I never wanted to end. Other ones, I don't know if it was Annandale or myself that weren't into them, just kept moving. Cases in point: the Wienand scenes (although the early on assassination attempt is nicely done), and the chapter focusing on what the AdMech is up to on the sly. We close once again with a huge cliffhanger. The last few pages, I'm not going to say they feel rushed, but there was something about what was going on that I felt was a bit.....I don't know, silly? Even by the standards of what the 40K universe has to offer. Maybe it all just seemed a bit flippant after the emotional draining that occurred with the conclusion of the Proletarian Crusade.
In the end, for all of the emotional notes this book hit for me, I'd list The Last Wall as my current favorite entry in the series."
You can read my full review here:
http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...
August 27, 2022
A bombastic ramp up of the series, it shows true chaos and horror of an organized Ork invasion.
For a lack of a better sentence: Shit got serious.
This novel manages to really increase the insanity of the War of the Beast by creating some very unlikely yet awesome scenarios of sheer horror, dread and goofy grimdark situations. It brings the focus to Terra and manages to release the tension that has been building up for a while now. At some points, it gives you a sense of hope, but this is Warhammer, and things get sour quite quickly when you least expected.
A really great read that's fast paced, well focused, characterized and intense. The Orks are presented like the ultimate threat, finally, instead of just this shadowy enemy that seems to destroy every planet that it comes into contact. It previously felt like background noise, but now, the Orks are on the main panorama and boy are they scary.
A great read and probably the best book in the first part of the series.
For a lack of a better sentence: Shit got serious.
This novel manages to really increase the insanity of the War of the Beast by creating some very unlikely yet awesome scenarios of sheer horror, dread and goofy grimdark situations. It brings the focus to Terra and manages to release the tension that has been building up for a while now. At some points, it gives you a sense of hope, but this is Warhammer, and things get sour quite quickly when you least expected.
A really great read that's fast paced, well focused, characterized and intense. The Orks are presented like the ultimate threat, finally, instead of just this shadowy enemy that seems to destroy every planet that it comes into contact. It previously felt like background noise, but now, the Orks are on the main panorama and boy are they scary.
A great read and probably the best book in the first part of the series.
September 7, 2017
While a good entry that discusses more intrigue and the proletarian crusade there were a couple issues. The main one I had with it is that it is a bit hard to follow. Some of the action sequences are more than a little vague. The other is the way the crusade was prosecuted itself. Certainly Warhammer isn't the most realistic of novels but the way the crusade proceeded with little to no thought to things such as basic food and water along with not knowing if there was even a breathable atmosphere on the space station was a bit ham fisted. Otherwise it is a solid entry. It is obvious by now that Vangorich is a long running main character and he continues to impress. I would love if he had more focus on him.
February 7, 2018
3½ stars.
A definite step up. The cast of characters has been shrunk a bit (or I've come to know them well enough that the jumps are less offputting). It still suffers from some of the character's stories being intriguing and awesome and others being annoying filler that I almost want to just skip over.
Also some aspects of the story stretched credulity more than I'd expect - even of the Warhammer series.
I'd like to read the rest of the series, but the books are significantly over-priced for their length and the quality of the story (the production quality of the books is fantastic and they do look gorgeous on my bookshelves). So, whilst I will likely get around to them, they're going to have to wait till there's another lull in my list of badassery books.
A definite step up. The cast of characters has been shrunk a bit (or I've come to know them well enough that the jumps are less offputting). It still suffers from some of the character's stories being intriguing and awesome and others being annoying filler that I almost want to just skip over.
Also some aspects of the story stretched credulity more than I'd expect - even of the Warhammer series.
I'd like to read the rest of the series, but the books are significantly over-priced for their length and the quality of the story (the production quality of the books is fantastic and they do look gorgeous on my bookshelves). So, whilst I will likely get around to them, they're going to have to wait till there's another lull in my list of badassery books.
October 25, 2019
An Ork moon sits over Terra and the Space Marines designated to guard Holy Terra are destroyed... what's worse, the Black Templars and other chapters related to the Imperial Fists are too far away to make it back in time.
Can the Imperial Guard and volunteers stop the Moon?
A nice little addition to this series, in what are affectively novellas - being slightly over 200 pages in generous print. They are interesting stories from the 31st Millenium, but still suffer from us knowing Terra will be okay in the end so there is no real threat or peril.
Can the Imperial Guard and volunteers stop the Moon?
A nice little addition to this series, in what are affectively novellas - being slightly over 200 pages in generous print. They are interesting stories from the 31st Millenium, but still suffer from us knowing Terra will be okay in the end so there is no real threat or peril.
January 16, 2024
The last wall is the best book in the series so far. Humans trying to overwhelm orcs by sheer force of numbers is an interesting reversal of the usual situation in Warhammer 40k. And then, what about an orc ambasador making fun of the terran high lords because he can't reason with them. This is indeed rich
December 1, 2025
I listened to this as an audiobook.
The action really ramped on this one and pushed the story forward.
The best summary is that the Orks are insane and the Humans are also insane. The Space Marines were less insane in this one, so that’s the biggest surprise.
The ending leaves you ready for the next one.
The action really ramped on this one and pushed the story forward.
The best summary is that the Orks are insane and the Humans are also insane. The Space Marines were less insane in this one, so that’s the biggest surprise.
The ending leaves you ready for the next one.
March 1, 2025
An explosive end to volume 1, packed with so many big moments and set-ups I'm excited for the rest of the series. The middle books of this volume felt a little more slow-paced, clearly developing plot arcs for later, which really paid-off in this installment.
August 17, 2017
Another great book in the series. Really enjoyed the political intrigue between the inquisitors.
November 29, 2017
WOW - great rallying of the humans against the orks!!!
August 3, 2019
This series is a good idea, but the execution is belaboured. I honestly wonder if all this could be squished into just a few poignant volumes.
November 13, 2020
It was fine!
June 15, 2021
Book 4 of the The Beast Arises brought some interesting twists to the series. It introduces Chaos into the chronicle in a big way in a hugely significant and surprising battle in Act III.
April 21, 2023
A good instalment but it did leave me my favourite Assassin sidelined.
September 11, 2024
I liked the book - a bit confused about the ending BUT i dot buy into how stupid the leaders behave!?!
May 19, 2025
a substantial amount of dakka to be had in this one.
November 8, 2017
Hogyan is mondhatnám el komoly szégyenkezés nélkül, mennyire élveztem a feszültség folyamatos emelkedését majd a véres harci jeleneteket a könyvben? Ahogy a gyakorlatilag halálraítélt milliárdok leszámolnak emberségükkel! Hogy egyes vezetők – a józan észre fittyet hányva – a hatalmi ambíciók szolgálatában nem lennének restek feláldozni a bolygó lakosságának jelentős részét! Amikor az emberekben dolgozó halálfélelem végül vérgőzös őrjöngésbe csap át, és számolatlanul – vagy mondhatnám: észrevétlenül – hullajtják el legjobbjaikat, legbátrabbjaikat a csatatereken, legyen az az űrhajón vagy a felszínen, a szerző végre valóban kiteljesedhetett. A prózájával persze eddig sem volt gond, de innentől a regény hősiesség- illetve patriotizmus-faktora az egekbe szökik, természetesen kéz a kézben a reménytelenségi-fokkal.
Bővebben a blogon:
https://profunduslibrum.blogspot.hu/2...
Bővebben a blogon:
https://profunduslibrum.blogspot.hu/2...
May 17, 2021
Navy battle didn’t go great, let’s be honest: there’s now a a big-ass moon packed with orks in the sky so obvs the population of Terra are having a hard paper round right now. Except for the high lords who are just like “it’ll be fine lol” so the inquisition lady and the spy man are trying to form ranks but they’re massive bitches so it’s hard you know we can’t all get on with our co-workers
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2016
That was unexpected. I'll have to find some Ork fans who have read and see what they think.
August 1, 2016
This was the point I gave up on the series. It had started mediocre in "I am Slaughter", then by book three I was already saying aloud "These battle scenes are getting pretty repeditive and dull". None of the "twists" were surprises as the plot summary for the entire "Beat Arises" series amounts to "Unstoppable Waagh, humans suck, rinse and repeat". I could rattle off character names and titles, but none of them were all that interesting nor had enough substance beyond being "Self-interested twit #1-40,000" or "Bodyguard X". In the name of making it Bigger, Bolder, More Grimdark!, the basic tenets of storytelling were neglected. The blame for this falls solidly at the feet of the Editorial staff at Black Library, not on the authors themselves. I know from past work that the authors can deliver stories worth reading when they are allowed tighter focus on a relatively narrow cast permitting for greater investment in the fates of those individuals. Any story where the reader's reaction is "I don't care what happens to these people" has failed. I was actually surprised when I checked who had the by-line on the particular volume where I gave up, as I have a high opinion of his other work.
I am reminded of 90's comic books in the style and (lack of) substance in this series. This is not a good thing.
EDIT: Oh, one other detail. The reason I am absolving the authors in this case is because the tone, plot and overall 'texture' of the series is so processed into one bland consistancy that I honestly could not tell where one book ended and the next began, which is why the titles of several volumes escaped me. They literally left no independant impression. This is another failing of the series to go with the rest. These books can't stand on their own two feet.
I am reminded of 90's comic books in the style and (lack of) substance in this series. This is not a good thing.
EDIT: Oh, one other detail. The reason I am absolving the authors in this case is because the tone, plot and overall 'texture' of the series is so processed into one bland consistancy that I honestly could not tell where one book ended and the next began, which is why the titles of several volumes escaped me. They literally left no independant impression. This is another failing of the series to go with the rest. These books can't stand on their own two feet.
May 22, 2016
Well here we go deeper into the Ork push against Terra. Where are the Space Marines you ask? Nowhere near Holy Terra. The High Lords decide that they should rally the populace of Terra and use them as a fighting force. Holy Crap does this go excessively bad!
I don't want to get more into that with this review because of spoilers. I have mentioned that thesebooks, in fact this series is way off the rails for 40k, and as a long time reader of these books, I kind of know what I'm talking about. Dang, you gotta come at this from a new way of thinking. Games Workshop continues to try new approaches and that could really have been avoided in the novels, but nope!
This book is written wonderfully. Nothing can be taken away from the writers in this series. They're, as always just amazing!
Just a last few words to get you 40k fans livid...... the Orks send a three man delegation down to the High Lords of Terra and ask for Terra to surrender. Yeah, I know.....
Danny
I don't want to get more into that with this review because of spoilers. I have mentioned that thesebooks, in fact this series is way off the rails for 40k, and as a long time reader of these books, I kind of know what I'm talking about. Dang, you gotta come at this from a new way of thinking. Games Workshop continues to try new approaches and that could really have been avoided in the novels, but nope!
This book is written wonderfully. Nothing can be taken away from the writers in this series. They're, as always just amazing!
Just a last few words to get you 40k fans livid...... the Orks send a three man delegation down to the High Lords of Terra and ask for Terra to surrender. Yeah, I know.....
Danny
April 7, 2016
For book four in Black Library’s The Beast Arises series – The Last Wall – the baton passes to David Annandale to carry on the story started by Dan Abnett and continued by Rob Sanders and Gav Thorpe. At this point in the series Terra’s reeling from the shock of an ork moon appearing in orbit – with the Navy much too far away to intervene and the Imperial Fists wiped out, the home world is left essentially defenceless. Much to the relief of the population, and the bafflement of the High Lords, the orks don’t immediately attack, which gives Juskina Tull – Speaker for the Chartist Captains – the opportunity to put into action an audacious plan to arm the population and take on the attack moon with sheer weight of numbers.
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
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