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Imperial Guard
Fifteen Hours
Arvin Larn is terrified. On the battlefields of the far future, only an insane man wouldn't be. Seventeen years old and still new to the Imperial Guard, he is thrust straight into his first war and must face horrors that his sheltered upbringing could never prepare him for. The trenches of the 41st millennium are filled with worse things than rats and trenchrot. For one, the world they fight for is being contested by the monstrous barbarian orks. The orks live for battle and know no fear, so it's no wonder that the average life-span of an Imperial Guardsman on this forsaken world is only fifteen hours.
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It's a sharp, incisive look at the first hours of war for a new Guardsman, and at all the terrors attendant with that…
119 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 12, 2005
75 people are currently reading
815 people want to read
About the author
Mitchel Scanlon
39 books45 followersMitchel Scanlon is a British writer of science fiction novels and comics. He wrote novels for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, and novels featuring 2000 AD character Judge Anderson. He also writes a comic series called Tales of Hellbrandt Grimm.
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January 22, 2012
This is a Guardsman not a Marine... (or Rambo!)
Guard... ATTACK!!! Wow.. I've read this book in two days. For me it's fast 'cause I don't have much time unless you count the trips to work and so...
This is Herr Scanlon first book. I think he did an exclent work. I've read some reviews in other places (Amazon, Black Library and others) and most of all agreed this is a fast turning page book. It's catching and it's not for the feint of heart. In some parts it made me feel I was in a battlefield. It remind me some stories about WW I in the trenches. It add some good perpective about the guardsman life and the connection between them and their superiors.
There is one part that blow me away and made me tremble..
"From the corners of his eye Larn caught gimpses of the others around him. He saw Bulaven, a lasgun in his hands taken from other Guardsman. He saw Davir. Scholar. Zeebers. He saw Chalker, his expression cool and detached, working the slide of his shotgun to send round after round into the enemy. He saw Vladek. Medical Oficer Svenk. The cook, Trooper Skench, a laspistol blazing in his one remaining hand as he stood besides others. He saw their faces. Scholar drawn yet steadfast. Bulaven dutiful, Zeebers nervous, Davir spiting obscene and angry oaths at the advancing orks. He saw steely determination and a refual to go easily to death. AS he saw it, Larn felt a feelting shame that he had doubted these men when he had first met them. Whatever their manner they were all wahat a Guardsman should be. Brave. Resolute. Unbending in the gace of the enemy. These were the men on which the Imperium had been built. The men who had fought its every battle. Won its every victory. Today, they were hoepelessly outnumbered. Today it was their final stand. (page 227)
After reading this book, and before as well, I prefer the guardsman perspective than the Space Marines stories.
Other reviewer said this was a teeneger writing or something. I agree. It's not like Dan Abnett or Ian Watson. But I guess this "teenager" writer made this book even greater. The common soldier is not a writer or poet. I guess that made us see almost from the eyes of the main character. It was good also 'cause the pages were turning even faster. Overall.
If you want to read about a common guardsman and not a hero I would reccomend this book. You won't see here a man who have kill 1001 orks while drinking beer.
Guard... ATTACK!!! Wow.. I've read this book in two days. For me it's fast 'cause I don't have much time unless you count the trips to work and so...
This is Herr Scanlon first book. I think he did an exclent work. I've read some reviews in other places (Amazon, Black Library and others) and most of all agreed this is a fast turning page book. It's catching and it's not for the feint of heart. In some parts it made me feel I was in a battlefield. It remind me some stories about WW I in the trenches. It add some good perpective about the guardsman life and the connection between them and their superiors.
There is one part that blow me away and made me tremble..
"From the corners of his eye Larn caught gimpses of the others around him. He saw Bulaven, a lasgun in his hands taken from other Guardsman. He saw Davir. Scholar. Zeebers. He saw Chalker, his expression cool and detached, working the slide of his shotgun to send round after round into the enemy. He saw Vladek. Medical Oficer Svenk. The cook, Trooper Skench, a laspistol blazing in his one remaining hand as he stood besides others. He saw their faces. Scholar drawn yet steadfast. Bulaven dutiful, Zeebers nervous, Davir spiting obscene and angry oaths at the advancing orks. He saw steely determination and a refual to go easily to death. AS he saw it, Larn felt a feelting shame that he had doubted these men when he had first met them. Whatever their manner they were all wahat a Guardsman should be. Brave. Resolute. Unbending in the gace of the enemy. These were the men on which the Imperium had been built. The men who had fought its every battle. Won its every victory. Today, they were hoepelessly outnumbered. Today it was their final stand. (page 227)
After reading this book, and before as well, I prefer the guardsman perspective than the Space Marines stories.
Other reviewer said this was a teeneger writing or something. I agree. It's not like Dan Abnett or Ian Watson. But I guess this "teenager" writer made this book even greater. The common soldier is not a writer or poet. I guess that made us see almost from the eyes of the main character. It was good also 'cause the pages were turning even faster. Overall.
If you want to read about a common guardsman and not a hero I would reccomend this book. You won't see here a man who have kill 1001 orks while drinking beer.
December 21, 2010
Mitchel Scanlon’s “Fifteen Hours” is his first novel, and was the first entry in the Warhammer 40K universe told from the perspective of a regular trooper of the Imperial Guard; it was also my first Imperial Guard read. After reading about a dozen or so Space Marine novels about various chapters, I sort of grew weary for the time being of these genetically engineered, mostly invincible, over-zealous religious fanatics who basically do nothing more but pray and kill in the name of the Divine Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, and dismiss any thoughts they may occasionally have as irrelevant. So reading about the largest entity in the Imperial army, about the ordinary people who actually do think and who can die – the Guardsmen – was a welcomed change.
We follow a 17-year old recruit named Larn, fully indoctrinated with the Imperial propaganda, from a farming planet Jumael IV, from the time he is drafted, through his four months of basic training in boot camp under the steel hand of Sergeant Ferres, until his first mission on a barren world where the orks and the humans have been in a stalemate that’s been lasting for 10 years.
A glance at the cover reveals a cool tagline: Basic training: four months. Planetary transportation: seven weeks. Life expectancy: fifteen hours. “Fifteen Hours” also has a real hook of a beginning: The sky was dark, and he knew he was dying. Granted, the very first sentence also spoils the ending, but since “Fifteen Hours” does not feature any plot twists or behind-the-curtains schemes, it matters not.
“Fifteen Hours” is so far the shortest of all WH40K novels I had read, the word count on the 256 pages rising to barely over 70 000. The plot progression is rather straightforward, and while the Imperial Guard POV may have been a novelty in the WH40K library, the novel is filled mostly with clichés. Substitute the Emperor with God, and the orks with any aliens that spring to your mind, and you have a fairly generic military fiction set in the future.
Scanlon’s vocabulary is not exactly broad, but I’ve found his conversations generally well written, even interesting (though clichéd), and the pacing is adequate. What he suffers from is a heavy repetition of words and phrases. By a series of circumstances, Larn ends up in a totally unknown to him five-men firing squad, where the veterans refer to him as new fish. New fish is, believe it or not, repeated throughout the novel exactly 170 times. That makes 0,66 times per page. Since it’s not exactly a common term, you’ll certainly notice it and it won’t take long before it starts to be a nuisance. Next, there’s abruptly. I can’t tell you how many times someone either does or feels something abruptly. Actually, I can: 52 times. Sometimes even in quick succession. Finally, we arrive to no man’s land. That is a strip of land between the orkish and the human lines that belongs to no one. It is mentioned 45 times, again sometimes with only a sentence or two in between.
Individual character development is scarce, and again very generic. There’s Larn, the naive and yellow recruit; Bulaven, big and burly, but good natured; Davir, the wise-cracking sarcastic joker; Scholar, the educated, almost geekish soldier; and Zeebers, unfriendly, quiet and cold. I actually don’t mind the use of clichés, as long as they’re put together properly, which Scanlon does well most of the time. I can’t say that you’ll actually warm up to these characters, but I’ve read much worse. It was very interesting, though, to see the Guardsmen, unlike their elite Space Marine brothers, not buying completely into the Imperial propaganda, and actually have some traces of free thought. After a decade of fighting a relentless and pointless war in the frozen muddy trenches on a backwater planet no one cares about, many of them have become disillusioned not only with the chain of command, but even with the Emperor. Surely, a visiting Inquisitor would find his hands full.
Character description is, however, impossible to find, save some instances of a couple of sentences at most, offering only the basic information about a character’s appearance. The situation somewhat improves with locales. Though not very present, the few passages describing locales are aptly written.
I don’t know if I should consider it good or bad in regards to the novel, but the parts I enjoyed the most were the two interludes between chapters 3 and 4, and later between chapters 10 and 11. The former is titled "A Day in the Life of Erasmus Ng", and it offers a horrific insight in the life of a man that is nothing more but a microscopic and insignificant cog in a immensely vast, far from properly oiled, Imperial machine - one of the untold billions. It also shows that no action, no matter how apparently small, goes without a proper reaction. Erasmus Ng, though he appears on only a couple of pages, is the best written character in the novel.
The latter interlude is titled “As Above, So Below or Grand Marshal Kerchan and the Genius of Command” gives insight into the inner workings of the chain of command. Again, a very interesting interlude.
There are also several subchapters that serve only as fillers, the most useless among them being the one about a ‘rat boy’. The use of these fillers is not commendable, but it is understandable, since the real start of the novel is the drop-off, and from there until the end the time-frame is only 15 hours. Taking that into account, “Fifteen Hours” is also the least action-filled book in the WH40K universe I’ve read so far, with a sort of an anti-climactic closure. If you’re looking for bolter-porn, skip this title.
The biggest strength of “Fifteen Hours” lies in the fact it is a breath of fresh air in a franchise whose biggest attraction are the Space Marines; ironically, they’re also the dullest that WH40K has to offer. Reading about ordinary soldiers who have emotions, who bleed and die, is more interesting to me as a reader. Sadly, the idea of “Fifteen Hours” was much better than the final product.
Rating: 6/10
We follow a 17-year old recruit named Larn, fully indoctrinated with the Imperial propaganda, from a farming planet Jumael IV, from the time he is drafted, through his four months of basic training in boot camp under the steel hand of Sergeant Ferres, until his first mission on a barren world where the orks and the humans have been in a stalemate that’s been lasting for 10 years.
A glance at the cover reveals a cool tagline: Basic training: four months. Planetary transportation: seven weeks. Life expectancy: fifteen hours. “Fifteen Hours” also has a real hook of a beginning: The sky was dark, and he knew he was dying. Granted, the very first sentence also spoils the ending, but since “Fifteen Hours” does not feature any plot twists or behind-the-curtains schemes, it matters not.
“Fifteen Hours” is so far the shortest of all WH40K novels I had read, the word count on the 256 pages rising to barely over 70 000. The plot progression is rather straightforward, and while the Imperial Guard POV may have been a novelty in the WH40K library, the novel is filled mostly with clichés. Substitute the Emperor with God, and the orks with any aliens that spring to your mind, and you have a fairly generic military fiction set in the future.
Scanlon’s vocabulary is not exactly broad, but I’ve found his conversations generally well written, even interesting (though clichéd), and the pacing is adequate. What he suffers from is a heavy repetition of words and phrases. By a series of circumstances, Larn ends up in a totally unknown to him five-men firing squad, where the veterans refer to him as new fish. New fish is, believe it or not, repeated throughout the novel exactly 170 times. That makes 0,66 times per page. Since it’s not exactly a common term, you’ll certainly notice it and it won’t take long before it starts to be a nuisance. Next, there’s abruptly. I can’t tell you how many times someone either does or feels something abruptly. Actually, I can: 52 times. Sometimes even in quick succession. Finally, we arrive to no man’s land. That is a strip of land between the orkish and the human lines that belongs to no one. It is mentioned 45 times, again sometimes with only a sentence or two in between.
Individual character development is scarce, and again very generic. There’s Larn, the naive and yellow recruit; Bulaven, big and burly, but good natured; Davir, the wise-cracking sarcastic joker; Scholar, the educated, almost geekish soldier; and Zeebers, unfriendly, quiet and cold. I actually don’t mind the use of clichés, as long as they’re put together properly, which Scanlon does well most of the time. I can’t say that you’ll actually warm up to these characters, but I’ve read much worse. It was very interesting, though, to see the Guardsmen, unlike their elite Space Marine brothers, not buying completely into the Imperial propaganda, and actually have some traces of free thought. After a decade of fighting a relentless and pointless war in the frozen muddy trenches on a backwater planet no one cares about, many of them have become disillusioned not only with the chain of command, but even with the Emperor. Surely, a visiting Inquisitor would find his hands full.
Character description is, however, impossible to find, save some instances of a couple of sentences at most, offering only the basic information about a character’s appearance. The situation somewhat improves with locales. Though not very present, the few passages describing locales are aptly written.
I don’t know if I should consider it good or bad in regards to the novel, but the parts I enjoyed the most were the two interludes between chapters 3 and 4, and later between chapters 10 and 11. The former is titled "A Day in the Life of Erasmus Ng", and it offers a horrific insight in the life of a man that is nothing more but a microscopic and insignificant cog in a immensely vast, far from properly oiled, Imperial machine - one of the untold billions. It also shows that no action, no matter how apparently small, goes without a proper reaction. Erasmus Ng, though he appears on only a couple of pages, is the best written character in the novel.
The latter interlude is titled “As Above, So Below or Grand Marshal Kerchan and the Genius of Command” gives insight into the inner workings of the chain of command. Again, a very interesting interlude.
There are also several subchapters that serve only as fillers, the most useless among them being the one about a ‘rat boy’. The use of these fillers is not commendable, but it is understandable, since the real start of the novel is the drop-off, and from there until the end the time-frame is only 15 hours. Taking that into account, “Fifteen Hours” is also the least action-filled book in the WH40K universe I’ve read so far, with a sort of an anti-climactic closure. If you’re looking for bolter-porn, skip this title.
The biggest strength of “Fifteen Hours” lies in the fact it is a breath of fresh air in a franchise whose biggest attraction are the Space Marines; ironically, they’re also the dullest that WH40K has to offer. Reading about ordinary soldiers who have emotions, who bleed and die, is more interesting to me as a reader. Sadly, the idea of “Fifteen Hours” was much better than the final product.
Rating: 6/10
February 8, 2021
Full disclaimer: I love the Imperial Guard! They are, by far, my favorite faction in the Warhammer 40K universe! Thusly, any such tales which expand and expound upon the life of a Guardsman will always tickle my fancy. Further, any book which spends roughly 200 pages telling the tale of a 12-hour period of time would perhaps seem mundane, perhaps even monotonous, but not this book. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that everything within after the protagonist's arrival on Boucheroc still only occurs within the eponymous "Fifteen Hours."
Highly recommend. :)
Highly recommend. :)
April 27, 2021
Extremely strong start, some interesting slice-of-grimdark-life moments in the middle, and an ending I found to be somewhat lacklustre.
If I had read this book a little later in my Warhammer 40k novel reading life, I may have found it a little more refreshing. That being said, this is only the second 40k novel I've ever read, and I found that the quick, one or two page actions sequences, that were fairly spread out, to be a little more on the slow side than what I was looking for going into Fifteen Hours. Especially after the foreboding prologue, the heartbreaking first few chapters, and the crazy slaughter that immediately followed, a story that I found to be largely consisting of a few dudes talking in a trench just wasn't what I was expecting.
Don't get me wrong, the story was still fairly interesting, and it was cool to see some of the inner workings and daily routines of the front line soldiers of the Astra Militarum, especially though a character who was also experiencing all of it for the first time. Although I do feel that the dialogue was quite stilted throughout. Every single character in this story said things like "I did not", "it was not me", or "I am not sure" instead of "I didn't", "it wasn't" or "I'm not", which I found to sound very stiff and unnatural coming from a bunch of battle hardened soldiers living in a trench on a frozen wasteland planet.
I also found myself being pulled out of the story on a few occasions by spelling errors in the novel. There was a missing space between two words, a word missing a letter, and an incorrect word used in a sentence (I don't remember the exact error, but think "I am gone to kill you" instead of "I am going to kill you"). This wasn't a huge problem or anything, I just found it strange seeing as I read this in an omnibus, meaning this isn't the first time this book was printed. So either these mistakes were in the original printing, and not fixed when put into the omnibus, or that the mistakes weren't in the original, and were made in the process of putting it into the omnibus. More of a quality control complaint than a knock against the novel itself.
Lastly, as stated at the very beginning of this review, the prologue and beginning of the story were absolutely amazing. I had very high hopes for Fifteen Hours after getting to about the end of chapter 3 or 4. Unfortunately I found the middle parts of the story to be lacking much of the emotion and shock of the earlier chapters, and the ending (to me) seemed a little rushed.
All in all, Fifteen Hours was an alright Warhammer 40k novel, but I didn't love it, and I doubt I would read it again. If you have been through a handful of 40k novels and are looking for a little less combat and a little more "life in the trenches", I would recommend checking this out. Just be prepared to be making grammatical contractions in your head while you read the dialogue.
If I had read this book a little later in my Warhammer 40k novel reading life, I may have found it a little more refreshing. That being said, this is only the second 40k novel I've ever read, and I found that the quick, one or two page actions sequences, that were fairly spread out, to be a little more on the slow side than what I was looking for going into Fifteen Hours. Especially after the foreboding prologue, the heartbreaking first few chapters, and the crazy slaughter that immediately followed, a story that I found to be largely consisting of a few dudes talking in a trench just wasn't what I was expecting.
Don't get me wrong, the story was still fairly interesting, and it was cool to see some of the inner workings and daily routines of the front line soldiers of the Astra Militarum, especially though a character who was also experiencing all of it for the first time. Although I do feel that the dialogue was quite stilted throughout. Every single character in this story said things like "I did not", "it was not me", or "I am not sure" instead of "I didn't", "it wasn't" or "I'm not", which I found to sound very stiff and unnatural coming from a bunch of battle hardened soldiers living in a trench on a frozen wasteland planet.
I also found myself being pulled out of the story on a few occasions by spelling errors in the novel. There was a missing space between two words, a word missing a letter, and an incorrect word used in a sentence (I don't remember the exact error, but think "I am gone to kill you" instead of "I am going to kill you"). This wasn't a huge problem or anything, I just found it strange seeing as I read this in an omnibus, meaning this isn't the first time this book was printed. So either these mistakes were in the original printing, and not fixed when put into the omnibus, or that the mistakes weren't in the original, and were made in the process of putting it into the omnibus. More of a quality control complaint than a knock against the novel itself.
Lastly, as stated at the very beginning of this review, the prologue and beginning of the story were absolutely amazing. I had very high hopes for Fifteen Hours after getting to about the end of chapter 3 or 4. Unfortunately I found the middle parts of the story to be lacking much of the emotion and shock of the earlier chapters, and the ending (to me) seemed a little rushed.
All in all, Fifteen Hours was an alright Warhammer 40k novel, but I didn't love it, and I doubt I would read it again. If you have been through a handful of 40k novels and are looking for a little less combat and a little more "life in the trenches", I would recommend checking this out. Just be prepared to be making grammatical contractions in your head while you read the dialogue.
August 14, 2021
WW1 novel in 40k... I enjoyed it.
June 3, 2025
Mijn eerste kennismaking met het universum van 40K! Scanlon schrijft heel vlot, waardoor je pas later doorhebt hoe ontzettend gruwelijk het verhaal eigenlijk is. Op naar meer!
March 19, 2013
After reading several reviews, I'd like to clear a few misconceptions:
1.) This is not a good book to introduce you to WH40K. If you want a good entry point to the galaxy according to Games Workshop, get the Ultramarines Omnibus, the Space Wolves Omnibus, or start reading the Horus Heresy novels. They introduce the WH40K galaxy in much better detail.
2.) This is a book about war. It's not a kid's book, where a happy ending is almost mandatory; rather, it's ending is perfect for what the book is trying to communicate. I read 3 series by another, unrelated author in an unrelated universe, with wonkier endings than this one has, and they worked.
What it does right is tell the story of an Imperial Guardsman from induction, through part of basic training, to his very first day in combat. There are no frills, but plenty of symbolism is present: his homeworld is warm and colorful, yet the planet he fights on is cold and grey. It's basic, but again... it works.
What it doesn't do right is jump around in the beginning. You see nearly nothing of Arvin Larn's basic training. You know almost nothing of his social life before or during his Guardsman days. Worst of all, it almost loses the reader before they even reach the battle.
Once Scanlon gets you to the fight, though, he does an amazing job of painting the scene in the grimmest possible terms. This isn't honorable warfare, or even glory and heroism: this is dirty, muddy, bloody trench warfare in its basest form. The generals are incompetent, artillery is inaccurate, and it all ends in tears.
This isn't high literature by any stretch of the imagination. This is just an entertaining read to kill a few hours (maybe 15 of them?) between serious books, or a change of pace from reading paeans to the Space Marines. If you like 40K, you'll enjoy this book; if you don't, or have never tried reading in the 40K galaxy, it's still an interesting book.
1.) This is not a good book to introduce you to WH40K. If you want a good entry point to the galaxy according to Games Workshop, get the Ultramarines Omnibus, the Space Wolves Omnibus, or start reading the Horus Heresy novels. They introduce the WH40K galaxy in much better detail.
2.) This is a book about war. It's not a kid's book, where a happy ending is almost mandatory; rather, it's ending is perfect for what the book is trying to communicate. I read 3 series by another, unrelated author in an unrelated universe, with wonkier endings than this one has, and they worked.
What it does right is tell the story of an Imperial Guardsman from induction, through part of basic training, to his very first day in combat. There are no frills, but plenty of symbolism is present: his homeworld is warm and colorful, yet the planet he fights on is cold and grey. It's basic, but again... it works.
What it doesn't do right is jump around in the beginning. You see nearly nothing of Arvin Larn's basic training. You know almost nothing of his social life before or during his Guardsman days. Worst of all, it almost loses the reader before they even reach the battle.
Once Scanlon gets you to the fight, though, he does an amazing job of painting the scene in the grimmest possible terms. This isn't honorable warfare, or even glory and heroism: this is dirty, muddy, bloody trench warfare in its basest form. The generals are incompetent, artillery is inaccurate, and it all ends in tears.
This isn't high literature by any stretch of the imagination. This is just an entertaining read to kill a few hours (maybe 15 of them?) between serious books, or a change of pace from reading paeans to the Space Marines. If you like 40K, you'll enjoy this book; if you don't, or have never tried reading in the 40K galaxy, it's still an interesting book.
December 23, 2015
For my second foray into Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) literature, I chose Mitchel Scanlon's "Fifteen Hours." This story follows 17 year old Arvin Larn, from his involuntary induction into the Imperial Guard to his frontline experiences during the Siege of Broucheroc, an industrial city surrounded by Orks.
The first three chapters introduce us to the main character, his family, and his in-transit training with the 14th Jumael Volunteers.
By the end of Chapter Four, Larn finds himself the sole survivor of the 6th Company, after they were directed--by mistake--to make planetfall near Broucheroc, and ended up crash landing in no-man's land (Chapter Five).
In Chapters Six through Seventeen, our hapless hero learns the significance of fifteen hours: It is the life expectancy of a new recruit to Broucheroc. During these 12 hours, Larn faces Ork snipers, friendly fire, some unfriendly team mates, incompetent officers, bad food, an all-out Ork assault, and a night patrol into no man's land.
Technically, Larn survives past 15 hours to see the dawning of a new day--but his fate is not a happy one.
Basically, "Fifteen Hours" is WH40K's version of "All Quiet on the Western Front"--and just as depressing.
The author paints a grim picture on what life for an Imperial Guardsman on the frontlines is like. But this is in-keeping with all the WH40K background material found in the core rulebooks and supplements, known as "codexes."
I give Fifteen Hours a 3-star rating, primarily because of the downer ending.
My rating is only 0.7 less than the average rating on Amazon.com, with only 61% of raters loving the story (4 & 5-stars). Many of the unsatisfied raters (1 & 2-stars) were critical of the author's writing, whereas I thought the author did a good job with this being his first novel.
I just wanted to see the hero prevail over "...the grim dark future."
The first three chapters introduce us to the main character, his family, and his in-transit training with the 14th Jumael Volunteers.
By the end of Chapter Four, Larn finds himself the sole survivor of the 6th Company, after they were directed--by mistake--to make planetfall near Broucheroc, and ended up crash landing in no-man's land (Chapter Five).
In Chapters Six through Seventeen, our hapless hero learns the significance of fifteen hours: It is the life expectancy of a new recruit to Broucheroc. During these 12 hours, Larn faces Ork snipers, friendly fire, some unfriendly team mates, incompetent officers, bad food, an all-out Ork assault, and a night patrol into no man's land.
Technically, Larn survives past 15 hours to see the dawning of a new day--but his fate is not a happy one.
Basically, "Fifteen Hours" is WH40K's version of "All Quiet on the Western Front"--and just as depressing.
The author paints a grim picture on what life for an Imperial Guardsman on the frontlines is like. But this is in-keeping with all the WH40K background material found in the core rulebooks and supplements, known as "codexes."
I give Fifteen Hours a 3-star rating, primarily because of the downer ending.
My rating is only 0.7 less than the average rating on Amazon.com, with only 61% of raters loving the story (4 & 5-stars). Many of the unsatisfied raters (1 & 2-stars) were critical of the author's writing, whereas I thought the author did a good job with this being his first novel.
I just wanted to see the hero prevail over "...the grim dark future."
September 9, 2021
Good old grimdark 40k. I loved the glimpes into the administratum and the utter banality of the massive scale of wars going on everywhere. Beyond that nothing really new here, but still interesting to get a view from the common soldier and not Space Marines or the super special forces like Gaunts Ghosts tend to become in the later installmens.
October 31, 2024
Beautiful, wretched, violent, irreverent. I cried at the end. 5/5 would get dropped in a hostile war zone where I’m only expected to survive 15 hours again.
August 23, 2023
This is unbelievably good. An account of a Guardsmen’s first fifteen hours on a new world and the dark and grim life of an Imperial Guardsmen. Really gritty and incredibly well written.
March 14, 2017
I liked the book overall, I didn't like the fact the ending is given away in the beginning, and did not like the ending.
December 7, 2022
Dis review iz brought to ya by da 'ard nobz ov at da 'Urty Rotten Toof Yankerz. Roight, ya runty grotz! Shut yer zoggin' gobz an' get yer listenin' gear round dis!
Uh anyway. This book was something. It was a book, with words in it. I was expecting more like a “Die ork scum, pieces of garbage die!” And it was more like “I’m cold 😢😢. War sucks! 😡😡”
Only people I would recommend this to is um, is… damn idk. 😃
Uh anyway. This book was something. It was a book, with words in it. I was expecting more like a “Die ork scum, pieces of garbage die!” And it was more like “I’m cold 😢😢. War sucks! 😡😡”
Only people I would recommend this to is um, is… damn idk. 😃
January 3, 2024
Even if this wasn’t Warhammer it’d still be a bloody good book.
Relatively short- my ebook put it down at approx 4 hours, seen some editions were 190 pages.
Absolutely must read for Imperial Guard fans, or anyone looking for a taste of the gloriously broken Imperium in general.
It gave a vibe of band of brothers, saving private Ryan and starship troopers.
Relatively short- my ebook put it down at approx 4 hours, seen some editions were 190 pages.
Absolutely must read for Imperial Guard fans, or anyone looking for a taste of the gloriously broken Imperium in general.
It gave a vibe of band of brothers, saving private Ryan and starship troopers.
July 11, 2025
Книга, що провадить тебе як новачка і звичайну людину в світі майбутнього сорокового тисячоліття. Загалом описується війна, та реалії життя під час війни, в яких новобранці рідко проживають 15 годин...
December 19, 2025
Fifteen Hours is a brutal, grounded look at the Imperial Guard at their most honest.
The title isn’t poetic — it’s a statistic. Fifteen hours is the average life expectancy of a newly deployed Guardsman on this front, and that knowledge hangs over every page. You’re not reading to see if things go wrong, but how quickly they do.
The title isn’t poetic — it’s a statistic. Fifteen hours is the average life expectancy of a newly deployed Guardsman on this front, and that knowledge hangs over every page. You’re not reading to see if things go wrong, but how quickly they do.
November 30, 2025
Wonderfully grim. Showcases how simple errors in the Administratum leads to catastrophic consequences for multiple theaters of war. Engaging characters in the various Guard troopers and a great ending.
June 29, 2023
A good guardsman doesn't think, he only hates.
What a thrill to look into the world of the average Imperial Guard soldier. Fifteen Hours tells the story of a green recruit getting into his first mission against the enemies of the Imperium, but, but the accidental negligence of the never ending bureaucratic machine of the Administratum, his entire unit is accidentally sent to a doomed planet being overrun by orks.
The title alone gives you an idea, more or less, about what this book is about. The story itself feels like it takes cues from films like Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front. It is a sour, bleak tale of a young man being thrown into the maws of hell. Scanlon does a great job at conveying how cheap life is in this universe, and how every soldier is closer to a mindless automaton than a mere human, and yet, underneath each one of those muck-faced soldiers, lies the hopes and dreams of a broken and forsaken man.
The novel takes a big focus on the incompetence and negligence of the Imperial Guard, particularly the extreme indoctrination that eternally perpetuates a state of stagnation and mediocrity. There are no good generals of COs here, everyone is a piece of shit, and the ones that pay are the poor soldiers with nothing left to live for.
It is quite the grim tale, and each page is filled with the dirt, blood and mud of a tragic WW1-style war. In its execution, it manages to get it quite right, however, there are still some problems. The novel is fairly short but feels too rushed. Although all the action only takes about fifteen hours in the narrative, there are certain scenes that drag on longer than they should, and others that are shorter than desired. The ending, in particular, left me disappointed, and fails to give me the impact that was building up to the last page. The way it sometimes focuses too much on the ineptitude of the Imperial Guard also feels a little unfocused from the main story, and no major events occur from the character's perspective. Even if the book itself is quite depressing, it's surprisingly not that violent, which I feel takes away a bit from the quality of being a dark story. I mean; it felt censored at times.
Still, with its few pages, this novel is a fairly quick and easy read. Enjoyable and a good introduction to the world of Warhammer 40k. It could have been much better and wastes a bit of its potential, but it is enjoyable.
What a thrill to look into the world of the average Imperial Guard soldier. Fifteen Hours tells the story of a green recruit getting into his first mission against the enemies of the Imperium, but, but the accidental negligence of the never ending bureaucratic machine of the Administratum, his entire unit is accidentally sent to a doomed planet being overrun by orks.
The title alone gives you an idea, more or less, about what this book is about. The story itself feels like it takes cues from films like Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front. It is a sour, bleak tale of a young man being thrown into the maws of hell. Scanlon does a great job at conveying how cheap life is in this universe, and how every soldier is closer to a mindless automaton than a mere human, and yet, underneath each one of those muck-faced soldiers, lies the hopes and dreams of a broken and forsaken man.
The novel takes a big focus on the incompetence and negligence of the Imperial Guard, particularly the extreme indoctrination that eternally perpetuates a state of stagnation and mediocrity. There are no good generals of COs here, everyone is a piece of shit, and the ones that pay are the poor soldiers with nothing left to live for.
It is quite the grim tale, and each page is filled with the dirt, blood and mud of a tragic WW1-style war. In its execution, it manages to get it quite right, however, there are still some problems. The novel is fairly short but feels too rushed. Although all the action only takes about fifteen hours in the narrative, there are certain scenes that drag on longer than they should, and others that are shorter than desired. The ending, in particular, left me disappointed, and fails to give me the impact that was building up to the last page. The way it sometimes focuses too much on the ineptitude of the Imperial Guard also feels a little unfocused from the main story, and no major events occur from the character's perspective. Even if the book itself is quite depressing, it's surprisingly not that violent, which I feel takes away a bit from the quality of being a dark story. I mean; it felt censored at times.
Still, with its few pages, this novel is a fairly quick and easy read. Enjoyable and a good introduction to the world of Warhammer 40k. It could have been much better and wastes a bit of its potential, but it is enjoyable.
August 13, 2012
My cousins loaned this to me as a means of getting into the Warhammer 40k series. The universe in which it takes place in they made to sound very interesting, and figured this book was a good introduction. My one cousin described this book as simply "brutal." I have to agree, but not in the way he meant.
The story itself centers on a boring farm boy named Larn from a boring farm world who is drafted into a never ending inter galactic war and because of one clerical error, ends up being sent to the wrong planet. I was never bothered to care if he lived or died, in fact, halfway through the book I was wishing he would die already so the book could end.
What really got me bitching and moaning was the writing. The fact that Scanlon apparently didn't think the reader was smart enough to deduce that the orks were huge based on a description he gave, and felt it necessary to back it up almost immediately with Larn's internal monologue of "Oh, Gee, these orks sure are big" was insulting. And it just went down hill from there. I don't know who taught this man to write, but they need to let him know it's okay to say "gasp" instead of "a sharp intake of breath." It's just so bad. At one point, I realized, I would have rather been reading Twilight. And I hate Twilight!
The one thing I did like about this book, was the fact that, Zeebers, the one character I liked just by virtue of him hating Larn too, is ultimately the one who kills him.
This book was just all kinds of bad, and while I acknowledge that this was his first novel, Mitchel Scanlon is on my shitlist. Depending on how the other two books they gave me, my cousins might be on it too.
The story itself centers on a boring farm boy named Larn from a boring farm world who is drafted into a never ending inter galactic war and because of one clerical error, ends up being sent to the wrong planet. I was never bothered to care if he lived or died, in fact, halfway through the book I was wishing he would die already so the book could end.
What really got me bitching and moaning was the writing. The fact that Scanlon apparently didn't think the reader was smart enough to deduce that the orks were huge based on a description he gave, and felt it necessary to back it up almost immediately with Larn's internal monologue of "Oh, Gee, these orks sure are big" was insulting. And it just went down hill from there. I don't know who taught this man to write, but they need to let him know it's okay to say "gasp" instead of "a sharp intake of breath." It's just so bad. At one point, I realized, I would have rather been reading Twilight. And I hate Twilight!
The one thing I did like about this book, was the fact that, Zeebers, the one character I liked just by virtue of him hating Larn too, is ultimately the one who kills him.
This book was just all kinds of bad, and while I acknowledge that this was his first novel, Mitchel Scanlon is on my shitlist. Depending on how the other two books they gave me, my cousins might be on it too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2009
This was the first 40k book I read and it was recommended by a friend obsessed with the Warhammer 40k universe. He loved this book.
My opinion was that it was decent. It was a pretty short read, less than 300 pages, so I didn't feel like I really wasted my time with it.
My friend who recommended it said it was the author's first full novel, and if that's the case, it's not a bad breakthrough novel, but the writing just doesn't seem quite up to par with my expectations. Descriptions were kind of bland or not done well; at times I wasn't sure who was talking or where they were, who was who, what exactly was going on.
Overall, if you're a fan of the 40k universe (you've probably read this already), then I would hesitantly recommend this book, because like I rated it, it is an "okay" read and short. But if you're a complete newcomer, or have only read a few books and aren't in love with 40k, then I would say that there are much better books in the universe you could be reading, and not to read this one.
My opinion was that it was decent. It was a pretty short read, less than 300 pages, so I didn't feel like I really wasted my time with it.
My friend who recommended it said it was the author's first full novel, and if that's the case, it's not a bad breakthrough novel, but the writing just doesn't seem quite up to par with my expectations. Descriptions were kind of bland or not done well; at times I wasn't sure who was talking or where they were, who was who, what exactly was going on.
Overall, if you're a fan of the 40k universe (you've probably read this already), then I would hesitantly recommend this book, because like I rated it, it is an "okay" read and short. But if you're a complete newcomer, or have only read a few books and aren't in love with 40k, then I would say that there are much better books in the universe you could be reading, and not to read this one.
February 18, 2015
Scanlon sets up a cast and how they get misrouted to an Ork-infested warzone separate from their regiment. Just as you're starting to get to know them - full cast wipe, start over with new characters. You sigh, then try to get to know the new batch - full cast wipe, start over with new characters. Then he has the gall to expect you to care what happens to the third cast during a suicide mission during the third full cast wipe at the end of the book. Why should I? He's done his darndest to say "don't care about anyone in this book because I'm just going to dump them and move on".
The book was... empty. I wasn't entertained and was more frustrated than illuminated by the constant erasure of the entire cast. You could argue that the turnover in characters is meant to be symbolic of the high turnover in the guard itself. But you only get to play the symbolism card if a yarn does its primary duty of being entertaining. This was not. It engendered apathy. I only finished the book out of sheer bloody-mindedness. I was tempted to just abandon it several times.
The book was... empty. I wasn't entertained and was more frustrated than illuminated by the constant erasure of the entire cast. You could argue that the turnover in characters is meant to be symbolic of the high turnover in the guard itself. But you only get to play the symbolism card if a yarn does its primary duty of being entertaining. This was not. It engendered apathy. I only finished the book out of sheer bloody-mindedness. I was tempted to just abandon it several times.
June 28, 2023
Abruptly ok.
I mostly enjoyed the story but found the characters were too stereotyped (big heavy weapons guy, nerdy tech guy, grumpy sergeant, etc). Towards the end I had lost interest in what actually happened to any of them. What really killed it for me though was massive overuse of the word "abruptly". Sounds petty to pick up on that, but it's used so much that it just became a big thing for me. Maybe that's just me though.
I mostly enjoyed the story but found the characters were too stereotyped (big heavy weapons guy, nerdy tech guy, grumpy sergeant, etc). Towards the end I had lost interest in what actually happened to any of them. What really killed it for me though was massive overuse of the word "abruptly". Sounds petty to pick up on that, but it's used so much that it just became a big thing for me. Maybe that's just me though.
January 22, 2024
This was not very good. It was funny at times, and has a few fun military fiction comrades in arms moments. The prose is forgettable. It would have been totally incomprehensible without a bunch of background knowledge about Warhammer 40k stuff. This is the first bit of actual 40k fiction I've read and it doesn't fill me with a burning desire to read more, despite my pretty high appetite for pulp.
May 1, 2019
A day in the life of an Imperial Guardsman. I thought it had a Catch 22 flavor to it, but I'm no "book scientist" so what do I know?
I know that this book gives a cool insight into the 40k universe through the eyes of an everyday schmuck. Grim, dark, scary, frustrating. Loved it.
I know that this book gives a cool insight into the 40k universe through the eyes of an everyday schmuck. Grim, dark, scary, frustrating. Loved it.
December 22, 2018
This one is a bit different from the other Warhammer 40k books I’ve read; one not focused on the all-powerful Space Marines and their battles against the forces of Chaos and the betrayal of many of their own.
This is focused on the Imperial Guard, the billions strong army, where millions can be thrown into battle as cannon fodder without anyone batting an eye.
Arvin Larn, a young farmer’s boy on some backwater planet, has been chosen to serve in the Guard, when its decreed that the planet must raise two regiments. Taken into the Imperial Guard means never to return home again, lost in the endless battles fought by the Imperium across the galaxy. After his training, he and his regiment are to be sent to fight against a small insurrection, however due to a clerical error he is dropped on Broucheroc, a planet ravaged by a decades long war, where they are massively outnumbered by a huge Ork army. Larn, finding himself in the wrong war, surrounded by other Guardsmen he doesn’t know who see him as a liability. Where Larn learns that most new recruits don’t survive their first fifteen hours planetside.
This book is smaller scale than the other 40k books I’ve read, both in the characters and the scope of the battles fought, where Larn and his fellow grunts are dug into trenches and bunkers defending the city, rather than hundreds of Space Marines battling against Chaos heresy, and I thought this was a good change of pace.
The book, while still 40k, I think without the main characters being part of the Adeptus Astartes the way the characters talk flows that little bit better, while still grimdark; Larn, Bulaven, Davir etc seem a bit more relatable as they aren't speaking in a sort of over the top bastardized Shakespeare.
The book conveys well, how for most people in the Imperium of Man, they have no way of grasping the scale of the threats surrounding them, how inconsequential their lives are to the Imperium and its endless war.
The characters are fairly decent, while not the most original of characters; the naive, idealistic farm boy Larn, to the squad he finds himself in, the older soldier that takes him under his wing, the one a bit cleverer, the mean one who doesn’t like the newcomer. You’ve seen them before, but they suit the story well.
This seems a good edition to the 40k series, something bit different and adds a bit more to the lore of the universe. While not massively original, the book moves along well with a mix of good characters and with some explosive action. I’d say it’s both a good place to start for those new to the Warhammer 40k world and for those already in dark future of the Imperium.
This is focused on the Imperial Guard, the billions strong army, where millions can be thrown into battle as cannon fodder without anyone batting an eye.
Arvin Larn, a young farmer’s boy on some backwater planet, has been chosen to serve in the Guard, when its decreed that the planet must raise two regiments. Taken into the Imperial Guard means never to return home again, lost in the endless battles fought by the Imperium across the galaxy. After his training, he and his regiment are to be sent to fight against a small insurrection, however due to a clerical error he is dropped on Broucheroc, a planet ravaged by a decades long war, where they are massively outnumbered by a huge Ork army. Larn, finding himself in the wrong war, surrounded by other Guardsmen he doesn’t know who see him as a liability. Where Larn learns that most new recruits don’t survive their first fifteen hours planetside.
This book is smaller scale than the other 40k books I’ve read, both in the characters and the scope of the battles fought, where Larn and his fellow grunts are dug into trenches and bunkers defending the city, rather than hundreds of Space Marines battling against Chaos heresy, and I thought this was a good change of pace.
The book, while still 40k, I think without the main characters being part of the Adeptus Astartes the way the characters talk flows that little bit better, while still grimdark; Larn, Bulaven, Davir etc seem a bit more relatable as they aren't speaking in a sort of over the top bastardized Shakespeare.
The book conveys well, how for most people in the Imperium of Man, they have no way of grasping the scale of the threats surrounding them, how inconsequential their lives are to the Imperium and its endless war.
The characters are fairly decent, while not the most original of characters; the naive, idealistic farm boy Larn, to the squad he finds himself in, the older soldier that takes him under his wing, the one a bit cleverer, the mean one who doesn’t like the newcomer. You’ve seen them before, but they suit the story well.
This seems a good edition to the 40k series, something bit different and adds a bit more to the lore of the universe. While not massively original, the book moves along well with a mix of good characters and with some explosive action. I’d say it’s both a good place to start for those new to the Warhammer 40k world and for those already in dark future of the Imperium.
March 27, 2025
This was a lovely book, one of my favorites so far.
The setting was gruesome. The action takes place on a dull, grey and frozen planet, far away from the rest of the Imperium. The Orks are so numerous, they can't be defeated. There is no hope long-term, just the bleak determination of holding and defending each assault, one after the other.
The book isn't actually that dark though. Sure, it brings its fair share of violence. The guardsmen feel tiny and desperate when their position is pounded by the shells of the artillery, or when one of them gets face to face with a huge massive Ork. Limbs get severed, organs fly in the air, the grey much goes red... it is a 40K book after all. But the focus isn't really on that.
The planet, the Orks... it's not really about that. It could have been the same on a different planet, against a different Xenos species. The book is about the soldiers themselves, their daily life, their determination and more than anything else, their camaraderie and how they interact with each others.
The star of the show is "new fish". He just landed there. Like any new fish on this planet, he's expected to survive for about 15 hours average. If he makes it that long, maybe his mates will ask him what is actual name is.
The reason I loved this book was because it focused on something very relatable. You know that feeling you have after bonding with a group of people you didn't know, whether it's on a holiday or sports camp, or a company. At the start there's you and there's them. They're different, you're alone, it's all about what separates you and it goes both ways. By the time you leave them, you're one of them, you're all the same, and nothing matters more than them. This book describes that extremely well.
This was my first book about the Astra Militarum. It won't be the last. We also get really cool interludes here and there. Small paragraphs describing how the action is seen from the POV of other people, how detached the commanding officers are from the action, how cold and distant the administration is away from the front.
If you're new to Warhammer, I'd say this is a really good book to start with. You don't need much prior knowledge to appreciate it, though I was glad I had browsed through the Infantryman's handbook beforehand. It made me enjoy it even more.
The setting was gruesome. The action takes place on a dull, grey and frozen planet, far away from the rest of the Imperium. The Orks are so numerous, they can't be defeated. There is no hope long-term, just the bleak determination of holding and defending each assault, one after the other.
The book isn't actually that dark though. Sure, it brings its fair share of violence. The guardsmen feel tiny and desperate when their position is pounded by the shells of the artillery, or when one of them gets face to face with a huge massive Ork. Limbs get severed, organs fly in the air, the grey much goes red... it is a 40K book after all. But the focus isn't really on that.
The planet, the Orks... it's not really about that. It could have been the same on a different planet, against a different Xenos species. The book is about the soldiers themselves, their daily life, their determination and more than anything else, their camaraderie and how they interact with each others.
The star of the show is "new fish". He just landed there. Like any new fish on this planet, he's expected to survive for about 15 hours average. If he makes it that long, maybe his mates will ask him what is actual name is.
The reason I loved this book was because it focused on something very relatable. You know that feeling you have after bonding with a group of people you didn't know, whether it's on a holiday or sports camp, or a company. At the start there's you and there's them. They're different, you're alone, it's all about what separates you and it goes both ways. By the time you leave them, you're one of them, you're all the same, and nothing matters more than them. This book describes that extremely well.
This was my first book about the Astra Militarum. It won't be the last. We also get really cool interludes here and there. Small paragraphs describing how the action is seen from the POV of other people, how detached the commanding officers are from the action, how cold and distant the administration is away from the front.
If you're new to Warhammer, I'd say this is a really good book to start with. You don't need much prior knowledge to appreciate it, though I was glad I had browsed through the Infantryman's handbook beforehand. It made me enjoy it even more.
August 19, 2021
Ugh, such a perfect novel in the Warhammer Universe, and then it ends. Like this. Just end. Dot. This is it.
Let's talk about the worst thing about this book. You'll not see it coming, because you expect the story to have a proper ending right? We follow multiple characters in this trench war against the works, so naturally, you expect some sort of resolution for most of them. But no. It just ends, without any warning.
I get the point the novel is trying to make, but still, it's so unsatisfying.
Now, let's talk about the good things. It's a war story set in the Warhammer 40K Universe, but anyone can read it, it's not so heavy on the lore. And the best part is there are few battle scenes. Yeah, I know, I'm surprised myself. Warhammer 40K and no "bolter porn", but solid character progression and insightful commentaries. This is the best part of Warhammer 40K, discovering the little pieces that make the universe and the lives of the people living in this hell. As you can see, I'm a fan of the lore, but not the battles. The moment someone says "This Warhammer book was pretty boring as the characters just stand around and talk too much", I know it's for me.
It's also tragicomic. I smiled a few times here and there and even though I recognize that all characters are pretty cliche, it's a very fun book, dealing with a lot of things in an engaging way: horrors of war, human ego and stupid mistakes, coming of age.
One more thing. As someone here mentioned, this really feels like a War World I novel, but replace the enemies with orks. It's an interesting comparison. Because the orks are just mindless savage aliens intent on destroying everything they see, it removes the human enemy component in a war novel. This makes it easy to root for the humans, who are fighting for their own survival. It also shows their glaring flaws, because the enemy is pretty stupid, so we cannot lay the blame on the tactical genius of the orks.
Let's talk about the worst thing about this book. You'll not see it coming, because you expect the story to have a proper ending right? We follow multiple characters in this trench war against the works, so naturally, you expect some sort of resolution for most of them. But no. It just ends, without any warning.
I get the point the novel is trying to make, but still, it's so unsatisfying.
Now, let's talk about the good things. It's a war story set in the Warhammer 40K Universe, but anyone can read it, it's not so heavy on the lore. And the best part is there are few battle scenes. Yeah, I know, I'm surprised myself. Warhammer 40K and no "bolter porn", but solid character progression and insightful commentaries. This is the best part of Warhammer 40K, discovering the little pieces that make the universe and the lives of the people living in this hell. As you can see, I'm a fan of the lore, but not the battles. The moment someone says "This Warhammer book was pretty boring as the characters just stand around and talk too much", I know it's for me.
It's also tragicomic. I smiled a few times here and there and even though I recognize that all characters are pretty cliche, it's a very fun book, dealing with a lot of things in an engaging way: horrors of war, human ego and stupid mistakes, coming of age.
One more thing. As someone here mentioned, this really feels like a War World I novel, but replace the enemies with orks. It's an interesting comparison. Because the orks are just mindless savage aliens intent on destroying everything they see, it removes the human enemy component in a war novel. This makes it easy to root for the humans, who are fighting for their own survival. It also shows their glaring flaws, because the enemy is pretty stupid, so we cannot lay the blame on the tactical genius of the orks.
March 27, 2025
8/10. Wow, what an ending. When I was in the middle of reading this, I felt fairly confident that it was going to land somewhere around a 7/10 for me - a good, solid, decent piece of WH40K fiction - but by the end, I was forced to revise my rating up to an 8. It's certainly not perfect, by any means. I found a lot of the dialogue and descriptions to be extremely stiff and awkward and the voices for many of the characters were nearly indistinguishable from each other - but where the story excels is its depiction of war as a hellish, brutal, and often pointless and absurd affair from the perspective of a fresh-faced, green recruit. I expected to find a decently well-written piece of forgettable "bolter porn", but instead I discovered a surprisingly thoughtful work of military fiction highly reminiscent of stories I've read about the Vietnam War. In some ways, the WH40K setting is perfect for a story like this, because really, what regime is more pointlessly and carelessly brutal than the Imperium of Man? This is a setting where billions of lives are only an afterthought, and trillions of men and women are fighting a desperate battle for survival against all manner of foes across innumerable worlds at any given moment. The sheer scale boggles the imagination. And yet, somehow, Scanlon takes that unimaginable setting, reduces it to vignettes for us, and in the process distills it down to something recognizably and relatably human. Well done.
May 11, 2021
A very solid grim-dark Imperial Guard book! It reads very reminiscent to movies or tv shows about either WWI or WWII. There's a small group of soldiers that have to look out for each other (for better or worse), and the main character is brand new to the Guard so he's like a fish out of water. Trench warfare, overbearing generals and other military leaders, training for battle only to have your memory and resolve tested in the moment. The list goes on—which is a good thing! Fifteen Hours is quite the relaxed and enjoyable read, which sometimes can't be said about other Guard books where they drone on about siege warfare or etc. Scanlon lets the action take front seat when it's present, but during the in-between moments he is still able to keep things interesting with soldier-to-soldier banter and other "non-combat" events.
The in-universe terminology is very minor in Fifteen Hours, so I would definitely recommend this book to someone who doesn't know a lot about Warhammer 40,000 as it accurately shows off the Guard, franchise, and other select elements without drowning you in terminology or expecting you to know what they're talking about.
The in-universe terminology is very minor in Fifteen Hours, so I would definitely recommend this book to someone who doesn't know a lot about Warhammer 40,000 as it accurately shows off the Guard, franchise, and other select elements without drowning you in terminology or expecting you to know what they're talking about.
December 21, 2025
Read this book off the recommendation of a big Warhammer 40k fan. Purchased it off Thriftbooks, got it in the mail, read it in a single evening- maybe 3 hours or so.
Pros: Presents the Warhammer 40k universe in a simple, accessible fashion without overloading the reader with factions or mythology. Follows a completely normal individual as he joins the Guard, goes through training, and begins to fight. Decent show not tell of all flaws inherent in the system the Guard.
Cons: The characters are not particularly unique or fleshed out, but the story isn't about them in the first place.
All in all, a solid book that shows the grimdark of the universe in a much more mundane fashion than most. The systems are broken, and not likely to be fixed.
Would recommend to Warhammer 40k fans, anyone looking for a very ground level entry into the lore.
Would read again.
Pros: Presents the Warhammer 40k universe in a simple, accessible fashion without overloading the reader with factions or mythology. Follows a completely normal individual as he joins the Guard, goes through training, and begins to fight. Decent show not tell of all flaws inherent in the system the Guard.
Cons: The characters are not particularly unique or fleshed out, but the story isn't about them in the first place.
All in all, a solid book that shows the grimdark of the universe in a much more mundane fashion than most. The systems are broken, and not likely to be fixed.
Would recommend to Warhammer 40k fans, anyone looking for a very ground level entry into the lore.
Would read again.
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