Legacy of the Wulfen

Warhammer 40,000

by David Annandale, Robbie MacNiven

The Space Wolves are a proud and fierce Chapter, who have a long and storied history. Not all of their sagas, however, are glorious. There are secrets buried deep in their past, and enemies eternal, earned by acts committed in a lost and half-forgotten age. When the worlds of Fenris come under attack from a malevolent daemon tide, all who serve the Fang answer. War engulfs the Space Wolves as never before, but amongst the carnage lurks a greater horror: the return of their lost brothers, the dark legacy of Russ. Can the Space Wolves survive the revelation of the Wulfen?

Read it because
It's the two fantastic novels from War Zonr Fenris – by David Annandale and Robbie MacNiven – collected together in a single volume for the first time. It's all the Fenrisian action you could want, and then some. Vlka Fenryka!

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction

448 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2017

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Legacy of the Wulfen is actually two novellas in one. The first is "Curse of the Wolfen" and the second one is "Legacy of Russ" (by David Annandale and Robbie Macniven respectively).

I thought the first story was merely "ok" and the second story was excellent.
The first story gets into a "curse" that may be inside the genetic strain of the Space Wolves. It seems under tremendous stress, or the pervasive powers of the Warp, they become a mutated form of Space Wolves- more lupine, more feral and far larger than normal-they are referred to as the Wulfen. During the period of the Horus Heresy, Lehman Russ the Space Wolve's Primarch went out on a hunt along with the 13th Grand Company. After they disappeared they became the stuff of legends. As the Space Wolves reunite with their Wulfen brethren there is an undercurrent of nefarious deeds by the Warp powers. In an unheard of situation, it seems all the Dark Gods have banded together to invade the Space Wolves homeworld.

The second story fills in many of the blanks and is a far better story, IMHO. It gets into the situation with the Space Wolves and Russ' legacy-the feral change that can occur to his chapter. This is a grand tale with many different chapters involved (from Dark Angels to Ultramarines) and even the Inquisition. No one knows for sure if the Space Wolves have turned traitor and the fact that there is a Changeling wreaking havoc on the intra-chapter trust. More than this I will not say as this is a good plot and I won't give away spoilers.

So all in all a good story. The first story is not terrible, but just not up to the standards I'm used to from Warhammer 40K. The second tale made up for it. A great tale for anyone interested in Russ' legacy of genetic mutation. But it does bring into question just what the deal is with the Dark Angels and their "secret".

[Glyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It is actually an anthology of two novellas which cover one of the most significant periods in the immediate run to the "new" Warhammer 40K namely the damaging of the Fenris System, the near destruction of the ancient Space Wolves Chapter and the return of the fabled 13th Company. In pure fluff terms that makes this one of the most important Black Library novels ever produced.

is it any good though? Yes, though there are some caveats to that statement. This is pure Bolter porn and there is barely a page that goes by without Space Marines and Daemons destroying each other with wilful abandon. This is a major strength as it is at heart the essence of all 40K fiction yet it does become tiresomely repetitive. Massed groups of Daemons are mentioned just lolling around somewhere significant to the Space Wolves, some Space Wolves appear and slaughter shedloads of them, losing an entire pack with a cool name, here or there without much narrative force as that is probably the first and only time they get mentioned. More Daemons will then inevitably be mentioned as taking the place of those destroyed. Then the action switches to a different war zone and the pattern repeats itself

This is a continuous problem as it prevents you really following the action or buying into the immense losses that the Space Wolves certainly suffer. They lose so many random packs over several Great Companies (the work centres on the Wolf Lords of the Chapter) that you cannot easily grasp who is with whom. The only exception to this is two Great Companies who amass for an epic last stand The Daemons, with one or two exceptions, are just mooks in different shirts, described well enough to be recognisable to fans but demonstrating little by way of threat other than numbers

That being said, the stories link seemlessly both in narrative and style. The charaterisations of the main characters are well handled and interesting to follow. Ironically the most interesting character may be an Iron Hands Captain who truly embodies his Chapter with it's ruthlessly pragmatic and inhuman approach. In a Space Wolves novel filled with remarkable moments of badass Space Marines it may be argued that they are all trump by a small robed being who does nothing but stand in a corner for one scene. Yet it still terrifies an immortal Daemon who has no concept of fear.

[Jeff Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the darker sagas of the space wolves, but still a fun read.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5