Steel Daemon

The Black Library Novella Series 1 #2

by Ian St. Martin

The Thirteenth Black Crusade has been unleashed. The Cadian Gate burns, and the full forces of Chaos spill out from the Great Eye to lay siege to a reeling Imperium. Warbands from across Eyespace have rallied beneath the banner of Abbadon the Despoiler and his Black Legion, few among them more dreaded than the Crimson Slaughter. Descending upon the planet Regallus, the fallen angels who once protected mankind now seek to butcher it, looking to add one more world to their bloody tally. For the Imperial soldiers that oppose them, it is a battle for survival. Separated from his unit, airman Heit Lytviak finds himself thrust into the front lines among the hardened veterans of a Cadian tank battalion. Forced to experience the full horror of war like never before, Heit must find an inner strength to stand against the darkness. But will it be enough to save him?

Read It Because

With Cadia gone, it's fascinating to see how survivors carry on, and how they view their place in the galaxy without their home world in it.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Novella, Fantasy

123 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2018

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of epic plot twists from beginning, daring do from the start, adventure and action! :D

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

After his Marauder is downed, young Heit Lytviak finds salvation in the shape of the Cadian Leman Russ battle tank Imperial Son, joining as an impromptu and somewhat ill-disciplined gunner under the steely supervision of Lieutenant Knispel. Against the brutality of the Crimson Slaughter, however, the Cadians are cut off from their lines and forced onto the back foot.

In keeping with St. Martin’s style this is dark and gritty from the get-go, often brutally so, from the Crimson Slaughter’s creepy ways of placating the voices which plague them to some matter of fact descriptions of the often horrific results of a tank fighting against infantry. It’s very much not a happy story, in the vein of many a classic Black Library tale, so while there are heroics aplenty they err on the darker and more fatalistic side. Look elsewhere for a big picture depiction of the 13th Black Crusade, but as a tight-focus look at the grim realities of life for Imperial forces facing off against Chaos Space Marines, this is a short but powerful story.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/11/...

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to do this, no, not for what you're thinking, it isn't political (in fact, Western political ideologies can all die screaming in a fire). It isn't what or why you think. So, why give this fairly entertaining, fast paced, armor centric, action read a bad review? Three words.
Leman
Russ
Transports.
Focus on the third, and that is why. I don't blame the author, not entirely. This is an editorial issue. Even then, I float out an olive branch. Too many stories, not enough editorial staff, not enough time in the day.
But that's why. It bothered the hell out of me.
The Russ is a main battle tank, not a transport.
It was enough of a gaffe to, repeatedly, pull me out of the story.
However, it did have a great scene with a Defiler, and Black Library has typically forgotten those exist. So score on that point.
The writing was good enough I'll not unconsider Martin, I just hope the editing gets a tad better.

[T R Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Steel Daemon' is an interesting little novella about a conflict between a Land Raider of the Crimson Slaughter and a Cadian Leman Russ squadron. While the plot element of an Imperial Navy gunner being shot down and then picked up by a tank squadron is slightly reminiscent of parts of another Warhammer 40,000 novel that I have read, the downed gunner does give a good outsider’s perspective for the reader to follow. The parts that focus on the Crimson Slaughter Warpsmith are also some of the best parts of the book and I do hop he turns up in other stories. The tank-on-tank action during the finale is relatively good, and there is a brief reference to a certain Baneblade meme that is quite amusing.

On the downside, however, the narrative feels a little lacklustre for much of the novella, only picking up towards the end for the final confrontation. There are also some rather odd moments where the author refers to Leman Russes as transports rather than battle tanks.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Interessante an dieser Novelle aus dem Warhammer 40K-Universum ist meiner Meinung nach, dass hier auch zivile Opfer erwähnt werden. In all den anderen Büchern, die ich bisher aus der Reihe gelesen habe, fanden immer nur die einzelnen Gruppierungen und Kriegsteilnehmer Erwähnung.

Auch die Beschreibungen der Panzerkämpfe haben mir sehr zugesagt. Denn die Panzer sind in dieser Geschichte die eigentlichen Hauptdarsteller. Und ja, diese Novelle ist sehr, sehr blutig. Die Menge an vergossenem Blut variiert von Buch zu Buch. Hier werden auf knapp 140 Seiten sehr viele Liter davon vergossen.

Was mir jedoch leider gefehlt hat, war das Tempo. Die Kampfszenen sind, zumindest in der Übersetzung, etwa gleich schnell getaktet wie die Gespräche oder Pausenszenen zwischen den Kämpfen. Das hat für mich leider nicht wirklich gepasst. Deshalb nur drei (eigentlich 3,5 Sterne) anstatt vier.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first foray into the new Black Library novella collection, this story follows the Heretic Astartes warband, the Crimson Slaughter, and their assault on the planet Regallus, as well as the beleaguered defenders, as seen through the eyes of Heit Lytviak, an airman.

I quite enjoyed the book- it's dark, gritty, and with Heit's limited perspective at times (imagine sitting in the sponson of a tank, and trying to determine how a battle is progressing), there's a lot of tension. It's also a quite short read- if you're curious about the 40K universe, or already enjoy it, you can't go wrong reading this one.

[Jack Volante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost WQH40K's version of 'Fury' and 'Saving Private Ryan' rolled into one. A romping read as poor aircrewman ejects over a hive-spire battle against invading chaos forces and then he gets lumped with gunning a sponson gun on a Vanquisher Leman Russ (don't Vanquishers remove the side sponson weapons? They did in Epic 40K.)

The antagonist is a Crimson Slaughter marine who manages to tame a feral chaos Land Raider and the battle he faces against the Imperium AND the daemon within the Land Raider.

It's some good old fashioned bolter-p0rn, or more like battle-cannon-p0rn, but I really warmed to the crew of the Vanquisher.

Book #2 in the series is another good one. Onto book #3...

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent sad but inevitable ending

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly more the CSM's story than the Imperials in most regards, but it was an interesting look at both regardless.

[Lewis Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warhammer version of fury, what's not to like?

[Ulzeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this was a 10 star review I would give it a seven. Since this is 5 star rating system I will give it

The story is set in the 13th Black Crusade. Cadia is fighting and burns and other chaos forces go to neighbour systems. In this case The Crimson Slaughter goes to Regallus planet and lay siege to it.

In this story we follow Heit after his Marauder being shot down. He is then "saved" by several Cadian Leman Russ tanks led by a Cadian woman that people call "Crown". We are introduced to some others plus some interesting Cadian rituals I didn't knew it existed. Maybe because Cadian has burn? Interesting.

The story is fast and dark - as I like them. I don't even tag as Grimdark because I expect almost all stories being dark. Here again, we understand that to a million worlds within the Imperium and the trillions of trillions of men and woman, a planet is nothing; millions dying are nothing but a comma in history. Yet as we are told these stories in a person POV it's messy and understading there are millions or billions of men and woman fighting and dying it's unmeasurable; unthinkable. It's like saying that there are more stars than all the grains of sand of all beaches in Earth. We can't even begin to comprehend.

One interesting thing here is that, people who are not accustomed to 40K don't really understand the way this works. I've read people complaining in a novel (not 40K) that the author had the audacity to kill several gay men in his story. People complain when the last female pov was dead in Game of Thrones. Well.. here everyone dies. Is that simple.

I will not be drawn into politics but thank the Lords of the Imperium.
But Leman Russ Transports... They exist? NEver heard but I don't play a lot 40K so...