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Warhammer 40,000
Sagas of the Space Wolves: The Omnibus
Bumper Omnibus collecting together some of Black Library's most loved Space Wolves stories for the first time.
Born on the icy world of Fenris, few amongst the brotherhoods of the Adeptus Astartes are as fierce or as noble as the Space Wolves. Long are their tales, told around mead halls or the flickering glow of a hungry fire. Heed them well, for they speak of legends like the Young King Ragnar Blackmane, whose thirst for battle is only matched by his heroism, or the Wolf Lord Logan Grimnar that most venerable and fearsome of warriors, he who leads the Chapter itself. So listen hard and listen carefully to the skald as he holds forth around the burning fire, because there is darkness in these sagas as well as light.
This omnibus edition collects together for the first time the novels Ragnar Blackmane, Curse of the Wulfen, Legacy of Russ and The Hunt for Logan Grimnar as well as the novellas Blood on the Mountain and Arjac Rockfist, and a host of short stories./
Born on the icy world of Fenris, few amongst the brotherhoods of the Adeptus Astartes are as fierce or as noble as the Space Wolves. Long are their tales, told around mead halls or the flickering glow of a hungry fire. Heed them well, for they speak of legends like the Young King Ragnar Blackmane, whose thirst for battle is only matched by his heroism, or the Wolf Lord Logan Grimnar that most venerable and fearsome of warriors, he who leads the Chapter itself. So listen hard and listen carefully to the skald as he holds forth around the burning fire, because there is darkness in these sagas as well as light.
This omnibus edition collects together for the first time the novels Ragnar Blackmane, Curse of the Wulfen, Legacy of Russ and The Hunt for Logan Grimnar as well as the novellas Blood on the Mountain and Arjac Rockfist, and a host of short stories./
848 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 28, 2022
FINALLY FINISHED!
This was one beast of a book. Of the sections:
Ragnar Blackmane -- A decent look at Ragnar's early days of being elevated to the Wolf Guard. He is absolutely presented as flawed and dangerous, rather than "yeah BUT look at how heroic his results are!" Very interesting read 4/5*
Curse of the Wulfen -- A good setup for the return of the wulfen as seen in the two 40k campaign rulebooks we saw in 7th edition. Left me wanting more, but it was also very interesting to see Space Marines actually taking a beating for once instead of walking through any and all odds against them. 3.5/5*
Legacy of Russ -- The second half of Curse of the Wulfen. Not as good, not as memorable, atrocious cliffhanger. 2.75/5*
The Search for Logan Grimnar -- An incredibly mean bait and switch. We were left off of the previous stories with Logan missing in action after the invasion of the Fenris system. Here, Logan is missing and the hunt is on, but for totally different reasons at a totally different time. An interesting look at xenos that I haven't seen much of in extended 40k lore, but overall a bit too much plot armor and nonsense. This was the first time I've seen real descriptions of The Webway, though, and it is horrifying. 3/5*
The 12 Short Stories -- Hit or partial-miss, as short story anthologies always are. Some of these were great, some pretty bad or with some really weird writing (looking at you, Stormseeker) but they were -almost- all short enough that even the bad stuff was gone quickly enough to not offensively overstay its welcome. 4/5*
This was one beast of a book. Of the sections:
Ragnar Blackmane -- A decent look at Ragnar's early days of being elevated to the Wolf Guard. He is absolutely presented as flawed and dangerous, rather than "yeah BUT look at how heroic his results are!" Very interesting read 4/5*
Curse of the Wulfen -- A good setup for the return of the wulfen as seen in the two 40k campaign rulebooks we saw in 7th edition. Left me wanting more, but it was also very interesting to see Space Marines actually taking a beating for once instead of walking through any and all odds against them. 3.5/5*
Legacy of Russ -- The second half of Curse of the Wulfen. Not as good, not as memorable, atrocious cliffhanger. 2.75/5*
The Search for Logan Grimnar -- An incredibly mean bait and switch. We were left off of the previous stories with Logan missing in action after the invasion of the Fenris system. Here, Logan is missing and the hunt is on, but for totally different reasons at a totally different time. An interesting look at xenos that I haven't seen much of in extended 40k lore, but overall a bit too much plot armor and nonsense. This was the first time I've seen real descriptions of The Webway, though, and it is horrifying. 3/5*
The 12 Short Stories -- Hit or partial-miss, as short story anthologies always are. Some of these were great, some pretty bad or with some really weird writing (looking at you, Stormseeker) but they were -almost- all short enough that even the bad stuff was gone quickly enough to not offensively overstay its welcome. 4/5*
September 6, 2021
This is a very odd read (obviously, considering the score, I don't mean this in a bad way), because the stories aren't in "chronological" order. Thus you go from the (relatively) modern interpretation of the Wulfen to the original mildly evil version. It's still wonderful though, although if you're not a fan of overly brutal stories this will almost certainly not be to your taste.
April 21, 2023
This book was such a pain to get through. I ended up skimming and even skipping chapters because my life is too short to waste any more of it on this book.
There is a spot where the Chaos forces have invaded the Space Wolves home system, and the Wolves must fight to retake it. It would’ve been interesting if Chaos had not been so ridiculously overpowering. They opened warp rifts behind every defensive position on every planet, moon, and battle station at the same time and took the entire system instantly. The Wolves have to suffer devastating losses from their own defense systems, now in the hands of the heretics, as they try to break through the very guns and fortresses they built to protect themselves. What is the point of having all those weapons if the enemy can teleport behind the defenders, take down the Space Marines, and then use the guns themselves? With this kind of power, it’s amazing Cadia stood for as long as it did.
Ork forces can be taken over by a Chaos rage plague and thrown at the Imperials to wear them down while the heretics can reserve their strength for later after all the defenders are dead or too badly mauled to fight. Creatures from the warp heal almost instantly, making them essentially invulnerable, but when they are actually destroyed, it doesn’t matter as they pop back to warp to come back again good as new.
I know Warhammer 40K is supposed to be grim dark, but this book isn’t that. This is the yawning void of oblivion. There is no hope in this for Chaos is given all the advantages. How can the Imperium hope to prevail over an enemy that is never actually vanquished? The answer is: they can’t. They can only hope for a quick death in endless conflict before the Imperium is ground to dust by unending waves of unkillable, monstrous creatures and bloodthirsty traitors. Most of them won’t even be granted that mercy as they will all die horribly.
There are other things that bothered me, such as plot points being brought up and then dropped and never explained or even mentioned again. I wanted to know why the Wulfen were killing people in ritual fashion and hanging them from the ceiling like the Predator, but once Chaos is discovered there, the fact the Wulfen are even on the same planet and killing Space Wolves is completely ignored and forgotten as if none of it even happened.
One of the sections between stories had the most jarring transition I’ve ever encountered. After one of the battles, Logan Grimnar is missing and a force is being readied to go find him, if he’s even still alive. The next part is called, “The Hunt for Logan Grimnar,” so I thought the story would be a continuation of the previous one. Nope. It took me nearly half a chapter to realize him fighting a group of Tau wasn’t a flashback or something, but a brand new story, and the other one just ends.
The only story I enjoyed in this book was the first one, “Ragnar Blackmane” by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Well written, great description, solid plot and characters. If the whole book had been that, I’d have given it five starts and wanted more, but sadly this isn’t the case. If you pick up this book, read the first story and give the rest of it a pass.
There is a spot where the Chaos forces have invaded the Space Wolves home system, and the Wolves must fight to retake it. It would’ve been interesting if Chaos had not been so ridiculously overpowering. They opened warp rifts behind every defensive position on every planet, moon, and battle station at the same time and took the entire system instantly. The Wolves have to suffer devastating losses from their own defense systems, now in the hands of the heretics, as they try to break through the very guns and fortresses they built to protect themselves. What is the point of having all those weapons if the enemy can teleport behind the defenders, take down the Space Marines, and then use the guns themselves? With this kind of power, it’s amazing Cadia stood for as long as it did.
Ork forces can be taken over by a Chaos rage plague and thrown at the Imperials to wear them down while the heretics can reserve their strength for later after all the defenders are dead or too badly mauled to fight. Creatures from the warp heal almost instantly, making them essentially invulnerable, but when they are actually destroyed, it doesn’t matter as they pop back to warp to come back again good as new.
I know Warhammer 40K is supposed to be grim dark, but this book isn’t that. This is the yawning void of oblivion. There is no hope in this for Chaos is given all the advantages. How can the Imperium hope to prevail over an enemy that is never actually vanquished? The answer is: they can’t. They can only hope for a quick death in endless conflict before the Imperium is ground to dust by unending waves of unkillable, monstrous creatures and bloodthirsty traitors. Most of them won’t even be granted that mercy as they will all die horribly.
There are other things that bothered me, such as plot points being brought up and then dropped and never explained or even mentioned again. I wanted to know why the Wulfen were killing people in ritual fashion and hanging them from the ceiling like the Predator, but once Chaos is discovered there, the fact the Wulfen are even on the same planet and killing Space Wolves is completely ignored and forgotten as if none of it even happened.
One of the sections between stories had the most jarring transition I’ve ever encountered. After one of the battles, Logan Grimnar is missing and a force is being readied to go find him, if he’s even still alive. The next part is called, “The Hunt for Logan Grimnar,” so I thought the story would be a continuation of the previous one. Nope. It took me nearly half a chapter to realize him fighting a group of Tau wasn’t a flashback or something, but a brand new story, and the other one just ends.
The only story I enjoyed in this book was the first one, “Ragnar Blackmane” by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Well written, great description, solid plot and characters. If the whole book had been that, I’d have given it five starts and wanted more, but sadly this isn’t the case. If you pick up this book, read the first story and give the rest of it a pass.
did-not-finish
March 1, 2021-=
Review in progress
=-
Since this omnibus includes some novellas, and a whole smattering of short stories, I thought I'd break down my review into chunks that review each entry. As with most reviews, the bad ones are longer than the good ones. So, first up...
Ragnar Blackmane, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
3.5/5 stars - Read it
This one's not half bad. It follows one of the most notorious Space Wolves, the titular Ragnar. You'll get to see Blackmane in his hotheaded youth, and as a grizzled combat veteran. If you're not familiar with 40k lore, you may feel somewhat lost here, as the author does place some of the burden of knowledge of the universe on the reader.
If you enjoy interactions and rivalries between different Space Marine chapters, you'll get a lot of value out of this one. Ragnar more than once provokes the ire of rival chapters, most notably the Dark Angels and Flesh Tearers.
The dialogue is great, and does a lot to flesh out the different characters of not only Space Wolves, but other chapters as well.
Curse of the Wulfen, by David Annandale
1/5 stars - Skip it
When people say Black Library is in the trash-publishing business, this is what they're referring to. Curse of the Wulfen is some of the worst dreck I've read from Black Library. I have a list of BL authors I avoid like the plague, and David Annandale went on that list immediately after I finished this book. The premise isn't bad: The long lost 13th Company reemerges from the Warp, and the ancient secrets they bring with them threaten to destroy the entire Space Wolves chapter. It's a good idea, just horribly executed.
The action sequences are waaay too long, repetitive, and overexpository. I know 40k books are big on gore and testosterone-oozing gun-porn, but there comes a point of diminishing returns. Great Warhammer authors know action can only take a Warhammer story so far, and it's clear that Annandale hadn't learned that lesson when he put pen to paper here. Annandale's action sequences just go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, andthenstopallofasuddenwithoutwarning.
The dialogue-to-action ratio is so horribly tilted in favor of action it's not even funny, and what dialogue can be found is marvelously mediocre. The original novella was 170 pages long, the stock-standard, half-novel length of many a piece of Warhammer fiction. It seems to me that Annandale just couldn't make it work in the limited space he had to tell this story, or gave it his all and had 100 pages left to write, so he just gave the story a crutch in the form of overcooked action sequences so it could limp to the 170-page finish line.
You'll reach the end feeling like you're still in the middle, and then everything just ends. To top it all off is the epilogue, which ends this book on a cool but dumb cliffhanger. I don't know if this book has a sequel, and I don't care to know. All I know is that Annandale is on my list. He may not be there forever, but this bad first impression has left a sour taste in my mouth that's going to linger for a long time.
Legacy of Russ, by Robbie MacNiven
2/5 - Read it or skip it, it's up to you
This is marginally better than Curse of the Wulfen, and picks up where that story left off. The action sequences are similarly over-expository and go on far longer than they should. There are some pretty good moments of tension when the Inquisition shows up and does their thing, much to the frustration of the Chapter Master of the Dark Angels.
It feels really disjointed, but that's because I'm pretty sure this is a collection of short stories. The quality of the writing isn't bad, but it didn't really strike me as good, either. If someone gave me a dollar for every time I read the word "ichor," I'd have come away with a nice stack of one dollar bills.
I suspend my disbelief quite a bit when reading Warhammer fiction, but I found it a bit difficult to do here. The Fenris system, home to the chapter-capitol and primary recruiting world for the Space Wolves, is overrun by the forces of Chaos seemingly in an instant. Granted, most of the chapter was away on campaign when this happened, but the Wolves are one of the largest and most elite of the Astartes legions, and Chaos gives them a thorough thrashing on their home soil. It's just a little too hard to believe, even for Warhammer.
Since this omnibus includes some novellas, and a whole smattering of short stories, I thought I'd break down my review into chunks that review each entry. As with most reviews, the bad ones are longer than the good ones. So, first up...
Ragnar Blackmane, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
3.5/5 stars - Read it
This one's not half bad. It follows one of the most notorious Space Wolves, the titular Ragnar. You'll get to see Blackmane in his hotheaded youth, and as a grizzled combat veteran. If you're not familiar with 40k lore, you may feel somewhat lost here, as the author does place some of the burden of knowledge of the universe on the reader.
If you enjoy interactions and rivalries between different Space Marine chapters, you'll get a lot of value out of this one. Ragnar more than once provokes the ire of rival chapters, most notably the Dark Angels and Flesh Tearers.
The dialogue is great, and does a lot to flesh out the different characters of not only Space Wolves, but other chapters as well.
Curse of the Wulfen, by David Annandale
1/5 stars - Skip it
When people say Black Library is in the trash-publishing business, this is what they're referring to. Curse of the Wulfen is some of the worst dreck I've read from Black Library. I have a list of BL authors I avoid like the plague, and David Annandale went on that list immediately after I finished this book. The premise isn't bad: The long lost 13th Company reemerges from the Warp, and the ancient secrets they bring with them threaten to destroy the entire Space Wolves chapter. It's a good idea, just horribly executed.
The action sequences are waaay too long, repetitive, and overexpository. I know 40k books are big on gore and testosterone-oozing gun-porn, but there comes a point of diminishing returns. Great Warhammer authors know action can only take a Warhammer story so far, and it's clear that Annandale hadn't learned that lesson when he put pen to paper here. Annandale's action sequences just go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, andthenstopallofasuddenwithoutwarning.
The dialogue-to-action ratio is so horribly tilted in favor of action it's not even funny, and what dialogue can be found is marvelously mediocre. The original novella was 170 pages long, the stock-standard, half-novel length of many a piece of Warhammer fiction. It seems to me that Annandale just couldn't make it work in the limited space he had to tell this story, or gave it his all and had 100 pages left to write, so he just gave the story a crutch in the form of overcooked action sequences so it could limp to the 170-page finish line.
You'll reach the end feeling like you're still in the middle, and then everything just ends. To top it all off is the epilogue, which ends this book on a cool but dumb cliffhanger. I don't know if this book has a sequel, and I don't care to know. All I know is that Annandale is on my list. He may not be there forever, but this bad first impression has left a sour taste in my mouth that's going to linger for a long time.
Legacy of Russ, by Robbie MacNiven
2/5 - Read it or skip it, it's up to you
This is marginally better than Curse of the Wulfen, and picks up where that story left off. The action sequences are similarly over-expository and go on far longer than they should. There are some pretty good moments of tension when the Inquisition shows up and does their thing, much to the frustration of the Chapter Master of the Dark Angels.
It feels really disjointed, but that's because I'm pretty sure this is a collection of short stories. The quality of the writing isn't bad, but it didn't really strike me as good, either. If someone gave me a dollar for every time I read the word "ichor," I'd have come away with a nice stack of one dollar bills.
I suspend my disbelief quite a bit when reading Warhammer fiction, but I found it a bit difficult to do here. The Fenris system, home to the chapter-capitol and primary recruiting world for the Space Wolves, is overrun by the forces of Chaos seemingly in an instant. Granted, most of the chapter was away on campaign when this happened, but the Wolves are one of the largest and most elite of the Astartes legions, and Chaos gives them a thorough thrashing on their home soil. It's just a little too hard to believe, even for Warhammer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews