Ice Guard

Imperial Guard

by Steve Lyons

After the withdrawal of Imperial troops is ordered from the ice world of Cressida, a squad of Valhallan Ice Warriors are sent on a rescue mission.

THE STORY
After the withdrawal of Imperial troops is ordered from the ice world of Cressida, a squad of Valhallan Ice Warriors led by the indomitable Colonel Stanislav Steele are are sent on a rescue mission to find a stranded Imperial dignitary and bring him off-planet to safety. But the occupying Chaos forces are everywhere, bent on the annihilation of the natives. If that wasn't bad enough, Stanislav and his troops face a race against time as Imperial Battleships in the upper atmosphere are preparing to virus bomb Cressida, destroying all life upon the planet.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, 40k, Military Science Fiction

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 30, 2008

About the author

Steve Lyons is a science fiction writer, best known for writing television tie-ins of Doctor Who for BBC Books, and previously, Virgin. The earliest of these was Conundrum in 1994, and his most recent was 2005's The Stealers of Dreams. He has also written material for Star Trek tie-ins, as well as original work.

Reviews

[Sam Gillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun action packed short story set in the 40 universe, a great pocket book!

[Zaphied · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't really feel for any of the characters really save Steele and the guy trying so hard to die a hero only after failing to be heroic. And the feeling was pity. Both unsure where they lie on the Human Measure. The freaking lone unstoppable Chaos Space Marine and the Loyal Mutants had more presence than most of the rest of the squad. The bit with the token multi-decorated female who keeps living but feels everything is a lie because she cannot birth more Guard cannon fodder gets completely forgotten half way through. Tragic Backstory only goes so far if you do nothing with it to justify it.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

finally after 4 months, it was awesome, as usual the last 100pages r page turners, great!! hope this is a sign for the new year, a great way to start it out!!!

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very clear cut pulpy action oriented plot driven adventure seemingly written by a 12 year old for 12 year olds. It passed the time.

[Raving Redcoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very entertaining piece of brain candy. The plot is pretty much "Saving Private Ryan" in a Warhammer 40K setting, but it's well done, and a fun read.

[Станислав · Rating 1 out of 5]

То что это написано бездарно особо не проблема, это вархаммер, тут много написано бездарно. Это написано безмозгло.
Мы не черта не узнаём, что это за полк(и) такой "Ледяные воины" Вальхаллы. Единственное, что планета замерзает и там много варп-льда, больше мы ничего не узнаём, что же это за солдаты такие с ледяного мира? То есть если бы это были какие-нибудь другие гвардейцы, то ничего для повествования бы не изменилось. Что является особенностью их тактики, что выделяет их из прочей массы гвардии - мы не знаем. Боевая задача на которую отправляется отряд изначально обозначена как абсурдная и суицидальная. Хаоситы-культисты оказываются безрукими, безногими, безголовыми, непонятно как они сами по себе не поубивались все. Стрелять не умеют, падают от одного удара, как кегли, дисциплины не имеют, проходы не охраняют, для маскировки достаточно накинуть на себя чёрный хаосистский плащ. Есть десяток гвардосов, без потерь, проникает в крепость хаоситов, убивает местного культлидера, забирает попа - непонятно почему 1000 гвардейцев недостаточно для очистки всей планеты от хаоса. Да они бы Око ужаса спокойно взяли, без потерь. Там бегает даже хаоситский астартес, бегает тяжело, можно убежать, машет цепным мечом, можно уклониться, стреляет из болт-пистолета, никуда не попал. Потом его зарезал аугметированный полковник-терминатор. Я конечно понимаю, что от хаоса им там всем плохо, но не настолько же. Миссия провалена, все почти благополучно вернулись. Никто из персонажей никакого сочувствия не вызывает, также интереса или отвращения. Просто тупо.
Печальное зрелище.

[Tjalli Óðins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imperial troops have been fighting against chaos affiliated traitors and cultists on the planet Cressida. The war effort is coming to an abrupt end.
The Imperium has decided to virus bomb the planet to cleanse it of chaos. The bombing will commence in 48 hours, which happens to be the timelimit set for Colonel Stanislav Steele and his handpicked Valhallan ice warriors, who all have one additional thing in common. They are survivors.

This novel starts with segments of different soldiers and their fight against chaos. Which includes them being informed that they are needed for a special mission.
This is a Saving Private Ryan-esq storyline. Get the target with an added, get to an escape ship before the 48 hours are up or be turned into plasma goo.

I liked this story, just a band of hardened Ice warriors fighting against chaos enemies controlledby an evil Overlord, mutants and freezing planet itself. All to save one man.

What a thrill ride of a novel, constant action or suspension. New unforseen situations appearing and with the warriors scrabbling to adjust. Except for our main man Steele (would like to see a novel with Valhallan regiment and a Vostroyan fighting together) who has nerves that of the same name.

While I would've wanted more time to get to know the characters, I still found the interesting and was invested in their surviving.


Nevertheless another amazing read, unto the next one!

[Gareth Jonas · Rating 2 out of 5]

40K pulp. Engaging storyline - if you’re happy with reading. 40K interpretation of Saving Private Ryan - that is quickly overshadowed by the 2D characters. The author doesn’t really try to form an emotional connection between the reader and the characters, and seems to kill off some at will. The lack of description around their deaths may be intended to highlight the grim dark reality of 40K, but comes fails to land.

[Tamás Lehoczky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A squad of Valhallan ice warriors sent on a dangerous mission to save an important member of the ecclesiarchy. The characters are fine, tho a bit too much of them who would need more character development to be more memorable, but due to the ticking clock of the virusbombs it's not possible. Overall a decent read, and a fun one at it. Perfect for getting in the mood for 40k from the point of view of the average guardsmen of Valhalla.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really fun Imperial Guard novel that unfortunately feels a bit half baked in the latter half. Steve Lyons sets up a really interesting cast who all have different drives and views on the society they've found themselves, unfortunately those take a bit of a back seat for the final conflict. Overall still a great read but his Krieg novels allowed Lyons to dig into these ideas in a lot more depth.

[Gabriel Tubec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it is an Imperial Guard novel, it focuses just on a small squad.
The premise, a selected squad of the best specialists, sent behind enemy lines for a special mission against the clock, seems to make for a mediocre novel, but still the author manages to create a good story.

[Tim Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some imperial guard go on a mission. Kinda fun stuff but that alone is hard to stretch to a full novel. There's limited character growth and the mission doesn't particularly change our develop.

I never really got a grip on who the different squad members were.

[Svyatoslav Ostapyuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Екшн зі зворотним відліком часу. Сподобалось

[Ulzeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fun.

[Robert Furlong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what I expected from a 40K novel.

[Tepintzin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great literature, but a fun read. I wish Black Library would do more of these stand-alone Guard—I mean Astra Militarum—novels. I really enjoyed Death World, Straken, and any penal legion stories.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun, fast paced 40k action.

[Lestat Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall an entertaining read that had a lot of fast paced action featuring rag tag guardsmen.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, a little dated. I couldn't really get attached to the charcters as they all seemed a little cookie-cutter.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't thought much of this book as I read it, truth be said. Almost five years of reading it I can't remember most of the plot so I am bit dissapointed because usually when I love the books I still can remember most parts with a vividy image.

The world, Cressido, is lost but before leaving the world they must find a Imperial Confessor. They have 48h to do it because afterwards the world is going to be virus bomb (meaning that everyone will die. Well, everything will die. Stanislav Steele and a small squad of Valhallan Ice Warriors must find it.

One way to building the tense is the time left that greet us everytime we begin a new chapter.

Interesting novel but In my opion weaker than the previous by the author's "Death World". In this book the Valhalla imperial guards are not what I expect. They didn't felt Valhallan. You could change the name and still get away from it. For Valhallan regiments I prefer the Commissar Cain's novels.

Unfortunally the Imperial Guard novels stopped being published and now a Space Marines series is coming out and of course they are more popular (don't ask me why).

[Shah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was simple, straight forward, plain and boring. It didn't start out that way but it progressed into it.

A story about a bunch of handpicked soldiers on a resue mission behind enemy lines with mutants, harsh environments, a rad ice crib and a 48 hours time frame before total planetary destruction.

Sounds exciting but I was not entertained. It lacks character development and the only emotions I felt was relief when I finally reached the last page.

2 stars because the Valhallan 319th will be absorbed into other regiments and with hope this sad tale would perish along with it.

[Adeptus Fringilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The usual fayre of the cruel, brutal warhammer world. With a battle per page and lots of action and a fast paced story line. The characters are not very well developed, but then, they usually die within 5 pages.