Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint

Urdesh #1

by Matthew Farrer

Join the Iron Snakes as they battle for survival on the desolate Forge World of Urdesh.

The mighty world of Urdesh is burning. The smoke of war mingles with that of her many volcanoes; the wreckage of battle litters her forge-cities and chokes her fertile seas. Until the warriors of the Imperium can free Urdesh from the grip of the Anarch, the future of the entire Sabbat Worlds Crusade will hang in the balance.

Across these ashen battlefields strides Brother-Captain Priad and the warriors of Damocles Squad. They must keep safe one of the Imperium’s greatest the Beati, the reincarnated Saint Sabbat herself, whose very presence on Urdesh inspires the Imperial armies on to glory. But the enemy has plans for the Saint too, and against the malice of the Anarch and the trickery of the warp the Iron Snakes may truly need a miracle to prevail…

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

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2021

About the author

Matthew Farrer writes mostly for Black Library. He lives in Australia.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for both books in the series

His voice rose from declamation to a triumphant shout. ‘The Iron Snake is swift of strike and keen of guile. It coils around the staff of the Saint and its hide shines with the light of the Throne, the light that the Archenemy has learned to fear! And so you must listen, listen as the deeds unfold, the deeds of the liberation of Urdesh!

The Forge World of Urdesh, an oceanic planet of volcanic island chains, and one among principal suppliers of material to Imperial forces fighting in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, is in flames. The smoke of war mingles with that of its many volcanoes; the wreckage of battle litters its forge-cities and chokes its fertile seas. Until the warriors of the Imperium can free Urdesh from the grip of the Anarch and his minions, the future of the entire Sabbat Worlds Crusade will hang in the balance.

‘In my hand do I hold the water of Ithaka. In my hand do I hold the sands of Mars. In my grip do I conjoin flesh and steel. Blood and code, pulse as one.’ He brought his hands together in the sign of the cog, and his voice spoke numbers and cipher-phrases that the Mars-crafted vocoder in his faceplate translated into shrilling bursts of binharic.

Across these ashen battlefields strides Brother-Captain Priad and the warriors of Damocles Squad. They must keep safe one of the Imperium’s greatest weapons: the Beati, the reincarnated Saint Sabbat herself, whose very presence on Urdesh inspires the Imperial armies on to glory. But the enemy has plans for the Saint too, and against the malice of the Anarch and the trickery of the warp, the Iron Snakes may truly need a miracle to prevail…

"‘Something we should know about?’ Anysios asked him as he wedged himself into the position opposite.
‘News from our brother-captain,’ Symeon answered, speaking aloud through his helmet grille rather than through the squad’s close-vox channel. He waited for the hatch to clang shut behind them before he told them the rest.
‘The Saint is on the move.’

Matthew Farrer’s Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint and Urdesh: The Magister and the Martyr is an action-packed W40K two parts tale, set in the Sabbat World Crusade timeline (755-778.M41) besides and after the events told in Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts The Warmaster and Anarch novels, so it’s not a good starting point at all if you are a newbie about that series, but if you’ve read and enjoyed in the past Tanith 1st, and only, Regiment books, or Brothers of the Snake, and you can find between these pages a few old acquaintances from Titanicus too, you are probably going to have a blast of a read with these two novels too.

It would be interesting to set eyes on her, he thought, this one that they said was the manifestation of the adored Beati herself. Saint Sabbat, the girl whose charisma and zeal had inspired the first conquest of these worlds. Who had, he was told, reincarnated herself on Herodor and struck down the daemonic general Enok Innokenti in single combat.

I’ve read and loved Farrer’s Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus last summer collecting an amazing trilogy of novels focusing on Adeptus Arbites, Ecclesiarchy, Imperial Navy, Navigators, Astropaths and much more, focusing on the backstage of Warhammer 40000 and its setting, so it was great for me to find out, not surprisingly at all, that the author wrote here one of the most intense, brutal, and thrilling Space Marines warfare themed tales, with amazing worldbuilding and characters, in an endless series of memorable fight scenes and twists, with Saint Sabbat reborn and her entourage of Astartes, Astra Militarum, and Titan maniples having their hands full with nearly every antagonist every appeared in the long spanning Sabbat World series of book, ranging from Blood Pact warband, Sons of Sek and Wirewolves, to Gore Mages and Chaos Space Marines fighting the Eternal War against the Imperium of Man since the times of Horus Heresy.

Klenn South had been considered contested until earlier that day, when an armoured column of Urdeshi Militarum had tried to push through to the plaza at its centre and been stopped. Stopped hard. Footholds on the islands were hard to make, and this one was too valuable to lose. General Grawe-Ash had called on the Iron Snakes and the Legio Invicta to make sure that didn’t happen.

Such a shame this extra long tale was split in two, so just be sure buying both books if you ever start reading this or you are going to finish Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint with your eyes and mind burning from that "To be continued in volume II Urdesh: The Magister and the Martyr" cliffhanger in the end, and already knowing the ending having read aforementioned Gaunt’s Ghosts books in the past, Urdesh novels were scheduled for release years ago but sadly were delayed, almost spoiled the fun for me, but in the end this was just a blast of a read.

+I have him.+
He planted the words directly into Cepheas’ mind, and the pilot nodded without a word and made ready. It was there, the place, as though his vision had left his head and shot down into one precise point in the target zone their orbital auguries had mapped out.
+We hunt.+
‘We hunt,’ Cepheas echoed, and sent them screaming downward.

100% bolter-porn of course, and the Saint is a really overpowered character too, but this companion duology to Abnett’s The Warmaster and Anarch was so well written that I just loved nearly every page of it.

‘Then the design wouldn’t be familiar, sir. It’s particular to my original regiment.’ Milo tilted his hand and the blade flashed in the overhead lights.
‘Ah. Well. I haven’t seen too many of you, it’s true,’ Priad said. ‘Have you had many regimental foundings?’
‘One.’ The man’s voice was flat, indicating the matter was closed. They were both silent for a moment.

And meeting between Brother-Chaptain Priad of Damocles Squad and Gaunt’s Ghosts fan beloved Brin Milo, veteran from Gaunt’s Ghosts series who went through hell before being recruited from the living saint reborn as her equerry, with the genetically bioengineered demigod lowering himself to the level of a mortal soldier and sharing spirit of camaraderie with him, is just the way Salamanders and other more “human” like Space Marine chapters should be written.

The teeth of the chainaxe began to move, and Nautakah bared his own iron teeth in a smile. The pain engine in the base of his skull stirred, winching his nerves tighter until they sang like harp-strings. There was a pressure behind his eyes.His muscles twitched, wanting to run, cut, carve, kill and exult.He did not doubt that that would be delivered into his hands. He had faith.
‘Blood,’ he said, ‘for the Blood God.'

Kudos to Matthew Farrer, one of W40K’s most obscure and underrated authors and, to quote Dan Abnett’s words, Black Library’s secret weapon, who wrote this visceral, compelling and sometimes brutal, page turning read.

Suggested Soundtrack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niR9U...

Title: Gabriel's War Cry
Album: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Artist: Jeremy Soule

[Michael Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 pending what happens in the sequel.

[Andrey Nalyotov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost a masterpiece. 4,5 out of 5!

The only thing blocking this AWESOME read to be a Space Marines Battles novel for the ages is an absolutely bad advert that it has part 2 and you will know about it only in the end where stuff ends on the major Cliffhanger > "to be continued in volume II Urdesh: The Magister and the Martyr".

Good stuff:
- separating actions by Snakes squads do work wondrously. It helps to create a scope and expand it a lot.
- Epistolary Hamiskora is da "beast". Hope to see more of him :)
- 3 generals uett-magirs" are awesome. Need more of them :)
- action scenes are vivid and a joy to read (as anyone expects from a Space Marines story).
- good view on the Saint herself, not too much, not too little of time given.
- making dialogs entries from a point of Saints coterie makes reading fluent and alive.
- fantastic job on unit types and enemy classes. Like plasmapult and that "flying mini daemonic flock of the copies of raptors with a vibro-blades" (what the heck was it? Does it have a name? It was so descriptive we need to name it now :) )
- Making all known enemies in the Sabbat World to appear in the book adds again to the menace and scope of the danger/war.

Stuff that could have been done differently:
- strangely captain Priad seems the most distant and inhuman of all the characters. And in comparison to other snakes we had zero feelings on him by the end.
- Repetitiveness of combat in the end blurs the glorious narrative before.
- Beati is really too much overpowered. Really "too overcharged with might" which makes previous struggles seems unnecessary in the retrospective.
- Plan with the "Usurpers" kinda strange. Maybe I read wrong, but it seems like a trap, within a trap to counter a trap. Very confusing.
- Also, dramatis personae contain characters from book 2 (not mentioned in book 1 at all) - editing missed that.
-"kiss principle of engagement" is not fulfilled. Book heavily "supports" Imperial side.

Otherwise it was a read like a 'krak' missile!
And to all Gaunt Ghosts fans for a timeline and reading order > a suggestion to read 'Urdesh' first before the 'Anarch'. But 'Warmaster' preferably should be read before "Urdesh"

[Craig Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a little while to get into the story, but The Serpent and the Saint turned out to be one of my favorite novels of the year – Excellent writing and relentless action!

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s refreshing to have Astartes written like this, they are fallible and can be hurt. It was also refreshing to revisit the Sabbat Worlds from a new author (to me). It took me a while to realize some of the characters were returning characters from other books in this theater of war.

We get it all here: titan action, guard action, marine action, psyker tomfoolary and demonic incursion. My only criticism and the only thing keeping this from a 5 star rating was the occasional lack of consistency. At one point in particular (as an example) a pair of marines ignited jump packs that I’m fairly certain never had them to begin with (damocles squad, towards the end of the novel).

Aside from this very human error, this was a great book and I’ll be reading the second in Farrer’s Urdesh series.

[Matthew Callus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a fun read but difficult at times to follow the combat and perspectives. Overuses of “had had” made me question sequences. As a newcomer to the world, hadn’t played any before reading, some things were still confusing, I didn’t even realize the enemy was chaos until the wolves showed up. This does a decent job to keep such a large cast however maybe updating the dramatis personae per part of the book would do well. As well as strictly defining the status of squad members or even enemies. Would be nice to have a clear “the heretic was dead” or even a meta “the unit was defeated”.

[Andrew Toro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars - ending felt rushed and hard to follow. Good bits of dialogue throughout humanizing the Iron Snakes. Solid action sequences.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best action scenes that I’ve read in a BL novel; it moves at a frantic pace from fantastic set-piece to fantastic set-piece, and it’s always more than welcome to see non-Imperial perspectives in a 40k novel, but the characters were largely unremarkable, and to a degree interchangeable and bar a great early exchange between the Astartes captain and a guardsman and another focusing on a civilian refugee, the non-action scenes paled in comparison.

Still chomping at the bit for part 2, though.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very dense and action packed story of Saint Sabbat moving from Point A to Point B and Chaos trying to assassinate her. The personalities were very interesting and the plot was easy to follow. I look forward to the next part.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Serpent and the Saint is one of the newish Sabbat Worlds Crusade books that has other Black Library authors playing in Dan Abnett's space. Matthew Farrer does a good job carrying the torch even if the book doesn't entirely work for me. His characters all behave similar to the ways I would expect similar characters to behave in a Ghost's novel and I like many of the characters even if you don't spend a ton of time with many of them since the book is split into so many different POVs.

I was curious about this when it came out, but have only gotten around to it now that I picked up the Space Marine books humble bundle the other month. So, it wasn't until I decided to read it that I checked reviews online and saw mention that it has a cliff hanger ending. And, boy, it really is a cliff hanger. I assumed it'd leave dangling threads but this book just straight up ends mid action scene. These bundles always have first in series books as a way to deliberately hook you into buying more Black Library books, but I think this is the first BL book I've read that flat out just cuts off and doesn't have a full narrative arc. So, points against it for that.

I also found the sheer amount of POVs, including some I'm assuming will only be revisited in part two, a bit difficult to track outside of a few main characters and the pacing of the book suffered as a result. On the flip side, the action scenes are really well written and quite evocative. The setting works well and, again, I think Farrer has the tone of the Sabbat Worlds really well in hand. I liked seeing Milo, even if he doesn't do much, and I enjoyed seeing Priad again. We don't spend a ton of time with the villains, but there are some neat traitor marines that appear near the end. I also quite liked the Titan POVs even if they don't get a ton of page time.

All in all, it is a solid 40K book, but make sure you have part 2 in hand. I feel like this was probably written as a single book and then split, presumably, by Black Library to get two titles out of it. So, I'm not in entirely sure it being one flowing arc would help all of my issues with it, but at least you'll be ready to continue the story if you are into it.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little behind the times on reading this one, sorry! Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint is the first novel in a series by Matthew Farrer, and I am incredibly excited for this latest (to me) Warhammer 40K novel.

Urdesh is burning. However, it is impossible to tell where the fires of war end and the planet's destruction begins. They are the same at this point, creating the same inevitable conclusion. The only way to save the planet, and the people that inhabit it, is to help them find freedom.
However, freedom will not come easily. The Anarch does not give up lightly. It will take a particular set of warriors to save the day. Or so we hope.

Urdesh is a perfect novel for Space Marines fans – and I really do mean that. It is a novel that pits the Space Marines against the horror of 40K, and it does so in a way that fans will truly appreciate. And that's coming from someone who doesn't cherish the Space Marines the way many players do.

I love how this book broke everything down into squads. I usually think that this sort of choice wouldn't work, but it did here. This is partially because it is needed – the scale of this battle is wild, so splitting things up helped make that clearer. It also added to the gravity and horror of the story, which is very fitting.

I should probably mention that while some 40K books strive not to choose a side when portraying war...this is not one of them. As I said above, it is perfect for Space Marines fans – meaning that the favorite side is pretty clear right from the onset.

However, if that doesn't bother you, and you're in the mood for a good book full of battle scenes, gore, and action, then Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint will be entertaining. I promise.

Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Kyle Harrivel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by Farrer and the first in a series. The story focuses on the world of Urdesh during a galactic war known as the sabbat worlds crusades. If you are a fan of warhammer 40k the members of the iron snakes appear in this campaign. Many of the same characters appear in Brothers of the snake, a separate book by Dan Abnett, which is worth picking up. (Great character development)

The first half of the book is slow but acts as a good set up for the last half. Farrer does a good job foreshadowing without giving much away, and events develop in such a way as to keep the reader guessing. It’s also unclear until the very end whether the protagonist will win or not, and the ending leaves this question answered but also leaves room for more story to come. The last half of the book is an all out slug fest between two sides warring for a single city on Urdesh, and the battle is depicted excellently. Farrer writes from the view of multiple characters, in multiple locations, drawing a good picture of how the battle is going and where this is taking place.

The only downside to this is that character building is left in the dust. We learn little of any of the characters backgrounds, and I believe this is because farrer expects the reader to be familiar with the war hammer universe already. The problem is many of the characters will not be recognized unless you are a huge lore geek.

Dedicated fans will definitely enjoy this book, but casual fans or unfamiliar readers will be left with lots of questions regarding characters and events in the book, and should be prepared to do some googling if they want answers.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s pretty good. Kind of oddly structured (the first half is the standard “look at these badasses being badasses” introductory vignettes, which would normally take up maybe a quarter), and a fair number of the plot threads don’t pay off. I think this all will come together in the second half. I also had trouble keeping the characters (especially the Astartes) straight. With all of that said, the action was aces, and watching the Saint kick ass owned. And real talk: that’s the kind of stuff you want from a 40k novel.

[Bernd Velling · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a long stretch of Horus Heresy novels recounting the same story from multiple angles it is very refreshing to read a story about “current day” events in the 40K universe.
Nice combination of known characters from Gaunt’s Ghosts and “meeting” the Iron Snakes again.
Looking forward to the next book.

[Reid Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Iron Snakes are quickly becoming one of my favorite Chapters in WH40k, and Matthew Farrer has done a great job at adding to their legend. Doesn't hurt that he's playing in Abnett's sandbox, but he holds his own nicely. Definitely one any fan of 40k should read.

[Christoph Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Serpent and the Saint... Warhammer and especially Warhammer 40k are rarely short of hyperbole. And that's good.

The pace is good, the action rarely lets up.

It might not approach the very top of the Black Library, but it's close enough and a very fun read.

[Isdavidisgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this read. I’ve read so so many W40k novels and this has to be one of the best at portraying space marines and one of the best as just a great read. Love the links to Dan Abnetts: Gaunts Ghosts.

[Nick Quenga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sabbat Crusades, but space marines make things too easy, then ex machina when they start to struggle.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book overall, but the end was a letdown.

[this_curious_thing · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. Very well-written and surprisingly good WH40K fiction, although not sure if a familiarity with the 40K universe/Gaunt's Ghosts helps.

[Steve Ruschill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. The writing is not nearly as good as other Warhammer books and the characters are not at all well developed. Generally an okay book just struggled to get through it.

[Alexandre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good, great characters, some actually good space marines

[Tom Fishwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending I found annoying, as it was just a setup for the sequel. But overall I found it a good follow-up to the Gaunt's Ghosts Saint omnibus.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Dan Abnett states on the back cover of this book’s sequel, Matthew Farrer is Black Library’s secret weapon. In my experience he's something of a cult concern compared to the very popular Aaron Dembski-Bowden or Dan Abnett, or very prolific authors like Guy Haley. BL has some gifted authors for sure, some who are great at pulp and some who are just great, but I think Farrer might be the most underrated, he's the best writer on their roster with the least recognition. Some find his style impenetrable, his books too wordy or long-winded – but those of us who are fans eagerly await any new book or short story from one of the masters of the Dark Millennium.

Farrer's ‘Urdesh’ story has a messy genesis and started being teased a long, long time ago, post-‘Salvation’s Reach’ I think. If I recall right it was initially sold as a ‘Space Marine Battles’ type book, more combat focused than Farrer’s books tended to be. It, very clearly, was meant to be a ‘prequel’ story or perhaps a ‘parallel’ to the Gaunt’s Ghosts novel ‘The Warmaster’, a story which was also about the battle for Urdesh. ‘The Warmaster’ was a famously delayed book, but ‘Urdesh’ was even more so. Somewhat unsurprisingly, completion didn’t mesh up neatly between the two authors and so the ‘Urdesh’ novels came out in 2021, four years after ‘The Warmaster’ was published and two years after ‘The Warmaster’ got a sequel and moved the Ghosts’ storyline along yet further. In that sequel, ‘Anarch’, a whole group of characters show up near the end who are very clearly fresh from the events that happened in Farrer’s book.

If you don’t mind re-reading those Gaunt books – and what GG fan could object to revisiting those two great novels? – ‘Urdesh’ is a fantastic companion piece, giving us a wider view of the nasty, grinding Urdesh fight than even Dan was able to give in his stories and lengthy background writing. More even than that, though, Farrer’s book is most clearly is a sequel to ‘Brothers of the Snake’, Abnett’s short story cycle about the Iron Snakes Space Marine Chapter and in particular one battle-brother Priad (now a Captain). The primary focus of ‘The Serpent and the Saint’ is an account of the four squads of Iron Snakes fighting across this area of Urdesh, paying particular attention to the famed Damocles Squad who now act as Saint Sabbat’s honour guard. Taking over from Dan as the custodian of the Snakes’ story, Farrer writes with respect and reverence for the established Iron Snakes lore without making it feel like simply a re-tread or fanfic; it’s a deepening and a progression of these characters we’ve already grown to love and the culture of their Chapter. I strongly recommend re-reading ‘Brothers of the Snake’ as well before you jump into this new one. (It’s also a sequel of sorts to ‘Titanicus’, but with less emphasis on that – still, you might want to read ‘Titanicus’ before ‘Urdesh’ as well!)

The structure of this one is a little ragged, and it does take a while to get moving I think. Once Farrer has thrown his characters into combat, though, it becomes utterly gripping, and then when you see how well he does the more quiet post-battle bits you wonder how you could’ve ever found the beginning parts boring. (I do just think it takes some time to acclimatise to the prose and the characters.) Farrer’s writing here can be uneven – at it’s best it’s exceptional. Sometimes he gets too caught up in describing particular architecture or trying to communicate the lay of the land setting the scene for a particular battle, and that doesn’t always work; it’s well done but the pace isn’t always right, I guess I’d say. You perhaps don’t get the sense of place that some of the other BL authors can assuredly give quickly by just hitting those key elements of 40K vocabulary, but I actually really admire Farrer for staying away from those and trying to be more original.

What you do get are characters that feel real, living and breathing in ways that sometimes are totally foreign to Black Library books. And while it’s arguable that giving a character / world-building genius like Farrer a book that often feels like it’s primarily battles is a waste, he is very good at the conflict stuff here, enough that this book is nowhere near the uncomplicated 'bolter porn' you might worry would be a waste of his talent.

‘The Serpent and the Saint’ cuts out rather abruptly, its story half-finished, and when I realised it was just book 1 of 2 I surely had some panic about waiting another several years for the concluding volume. Luckily the next one came out a few months later and I can reassure you it’s up to as just a high standard as the first, if not better.

7.5/10

[Michael Elder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a mixed bag for me. The bolter porn is good, but I just couldn't get into the characters and had no real connection to the overall Sabbat worlds crusade. That could change, but I think i will skip the sequel of this one.