Volpone Glory

by Nick Kyme

A Sabbat Worlds Novel

"We will make our own history, and all other accounts be damned."

READ IT BECAUSE
Volpone Glory covers the exploits of the soldiers of the 50th Volpone of the Royal Volpone Regiment. Their ranks are filled with proud and arrogant soldiers who come from the noble families of Volpone, earning them the name "Bluebloods" among the Astra Militarum. Nick Kyme breathes life and humility into the members of this otherwise supercilious regiment as they battle against impossible odds.

THE STORY
As war rages across the Sabbat Worlds, the Volpone Bluebloods are sent to Gnostes at the head of a massive Imperial host. Tasked with the liberation of the Agria island chain from the entrenched Blood Pact, the haughty soldiers of the Volpone find their mettle sorely tested in a brutal meat grinder. After a punishing setback threatens to derail the campaign, an unlikely champion rises through the ranks and victory once again seems possible. But the propaganda of war is a fickle beast, and the Archenemy are cultivating a plot the Imperium can scarcely fathom. Through glory and honour, the Volpone are desperate to prevail, but can they endure the rigours of the bloodiest campaign in their vaunted history and come out the other side intact?

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Dystopia

482 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2021

About the author

Nick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.

Reviews

[Michael Dodd]

One of only a handful of non-Dan Abnett novels in Black Library’s Sabbat Worlds series (or is it maybe a setting now?), Nick Kyme’s Volpone Glory more than holds its own in this much-loved range – a gritty, powerful page-turner of a book that delves into the complex character of the Royal Volpone regiment of Imperial Guard. Set in 791.M41, so roughly the same time as The Warmaster, it sees the 50th Royal Volpone on Gnostes, bogged down in a protracted campaign attempting to push the Blood Pact out of an entrenched island chain, their vaunted pride dented by their lack of progress.

Even by Black Library standards this is a bleak, gritty story, examining the Bluebloods’ hunger for glory at all costs, the lengths certain members of the regiment will go to for victory, and the powerful – if sinister – impact of Imperial propaganda. It’s a genuinely excellent piece of military SF in its own right, and as part of the wider Sabbat Worlds range it comfortably fills its own unique niche while nicely complementing the series as a whole.

Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2022/01/...

[Evyn Meredeth]

I want to preface this by saying that this is the first Warhammer novel I have read or even picked up, but I thoroughly enjoyed it cover to cover. If you’re new to the world of 40K like I am, this will be a difficult read and it might be a good idea to keep the wiki open while you read if you have anything you’re not familiar with. The characters are fantastic and the writing style of Nick Kyme is very visual in nature. The tone is grim dark to a T, and spares no amount of gore and violence. In the far future there is only war, and this book does an excellent job sending that point home. From feeling like a futuristic Battle at The Somme, to an almost Tolkienian layout of siege warfare, this book has everything for a space fantasy and gritty sci-fi fan like me. The only thing I have that made this book harder for me was the amount of named and important characters in it, but the author did a good job differentiating them by their mannerisms and ways of speaking that it wasn’t confusing.
All in all it was a great read, and a must read for anyone getting into the 40K series like myself, or veteran fans that love the Militarum. The Emperor Protects!

[Rob Young]

Listened to this one on Audible, and it felt like it got off to a slow start (but I think that was the v/o laconic but captivating style).
Once this book hits its stride it won’t let you go, with intense action and unseen twists that genuinely left me reeling.
Great book, and an essential read/listen for fans of 40K or the Imperial Guard in general.

[Oluo]

An Imperial Guard novel released after 2020? Well, it's safe to assume that it will be mediocre at best - and that assumption has once again been proved right for Volpone Glory.

First off, it doesn't really feel like the same Bloodbloods that we know from Gaunt's Ghosts (though it's been some time since I read that), I know it's a different author yadda yadda... but the regiment feels watered down, they do not seem that arrogant and stubborn as they are described to be. Seems like the author thought that creating a few "mean" characters like Shiller or the generals is enough and every other trooper or officer can be just a blank guardsman that could fit into any regiment.

The plot in the 2nd part of the book goes haywire. It doesn't make much sense when you think about, it looks like it tries to paint the Imperium in the worst way possible just for the sake of it - like the whole Rensaint assassination-intrigue plot - murdering so many officers just to... win the war by blowing up the wall at night almost effortlessly? I'm not saying that the Imperium is perfect but looking at used wording it's quite obvious that they are trying to alter the general fan perception of the Imperium to be worse ("humanity bad" - sike).

I mentioned the wording that Nick Kyme is using here. This is actually a big part of why I didn't like the book. Since when words like "fascist" are being used in-lore to describe the characters? How did someone think it is a good idea to describe a character as "a fascistic scarecrow"? Names of earth's continents and countries are always changed since no one can actually remember them, same with old character names, old religions etc. etc. and now I'm supposed to believe that Guard soldiers are casually using the word "fascist"? Even without looking at the publication date you can guess that this book was released in 2020s :)

Lastly, it looks like most BL authors are incapable of writing women characters aside from these two types:
1) an omega-level badass that can do no wrong and knows what's best in every scenario;
2) a sassy and smug all around great solider that's sooo cool that they are over addressing their superiors in adequate manner - without any consequences.
On the other hand, male officers are always shown to be emotionally down or incapable of having morale positive scenes. Major Regara cries after his best friend dies, Darian has internal monologue that rounds up to "war bad" (until he doesn't as he fucking dies). Fear not though! Our female officers are always there to be stoic and composed! This is the new normal for 40K novels - Steel Tread anyone? That book was so ridiculous. Can't wait to be called misogynist myself. Wonder why I didn't mind female characters in older 40K... ah, they were written as actual characters back then.

Oh, the author also likes to hammer you with the word "propaganda" every time a commissar is present in a scene. EVERY thing that a commissar does is done for PROPAGANDA. Did I stutter? Sorry, I will repeat that on the next page - the commissar did this for propaganda. The commissar will do that for propaganda... Jesus Christ, I get it, commissars are political officers, could you stop repeating that every single chapter?

Oh x2, it seems like troopers also like to comment how their superiors are misogynists every now and then - and yes, this is the word they use. Of course we need a character to fill that spot, but as I already mentioned - you have officer Shiller whose only point is to be an asshole and apparently a target for being called a misogynist - yes, that's all he does and then dies.

[Jack Neighbour]

I did really enjoy the characters but it seemed a minor battle in the sabbat worlds crusade. Really well developed characters and plenty of action.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X]

Book Review: Warhammer 40K: Volpone Glory by Nick Kyme

Rating: 4.5/5

I’m still relatively new to Warhammer 40K, and I should probably start this review by making that clear. I’m not someone who has been playing the tabletop game for decades, I don’t know every Space Marine chapter by heart, and I certainly couldn’t explain every piece of Imperial history without occasionally having to look something up.

For me, Warhammer 40K has primarily been a book universe.

I’ve been slowly discovering the setting through its novels, learning about the Imperium, the Astra Militarum, Chaos, the various alien races, and all the strange terminology along the way. So when I picked up Nick Kyme’s Volpone Glory, I went into it mostly because I wanted another Imperial Guard story.

What I got was something considerably more interesting than I expected.

Volpone Glory is a military science-fiction novel set during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, focusing on the 50th Royal Volpone Regiment—the infamous “Bluebloods.” They are sent to Gnostes to fight the Blood Pact and liberate the Agria island chain. The official premise describes the Volpone as proud and arrogant soldiers from noble families, and that is probably the easiest way to understand them going into the book. (Black Library⁠)

And honestly?

I didn’t particularly like them at first.

That is probably one of the best things about this book.

The Volpone Are Not Exactly Easy to Love

The Volpone are arrogant.

They know they’re arrogant.

And, in many cases, they don’t particularly care.

They have a reputation for being elite soldiers, but their sense of superiority is almost as important to them as actually winning the war. They’re aristocratic, privileged and obsessed with reputation.

Coming into 40K mostly through books, I’ve encountered plenty of characters who are unpleasant because they’re villains. The interesting thing about Volpone Glory is that many of these characters are unpleasant while technically being on the same side as the protagonists.

They’re Imperial soldiers.

They’re fighting Chaos.

They’re supposed to be the “good guys.”

And yet, there are plenty of moments where I found myself thinking:

“I really don’t like these people.”

But then something would happen that made me understand them a little better.

That’s where I think Nick Kyme succeeds.

Rather than simply making the Volpone a bunch of arrogant caricatures, he gradually shows the people underneath the uniforms.

Their pride isn’t just there for comedy. It becomes something they have to live with.

Their reputation is something they have to defend.

And eventually, their obsession with glory becomes one of the biggest weaknesses—and strengths—of the regiment.

This Is a War Story More Than a Power Fantasy

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about Warhammer 40K novels is discovering that the setting isn’t always about the biggest and strongest characters imaginable.

Sometimes it’s just ordinary humans being thrown into an absolutely horrifying situation.

That’s where Volpone Glory worked especially well for me.

The Astra Militarum doesn’t have the physical advantages of Space Marines. They’re not genetically enhanced super-soldiers wearing power armor. They’re human beings with rifles, artillery, tanks, uniforms and orders.

And there are a lot of them.

That makes the battlefield feel different.

The book repeatedly emphasizes just how brutal warfare is for ordinary soldiers. The campaign becomes a grinding struggle rather than some glorious heroic adventure.

There are victories, but they don’t necessarily feel triumphant.

There are moments where characters accomplish incredible things, but those accomplishments often come with a horrible price.

And that’s something I really appreciated.

I’ve read enough 40K at this point to know that the setting is supposed to be “grimdark,” but Volpone Glory helped me understand what that actually means beyond simply having lots of blood and death.

The grimdark element isn’t merely:

“Everything is horrible because Warhammer.”

It’s more:

“Even when you win, you may have lost something you can never get back.”

That distinction made the story much more effective for me.

The Battle Scenes

The combat is one of the book’s strongest aspects.

Kyme does a good job making battles feel chaotic, confusing and dangerous rather than turning every engagement into a perfectly choreographed action sequence.

People make mistakes.

Orders go wrong.

Plans collapse.

Soldiers misunderstand what’s happening.

And sometimes survival comes down to someone being in the right place at exactly the right time.

That made the military side of the story feel much more believable to me.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed was how the battlefield doesn’t always feel heroic.

There are moments of bravery, certainly, but there is also fear, confusion, exhaustion and desperation.

The soldiers aren’t standing around giving inspirational speeches while explosions conveniently happen behind them.

They’re trying to survive.

That might sound obvious, but I think it’s important because it makes the moments of genuine courage stand out much more.

When somebody actually does something brave in Volpone Glory, it feels meaningful because the book has already established how terrifying the situation is.

The Characters

The characters were probably the biggest surprise for me.

Going into this book, I didn’t have any particular attachment to the Volpone.

In fact, I was somewhat skeptical about spending an entire novel with a regiment that I’d primarily encountered through descriptions of them being arrogant Bluebloods.

But by the end, I found myself caring about several of them.

Not necessarily because I liked them.

That’s an important distinction.

Some characters remain deeply frustrating.

Some are arrogant.

Some make terrible decisions.

Some are motivated by ambition.

Some are concerned with their reputation more than the people underneath them.

But they feel like people.

And that made a huge difference.

One character I particularly enjoyed was Bertram Fenk.

Fenk is one of those characters who helped make the book work for me because he provides a different perspective on the Volpone and their military culture.

He’s not simply another interchangeable soldier.

He has his own personality, ambitions and problems, and watching him navigate the hierarchy of the regiment was one of the more interesting parts of the story.

The book also does something I really appreciate in military fiction: it demonstrates that the enemy isn’t necessarily the only threat.

Sometimes the people on your own side can make things much more complicated.

The Politics Were Surprisingly Interesting

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the political side of the book as much as I did.

Usually, when I pick up a Warhammer 40K novel, I’m expecting war.

And obviously, Volpone Glory has plenty of war.

But there is also a considerable amount of military politics, rivalry, bureaucracy and propaganda.

And surprisingly, I didn’t find that boring.

In fact, some of the political elements helped reinforce one of the book’s biggest themes:

What happens when victory becomes more important than truth?

The Imperium is obsessed with stories.

Heroes.

Victories.

Glory.

Sacrifice.

The official version of events can sometimes matter more than what actually happened.

And that becomes increasingly important throughout the novel.

As someone who is still relatively new to 40K, I found this fascinating because it gave me another perspective on the Imperium.

The Imperium isn’t simply an enormous military dictatorship fighting monsters.

It’s a civilization built around institutions, propaganda, hierarchy, tradition and enormous amounts of bureaucracy.

And sometimes those things can be just as dangerous as the enemies outside the walls.

The Blood Pact

The Blood Pact also worked well for me.

I don’t have an encyclopedic understanding of Chaos, so some of the deeper lore surrounding them was new territory.

But I didn’t feel like I needed to know everything beforehand.

The Blood Pact serve as a genuinely threatening enemy, and the book does a good job making their presence feel like more than simply:

“Here are the bad guys for the Imperial Guard to shoot.”

There is a sense that the Imperial forces don’t completely understand what they’re dealing with.

And that’s one of my favorite aspects of Warhammer 40K.

The universe is enormous.

People don’t always understand what’s happening.

Sometimes the soldiers on the ground are just trying to survive while forces far beyond their comprehension manipulate events around them.

That gives the story a sense of scale without requiring the main characters to constantly interact with famous 40K characters.

You Don’t Need to Be a 40K Expert

This is probably the biggest question I would have had before reading the book.

Can someone relatively new to Warhammer 40K read Volpone Glory?

I’d say yes.

There were definitely moments when I had to stop and remind myself what a particular term meant.

There are plenty of names, ranks, organizations, military formations and pieces of 40K terminology.

If you’re completely unfamiliar with the setting, you might occasionally find yourself reaching for a wiki.

But I never felt completely lost.

The important thing is that the central story is relatively easy to understand:

Soldiers have been sent to fight a brutal war, their campaign is going badly, and they have to overcome both the enemy and the problems within their own organization.

You don’t need to know every detail of the Imperium to understand that.

In fact, I think being a newcomer actually made some aspects of the book more interesting.

I was discovering the Volpone at the same time the story was revealing them.

I didn’t already have decades of expectations about these characters.

I was simply meeting them.

And that worked surprisingly well.

The Pacing

If I had one significant criticism, it would be the pacing.

There are sections of the book that move more slowly than others.

There are a lot of characters.

There are political discussions.

There are strategic conversations.

There are moments where the story pauses to develop the personalities and relationships of the characters.

Some readers are probably going to love that.

Others may find it frustrating.

Personally, I was somewhere in the middle.

I appreciated the character development, but there were definitely moments where I wanted to get back to the battlefield.

The novel is at its best when the character development, military strategy and action are happening simultaneously.

When those elements come together, Volpone Glory becomes extremely difficult to put down.

What I Didn’t Expect

The biggest surprise for me was that this book made me care about the Volpone.

That’s not something I expected when I started.

I expected a fairly straightforward Imperial Guard war story.

Instead, I got a story about pride, class, reputation, military culture, propaganda, ambition and survival.

The Volpone begin the story as a regiment defined by their arrogance.

But by the end, I understood that arrogance differently.

I didn’t necessarily approve of it.

I didn’t suddenly think every Blueblood was a wonderful person.

But I understood where it came from.

And I understood why these soldiers were willing to fight so hard to protect the reputation of their regiment.

That is much more interesting than simply saying:

“The Volpone are arrogant jerks.”

My Experience as a New 40K Reader

Reading Volpone Glory also reminded me why I’m enjoying discovering Warhammer 40K through novels rather than trying to learn the entire setting at once.

There is an almost ridiculous amount of lore.

Every time I think I’ve figured out one part of the universe, I discover another faction, another war, another historical event or another character.

But books like this make that universe feel manageable.

I don’t have to understand everything.

I can follow one group of soldiers.

I can understand their personalities.

I can watch them fight.

And through them, I gradually learn more about the wider setting.

That’s exactly what I want from a franchise this enormous.

Final Thoughts

Volpone Glory isn’t my favorite Warhammer 40K novel simply because it has massive battles or famous characters.

It’s memorable because it made me interested in characters I initially didn’t think I would care about.

Nick Kyme takes a regiment known for being arrogant aristocratic soldiers and gives them considerably more depth.

The result is a war story where glory isn’t always glorious.

Victory doesn’t necessarily feel victorious.

And surviving doesn’t mean that everyone gets to walk away unchanged.

For a relatively casual Warhammer 40K fan who primarily experiences the setting through books, I found Volpone Glory to be an excellent introduction to another side of the Astra Militarum and the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

It isn’t perfect.

The large cast can sometimes be difficult to keep track of, the pacing slows down in places, and newcomers may occasionally need to look up some terminology.

But the characters, military atmosphere and themes more than made up for those issues.

Most importantly, the book left me wanting to know more about the Volpone.

And honestly, I think that’s the best compliment I can give it.

I started the book thinking:

“Okay, let’s see what these arrogant Bluebloods are all about.”

I finished it thinking:

“I actually want to read more about these guys.”

For a newcomer to Warhammer 40K, that’s a pretty good result.

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Best for:
Fans of military science fiction, Imperial Guard stories, character-driven Warhammer 40K, and readers who enjoy stories where victory comes at an enormous cost.

[AA_Logan]

Volpone Glory is really very good and is another recent addition to the mental list of ‘absolutely essential 40k books’ that I keep; certainly it’s the best novel by Nick Kyme that I can recall.

Like it’s near-namesake, the often overlooked Imperial Glory, Volpone Glory isn’t necessarily an anti-war book but it does expose the inherent horrors and hypocrisies of armed conflict that are massively magnified by absurdities of the Imperium as well as one of the best depictions of the sheer incomprehensible terror that exposure to Chaos causes that I’ve ever read. The Volpone Bluebloods, quasi-antagonists of two Gaunt’s Ghosts novels, are as haughty as their name suggests and strangely anachronistic even by the standards of the Astra Militarum. Despite their fundamental unpleasantness, Kyme does an excellent job of presenting a broad cast of them, rendering some likeable, others less so, but showing a well-rounded and somehow plausible society. This is one of those BL books where there is tangible peril-proper life-changing physical injuries occur, characters are mentally affected by the grinding nature of decades of combat and there is no guarantee that any given character will make it to the end of the chapter. The prose is fantastic- there are several memorable mass combat scenes as well as sequences away from the battlefield that stick in the memory just as well. The book isn’t just wall-to-wall war, there are genuine human relationships depicted with all the inherent messiness and so much enjoyable politicking. The book isn’t perfect- despite it’s hefty page count, the ending seems slightly rushed and I’d have loved to have seen more from the perspective of other units fighting alongside the Volpone, but it does for them in a single book what Abnett took several for the Tanith- fleshes out their culture, introduces a nuanced cast of characters and leaves the reader wanting to experience more of them.

Finally in my ongoing series of noticing words probably making their BL debut, this features the first appearance of ‘fascistic’, used on this occasion to describe a Commissar.

[Skywatcher Adept]

Volpone Boring.
Nick Kyme made sure of that.

[Paul Sparks]

It’s hard not to actively dislike the characters in this book but that is because of the quality of the writing which subsumes the reader into this awful culture and yet makes you want them to win! great book which I listened to on audible and the narration was superb

[Bernd Velling]

Book 1 for 23 in the bag.

I had been looking forward to this for a while.

The Bluebloods are an “old friend” from the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels and I have to say the author does them justice.
The culture of the regiment is fleshed out (including “teutonized words like “bludwaage” love it 👍🏻😃).

There is plenty of frontline action to go around including the Blood Pact (can’t be in the Sabbat Worlds and not meet them) with some nasty new tricks up the scarred sleeves.

The tie in to the chapter in Ghostmaker is beautifully done. Doc Dorden - rest his soul by the time that happens - would have been proud to hear about Regara and Culcis.

Unfortunately that is where the book loses a star.
In the beginning it is loosely mentioned where the book ties into the whole crusade (year 791).
So when you first „meet“ Regara and Culcis the mistake is not that glaring.
But ( useful word that - Tollin Dorden to Ana Curth) on page 269 (paperback) it jumps at you.
The Vervunhive war is related to as 20 years past.
Regara‘s plot has no issue with that however it does our friend Culcis dirty.
Why ? Because he was a major during the Vervunhive war and lost a hand there.
So he shouldn’t be cast as a Lieutenant that has to deal with some of the crap he has to deal with from other officers because by that time he‘d be a lieutenant colonel at the least.
So great to pull together the Ghost / Volpone history but unfortunate to overlook such a major fact.

But that is really the only drawback albeit a significant one , at least in my book.

[Gary]

I need more Volpone bluebloods in my 40k

This was alot better than I expected. Imperial guards' novels can be very hit or miss for me. However, with this particular novel set within the Sabbats worlds crusade sandbox, I found this to be a very much hit!

The sabbatt crusade sandbox is an incredibly dark and gritty part of 40k that really appeals to my head cannon of 40k. Here, Nick seamlessly tells a tale of one of the most renowned imperial guard regiments since Dan Abnett introduced them in his Gaunts ghosts series.

There are a plethora of fascinating characters, all with significant story lines that I found very fulfilling towards the end. Regara, Culcis, Fenk, Hauptman, and Darian, to name a few of the outstanding characters.

The battles were really well thought out, with the author demonstrating just how chaotic, manic and of course utterly insane they can be.

The author lands the ending, so well I wish there were more to follow because the Volpone bluebloods are a guard regiment worthy of more future stories.

[Jason]

Absolutely amazing - well written (especially for a Black Library novel, which can be a hit or miss depending on who writes it), gripping characters, plenty of visceral action both on and off the battlefield.

This book has:
- Multiple plotlines exploring the politics of the Astra Militarum
- Enjoyable characters with believable personalities and desires
- Bertram Fenk (reminds me of a certain other Imperial Guardsmen, perhaps in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels...)
- Volpone Glory

Well done Nick Kyme!

[Atz]

Spoilers

One of the slower Warhammer 40k books out there. The story, narration, and characters are solid, but it’s missing that big, brutal war feel of the typical 40k book Most of it is people talking planning, debating, dealing with each other instead of fighting. There are a few good moments of suspense and action, but they don’t make up for the slower pace. The focus on the Velpone regiment, easily one of the less interesting Astra Militarum groups, doesn’t help either. Overall, a decent book, just not a very exciting one.

[James Wetherill]

The plot meanders a bit in the middle and we get introduced to some characters seemingly just to throw them away shortly after.
A few cliched plot points, but for anyone who is a fan of Guard novels you’ll find lots to like here, and for fans of the Gaunts Ghosts series we get a lot more background of some characters feature in earlier novels. Solid 4*

[Michael]

Such an amazing novel
Originally the ghost series made you hate the Volpone utterly
But Nick Kyme's work makes it so you still hate alot of the characters and the regiment in general but still find them so interesting at the same time with a few characters you end up liking.

[Tom]

Really liked this book, loved seeing a different side to the sabbat worlds! Definitely want to read more about the bluebloods now!

[Matthew Wake]

One of the most interesting and unique 40K books in a long while. Intriguing and at times barely likeable, yet relatable characters, with a compelling narrative.

[Richard]

I really enjoyed the book, had enough twists in it to keep me entertained.

[Tem Saysword]

Classism gets some light shed on it within the imperial guard

[Christian]

We need to read more about these characters. This novel made the Volpone 3dimensional and real. The characterizations, plot, and action were great. Volpone Glory!

[Michael White]

Decent if predictable.

[Matthew]

Another Nick Kyme dissapointment. No reference to the Ghosts, which I had hoped for.

[slop savant]

My sincere apologies to Nick Kyme - I was unfamiliar with your game

[Louie77]

A great look into a very interesting guard unit

[Vincent R Palmer]

Volpone Glory by Nick Kyme
Published 2021 by Black Library
512 pages, Paperback

***** Stars

For me, the tone of Nick Kyme's writing made Volpone Glory very evocative of Dan Abnett's wonderful Gaunt's Ghost series, and a very welcome addition to the ever growing exploits of the Astra Militarum in The Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

Furthermore, despite its length, I found Volpone Glory to be a thoroughly engaging, fast paced, page turner. Both well written and vividly described, I found it easy to visualise what was happening in my imagination. With a large and complex cast of characters, I found the plot both intriguing and satisfying.

I hope that in the future Nick Kyme might return with more stories of the Volpone Bluebloods.

Put simply, I didn't want to put this book down.

[Mikael]

Lots of characters that ended up not mattering.