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Bastion Wars #2
Flesh and Iron
There are reports of an uprising on the planet of Solo-Baston. Indigenous forces are rebelling against Imperial rule, led by the mysterious 'Dos Pares'. Amidst the conflict, the 31st Riverine Imperial Guard are dispatched to seek and destroy a vital piece of weaponry, but find themselves beset on all sides by hostile forces. And what they originally thought was simple tribal warfare soon reveals a much more sinister activity. Henry Zou's latest novel serves as a prequel to Emperor's Mercy and delivers non-stop action and mystery in the grim world of Warhammer 40,000.
416 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 12, 2012
Interesting reading , I felt myself reminded of Apocalypse Now
February 12, 2025
TROPIC THUNDER
This book isn't especially about Flesh or Iron, at least no more than any other 40k book.
A curious situation it shares with 40ks *other* Vietnam in space book - Peter Fehervari's Fire Caste, which was only nominally about any Fire Caste, whether literal or metaphorical.
STOLEN SQUALOUR
It’s hard to compliment this book because I don't know how much is 'writing' and how much is 'research', or even where that line lies. Why on earth did he do it? It really poisons any and every other good thing about the book.
My vague impression for a Henry Zou book is that it starts as a kind of collage or mosaic of other scenes and ideas from other books and then gets gradually overwritten and interlinked until, hopefully, it becomes a new thing. Hopefully.
Clearly somewhere there is some kind of a line.
Reading lots of military history and after action reports and synthesising them into something 'new' - this is the Dan Abnett method (though, how similar is 'Necropolis' to Stalingrad? Isn't the fight in the big yard against the Woe machines torn straight from Anthony Beevor or 'Enemy at the Gates'?).
Then Henry does exactly the same thing, but just synthesises less, digests and alters less, until at some point an absolute direct replication gets through - the scene where a soldier throws a smoke grenade purely out of spite - which is a provable direct rip from an actual soldiers biography.
The whole thing then collapses into explicit collage, and that makes the questionable morality of the characters in some sense intolerable - because their actions and attitudes are taken from a real war in which real people died, where they may have been bad but at least told the truth about what war is actually like, and are now placed into a fictional war where one side is literally demon inspired, - I can think of no argument or paradigm that can answer the moral challenge of both of these situations, combined, at once. It really is a big hole in the dike.
I suppose we already have an effectual real life instantiation of the moral 'rules' as they are actually practiced, which is;
> If your sci fi war book seems a lot like parts from real life war books, people will notice and mention it online.
> A few will investigate. If you *provably plagiarised* direct text from actual war scenes, especially biographic details of actual soldiers, your career is over. This is the Zou zone.
> If you are clearly 'influenced by' but not directly 'stealing from', other books, you have a pass depending on the level of originality and competence of your work. This is the Dan Zone.
> For anyone perceived to be between the Dan Zone and the Zou Zone, judgements on this will be made at a time appropriate, (if anyone notices).
OTHER POINTS
If not for the crime of its birth, this would really be a very good book.
I liked how realistically racist and horrible the offworld Imperial Soldiers were some of the time, depending on circumstance. Soldiers wearing sunglasses at night so they don’t have to look the natives in the eye as they warcrime them was a great scene.
For being called Blood Gorgons, they are surprisingly rational Space Marines. Last time we saw one it was chasing a car like a dog, now they open conversations with philosophical precepts. Though one scene does have a Blood Gorgon fighting a bunch of Imperials who are riding a big car, which is very similar to a scene in the previous book where nearly the same thing happens, including a surprise power fist to the gut. These guys are either; "Whats your opinion on Kant?" or "RRAaaagggGHHHH!!"
The book is a surprisingly clear and calm fall to darkness, quite unlike a Fehervariesque dreamlike decay.
The main antagonist is a surprisingly banal evil cardinal; he wants to 'remove' the planets indigenous population so he can turn their land into imperial farms for him to make money off, so he essentially provokes the whole war. I wonder how much of this land reclamation and hypocritical church business is torn from real SE Asian history? The banality of evil is no crime in Imperium stories, but the lack of *ideas* in a deeply idealistic war feels a bit off and dumping the whole thing on one evil cardinal feels slightly gauche for the book of textured evil and incompetence in the books other scenes, but its a functional storytelling.
The feel, bricolage and mis-en-scene of 'the Indigs', the pseudo-Vietnamese culture of the planet, is really good. A heretic Astarte’s helmet lying waiting in a jungle temple, not a temple to chaos, one to the Emperor, and not just jungle but a little township in the jungle, but keeping artefacts of chaos along side those of He On Earth; certain writers and gods would appreciate that I'm sure.
This book isn't especially about Flesh or Iron, at least no more than any other 40k book.
A curious situation it shares with 40ks *other* Vietnam in space book - Peter Fehervari's Fire Caste, which was only nominally about any Fire Caste, whether literal or metaphorical.
STOLEN SQUALOUR
It’s hard to compliment this book because I don't know how much is 'writing' and how much is 'research', or even where that line lies. Why on earth did he do it? It really poisons any and every other good thing about the book.
My vague impression for a Henry Zou book is that it starts as a kind of collage or mosaic of other scenes and ideas from other books and then gets gradually overwritten and interlinked until, hopefully, it becomes a new thing. Hopefully.
Clearly somewhere there is some kind of a line.
Reading lots of military history and after action reports and synthesising them into something 'new' - this is the Dan Abnett method (though, how similar is 'Necropolis' to Stalingrad? Isn't the fight in the big yard against the Woe machines torn straight from Anthony Beevor or 'Enemy at the Gates'?).
Then Henry does exactly the same thing, but just synthesises less, digests and alters less, until at some point an absolute direct replication gets through - the scene where a soldier throws a smoke grenade purely out of spite - which is a provable direct rip from an actual soldiers biography.
The whole thing then collapses into explicit collage, and that makes the questionable morality of the characters in some sense intolerable - because their actions and attitudes are taken from a real war in which real people died, where they may have been bad but at least told the truth about what war is actually like, and are now placed into a fictional war where one side is literally demon inspired, - I can think of no argument or paradigm that can answer the moral challenge of both of these situations, combined, at once. It really is a big hole in the dike.
I suppose we already have an effectual real life instantiation of the moral 'rules' as they are actually practiced, which is;
> If your sci fi war book seems a lot like parts from real life war books, people will notice and mention it online.
> A few will investigate. If you *provably plagiarised* direct text from actual war scenes, especially biographic details of actual soldiers, your career is over. This is the Zou zone.
> If you are clearly 'influenced by' but not directly 'stealing from', other books, you have a pass depending on the level of originality and competence of your work. This is the Dan Zone.
> For anyone perceived to be between the Dan Zone and the Zou Zone, judgements on this will be made at a time appropriate, (if anyone notices).
OTHER POINTS
If not for the crime of its birth, this would really be a very good book.
I liked how realistically racist and horrible the offworld Imperial Soldiers were some of the time, depending on circumstance. Soldiers wearing sunglasses at night so they don’t have to look the natives in the eye as they warcrime them was a great scene.
For being called Blood Gorgons, they are surprisingly rational Space Marines. Last time we saw one it was chasing a car like a dog, now they open conversations with philosophical precepts. Though one scene does have a Blood Gorgon fighting a bunch of Imperials who are riding a big car, which is very similar to a scene in the previous book where nearly the same thing happens, including a surprise power fist to the gut. These guys are either; "Whats your opinion on Kant?" or "RRAaaagggGHHHH!!"
The book is a surprisingly clear and calm fall to darkness, quite unlike a Fehervariesque dreamlike decay.
The main antagonist is a surprisingly banal evil cardinal; he wants to 'remove' the planets indigenous population so he can turn their land into imperial farms for him to make money off, so he essentially provokes the whole war. I wonder how much of this land reclamation and hypocritical church business is torn from real SE Asian history? The banality of evil is no crime in Imperium stories, but the lack of *ideas* in a deeply idealistic war feels a bit off and dumping the whole thing on one evil cardinal feels slightly gauche for the book of textured evil and incompetence in the books other scenes, but its a functional storytelling.
The feel, bricolage and mis-en-scene of 'the Indigs', the pseudo-Vietnamese culture of the planet, is really good. A heretic Astarte’s helmet lying waiting in a jungle temple, not a temple to chaos, one to the Emperor, and not just jungle but a little township in the jungle, but keeping artefacts of chaos along side those of He On Earth; certain writers and gods would appreciate that I'm sure.
July 20, 2012
This is the second novel based in the WarHammer 40k universe I have read. The first being the first in the series "Emperor's Mercy". While this is the second in the trilogy of "Bastion Wars" books I honestly didn't see anything in this book that tied it to the first one. Which means if you haven't read the first one, this one won't' mess you up not knowing what is going on.
We primarily follow two characters. One is a person who is the chief of a local tribe, and one who is a Colonel in the Imperial Guard. it's set in a swamp/jungle type planet so you have lots of Vietnam-esque type fighting. You have political intrigue between the Navy Admirals wanting to get all the credit, to the religious caste having a dark secret that if comes to life will discredit them, so they are both fighting against the Imperial Guard's success which creates an interesting and surprising change and you find yourself rooting for someone you wouldn't think you would.
I am just starting in the hobby that is Warhammer 40k game, and the twist and intrigue was enough to make me not want to play the human forces anymore, and view them as evil. So it was a pretty fun twist.
We primarily follow two characters. One is a person who is the chief of a local tribe, and one who is a Colonel in the Imperial Guard. it's set in a swamp/jungle type planet so you have lots of Vietnam-esque type fighting. You have political intrigue between the Navy Admirals wanting to get all the credit, to the religious caste having a dark secret that if comes to life will discredit them, so they are both fighting against the Imperial Guard's success which creates an interesting and surprising change and you find yourself rooting for someone you wouldn't think you would.
I am just starting in the hobby that is Warhammer 40k game, and the twist and intrigue was enough to make me not want to play the human forces anymore, and view them as evil. So it was a pretty fun twist.
February 7, 2016
It's warhammer shut the f** up and read everything! Yes i'm acting like a fanboy, but how can i resist it is an amazing universe with so much lore!!!
A little bit about the book:
On the planet of Solo-Baston, indigenous forces are rebelling against Imperial rule, led by the mysterious Dos Pares. Colonel Fyodor Baeder and the 31st Riverine are sent to reclaim vital weaponry for the Imperium, but are decimated by native resistance.
-"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt".
(Librarian Isador Akios of the Blood Ravens)
A little bit about the book:
On the planet of Solo-Baston, indigenous forces are rebelling against Imperial rule, led by the mysterious Dos Pares. Colonel Fyodor Baeder and the 31st Riverine are sent to reclaim vital weaponry for the Imperium, but are decimated by native resistance.
-"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt".
(Librarian Isador Akios of the Blood Ravens)
August 19, 2021
Wow this book was a long slog. It was a poor attempt at a cross between 40K and the movie Apocalypse Now. You would almost think that he wanted to write a Vietnam War novel but couldn't get it published so just changed M-16 to Lasgun and sent it to black library. The plot is pretty weak. The motivation and actions of the main villain, Cardinal Avanti, pretty dubious. A number of inconsistencies through out the book, along with an obvious lack of understanding of military tactics by the author are also pretty distracting. I did like the ending, which I will not spoil.
October 7, 2020
A massive improvement over the terrible "Emperor's Mercy", ending with a twist I did not see coming. It's the most overt criticism in-universe of the Imperium I've seen yet, and I like that a lot. Corruption and fanaticism are always present as aspects of the Imperium, even while the Imperium is seen as the--if not the good guys, then the less bad ones. That fits in with the way this is "40k does Vietnam", I suppose.
January 14, 2025
I like it BUT not sure i think that ( spoiler ahead ) the main character can turn that easy in his conviction or that the military accepts that easy that one of their own be killed and a hole regiment kiled just because somebody outside the army says so ... does not look veridic for me.
But i enjoyed the book altho not that 40k in my opinion more like related with 40k.
But i enjoyed the book altho not that 40k in my opinion more like related with 40k.
December 15, 2025
Definitely one of my favorite 40K books I've read. Interesting characters, awesome action scenes, and lots of love for naval vessels and riverine boats. And that twist in the last hundred pages, makes me tempted to serve the Dark Gods!
November 22, 2020
Slow starter, but great once it gets going.
February 13, 2026
This was the first Warhammer book I've officially read and I enjoyed it😁 I can't wait to read more.
August 23, 2015
If not for the the last quarter of the book and the ending, I would have given it a 3 star. But, as it stands it gets a well deserved 4 star from me. A sometimes bland and standard book which turns up the action volume two thirds of the way and gives a surprise twist and a very satisfiying ending.
(Maybe)SPOILERS : It is one of the few books in the 40K universe (if not the only one)which shows very well how normal people fall into the grip of chaos for all the right reasons...and the irony is that all of them are hardcore loyalists betrayed by the same imperium which they have given their lives to protect. Very well done and believable. I liked it that it also shows that Chaos is more than just frothing insane power hungry madmen (altho' there is that as well,partially)and that it is a viable alternative to the opression and evilness of the Imperium. The Blood Gorgons show that, time and again in both this book and their namesake book. That and the Apocalypse Now vibe. Thumbs up.
(Maybe)SPOILERS : It is one of the few books in the 40K universe (if not the only one)which shows very well how normal people fall into the grip of chaos for all the right reasons...and the irony is that all of them are hardcore loyalists betrayed by the same imperium which they have given their lives to protect. Very well done and believable. I liked it that it also shows that Chaos is more than just frothing insane power hungry madmen (altho' there is that as well,partially)and that it is a viable alternative to the opression and evilness of the Imperium. The Blood Gorgons show that, time and again in both this book and their namesake book. That and the Apocalypse Now vibe. Thumbs up.
July 6, 2012
40K does Vietnam.
A good portion of the book us following a cliche Nam storyline. The writing is enjoyable and engaging but the back of your brain is calling the plot points fairly reliably. Then you reach a point in the book and there's more book than you expected. The obvious climax... Well it's A climax just not THE climax.
And that is what makes this book a little bit more than a run of the mill 40K cliche fest.
A good portion of the book us following a cliche Nam storyline. The writing is enjoyable and engaging but the back of your brain is calling the plot points fairly reliably. Then you reach a point in the book and there's more book than you expected. The obvious climax... Well it's A climax just not THE climax.
And that is what makes this book a little bit more than a run of the mill 40K cliche fest.
March 3, 2012
Even better! I don't want to spoil anything, but WOW!!!
40k does Vietnam! and so damn well!
I liked where it went, I liked how it got there, and I was so wrapped up in the story I didn't even pick apart the like one part that seemed a little implausible. Henry Zhou is fast becoming my favorite author in the 40k universe. and honestly I thought the ending was going somewhere else. man was I wrong.
Will Read this too!
40k does Vietnam! and so damn well!
I liked where it went, I liked how it got there, and I was so wrapped up in the story I didn't even pick apart the like one part that seemed a little implausible. Henry Zhou is fast becoming my favorite author in the 40k universe. and honestly I thought the ending was going somewhere else. man was I wrong.
Will Read this too!
April 25, 2015
The weaker of the three Henry Zou books, Flesh and Iron tells a fairly standard story up until the climactic battle near the end of the book where everything begins to really pick up and the plot turns itself around with a fantastic twist. I particularly liked the connection to Emperor's Mercy near the end.
August 13, 2010
Zou really coming into his own. Carries on the grit from the first Bastion Stars novel, but the story-telling is a little more polished.
March 17, 2011
Slightly different from the normal IG 40K novel. Did reflect the brutality and person interest that drives the 40k universe. Twist was a little obverse.....
April 10, 2011
Excellent book. Zou combines the fiction of the 40k universe with plausible wartime situations. Excellent twist at the end leaves you rooting for the side you never expected to.
November 8, 2012
I'm a big fan of the Imperial Guard and like how Henry Zou did it.
October 16, 2020
The way that Zou makes the hard and bloody journey even worse. And Zou also makes it from the chaos side and their reasoning.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews