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Bastion Wars #3
Blood Gorgons
The Blood Gorgons Chaos Space Marines are called to one of their recruiting worlds as the populace is struck down by a plague of mutation. Sargaulis one of few survivors of the first expeditionary force, and is determined to uncover the mysteries on Haute Bassiq. Facing a hostile environment, shadowy xenos enemies and treachery from within his own forces, Sargaul must dig deep into his hatred and determination to leave the planet alive.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 28, 2010
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May 15, 2013
A frequent problem with Black Library books focusing upon traitor astartes is that they tend to stick to the legions. Major series and titles with Chaos space marines as the focus characters tend to focus upon Iron Warriors, Night Lords, Word Bearers and the others. Blood Gorgons is a big exception to this as its warband was not only founded long after the Horus Heresy but as far from traditional traitor marines as you can imagine.
The novel shows the Blood Gorgons in a time of crisis. Along with the sudden loss of their chapter master and the warband being on the brink of civil war, one of their vital recruitment worlds has come under attack. A virulent plague has begun to sweep through the planet’s occupants, slaughtering them en mass and reanimating their corpses as savage murderers. Even as Bond-Brother Barsabbas’ unit is sent to investigate, they face their darkest hour finding new foes at every turn.
The novel’s biggest selling point is the Blood Gorgons themselves. With the sheer amount of time it spends fleshing out their traditions, attitudes, personalities and characteristics it needed to be well thought out. Thankfully this was delivered upon this in full giving a force which is quite unlike that found within many novels.
While they are clearly scavengers, pirates and traitors they have an oddly twisted version of rules and aspects which would usually be found within a loyalist chapter. While they don’t have an empire, they retain recruitment worlds which they protect. While they avoid having subjects and worshippers; they have artificers, smiths and servants who are loyal in the manner serfs are. While they are fractious, they have a sense of in-built loyalty to one another as a result of Chaos rituals. While they venerate a figure as their patron deity, they do not treat him as a god or blindly worship him.
The book goes through stage by stage in exploring what they are from the viewpoint of everyone. Right from those who lead them to the slaves who are vital to keeping the chapter equipped, then using them to explore what separates them from both the Imperium and those who reside in the Eye of Terror.
Even some of the factions who are introduced a considerable way, those threatening the recruitment world, in get some surprisingly detailed explorations as to whom they are. Something which they desperately needed at the time the book was produced.
If there’s one thing Henry Zou seemed to do well it was giving a detailed, fully explored and well thought out background to the major powers that played a core part of the story. Something which makes the book stand out, but is unfortunately the writing’s only real strongpoint.
Much like Daemon World the novel suffers from the problem that while it’s good for inspiration and as a well of ideas, it falls short of being a good story for a fair number of reasons. Foremost amongst these is the protagonist, Barsabbas, who is bland to the point of being a blank slate. There’s no specific tone or attitude which helps to distinguish him from the other Blood Gorgons and ultimately he comes across as being extremely weak in personality. Something which is a definite problem as there’s nothing to make the reader accept he is capable of half the things he pulls off or even deserving of the final reward he is given. This, combined with some very improbable accomplishments, makes him skirt the line of being a Mary Sue very closely but he’s hardly alone in this problem.
While the Blood Gorgons are very strong in terms of background lore, individuals fail to stand out in any way and introductions fail to make any real impression upon the reader. They’re stoic, grim and temperamental but Zou lacks the talent people like Rob Sanders have to make them truly interesting. There are honest points where’s its extremely easy to mistake two viewpoint Gorgons for the same person because they’re written in such a similar way. The only real exceptions to this are chapter master Gammadin and the sorcerer Anko “not-a-villain-at-all” Muhr. Neither of who are written exceptionally well and barely escape the fate of the others by either being one note antagonists or heavily detailed in the chapter’s lore.
The plot is similarly flawed in that there are no surprises. Right from the beginning to the end you can guess what’s going to happen just by looking at what’s on paper. The novel all but holds your hand the entire way through in a similar manner to the Alpha Legion in Deliverance Lost. You’re never allowed to guess anything or wonder what will happen next because it’s bluntly obvious what will follow in a short amount of time.
The weaknesses in the story are only made more evident with some severe problems in Henry Zou’s writing capabilities. While the man can build up a reasonably good atmosphere in the right situation, he has serious problems with certain phrases. Every few pages you’re bound to run into a sentence which is supposed to be poignant but come across as self-contradictory or lacks the sufficient style to have the impact the author desires. While they’re passable they don’t ever really rise to anything special. The same goes with the fight scenes which more often than not feel either very run of the mill or don’t reach the levels of excess you’d hope to see in a book with Chaos at war.
Ultimately your opinion of Blood Gorgons will vary heavily depending upon what you want out of it. If you’re after inspiration or ideas for an army you couldn’t do better than this novel, but if you’re looking for a story it might seem underwhelming or painfully average. It’s hardly bad but there’s some very visible flaws which run throughout the tale, limiting the potential for it to be something truly memorable. Read it if you want something different from Chaos, but don’t expect to see anything truly mind-blowing.
The novel shows the Blood Gorgons in a time of crisis. Along with the sudden loss of their chapter master and the warband being on the brink of civil war, one of their vital recruitment worlds has come under attack. A virulent plague has begun to sweep through the planet’s occupants, slaughtering them en mass and reanimating their corpses as savage murderers. Even as Bond-Brother Barsabbas’ unit is sent to investigate, they face their darkest hour finding new foes at every turn.
The novel’s biggest selling point is the Blood Gorgons themselves. With the sheer amount of time it spends fleshing out their traditions, attitudes, personalities and characteristics it needed to be well thought out. Thankfully this was delivered upon this in full giving a force which is quite unlike that found within many novels.
While they are clearly scavengers, pirates and traitors they have an oddly twisted version of rules and aspects which would usually be found within a loyalist chapter. While they don’t have an empire, they retain recruitment worlds which they protect. While they avoid having subjects and worshippers; they have artificers, smiths and servants who are loyal in the manner serfs are. While they are fractious, they have a sense of in-built loyalty to one another as a result of Chaos rituals. While they venerate a figure as their patron deity, they do not treat him as a god or blindly worship him.
The book goes through stage by stage in exploring what they are from the viewpoint of everyone. Right from those who lead them to the slaves who are vital to keeping the chapter equipped, then using them to explore what separates them from both the Imperium and those who reside in the Eye of Terror.
Even some of the factions who are introduced a considerable way, those threatening the recruitment world, in get some surprisingly detailed explorations as to whom they are. Something which they desperately needed at the time the book was produced.
If there’s one thing Henry Zou seemed to do well it was giving a detailed, fully explored and well thought out background to the major powers that played a core part of the story. Something which makes the book stand out, but is unfortunately the writing’s only real strongpoint.
Much like Daemon World the novel suffers from the problem that while it’s good for inspiration and as a well of ideas, it falls short of being a good story for a fair number of reasons. Foremost amongst these is the protagonist, Barsabbas, who is bland to the point of being a blank slate. There’s no specific tone or attitude which helps to distinguish him from the other Blood Gorgons and ultimately he comes across as being extremely weak in personality. Something which is a definite problem as there’s nothing to make the reader accept he is capable of half the things he pulls off or even deserving of the final reward he is given. This, combined with some very improbable accomplishments, makes him skirt the line of being a Mary Sue very closely but he’s hardly alone in this problem.
While the Blood Gorgons are very strong in terms of background lore, individuals fail to stand out in any way and introductions fail to make any real impression upon the reader. They’re stoic, grim and temperamental but Zou lacks the talent people like Rob Sanders have to make them truly interesting. There are honest points where’s its extremely easy to mistake two viewpoint Gorgons for the same person because they’re written in such a similar way. The only real exceptions to this are chapter master Gammadin and the sorcerer Anko “not-a-villain-at-all” Muhr. Neither of who are written exceptionally well and barely escape the fate of the others by either being one note antagonists or heavily detailed in the chapter’s lore.
The plot is similarly flawed in that there are no surprises. Right from the beginning to the end you can guess what’s going to happen just by looking at what’s on paper. The novel all but holds your hand the entire way through in a similar manner to the Alpha Legion in Deliverance Lost. You’re never allowed to guess anything or wonder what will happen next because it’s bluntly obvious what will follow in a short amount of time.
The weaknesses in the story are only made more evident with some severe problems in Henry Zou’s writing capabilities. While the man can build up a reasonably good atmosphere in the right situation, he has serious problems with certain phrases. Every few pages you’re bound to run into a sentence which is supposed to be poignant but come across as self-contradictory or lacks the sufficient style to have the impact the author desires. While they’re passable they don’t ever really rise to anything special. The same goes with the fight scenes which more often than not feel either very run of the mill or don’t reach the levels of excess you’d hope to see in a book with Chaos at war.
Ultimately your opinion of Blood Gorgons will vary heavily depending upon what you want out of it. If you’re after inspiration or ideas for an army you couldn’t do better than this novel, but if you’re looking for a story it might seem underwhelming or painfully average. It’s hardly bad but there’s some very visible flaws which run throughout the tale, limiting the potential for it to be something truly memorable. Read it if you want something different from Chaos, but don’t expect to see anything truly mind-blowing.
February 28, 2025
High Zomia and the Doom of the Zouniverse
He Was Getting Better
This might be the best, certainly the most fun, out of all the Bastion Wars trilogy; a tale without anxiety as its just chaos marine v chaos marine. The vibe-check Blood Gorgons vs the Death Guard, and both are, in their way, pretty chill guys.
'Blood Gorgons' still wears its research deeply and openly, but, at least by my reading, the Zou's capacity to synthesise has evolved and consumed his slightly rattier goblinish tendencies of simply collecting and displaying information. For anyone who read my previous review; we are over more towards the 'Dabnetty' end of the spectrum, which makes the permanent fall of Henry Zou and the Inquisitorial seal over his works even more of a tragedy. If only he hadn't been such a fucking moron.
Just Blood Gorgon Vibes
The image this paints of the Blood Gorgons as almost, anxiety-free murder-hippies, is interesting. They don't serve any of the major chaos gods, nor do they seek to serve chaos in a fanatical religious sense, they recognise chaos. Thier patron demon is a third rank off the shelf type, which they seem fine with. They hate the imperium, but not to a fanatical degree like, for instance, the Night Lords of ADB's trilogy. they have no primarch or main-betrayer, no grand arc or supervillain face-off. The question becomes; what exactly are you guys doing up here? And the answer is; whatever we like.
The Blood Gorgons now exist.. to be Blood Gorgons. A self-sustaining Spartan/Malmuke/Pirate empire/protectorate. A wandering and occasional government if you will, with some (brutal and amoral), affection for and interest in, worlds under its nominal control, but a pretty lassiez faire(?) attitude. One desert world has a giant, well-protected ostensibly imperial hive city, and the Blood Gorgons leave it alone, because why bother conquering it when they can just recruit from and distantly rule the desert tribes outside? This is similar to their behaviour on the jungle world of the second book. In a Vietnman-esque biome they dominated the zomia-like uplands, not directly, but through cultural pressure, but they never tried to purge the Imperium from that world, or its religion, (until the Ecclesiarchy went metal), and as we discover during the book, outright Emperor-worship quietly existed alongside less-visible recognition of the chaos powers, and a general knowledge of the Blood Gorgons existence. There are no points during any book where a Blood Gorgon gives a big speech about the failing false worship of the corpse-emperor bwa ha ha. They do think that, but why worry about it?
And this is a deliberate, (and evolved, but still chosen and maintained), ethos of rulership. In fact the plot of the book is about this; between a kind of 'High Zomia' wandering barbarian ideal, where the Blood Gorgons are (relatively) materially poor compared to at least some big Chaos Factions, relatively under-resourced in aethereal material, are subject to no grand crusade, part of no epoch-spanning plot, have no grand ideal or point they are trying to make, but also, they submit to none, go where they will and lack anxiety - for deranged ultra-homicidal mutated chaos-infected space warriors, they are 'at peace'. The big planet at the core of the book has huge theoretical magic metal resources, but the Blood Gorgons don't care about that and have no interest in mining it
One faction amongst the Blood Gorgons doesn't feel this way and actively wants all the stuff the main warband doesn't; larger purpose, exalted rank, more hierarchy, more "money" (or resources in whatever way chaos marines are currently counting that), and broadly a more "settled life" (in super-murderer space-warrior terms) - so they intrigue to get it, and to fundamentally change the culture of the Blood Gorgons, and so a war breaks out, which is what this book is about.
A curious aspect of developed in-world metatext is that, by acting the way they do, the Blood Gorgons are, in a way, fulfilling the Emperors Will, or one aspect of his design for Astartes. Orks after all, are just alien astartes that escaped the need for their base species, and the chill and murdery Blood Gorgons are a lot like Orks in their self-fulfilled nature, but by wandering around essentially largely not bothering most people on most of their worlds most of the time, and 'defending' their recruiting ground, which means maintaining a healthy population of mainline humans to recruit from, while fighting anything big and nasty that turns up, partly for resources, but partly because they want to, they are acting in the pre-designed fallback position of Astartes, of protecting and sustaining relatively "pure" (or the gene seed stops working) human populations, not out of duty, but necessity. The protectors of humanity indeed.
The Book He Wanted to Write
Zou seems to just be having a lot more _fun_ with the Blood Gorgons. Aur story is split mainly between the desert world of Hauts Bassiq and the Gorgons flying fortress space hulk/star destroyer the 'Cauldron Born'. ABth of these are delineated with a degree of invention and easy pleasure (though Zou's world-building was always pretty good). Hauts-Bassiq has post-industrial-survivor evolved-Aboriginal culture with elements of Australian Aboriginals and god knows what else; the factoids and details of the rituals and materials of cultural life are very good; the ritual of oiling your terror-bird cavalry mount, what it means when a certain sheet is flying, the religious/shamanic ritual of space-marine summoning in a fossilised cathedral, a grand battle between bird riding arrow-firing tribals and nurgly industrial goons.
The cauldron-born is charmingly pelagic, peak Space-Hulk vibes; layers of crazy chapter history burnt and grown into the decks and patterns of its remaking; echoing vaults with space marine vibe towers grown or hanging from the space-ribs - linked by bridges, or not, as the dramas and politics of the space marine culture shifts. The chapter/warbands ancient history - (a cursed 13th founding chapter who went rogue, got sanctioned and chased by the space wolves, were nearly wiped out by that but survived, then were nearly wiped out in intra-chapter war, but re-constituted but a hyper-charismatic leader), all of this written into the lovely spolia and baroque autismal miscellania of 40k. how dare you replace our boutique warp-decay fishtank-style infestations and ritual bone corridors with dirty neo-nurglite sick-based fartitecture and free dick boils? This is cultural replacement. Truly the Gorgs have fallen. Billions must cry.
Later in the enclosed fortress city of Ur, Zou has great fun with noble courts made up of largely undead zombies (Nurgly humour or do they really not care much about the exact border between life and death?), and with the randomly-generated seen-once contents of a 'liberated' insane asylum of a chaos city (too-uncontrollable serial killers and an alpha-level psyker toddler)
Sigh. At least he got to go out on a high note. Farewell Henry Zou, I hope wherever you are, possibly under a new name, you are still writing. It really did seem like you were getting better.
He Was Getting Better
This might be the best, certainly the most fun, out of all the Bastion Wars trilogy; a tale without anxiety as its just chaos marine v chaos marine. The vibe-check Blood Gorgons vs the Death Guard, and both are, in their way, pretty chill guys.
'Blood Gorgons' still wears its research deeply and openly, but, at least by my reading, the Zou's capacity to synthesise has evolved and consumed his slightly rattier goblinish tendencies of simply collecting and displaying information. For anyone who read my previous review; we are over more towards the 'Dabnetty' end of the spectrum, which makes the permanent fall of Henry Zou and the Inquisitorial seal over his works even more of a tragedy. If only he hadn't been such a fucking moron.
Just Blood Gorgon Vibes
The image this paints of the Blood Gorgons as almost, anxiety-free murder-hippies, is interesting. They don't serve any of the major chaos gods, nor do they seek to serve chaos in a fanatical religious sense, they recognise chaos. Thier patron demon is a third rank off the shelf type, which they seem fine with. They hate the imperium, but not to a fanatical degree like, for instance, the Night Lords of ADB's trilogy. they have no primarch or main-betrayer, no grand arc or supervillain face-off. The question becomes; what exactly are you guys doing up here? And the answer is; whatever we like.
The Blood Gorgons now exist.. to be Blood Gorgons. A self-sustaining Spartan/Malmuke/Pirate empire/protectorate. A wandering and occasional government if you will, with some (brutal and amoral), affection for and interest in, worlds under its nominal control, but a pretty lassiez faire(?) attitude. One desert world has a giant, well-protected ostensibly imperial hive city, and the Blood Gorgons leave it alone, because why bother conquering it when they can just recruit from and distantly rule the desert tribes outside? This is similar to their behaviour on the jungle world of the second book. In a Vietnman-esque biome they dominated the zomia-like uplands, not directly, but through cultural pressure, but they never tried to purge the Imperium from that world, or its religion, (until the Ecclesiarchy went metal), and as we discover during the book, outright Emperor-worship quietly existed alongside less-visible recognition of the chaos powers, and a general knowledge of the Blood Gorgons existence. There are no points during any book where a Blood Gorgon gives a big speech about the failing false worship of the corpse-emperor bwa ha ha. They do think that, but why worry about it?
And this is a deliberate, (and evolved, but still chosen and maintained), ethos of rulership. In fact the plot of the book is about this; between a kind of 'High Zomia' wandering barbarian ideal, where the Blood Gorgons are (relatively) materially poor compared to at least some big Chaos Factions, relatively under-resourced in aethereal material, are subject to no grand crusade, part of no epoch-spanning plot, have no grand ideal or point they are trying to make, but also, they submit to none, go where they will and lack anxiety - for deranged ultra-homicidal mutated chaos-infected space warriors, they are 'at peace'. The big planet at the core of the book has huge theoretical magic metal resources, but the Blood Gorgons don't care about that and have no interest in mining it
One faction amongst the Blood Gorgons doesn't feel this way and actively wants all the stuff the main warband doesn't; larger purpose, exalted rank, more hierarchy, more "money" (or resources in whatever way chaos marines are currently counting that), and broadly a more "settled life" (in super-murderer space-warrior terms) - so they intrigue to get it, and to fundamentally change the culture of the Blood Gorgons, and so a war breaks out, which is what this book is about.
A curious aspect of developed in-world metatext is that, by acting the way they do, the Blood Gorgons are, in a way, fulfilling the Emperors Will, or one aspect of his design for Astartes. Orks after all, are just alien astartes that escaped the need for their base species, and the chill and murdery Blood Gorgons are a lot like Orks in their self-fulfilled nature, but by wandering around essentially largely not bothering most people on most of their worlds most of the time, and 'defending' their recruiting ground, which means maintaining a healthy population of mainline humans to recruit from, while fighting anything big and nasty that turns up, partly for resources, but partly because they want to, they are acting in the pre-designed fallback position of Astartes, of protecting and sustaining relatively "pure" (or the gene seed stops working) human populations, not out of duty, but necessity. The protectors of humanity indeed.
The Book He Wanted to Write
Zou seems to just be having a lot more _fun_ with the Blood Gorgons. Aur story is split mainly between the desert world of Hauts Bassiq and the Gorgons flying fortress space hulk/star destroyer the 'Cauldron Born'. ABth of these are delineated with a degree of invention and easy pleasure (though Zou's world-building was always pretty good). Hauts-Bassiq has post-industrial-survivor evolved-Aboriginal culture with elements of Australian Aboriginals and god knows what else; the factoids and details of the rituals and materials of cultural life are very good; the ritual of oiling your terror-bird cavalry mount, what it means when a certain sheet is flying, the religious/shamanic ritual of space-marine summoning in a fossilised cathedral, a grand battle between bird riding arrow-firing tribals and nurgly industrial goons.
The cauldron-born is charmingly pelagic, peak Space-Hulk vibes; layers of crazy chapter history burnt and grown into the decks and patterns of its remaking; echoing vaults with space marine vibe towers grown or hanging from the space-ribs - linked by bridges, or not, as the dramas and politics of the space marine culture shifts. The chapter/warbands ancient history - (a cursed 13th founding chapter who went rogue, got sanctioned and chased by the space wolves, were nearly wiped out by that but survived, then were nearly wiped out in intra-chapter war, but re-constituted but a hyper-charismatic leader), all of this written into the lovely spolia and baroque autismal miscellania of 40k. how dare you replace our boutique warp-decay fishtank-style infestations and ritual bone corridors with dirty neo-nurglite sick-based fartitecture and free dick boils? This is cultural replacement. Truly the Gorgs have fallen. Billions must cry.
Later in the enclosed fortress city of Ur, Zou has great fun with noble courts made up of largely undead zombies (Nurgly humour or do they really not care much about the exact border between life and death?), and with the randomly-generated seen-once contents of a 'liberated' insane asylum of a chaos city (too-uncontrollable serial killers and an alpha-level psyker toddler)
Sigh. At least he got to go out on a high note. Farewell Henry Zou, I hope wherever you are, possibly under a new name, you are still writing. It really did seem like you were getting better.
March 25, 2022
I have read many 40k books by a handful of authors. I was skeptical going into this one as I had never heard
of Henry Zhou, but boy was I surprised. This book is great by many metrics. The story itself was a winding affair; I never knew what would happen next. The level of detail rivaled many of the big name 40k writers. My only complaint is that Zhou only has a few books on the market. Get this man a contract!
of Henry Zhou, but boy was I surprised. This book is great by many metrics. The story itself was a winding affair; I never knew what would happen next. The level of detail rivaled many of the big name 40k writers. My only complaint is that Zhou only has a few books on the market. Get this man a contract!
April 24, 2017
The Traitor Marines who have gone over to Chaos are usually seen as the villains in the WH 40k universe, so it's strange to find yourself rooting for them. Still they to share the same sense of loyalty to their brothers in arms as those who serve the Emperor.
June 4, 2011
Blood Gorgons is the third book in the loosely connected Bastion War series of novels by Henry Zou. The Chaos Space Marines who first briefly appeared in Emperor's Mercy now take centre stage.
After the loss of the leader through treachery the Blood Gorgons chapter are in disarray as a call for help from one of their important recruiting worlds is received. While their leadership is still being hotly contested only small force is sent to investigate the planet.
On arrival the marines are overwhelmed by legions of the undead as a deadly plague has infected much of the planet's population and resurrected it's victims as mindless zombies. The lone survivor Barsabbas must fight through hordes of the undead, scheming xenos and even other traitor astartes to uncover the threat to his chapter.
While I enjoyed this book, it is fast paced, filled with bone-crunching action and has some interesting concepts, it did not reach the heights of other Black Library books. The most direct comparison is with Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords books like Soul Hunter. While both books centre on antiheroes every character in Blood Gorgons is reprehensible, being amoral and unfazed by sending tousands to their deaths while the central character of Soul Hunter has redeeming qualities that allow the reader to root for him despite his brutality.
The depiction of the Blood Gorgons, (a chapter the author invented for these books), is interesting. Most Blood Gorgons are blood bonded to each other which makes for an intreguing dynamic amongst traitor marines. Although generally well written sometimes the quality of the prose falls below par.
All in all an average addition to the Black Library.
After the loss of the leader through treachery the Blood Gorgons chapter are in disarray as a call for help from one of their important recruiting worlds is received. While their leadership is still being hotly contested only small force is sent to investigate the planet.
On arrival the marines are overwhelmed by legions of the undead as a deadly plague has infected much of the planet's population and resurrected it's victims as mindless zombies. The lone survivor Barsabbas must fight through hordes of the undead, scheming xenos and even other traitor astartes to uncover the threat to his chapter.
While I enjoyed this book, it is fast paced, filled with bone-crunching action and has some interesting concepts, it did not reach the heights of other Black Library books. The most direct comparison is with Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords books like Soul Hunter. While both books centre on antiheroes every character in Blood Gorgons is reprehensible, being amoral and unfazed by sending tousands to their deaths while the central character of Soul Hunter has redeeming qualities that allow the reader to root for him despite his brutality.
The depiction of the Blood Gorgons, (a chapter the author invented for these books), is interesting. Most Blood Gorgons are blood bonded to each other which makes for an intreguing dynamic amongst traitor marines. Although generally well written sometimes the quality of the prose falls below par.
All in all an average addition to the Black Library.
August 8, 2011
I appreciate Zou trying to make a 40k book that goes beyond the popcorn sci fi that BL normally produces (big battles, stolen movie lines, etc.), and the first third of this book is certainly an attempt at this. However, it falls short and nearly drove me to drop reading the book. Overall, I'm glad I finished it because it certainly picked up soon after.
The Blood Gorgon mentality seems plain on the surface and is at times particularly interesting (not wanting to swear allegiance to the major chaos gods lest they become slaves like the other legions or the loyalist chapters). Yet this seems to break down at points simply because there is some "new" blood, a necessity in a nomadic chapter. Further, the main character is often a contradiction as at times he's unable to comprehend the fragile human psyche yet he also performs a developmental analysis a bit later on.
Oh yeah, and apparently the BG's favorite tactic in hand to hand is wrestling. Including wrestling a demon into submission that their own patron demon was scared of. Huh?
One is left feeling a bit confused about who holds the power (great gods/legions or the Blood Gorgons) despite the outcome of the final battle. But, as in all things chaos, how can we possibly comprehend it anyways?
The Blood Gorgon mentality seems plain on the surface and is at times particularly interesting (not wanting to swear allegiance to the major chaos gods lest they become slaves like the other legions or the loyalist chapters). Yet this seems to break down at points simply because there is some "new" blood, a necessity in a nomadic chapter. Further, the main character is often a contradiction as at times he's unable to comprehend the fragile human psyche yet he also performs a developmental analysis a bit later on.
Oh yeah, and apparently the BG's favorite tactic in hand to hand is wrestling. Including wrestling a demon into submission that their own patron demon was scared of. Huh?
One is left feeling a bit confused about who holds the power (great gods/legions or the Blood Gorgons) despite the outcome of the final battle. But, as in all things chaos, how can we possibly comprehend it anyways?
November 3, 2013
One of the things I liked about this book was how there appears to be logical reasons for space marines to abandon the imperium. The logic described in this book; how the imperium creates a rigid system that everyone adheres to from birth to death with no joy, is a terrible system and it completely makes sense that one would choose to abandon it for chaos. Very enjoyable read.
September 4, 2025
Тем временем я дочитал Генри Зу. Voidsong было , прочитал Emperor's Mercy (2009) и Blood Gorgons (2011). Flesh and Iron (2010) - кажется не было в раздаче или не переведена, может быть добью потом.
В переводе цикл должен был называться "Бастионные войны", поскольку там суб-сектор "Звёзды Бастиона", а не война каких-то "бастионов"
Итак, к моему удивлению, Зу пишет вполне неплохо. Звёзд не хватает, но держится вполне достойно. Видно, что пишет под-"Абнетта". Конечно у Абнетта побольше таланта. Не звезда "Black Library", такой годничок "второго ряда".
Не сложилось у него быть писателем Вархаммера, впрочем....
Ага! Это интересно! В интернетах пишут, что в "Flesh and Iron" американский ветеран, увешанный медалями, David Bellavia усмотрел плагиат своих мемуаров о кампании на планете Ирак, где он карал ксеносов, мутантов и еретиков , и выкатил GW иск с неплохими перспективами и суммами. Честно говоря, Белл Авия мог просто вызвать Зу на суд офицерской чести - Зу же тоже военный и застрелить "как бешенную собаку". От иска GW отбились, а Зу объявили Excommunicate Traitoris, вывели на австралийский мороз, расстреляли из болт-пистолета и сделали Damnatio Memoriae, соскоблив его имя со стен Чорной Библиотеки. Как мило.
Blood Gorgons
В Emperor's Mercy в числе хаоситов появляются астартес ордена "Кровавых горгон", правда тогда сразу вопрос:
скрытый текст
почему он был один? И куда подевал болтер?
[свернуть]
. Это сопоставимо с "Испивающими душу", если бы Каунтер не скатывался в бред или скуку. Это такие дефолтные астартес-хаоситы. Обычно хаоситы - это осколки легионов предателей, которые там выясняют какие-то отношения, которым 10000+ лет от роду. Каждый второй помнит осаду Терры , каждый третий знает анекдот про "ты был там, когда Хорус поразил императора?" . А здесь ребятам просто не повезло: вылепили их в 21-ом Основании в М36. Что там с ними конкретно случилось - неясно, но ещё, так сказать, в пелёнках, на седьмом десятке лет после основания, их прилетели выпиливать космоволки . Дальше история известная: Скиталец, Око, Распад. Но Горгоны очухались, перековали себя из вар-банд в почти списочных хаоситский орден, обросли рогами, клешнями, завели знакомство со средненьким демоном. В общем: встали на ноги и обросли хозяйством. Ради поддержания боевого духа практикуют пересадку органов между парами астартес, тем образуя крепкие спейс-маринские союзы :lovers:. Как фишка легиона - вполне себе, это даже раскрыто в их чаптерной структуре, воюют они парами. Опять же см. Каунтера у которого "фишка" Душепивцев показана один (1) раз и всё, а там серия книг. Горгоны занялись мелким разбоем на больших дорогах сегментум Обскурус, стали зажиточными. Натаскали себе рабов (два раза упомянуты даже расфуфыренные девочки - хотя слаанешизмами никто не занимается, но может для порядка. Что б было.), которым живётся на скитальце не хуже, чем в среднем по Империуму - Горгоны убивают скорее по делу, хотя никах сантиментов не испытывают. Даже есть захудалые миры, где Горгоны набирают рекрутов, вяло научив местных поклонятся богам. Поскольку 800 хаотических астартес на дороге не валяется и годится для усиления - по их душу пожаловала более крупная рыба, в этом случае
скрытый текст
нурглА
[свернуть]
. Дело происходит на границах Ока, так что имперских персонажей там нет, астартес разной степени хаоселости, друкхари, местные аборигены, которые, формально, тоже хаоситы, но по ним особо не видно. Непонятно, как это работает? Бывает у имперца за день отрастают рога и копыта, бывает, что мир тысячелетия поклоняется богам хаоса и всем пофиг, никах вам демонов.
По мне вполне бодрая книга, читается легко, на одном дыхании. Не дотягивает до МакНилла, Аарона Дембски. Примерно на уровне Энтони Рейнольдс, цикл про словонёсов, кажется пободрее аримановской серии Френча.
В переводе цикл должен был называться "Бастионные войны", поскольку там суб-сектор "Звёзды Бастиона", а не война каких-то "бастионов"
Итак, к моему удивлению, Зу пишет вполне неплохо. Звёзд не хватает, но держится вполне достойно. Видно, что пишет под-"Абнетта". Конечно у Абнетта побольше таланта. Не звезда "Black Library", такой годничок "второго ряда".
Не сложилось у него быть писателем Вархаммера, впрочем....
Ага! Это интересно! В интернетах пишут, что в "Flesh and Iron" американский ветеран, увешанный медалями, David Bellavia усмотрел плагиат своих мемуаров о кампании на планете Ирак, где он карал ксеносов, мутантов и еретиков , и выкатил GW иск с неплохими перспективами и суммами. Честно говоря, Белл Авия мог просто вызвать Зу на суд офицерской чести - Зу же тоже военный и застрелить "как бешенную собаку". От иска GW отбились, а Зу объявили Excommunicate Traitoris, вывели на австралийский мороз, расстреляли из болт-пистолета и сделали Damnatio Memoriae, соскоблив его имя со стен Чорной Библиотеки. Как мило.
Blood Gorgons
В Emperor's Mercy в числе хаоситов появляются астартес ордена "Кровавых горгон", правда тогда сразу вопрос:
скрытый текст
почему он был один? И куда подевал болтер?
[свернуть]
. Это сопоставимо с "Испивающими душу", если бы Каунтер не скатывался в бред или скуку. Это такие дефолтные астартес-хаоситы. Обычно хаоситы - это осколки легионов предателей, которые там выясняют какие-то отношения, которым 10000+ лет от роду. Каждый второй помнит осаду Терры , каждый третий знает анекдот про "ты был там, когда Хорус поразил императора?" . А здесь ребятам просто не повезло: вылепили их в 21-ом Основании в М36. Что там с ними конкретно случилось - неясно, но ещё, так сказать, в пелёнках, на седьмом десятке лет после основания, их прилетели выпиливать космоволки . Дальше история известная: Скиталец, Око, Распад. Но Горгоны очухались, перековали себя из вар-банд в почти списочных хаоситский орден, обросли рогами, клешнями, завели знакомство со средненьким демоном. В общем: встали на ноги и обросли хозяйством. Ради поддержания боевого духа практикуют пересадку органов между парами астартес, тем образуя крепкие спейс-маринские союзы :lovers:. Как фишка легиона - вполне себе, это даже раскрыто в их чаптерной структуре, воюют они парами. Опять же см. Каунтера у которого "фишка" Душепивцев показана один (1) раз и всё, а там серия книг. Горгоны занялись мелким разбоем на больших дорогах сегментум Обскурус, стали зажиточными. Натаскали себе рабов (два раза упомянуты даже расфуфыренные девочки - хотя слаанешизмами никто не занимается, но может для порядка. Что б было.), которым живётся на скитальце не хуже, чем в среднем по Империуму - Горгоны убивают скорее по делу, хотя никах сантиментов не испытывают. Даже есть захудалые миры, где Горгоны набирают рекрутов, вяло научив местных поклонятся богам. Поскольку 800 хаотических астартес на дороге не валяется и годится для усиления - по их душу пожаловала более крупная рыба, в этом случае
скрытый текст
нурглА
[свернуть]
. Дело происходит на границах Ока, так что имперских персонажей там нет, астартес разной степени хаоселости, друкхари, местные аборигены, которые, формально, тоже хаоситы, но по ним особо не видно. Непонятно, как это работает? Бывает у имперца за день отрастают рога и копыта, бывает, что мир тысячелетия поклоняется богам хаоса и всем пофиг, никах вам демонов.
По мне вполне бодрая книга, читается легко, на одном дыхании. Не дотягивает до МакНилла, Аарона Дембски. Примерно на уровне Энтони Рейнольдс, цикл про словонёсов, кажется пободрее аримановской серии Френча.
August 29, 2018
e third and final book in the Bastion War trilogy. Authored by Henry Zou, the novel focused about the Blood Gorgons.
Story
Treachery has been commited! With no clear people to blame (obviously who) the Blood Gorgons no faced extinction of the warband/chapter.
Despite of the interesting idea, the novel suffered many problem like the lack of characterization or the pacing due to switching places.
Not to mention there are some plot holes and loose canon that not quite being solved by the end.
And so the story overall was a bit ok, but not bad or good.
Character
The main character would be Barsabbas, a new frsh marine with not much of personality or things that make him a bit stand out (than a survivor). Despite being a fresh marine within the warband he somehow could do some feats that a bit of a stretch for his position (fighting a dozen of incubi). As a result, he's rather dull as a character.
Gammadin, the Warband Leader and has a good reason why he's the boss. His appereance is minimal, appeared at the beginning and near the end. He's like Huron in The Tyrant of Hollow World novel, where his appearence is mostly to advance the plot. Which also means he has a little personality, but justified due to his short appereance.
Anko Muhr: is the supposedly the main villain until he got seconded by his 'master'. And unfortunately he's not that intimidating or even pose a real threat without involving his 'allied'. Most of the time if he try to do something, he would asked his master for help or failed to assert his dominance. He even failed to convince his own brother to swear loyalty to himself. This flaw is even being pointed out by his 'master'.
We do have many other non astartes character like the Dark Eldar Sindul and other humans, but their role was somewhat limited. Sindul a dark eldar did has an interesting personality but it didn't fleshed too much. Others are mostly come and go, they appear and only not to be mentioned later for obvious reason.
If I say Tyrant of The Hollow World is lacking, this one is even more lacking than that. Because in that novel the warband may have little time, but at least the loyalist has their own moment. This one barely has none which is a bummer because most of the novel allocated too.....
Settings
The setting is probably the best part of this book. When it describe something, it describe what and why. For example it describe a mundane object and explaining the cultural reason or what makes it special to the world.
It even explain why a settlement become that damaged and how it was once looked compare to the present.
Sometimes when I say it has character appear only once, it usually talked about more of the environment that the character just happens to be located.
Which would be better if it actually connecetd to the major character. The setting fells more of a filler than giving the narration. As such the whole description is more fitting to a journal than being part of the story narration.
Conclusion
Its not a bad novel to say, just dull. It has great detailed description but it didn't really connected or matter to the story, it happens most of the time. And despite title Blood Gorgons, it doesn't really feels about it. It just more like a general description about them than a story about them.
Story
Treachery has been commited! With no clear people to blame (obviously who) the Blood Gorgons no faced extinction of the warband/chapter.
Despite of the interesting idea, the novel suffered many problem like the lack of characterization or the pacing due to switching places.
Not to mention there are some plot holes and loose canon that not quite being solved by the end.
And so the story overall was a bit ok, but not bad or good.
Character
The main character would be Barsabbas, a new frsh marine with not much of personality or things that make him a bit stand out (than a survivor). Despite being a fresh marine within the warband he somehow could do some feats that a bit of a stretch for his position (fighting a dozen of incubi). As a result, he's rather dull as a character.
Gammadin, the Warband Leader and has a good reason why he's the boss. His appereance is minimal, appeared at the beginning and near the end. He's like Huron in The Tyrant of Hollow World novel, where his appearence is mostly to advance the plot. Which also means he has a little personality, but justified due to his short appereance.
Anko Muhr: is the supposedly the main villain until he got seconded by his 'master'. And unfortunately he's not that intimidating or even pose a real threat without involving his 'allied'. Most of the time if he try to do something, he would asked his master for help or failed to assert his dominance. He even failed to convince his own brother to swear loyalty to himself. This flaw is even being pointed out by his 'master'.
We do have many other non astartes character like the Dark Eldar Sindul and other humans, but their role was somewhat limited. Sindul a dark eldar did has an interesting personality but it didn't fleshed too much. Others are mostly come and go, they appear and only not to be mentioned later for obvious reason.
If I say Tyrant of The Hollow World is lacking, this one is even more lacking than that. Because in that novel the warband may have little time, but at least the loyalist has their own moment. This one barely has none which is a bummer because most of the novel allocated too.....
Settings
The setting is probably the best part of this book. When it describe something, it describe what and why. For example it describe a mundane object and explaining the cultural reason or what makes it special to the world.
It even explain why a settlement become that damaged and how it was once looked compare to the present.
Sometimes when I say it has character appear only once, it usually talked about more of the environment that the character just happens to be located.
Which would be better if it actually connecetd to the major character. The setting fells more of a filler than giving the narration. As such the whole description is more fitting to a journal than being part of the story narration.
Conclusion
Its not a bad novel to say, just dull. It has great detailed description but it didn't really connected or matter to the story, it happens most of the time. And despite title Blood Gorgons, it doesn't really feels about it. It just more like a general description about them than a story about them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2020
Possibly the best book I have read in several years. I finished it in a day after a long hiatus from reading. The characters were memorable and the story was very interesting. It did a great job of bringing warhammer lore to life. The setting felt very unique, Zou put his own spin on a lot of things and it really showed. For example, the Blood Gorgons fly around space on this weird quasi-biological warship that has all sorts of hidden quirks that really make the ship come to life.
There's also occasionally a funny throwaway line such as "Barsabbas got so caught up in the excitement that he crushed a bronze dinner plate and hurled it across the room."
Pros
* Interesting setting
* Good characters that you get attached to
* EXCELLENT take on warhammer lore. Does a great job of making a chaos faction feel both reasonable and also chaotic.
Cons
* Story was a little on the basic side, but by no means in a bad way. It's a one off novel. Very good for what it is.
* A bit of a drop in quality near the very end when the big baddies show up.
There's also occasionally a funny throwaway line such as "Barsabbas got so caught up in the excitement that he crushed a bronze dinner plate and hurled it across the room."
Pros
* Interesting setting
* Good characters that you get attached to
* EXCELLENT take on warhammer lore. Does a great job of making a chaos faction feel both reasonable and also chaotic.
Cons
* Story was a little on the basic side, but by no means in a bad way. It's a one off novel. Very good for what it is.
* A bit of a drop in quality near the very end when the big baddies show up.
October 23, 2020
Two and a half stars. As I said, this tale of Traitor Space Marines was good, dumb fun. The characters are pompous and bloviating and everyone is Chaos. That's right, this is Plague Marines vs a pirate ship full of Chaos Undivided Marines with some Dark Eldar thrown in for not a lot of discernible reason.
One point deducted for the Blood Gorgons keeping female "pleasure pets". I'm guessing this was to "no homo" the BG's system of "bond brothers" who are united by transplanting organs between each other in order to facilitate their telepathic unity.
One point deducted for the Blood Gorgons keeping female "pleasure pets". I'm guessing this was to "no homo" the BG's system of "bond brothers" who are united by transplanting organs between each other in order to facilitate their telepathic unity.
December 21, 2025
no twirling mustaches here
Truly great story following a beleaguered chaos space marine and an unaffiliated chaos space marine chapter. This story does a great job building a functioning world around the chapter, then tears it all down, and the reader then follows the drama of their survival and return to power. Highly recommended for any chaos-curious readers, or anyone that likes the idea of space pirates
Truly great story following a beleaguered chaos space marine and an unaffiliated chaos space marine chapter. This story does a great job building a functioning world around the chapter, then tears it all down, and the reader then follows the drama of their survival and return to power. Highly recommended for any chaos-curious readers, or anyone that likes the idea of space pirates
January 26, 2025
The best book in the series in my opinion and also would not mind to see more books about the blood gorgons.
Some things where not very convincing like keeping the leader of the gorgons in a dugngeon all this time without killing him or protect the place more but i liked the way it pictured the settings and the characters .
Some things where not very convincing like keeping the leader of the gorgons in a dugngeon all this time without killing him or protect the place more but i liked the way it pictured the settings and the characters .
November 8, 2018
this is a really cool read in my opinion.
February 12, 2024
it was a good book and i enjoyed reading it but during the beginning i feel like the author shows you to many different characters and perspectives in an attempt to shove as much needless information down your throat as possible sacrificing the main narrative and making the story feel clunky to read. i also feel like, similar to the infinite and the divine, the blood gorgons dedicated to much time to defeating the big bad and not enough time to making a satisfying ending to the story.
October 21, 2012
This is the third book of "The Bastion Wars" series. I don't know why they are a series as each boom has nothing to do with the others. You could read each one and never know they're related unless someone told you.
This one brings The Blood Gorgons, a chaos space marine chapter to light. I enjoyed reading it. At first I was worried this as another book that took the overused concept of zombies in space but it ended up just being the starting point and was quickly forgotten.
I'm not a warhammer 40k expert. This is the third book in this universe I have read. It's a great time killer and interesting view into the inverse far as I can tell.
August 26, 2012
Henry Zou with his background in the Australian Army began writing his stories while on military exercises. These scribblings would later become the basis for the science fiction stories he has done for the Black Library.
How you could compare the Blood Gorgons, a Chaotic Space Marine Chapter, to anything on this plane of existence is hard to imagine. But imagine it he did. 'Blood Gorgons' is an incredibly dark and gritty look at the Warhammer 40K universe. There is no redemption, when things are dark they are pitch. The action is glorious in it's portrayal of violence these Meta-Humans could dish out. No remorse. No guilt. Just death on an epic scale!
How you could compare the Blood Gorgons, a Chaotic Space Marine Chapter, to anything on this plane of existence is hard to imagine. But imagine it he did. 'Blood Gorgons' is an incredibly dark and gritty look at the Warhammer 40K universe. There is no redemption, when things are dark they are pitch. The action is glorious in it's portrayal of violence these Meta-Humans could dish out. No remorse. No guilt. Just death on an epic scale!
April 25, 2015
Blood Gorgons is my favorite Henry Zou book. While it has slower moments and a few of Zou's writing quirks that seem unnecessary(i.e. random, one off POV's that only seem to serve to remind you of previous plot points. I sometimes enjoy these, but at times they can be tiresome) pop up, I really enjoy the Chaos Marine chapter he created and most of the main characters. I'd love to see the Blood Gorgons featured again as main characters in another 40K book, though with me being so far behind with the franchise and the author no longer writing for them I'm not sure if that's a possibility.
November 8, 2012
I really liked this book because it went into the mind of the other side and you got to see how the enemy thinks and reacts. The chaos factions encompass so many different types and imaginings, I always find it interesting to see one authors ideas over another.
November 10, 2011
good book. I definetly liked the Blood Gorgon's take on being Chaos Marines...not the usual at all. I recommend this to all fans of the 40K setting.
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