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Warhammer 40,000
Space Hulk: The Novel
In the darkness of a derelict space hulk, the faith and fury of the Blood Angels are tested to the limit.
In this companion novel to the Space Hulk game, a battle is raging between Terminators of the Blood Angels Space Marines and a macabre alien race. But their resolve and skill is pitted against something that haunts their past, because the thousands of foes they face are the same creatures that six centuries ago nearly decimated the Chapter.
As a survivor of the earlier massacre, Sergeant Lorenzo has more to prove than any other. Carrying the stigma of the failure, he now fights for personal deliverance and to redeem the Chapter's honour.
In this companion novel to the Space Hulk game, a battle is raging between Terminators of the Blood Angels Space Marines and a macabre alien race. But their resolve and skill is pitted against something that haunts their past, because the thousands of foes they face are the same creatures that six centuries ago nearly decimated the Chapter.
As a survivor of the earlier massacre, Sergeant Lorenzo has more to prove than any other. Carrying the stigma of the failure, he now fights for personal deliverance and to redeem the Chapter's honour.
125 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
9 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Gav Thorpe
377 books580 followersGav spent 14 years as a developer for Games Workshop, and started writing novels and short stories in the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 when the Black Library imprint was launched in 1997.
He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.
Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.
He continues to write for Black Library, and his first 'homegrown' novel series The Crown of the Blood has been released via Angry Robot.
Currently living in Nottingham, Gav shares his home with his loving and very understanding partner - Kez, and their beautiful little boy - Sammy.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 8, 2025
A short yet packed traversal into mentalities.
March 8, 2012
The book itself is advertised as "a companion novel to the boardgame" so it would be slightly unfair to critize that the chapters feel like turns played on the board. The start of the book was even more card-boardy than the usual Warhammer stories, but the last chapter with (small spoiler) the extermination of the brood lords was o.k.
Still not one of the 9 books I would take with me to an unpopulated island. But, on the other hand, having it as one of the 999 ebooks on the reader :-)
Still not one of the 9 books I would take with me to an unpopulated island. But, on the other hand, having it as one of the 999 ebooks on the reader :-)
November 18, 2016
Pretty damn good.
July 8, 2019
Had to read this because I'm a bit obsessed with the board game. It's an ok read, quite fun, but nothing extraordinary. It's kind of flat: it describes action after action without much suspense, twists or highlights, and then it's over. If it was any longer I would have lost interest quite soon.
March 3, 2017
Good:
* Attractive cover.
Bad:
* Terrible characters.
* Too many cheesy one-liners.
* Follows the board game too closely.
* Attractive cover.
Bad:
* Terrible characters.
* Too many cheesy one-liners.
* Follows the board game too closely.
May 1, 2025
Good , fast but not memorable
October 19, 2016
space hulk is about a squad of the deadly terminators of the blood angles chapter of space marines (space vampires) have been deployed in the dozens to clear a massive city sized spaceship called a space hulk. where thousands of millions of humans, but this ship has been contaminated by the deadly tyranids, extra galactic race of aliens that ate an entire galaxy then moved on to the milky way galaxy and they send the deadly genestealer to splice and infiltrate and infect the already polluted human gene pool,this sends the blood angles chapters terminators to clear it out. The squad moves through the ship,and one by one they die,now the team must clear the ship for their god emperor.
opinion
in cahoots with the board game (yes a board game) it stars terminators with varying weapons like an assualt cannon, and heavy flamer,storm bolters, thunder hammers and storm shields,and other weapons, so and inticipation for the new space hulk: death wing i both read and listened to the audio book.
all in all review
story:4/5 this is one of my favorite 40k books
characters: 3/5 I've listened to the audio drama 'malediction' it gave a lot of characters and development, since this I've looked differently these characters differntly, they all (spoiler alert) die
they had good final moments.
plot:4/5 the primarch of the alpha legion once said "war is the galaxies hygiene." it clearly shows when as soon as the action starts you won't want to put the book down,it is always makes for a good picture in your mind,picture this, you are walking down a hall in a suit of massive red power armor, you here running down the hall you squad mate swings around and smacks one purple four armed alien to the ground and then there is more running then more shots ring out they can barely be held back by the flames from Leon's heavy flamer the other members usher you behind them and to regroup, as you fall back you hear,"REMEMBER MY LEGACY!" then a loud explosion rings out. Leon's gone.
Please tell me that isn't your ideal sci fi action story?
FINAL THOUGHTS
4/5
opinion
in cahoots with the board game (yes a board game) it stars terminators with varying weapons like an assualt cannon, and heavy flamer,storm bolters, thunder hammers and storm shields,and other weapons, so and inticipation for the new space hulk: death wing i both read and listened to the audio book.
all in all review
story:4/5 this is one of my favorite 40k books
characters: 3/5 I've listened to the audio drama 'malediction' it gave a lot of characters and development, since this I've looked differently these characters differntly, they all (spoiler alert) die
they had good final moments.
plot:4/5 the primarch of the alpha legion once said "war is the galaxies hygiene." it clearly shows when as soon as the action starts you won't want to put the book down,it is always makes for a good picture in your mind,picture this, you are walking down a hall in a suit of massive red power armor, you here running down the hall you squad mate swings around and smacks one purple four armed alien to the ground and then there is more running then more shots ring out they can barely be held back by the flames from Leon's heavy flamer the other members usher you behind them and to regroup, as you fall back you hear,"REMEMBER MY LEGACY!" then a loud explosion rings out. Leon's gone.
Please tell me that isn't your ideal sci fi action story?
FINAL THOUGHTS
4/5
April 1, 2012
I remember Space Hulk from my youth as one of the first Games Workshop boardgames I experienced. For me Warhammer 40K came later, and also the elements of Space Hulk were given their place in the big Universe that is Warhammer much later and in different form: terminators were actually sparsely deployable, and not as "weak" as Space Hulk made them seem sometimes; genestealers were redefined as the vanguard of the great Tyranid incusions, and on the tabletop demoted to creatures a few standard Space Marines could deal with.
Also, in those days (we're talking about the nineties here) a lot of custom scenarios popped up in White Dwarf Magazine and expansions on the original game.
This short (75 pages) story is dated 2009, roughly 15 years later, and I couldn't help but recognizing every single custom scenario. Moreover, the terminator squads seem to hop from scenario to scenario without time to pause... which is normal in a genestealer-infested space hulk, but it feels far to contrived. It feels like Gav Thorpe took scenario 3,5,11,13,14 and 22, placed them in the correct dramatic order, and began writing. The story feels enormously chaotic because of it, and someone who doesn't recognize the scenarios will feel lost... even I did sometimes, and believe me when I say I read each of those custom scenarios until the ink came off, such a fanboy I was.
The book is very recommended when you want to experience a blast to the past, and see every scenario from the old days played before you.
The book is not at all recommended for beginner or even journeyman Warhammer readers
Also, in those days (we're talking about the nineties here) a lot of custom scenarios popped up in White Dwarf Magazine and expansions on the original game.
This short (75 pages) story is dated 2009, roughly 15 years later, and I couldn't help but recognizing every single custom scenario. Moreover, the terminator squads seem to hop from scenario to scenario without time to pause... which is normal in a genestealer-infested space hulk, but it feels far to contrived. It feels like Gav Thorpe took scenario 3,5,11,13,14 and 22, placed them in the correct dramatic order, and began writing. The story feels enormously chaotic because of it, and someone who doesn't recognize the scenarios will feel lost... even I did sometimes, and believe me when I say I read each of those custom scenarios until the ink came off, such a fanboy I was.
The book is very recommended when you want to experience a blast to the past, and see every scenario from the old days played before you.
The book is not at all recommended for beginner or even journeyman Warhammer readers
October 8, 2011
This is the companion book of the Space Hulk Boarding game. It depicts the in-fighting of Blood Angels Terminator two squads against a an alien races called Tyrannids.
This book was done perfectly. Better was impossible. I had read the stories of each character on a White Dwarf magazine and then reading this book was the culminate of a great Story. There are great characters here and I really hope that we could see more of them (some of them since some died)
Gav Thorpe grabs the game concept and writes a good story. The tension is the most important trait of the game and the book didn't failed there. Will the marines accomplish their mission? Will all of them live? Can they do it before time runs out? He (the author) switchs the action between the two squads and builds a tension until the end. Gav as you knows have written the famous Last Chancers (about a penal squad) and one of the most mythical books calle Angels of Darkness.
In the end it was a good book and a good companion of the game. I really loved it and the only thing that I think could be improved would be the ending. As the other companions books they suffer from a rushed ending (but still this was the better one).
Gav Thorpe now is penning a trilogy depicting the fall of elven nation with Malekith and the next book for 40k will feature Eldar. He is also releasing a book for Angry Robots company.
This book was done perfectly. Better was impossible. I had read the stories of each character on a White Dwarf magazine and then reading this book was the culminate of a great Story. There are great characters here and I really hope that we could see more of them (some of them since some died)
Gav Thorpe grabs the game concept and writes a good story. The tension is the most important trait of the game and the book didn't failed there. Will the marines accomplish their mission? Will all of them live? Can they do it before time runs out? He (the author) switchs the action between the two squads and builds a tension until the end. Gav as you knows have written the famous Last Chancers (about a penal squad) and one of the most mythical books calle Angels of Darkness.
In the end it was a good book and a good companion of the game. I really loved it and the only thing that I think could be improved would be the ending. As the other companions books they suffer from a rushed ending (but still this was the better one).
Gav Thorpe now is penning a trilogy depicting the fall of elven nation with Malekith and the next book for 40k will feature Eldar. He is also releasing a book for Angry Robots company.
July 19, 2014
It's fun. 'nuff said, really. It's not like one can do all that much with Space Hulk when you get down to the nitty gritty.
Dudes in powered suits as wide as the halls they walk in, attacked by a faceless alien adversary, and pumped full of religious fervor for the Emperor and the wars against, well, anything not human.
The author did a good job capturing what makes the Space Hulk board game and lore fun, he gave us some fun action and some likable characters.
And a whole bunch of 'splody bits and bolter jamming.
So, ask yourself, do you like Space Hulk? If the answer is yes, than read the book.
Dudes in powered suits as wide as the halls they walk in, attacked by a faceless alien adversary, and pumped full of religious fervor for the Emperor and the wars against, well, anything not human.
The author did a good job capturing what makes the Space Hulk board game and lore fun, he gave us some fun action and some likable characters.
And a whole bunch of 'splody bits and bolter jamming.
So, ask yourself, do you like Space Hulk? If the answer is yes, than read the book.
December 15, 2015
I can't say I really like Gav Thorpes writing. The characters are stereotypical, uninteresting and two dimensional. The names of the characters could just be "Heavy weapon trooper 1a", "Specialist trooper 3c" and "Generic sergeant 1b"
You never get any sympathy for the characters and never really cares for if their mission will be a success or failure.
Writing an interesting story about a game which is basically Aliens, but with Space marines in tactical dreadnought armour, instead of Colonial marines, can't be easy though. and I feel that I'm just reading a Space hulk battle report. A badly written one at that.
No, I'd stay clear of this one.
You never get any sympathy for the characters and never really cares for if their mission will be a success or failure.
Writing an interesting story about a game which is basically Aliens, but with Space marines in tactical dreadnought armour, instead of Colonial marines, can't be easy though. and I feel that I'm just reading a Space hulk battle report. A badly written one at that.
No, I'd stay clear of this one.
February 26, 2019
Tense and better than expected.
Read this just for fun, relaxation and for the universe of Blood Angels. It is what it is. It delivered what I wanted. So 5 stars from me. If you expect Dostoievski, you would be disappointed. But I wasn't in the mood for Dostoievski.
I created a tag for Warhammer 40K and will read a lot from it, with the same aspirations. This was just the first book. The ratings will reflect my comparisons between these books only.
Read this just for fun, relaxation and for the universe of Blood Angels. It is what it is. It delivered what I wanted. So 5 stars from me. If you expect Dostoievski, you would be disappointed. But I wasn't in the mood for Dostoievski.
I created a tag for Warhammer 40K and will read a lot from it, with the same aspirations. This was just the first book. The ratings will reflect my comparisons between these books only.
January 20, 2016
This book does exactly what it says on the tin: Space Marines (Blood Angels, specifically) investigate a space hulk, find tyranids, and fight them.
That's ... yep, that about covers it.
OK, bye.
That's ... yep, that about covers it.
OK, bye.
March 15, 2012
Too short, too little variance in the plot, quite clearly a boardgame tie-in.
August 21, 2013
Unrepentant bolter porn. I loved it! This is a story that has unrelenting action that is basically a battle report of a Space Hulk game. Who needs characters?
March 1, 2014
A dark story told from the point of view of characters inside a board-game.
June 29, 2014
Cheesy sci-fi trash as an adjunct to the board game. A lot of fun.
February 21, 2016
Listened to the audio on youtube rather than read it myself.
October 17, 2016
Fan-produced audio book
October 30, 2016
Ok, it was cheesy and not super well written, but I still liked it. It was fun to hear the names of the characters and scenarios from the game used in a story. Definitely a fun listen.
Read
January 2, 2019A great novella and short story dealing with both the Space Marine Blood Angels chapter and Space Hulks in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The flow of the stories creates an engaging experience and although the characters are generally superficially described the general feel and intent of the group comes across well and meshes with the plot. Quite a bit of time is spent on describing the derelict ship(s), the aliens and combat which lends weight to the flow, however I would have liked some extra content around the relic and its circumstances as for something so important it gets little description.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews