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The Fall Of Damnos (2011)

by Nick Kyme(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1849700400 (ISBN13: 9781849700405)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Black Library

series

Space Marine Battles

review 1: Bookworm Speaks! Warhammer 40KThe Fall of Damnos by Nick Kyme ReviewThe Story: On the frigid, mining world of Damnos, mankind dug too greedily and too deep and an unimaginably ancient foe has been awakened, the Necrons. The undead warriors of living metal swiftly and mercilessly subdue the planet until a single city remains. Captain Sicarius and the Second Company of the Ultramarines are dispatched to Damnos to defend the last city and vanquish the Necrons. The Good: Lately, there has been some controversy as to women being unfairly represented in Warhammer 40K. When you look at the majority of fiction out there, this is not an unfair hypothesis, especially in how the Space Marines are an all boys club. In this case, thought while definitely male dominated, the writers of ... moreGames Workshop do a good job of presenting strong female characters. Case in point, Jynn, an inhabitant of Damnos and leading a platoon of warriors against the Necrons. She is a wonderful character and the way she bonds with Ultramarine Scipio feels very authentic and her strength is frankly much more inspiring than that of the genetically enhanced super-soldier. If female Space Marines ever come to fruition, Bookworm bets it will be mentioned upon that it was unfortunate that it did not happen sooner. The characterization of the Space Marines is elaborated as well, surprisingly with the Venerable Dreadnoughts. The Dreadnoughts are a particularly fascinating aspect of the Space Marines. Due to their very nature, most are not given a great deal of characterization. How Brother Agnathio, in spite of being a formidable fighter, is not entirely lucid and does not know exactly where he is or who he is fighting. It’s a nice touch to the Space Marines and adds a dose of humanity to them. The thing about the Space Marines is that in spite of the post humanism, strength, speed, and eidetic memory, at their cores the Adeptus Astartes are still human. While the stories of Uriel Ventris and Pasanius Lysane are always a perennial favorite when it comes to the Ultramarines, it is very good to see other Sons of Macragge be explored with a bit more depth. What the text has over most of the Graham McNeill saga is how it explores Ultramarine’s war making from a broader perspective and illustrates Astartes Battle Strategy, whereas, books like Nightbringer and Warriors of Ultramar were largely told from Captain Ventris and a few civilians perspective. The broad approach works well here. The Flaws: While Fall of Damnos is not the worst, it does feel like one of the weaker volumes of the series. The main flaw of which could very well result in Bookworm being hailed as heretic and being sentenced to servitor conversion: the Necrons are boring. As 40K villains go, the Necrons are among the weakest. Even though Nick Kyme does a good job of telling the story of the Necrons, they were rather dull and despite attempts to diversify the viewpoints, it all sounded the same. The Necrons have been described as space zombies and its not hard to see why and the way there lore is presented is kind of interesting but it just seems a little too overwrought at times, like a Necron dominated galaxy is inevitable. Part of the appeal of Warhammer is that as overwhelming as the enemies of the Imperium can be, there is still hope that they can be overcome with strength and spirit of man. This does not seem to be the case with the Necrons and they suffer for it. Invincible enemies are not very engaging. Also, a common flaw with many space marine novels, is that the various battle brothers personalities are a little flat at times and frankly not very different from the others and its a little hard to keep track of them. Frankly, there are times where their personalities are pretty much interchangeable. While the text does a good job of telling a broader perspective of the war as a whole, it does make itOn the subject of personality, where this book lets the reader down is in the characterization of Captain Cato Sicarius. He is played very close to the chest we are not offered much off a glimpse into his thoughts other than his lust for glory and his aspirations for Chapter Master. While there is nothing particularly wrong with his portrayal, for those who are familiar with his portrayal in the Ultramarines Novel series by Graham McNeill, such as Bookworm, it is a disappointment to not see Cato Sicarius explored with more depth. Final Verdict: A interesting look into on of the most famous chapters in Warhammer but probably not the best. Three out of Five Stars thecultureworm.blogspot.com
review 2: An enjoyable read simply because the villains of this book are the Necrons, and to find books featuring them are few and far between. These machine antagonists seek to reclaim a world they've been buried under for centuries, and it was only be sheer luck that a call escaped the world asking for help from the Space Marines. I enjoyed reading from the perspective of the Necrons, though I failed to get a clear idea of why some of the higher level ones were involoved in power struggles. In fact, the main reason why the Necron battle took a major turn against them is never really explained with satisfaction; it just happens, we, and the Marines, see it happen, but what specifically is going on is up in the air.There were also a lot of Marines running around; so many that I lost track early on of where each group was and where they were fighting. I'm not a fan of referring to maps as I read, so I just plowed through the novel, knowing that the protagonists would be whittled down considerable under the onslaught of the mechanoids, and they were.The book became much easier to follow at the half way point, and I found the "normal" humans who were helping the Marines to be a very welcome addition to the story, as non-Marine humans are usually treated poorly by the Emperor's soldiers, and I appreciated that.So, this was a mixed bag for me. I didn't really enjoy it until half way done, and in the end there's no conclusion, only a hiatus of battle, waiting for a sequel. less

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