Courage and Honour. A book review !Spoilers!

[Nerdfest10]

As the title says, this is a book review about Courage and Honour by Graham McNeill.

 

Spoilers inside, you have been warned!!!

 

 

 

I have just finished reading Graham McNeill’s Courage and Honour and I have to say that my overall feeling was one of disappointment. Certainly it’s not one of the worst books I have read, however still it’s far from the best and is no match for Mr McNeill’s more recent works (see the divine A Thousand Sons)

 

I think my main gripe is it is a story that isn’t sure what purpose it serves. In the first Ultramarines story arc, we are introduced to Uriel Ventris and follow his spectacular rise and fall within the ranks of the Chapter. We have an understanding of how he operates and empathise with him over his questionable failings as a Captain. McNeill injects his characters with a semblance of humanity and as a reader we get to explore certain elements of these heroic warriors. We see their ambition and pride (Learchus), honour and loyalty (Passanius) and of course their devotion and ideology (Ventris himself). All this makes for an exciting read that uncovers in detail what it means to be an Astartes, and a Captain, of arguably the most influential and well known Space Marine Chapter in the Imperium. And this is where it falls down with Courage and Honour.

 

Allow me to start with a positive. The battle scenes, while not flawless are well executed. It’s done in a classic army verses army line battle with mass slaughter, volatile explosions and heroic last stands to boot. We get to see the Tau as highly skilled combatants that nearly take the day, as well as witnessing their warrior ideals. They have their own code and it is not beyond them to feel empathy for enemy soldiers. The Kroot for me are another highlight, McNeill revealing enough to keep me interested without detracting from the main tale. It’s a Tau story and the Tau are kept firmly in the spotlight, with the Kroot playing second fiddle. The biggest problem I have with their portayal is that the shaper ‘Redquill’ is let down in a massive way in how he bites the dust. No last stand, no prolonged battle to the death going blow for blow with Ventris, just a mass reactive bolter shell to the head. Game over. Very unsatisfactory climax to what was ‘shaping’ up to be the stories heavy weight title fight.

 

Now this is where it starts to get tricky. Some of these criticisms you may find to be petulant or unwarranted and individually they are however grouped together they tend to overwhelm what could have been a good stand alone story. Let me begin. Courage and Honour is an Ultramarines novel, specifically detailing the tale of its wayward Captain Uriel Ventris. As we all know the Ultramarines are a first founding Legion and without getting in to a ‘yo mumma’s fat’ debate, they are the defining chapter of the 40k universe. They are the embodiment of the Imperial ideal and are known throughout the galaxy as the first amongst equals, the heart and soul of the Emperors (beloved by all) martial vision. Under no circumstances should a Space Marine Captain, let alone an Ultramarine, be referred to by his first name. Full stop. No one, not Planetary Governors, Imperial Guard Colonels, Commisars, even the High Lords of Terra themselves should be referring to him as Uriel especially in battle situations! Instead we find the name Uriel being bandied about as though the author felt the need to remind us of his first name every second paragraph. Okay, he was stripped of his rank and colours and sent to fulfil a death oath. Also, without being able to cite specifics, Ventris is probably the most junior captain, as far as actual time served, in the Ultramarine ranks at this time. But the guy is still a Captain of company of superhuman warriors with the resources to annihilate an entire planet, the only person to whom he should answer by his first name is Marneus Calgar himself. I’m not sure exactly how it works as far as rank is worked within the vast Imperium, but I’m fairly sure that a Space Marine Captain is a lord of the Imperium and therefore should be addressed as such.

 

Ok, pet rant over.

 

The next point is the overtly shallow development and unfulfilled introduction of the cast of characters. Some we have met before such as Arbite Jenna Sharben, Mykola Shonai and adept Lortuen Perjed. These characters have been developed and the reader has an understanding of who they are, what drives them and more importantly, it should allow the reader to focus on the untold elements of the book. Not quite so with Courage and Honour. McNeill, for some reason, decides that unsuitable character assassination is necessary to complete the story. Mykola Shonai for example, a woman we meet in Nightbringer, has been set up to be the sacrifice that sets Pavonis on the path of damnation, a far cry from the loyal, proud Planetary Governor who sacrificed her Governorship to uphold her principles and save her world. To have her shown as a desperate, unstable shadow of her former self is quite hard to grasp, especially since there are other characters who could have quite easily filled that role, not the least her sister or nephew, people we are unfamiliar with.

 

Of the established supporting cast Adept Purjed is the only one whose personality remains broadly unchanged. He is a steadfast, loyal and proud member of the Adeptus Terra and rightly so, however I think his role was somewhat diminished. I feel he was ‘left on the cutting room floor’ to often and really could have stepped up and been used too much better effect. Jenna Sharben on the other hand still remains a familiar character yet her complex storyline is deflated by some very sub standard writing. McNeill has never before shied away from giving us strong independent female characters in this series, something that I am very grateful for, however he really fails to draw on the experience from his previous tales and the characters do suffer for it. Sharben for example, Arbite hero, loyal Pavonite and Imperial servant, is mistreated as a doubting, weakling commander. Her tolerance of Preacher Culla during his interrogation shows her in a poor light and the lack of loyalty shown to her by her subservient Arbites reverts this compelling and complex character to a shallow, weak-willed, victimised woman. That she finally decides to act and enforce Imperial Law on the ‘kill ‘em all, let the Emperor sort ‘em out’ preacher comes to little to late and the fact that the author doesn’t call her into account for her actions, thereby denying her a chance to be martyred via her convictions, makes a mockery of her established credentials.

 

Learchus is another character that I feel was let down, due to poor writing. He is a compelling character, the unwavering poster boy of the Ultramarines. Basically Learchus embodies all of the traits the Ultramarine detractors use against them. Loyal, arrogant, steadfast, unwavering, stern, uncompromising and proud. He is the other side of the boltgun, if you will, to Ventris’ more dynamic and charismatic captain. McNeill tries to engage the character where it is unnecessary, having him experience what it was like for Ventris to break with the Codex. I say unnecessary as I feel there was no need at all for the audience to witness Learchus empathises with his commander while on stakeout with the scouts. I felt it undermined the Sergeants credibility and I feel there could have been many different opportunities within the book for Learchus to understand and accept the decision Ventris made without resorting to the easy ‘oh this is how he must have felt, now I understand’ we were subjected to. He is an Astartes Sergeant, his role is to step up when needed and dish it out when required. Regardless of his personal misgivings and wounded pride, he needs to be a stalwart and thoroughly dependable soldier who must back up his captain under all circumstances. I feel that McNeill short changes his character and undoes his personality in an unnecessary attempt to humanise him.

 

In summary, Courage and Honour left me unfulfilled and I struggled to finish it, certainly not the page turner I have come to expect from an author of McNeill’s calibre. As a stand alone book using new characters I believe this would have worked much better. Instead we endure a book that comes across as filler between the sublime The Killing Ground and yet to be released The Chapter’s Due. Not having read the latter, I can not comment, however as a side note I have to say I was left slightly exasperated at the end of Courage and Honour when it was all but confirmed that the 4th would be journeying back to Tarsis Ultra. With the plethora of star systems unchartered by the authors of 40k fiction, do we really need to travel back to a familiar planet, not once but twice? There are over a million planets in the Imperium Mr McNeill, fire up the warp drive, hit the big red go button and let us see where your inspiring imagination can lead us!

 

Thoughts? Yes? No? Maybe? Go paint some mini's and never touch a keyboard again?

 

Thanks for reading :huh:

[The Emperor's Champion]

Under no circumstances should a Space Marine Captain, let alone an Ultramarine, be referred to by his first name. Full stop. No one, not Planetary Governors, Imperial Guard Colonels, Commisars, even the High Lords of Terra themselves should be referring to him as Uriel especially in battle situations!

Definitely. The only people who should call him Uriel are Calgar, Cassius, Tigurius, the other Ultramarines Captains, and his Sergeants (basically his elders, superiors, and equals).

 

Also, without being able to cite specifics, Ventris is probably the most junior captain, as far as actual time served, in the Ultramarine ranks at this time.

Easily the youngest. Ventris is only 124. Agemman, Sicarius, Fabian, Galenus, Ixion, Numitor, Sinon, Epathus, and Antilochus are all well over 300.

 

 

Learchus is another character that I feel was let down, due to poor writing. He is a compelling character, the unwavering poster boy of the Ultramarines. Basically Learchus embodies all of the traits the Ultramarine detractors use against them. Loyal, arrogant, steadfast, unwavering, stern, uncompromising and proud. He is the other side of the boltgun, if you will, to Ventris’ more dynamic and charismatic captain. McNeill tries to engage the character where it is unnecessary, having him experience what it was like for Ventris to break with the Codex. I say unnecessary as I feel there was no need at all for the audience to witness Learchus empathises with his commander while on stakeout with the scouts. I felt it undermined the Sergeants credibility and I feel there could have been many different opportunities within the book for Learchus to understand and accept the decision Ventris made without resorting to the easy ‘oh this is how he must have felt, now I understand’ we were subjected to. He is an Astartes Sergeant, his role is to step up when needed and dish it out when required. Regardless of his personal misgivings and wounded pride, he needs to be a stalwart and thoroughly dependable soldier who must back up his captain under all circumstances. I feel that McNeill short changes his character and undoes his personality in an unnecessary attempt to humanise him.

I swear, if he screwed up Learchus, I don't think I'm even going to bother reading the series beyond what I've already read..... McNiell already took the 4th Captaincy from Learchus when he inexplicably let Ventris back into the Chapter after ignoring his Death Oath, the LEAST he could've done would've been to let Learchus continue to be the only worthwhile Ultramarine he created. :(