Death of Integrity

[reckoning]

The last SM Battles book I read was Death of Antagonis and I couldnt even finish it. Worse novel in a fairly mediocre series. So I was hesitant to pick up Death of Integrity but decided to anyway based off of opinions by other members. Im glad I did. Overall a good story with good combat. My biggest problem however was the ending. It felt rushed and left many conflicts unresolved. That may have been the authors intent but I wasnt a fan. Overall worth the money and at the higher end of the series IMO. Not Helsreach but definitely not Death of Antagonis.

 

Wanted to know what others thought about the book.

[Scribe]

I liked several of the concepts, loved the twist at the end, the portrayal of the various parties and love the sections in the Hulk. I thought it was pretty solid, though if I remember it was super heavy with 'Brother Terminator' 'Brother Captain' 'Brother Chaplain' 'Bro Bro'....and that got a bit much.

[Frosco Toppings]

What is it with Black Library authors and rushed endings?

[Plague Angel]

"Rushed ending" seems to be a common complaint about this one. It didn't bother me very much, but then I suppose I was prepared for it.

[Visitor13]

What is it with Black Library authors and rushed endings?

 

416 page limit, perhaps?

[Gripharius]

What is it with Black Library authors and rushed endings?

 

I think it may be the editors.  When you read a number of different books written by different authors from the same publisher and they all have similar problem issues, I think you have to look at the editors.

 

Clearly, for example, the BL editors aren't too worried about WH canon, or little details like making major events happen at the same time in different books of the same series.  *cough* Magnus *cough* Outcast Dead *cough*

[Jareddm]

That was corrected in Wolf Hunt, so I don't see it as too big a deal.

 

As for Death of Integrity, despite the ending, I'd still put it among my top three among the SMB series. All of the major characters felt meaningfully fleshed out, the Adeptus Mechanicus were bastards in the best ways they know how, and the whole story just felt more...convincing than most standalone 40k novels. That's probably not the best word for it but everything, from the complications of radiation and gravity on the space hulk to the mirror image presentations of chapters preparing for battle, to the extremely accurate breaking down of the state of the galaxy by our surprise character, it all felt more thought out and real.

[Anver Cassiel]

I really liked Death of Integrity. I thought in the beginning it was hard to keep track of everyone, and the fates of Voldo and Caedis were a bit ambiguous, but other than that I had few qualms with the book. I loved the twists at the end of the book, and thought the two chapters were made very distinct and different, yet both were interesting enough to keep my attention. I also really liked the depiction of the Adeptus Mechanicus and liked the idea of strain between different factions of the Imperium, which I hadn't seen properly visualised in the novels before.