Prot's Review of: Assassinorum Execution Force (novel)

[Prot]

Hey guys,

I'm just putting this here because I finished the book a few days ago and I'm a fiction buff of this fine hobby of ours and I find -great- motivation from it.... motivation to paint, to play, to do a lot of the hobby side of the game.

I picked up my copy locally (yes, an actual physical book!), and finished it about a week ago. (I am also reading back and forth with Ben Counter's Grey Knight Omnibus since I never finished the whole series the first time around. But that's a different story.)

Here's my quick take on:

Assassinorum Execution

Black Library Link: http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/execution-force-ebook.html

First off, we have the Black Library piece, advertising the book:

The Story

Darkness is rising on Achyllus Prime. Severin Drask, sorcerer lord of the Crimson Slaughter Chaos Space Marines, works to harness the power of the Temple of Shades and unleash a tide of daemons upon the Imperium. All that stands against him is an Execution Force of the Officio Assassinorum, four Imperial Assassins – Vindicare, Callidus, Eversor and Culexus –who must set aside their distrust and fight as one if they are to kill Drask and thwart his evil plan.

This is a quick read, written by Joe Parrino. I haven't read anything by Joe, so I kept a very open mind. I also confess I haven't read any of the other past or present Assinorum novels or short stories as of this writing.

The story, as you can see is pretty simple, but let's be honest, we're reading this for the action. We want to see the Assassinorum in action. And we get to see just that.

Drask starts out very interesting. I am a big fan of Crimson Slaughter so I had personal interest in this character. I was disappointed to see that Drask had parted ways with Kranon and I imagine not on very good terms. (I think I'd rather die to an assassin than Kranon.... if you know what he did to his brother, you might agree!)

Drask is trying to get Abaddon's attention. Naturally, there's a lot of red tape involved, and so Drask sets about his task with what seems to be a plethora of 'possessed-like' Crimson Slaughter marines.

Our Assassins get involved quite early, and the action is good.... really good. I have to hand it to Parrino, I really like how he writes pure, raw fist fighting. I'm talking about raw, rib cracking fist fights, not global nuking. But be forewarned, that is the beginning, middle and ending of this book; raw super-soldier fight scenes.... of which I am quite happy with!

The most interesting assassin to me is the Culexus... he's a mystery for sure, and fits his rules well. In fact Joe does a really good job of showing us what each assassin excels at in terms of gameplay balled up into this book. The ending of the book is in a way, quite predictable given the characters involved, but I confess I did not see it coming.

The surprising side bonus to me was the dynamics of the personalities within the group, for they seem to be doing this for the first time - as a group. While some of the personalities are a little predictable with the crazy Eversor, hopped up on his stims, and the 'Han Solo-esque' Vindicare, it's still a very enjoyable interaction between these very different assassins.

Given their distinct backgrounds, and awkward 'social' capabilities you might expect things to go poorly, but when the chips are down, they all do their jobs.... very well.

My biggest disappointment might be in the Crimson Slaughter representation here. Especially with Drask who starts out as a very interesting character, with lofty goals, and a seemingly extensive psychic capability. But near the end of the story, I was a bit let down, as Drask and his brood kind of reminded me of old school chaos..... being somewhat mindless, reduced to wild bolter shots, and grunting, at times.

But there is no doubt the star of this show is the Assassinorum, and it is a fitting end to the tale. I found it highly entertaining, taking it for what it was at face value: a fast paced, killing spree with little time for talk between deathblows, and poison darts.

So I definitely recommend this as a light, fast read, with great action. In fact I plan to re-read it once my copy of the board game arrives (where in the bloody warp is it?!) and use it as ample motivation to add this force to my Grey Knights army.

Thanks for reading this review, and I hope you give the story a shot. If you've read it, please chime in and let me know what you thought of it!

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Yeah I read it when it came out. It's alright, better than I expected actually. 

[Lord Blackwood]

I  found it very interesting but I  agree with you  the ending sequence just seemed to be a bit muddy.  Torq was one of the most interesting characters ive read in a while.  If nothing else the lead up to the ending gives you  a pretty good idea of how the diffrent assassin temples think and interact  how they feel about each other and how they approach the mission.  You  would expect  Torq the Eversore to be a sterotype ?  well hes not hes a very deep and interesting character. 

Definitely worth a read.

[Prot]

Thanks for adding your thoughts guys.

 

Muddy at the end is exactly how I'd put it. It's not like this novel is going to blow anyone away, but as you said the characterization of the assassins is really good. But I did re-read several passages at the end just to be sure I was understanding how things were unfolding.

 

But let's put it this way; if there was a series, or continuation of Assassinorum Execution I'll definitely pick them up.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Doesn't seem likely given how it ended lol. But yeah, the only other real Assassin novel has been 'Nemesis', and that had a pretty final ending as well. 

[Lucien Eilam]

He's a good writer, but I'm not keen on Assassins bickering with each other about old grudges. In my head, an Imperial Assassin has about as much personality and agenda as a bullet, and encountering each other even once would be practically unheard of.

There's an audio by the same author if you want more though: http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/the-emperors-judgement-mp3.html

Nothing to do with Grey Knights either.

[Prot]

Actually I just found this: Witness by Joe

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/witness-ebook.html

 

And it is Grey Knights related!

 

I guess the bickering is an attempt to give them personality, perhaps a sense of 'tension' between a few of them. I can see the 'my temple is better than yours' stuff.... you know, ala 'your Kung-Fu is weak!' kind of talk.

 

I can't really blame him for getting into that a little bit.

 

This book does make me want to go back and read Nemesis now. :)

[Lord Blackwood]

The different Assassin clades have bickered since their inception , Nemesis from the HH  series  is a good example of this. 

[Lucien Eilam]

If by "good example" you mean "only previous example", sure.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

I don't think it's so surprising they're not getting along. As repeatedly stated even outside the novels, Assassins work alone. Usually, the target doesn't require more than a single operative of any Clade to be eliminated. They never fight alongside other operatives of the same Clade, so it's hardly surprising they find other operatives who don't even fight like them strange.