Deathfire. Done. At last. SPOILERS.

[Tenebris]

My oh my, where to begin with this one? Hmm... well, considering that the spoilers already abound in this thread I will go straight to an objective review of the book. 

 

Deathfire is not a bad book and it is clear that Kyme has a lot of potential and great ideas, sadly the realization of them in prose is far from stellar. 

 

The book writes about the adventures of the Pyre, a group of Salamanders stranded in Imperium Secundus and willing to retrieve their dead father Vulkan to the fires of Nocturne, with a faint hope of a miraculous resurrection.  

 

In the first part of the book we learn more about the Imperium Secundus, its supporters and its detractors as well as the individual heroics of my favorite sergeant in the HH series, Thiel. This part of the book is surprisingly entertaining when we learn that Papa Smurf is not completely in control and that even his own sons are not completely convinced in the vision of his father. We have token appearances of the Lion and Sanguinius but nothing remarkable. The salient point of the first book is the assault of the Unburdened in the prison complex and even the jaded Chaos player that I am, I have to admit that this part was done right and proper. 

 

The events then follow an adventure in the Ruinstorm where Numeon and his warriors are beset from all sides by enemies, both mortal and Neverborn. The use of the little girl as an element of the horror was interesting but the whole suspense was ruined when the author decided that this chapter is becoming too unwieldy and used the intervention of Magnus as a way to quickly and cleanly end it. In short he set a great stage but it seems that he tired of the play and call it quit.

 

The last part of the book was the return to Nocturne and the battle with the Death Guard. This fragment of the book was not that bad when you consider the scale of the battles in the Warhammer 40k setting. There was ample opportunity for mass destruction yet again what was to be an awesome vignette of a massive battle was rushed and ruined by the Nocturne version of Godzilla, where the saurians of the planet trampled the Death Guard to dust, conveniently. What followed was to be the apex of the book, Vulkan's funeral and much like all things Salamanders in this book, the author lacked either fantasy or will to write it as an epic scene. As for the ending... Vulkan Lives!

 

 

Technically the book contains many interesting ideas but it is plagued with shallow dialog, a reliance on the Salamander tropes and far too many convenient events to bring the book to a quick and desirable end. I would also add that while Kyme is not a bad author, his Achilles heel seems to be the characterization. We can all hope he will learn one day from the other big ones in the business. 

 

 

Now onto the very subjective part of this review. Lets begin with the characters-. 

 

Numeon often ends in being the Mary Sue of the book where he is all knowing, capable of defeating every foe and covered with far too many positive traits to make him an interesting character. 

 

His character is balanced by two skeptics in his vision and two firm believers, offering for a very boring interaction in the dialog, predictable scenes and in general plaguing the book with forgettable characters.

 

The foes in the form of the Death Guard captain and the Word Bearer chapter are somehow more interesting until they are tasked to participate in an action vignette. You cannot like them for they are archetypes, like all Kyme's characters. In short, uninspiring.

 

Now onto the two gems of the book, sadly the only ones. Barthusa Narek and his rival Degath. Now these two I liked a lot. They were both breaks with the convention and the only two interesting characters in the book. The one used as a sort of antihero and the other used as a no-nonsense villain. Their story was an interesting one in Vulkan Lives and came to a conclusion in Deathfire. I enjoyed to see these two characters grow and go to separate ways. They are a counterweight to the rest of the traitors in the book which were at best shallow.

 

Now onto the rant part. This book has made three victims. The Death Guard legion and its fanbase, the World Bearers legion and its fanbase and the Salamanders legion and its fanbase.

 

The Death Guard in this book are perhaps the worst description of the XIV legion in the HH series. Not only the author seemed to forget that Nurgle only corrupted them on the way to Terra but he also seem to have forgotten to read the Flight of the Einseinstein. Kyme seems to be unable to step away from the IA articles on the legion and he universally depicts the Death Guard as foul smelling warriors, who cannot say more words in Barbaran than "I Death Guard, I smash" and who are actually stupid enough to kill themselves with their own RBC weapons. The author also forgot that the Death Guard are perhaps the best legion for the Zone Mortalis operations and that to them clearing a battle barge full of enemies is Tuesday. In every action featurette they get stomped by the Salamanders and their command echelons appear to be utterly without brains. The end battle was perhaps the greatest disservice to the XIV legion for not only was in stark contrast with their own doctrine of warfare but also made them appear little less than the Stormtroopers in Star Wars, there to be shot, cut and rent to pieces. 

 

 

The Word Bearers are also victim of Kymes myopic vision of the legiones astartes. To him Word Bearer screams of books, fanatics, red armor, preachers, daemons, sacrifice. Deathfire follows the Black Library trend where a loyalist is able to kill with impunity six Word Bearers and this is nowhere better seen then in the scene where the Salamanders defend the Gellar Field generator. I was about to headbutt the desk when I read that chapter, so one sided it was. The authors seem to forget that the Word Bearers are not just fanatics, they are WARRIOR fanatics. You have to cut them to pieces, blast them to shreds, cut their head and shoot a few shots in them to stop their advance, for they ain't stopping, for anyone, unless the Dark Apostle commands it. They are the definition of the holy warrior, the zealot, the crusader, and yet they appear as the most inept strand of the astartes ever written in prose. This trend has to stop NOW!

 

The last and the most telling victim of Deathfire are the Salamanders themselves. It seems that Kyme is unable or unwilling to grant them anything more than fire, anvils, more fire, even more fire and Vulkan Lives!. I am a Chaos fan but when comes to the BL books I want for every legion to be treated fairly as something epic as a legion should be. In this book, which is also meant as the official material on the Salamanders, we learn very little about them bar the above. Somehow Kyme chains the Salamanders to the fire and anvil concepts and does not allow them to grow on their own into something epic as is their description in the Forge World book. We see the Salamanders treading every time the same concepts where others like their wish for martyrdom, their insane stubbornness, their pragmatism, their mode of warfare and their ships, as concepts, are left unexplored. I feel sorry for the Salamanders fans who hoped that this books would be their Prince of Crows or Legion and I really hope that some of the other authors will step forth and do your legion justice, as it is deserved.

 

In conclusion I cannot give the book more than a 4/10 on my personal scale. The characters are forgettable, legion fan service is nonexistent, the reading is in certain fragments boring and tiresome and the use of the Primarchs and the Vulkan Sigil as plot devices ruined the book for me. I will say it again, Kyme has great ideas but he wants to pile too many things in a book, bloating it, compelling himself to rush it and he relies too much on the said plot devices to cover for any deficiency of his writing.

 

My advice for him would be to read more Abnett and AD-B, learn how to write an interesting character and to gain the sense for writing space marine battles. They are battles between demigods and are never, ever, one-sided (unless you write about the Night Lords, for they ensure they always have the upper hand, or they run, or they die...).    

 

I will part ways with the next words. Deathfire can be described as follows. Count all the times the phrase "Vulkan Lives!" is used, multiply that by the number of words it uses and detract the sum from the total of the words used in the book. Well the result is the % of how boring and uninspiring the book is. I wager that that % is similar in all Kyme's books. 

[veterannoob]

Did anyone pick up on The Odyssey comparison?

[veterannoob]

@Diabolist thanks for your review; I actually enjoyed your point of view and since so far the word on this particular thread has been lackluster it's come with great explanation why. It also helps me reconcile my own opinions. I did audio book both times--first for a review on the podcast and again last month to give it another go before Pharos. I enjoyed it slightly better this second time because after talking with others I was looking for more things in the book the second time around. And I certainly picked up on the more... thin aspects concerning the three legions. 

[Mellow]

Although I thought the story was OK only really didn't get on with a few things:

1) The amount of times "Vulcan Lives!" is said

2) The battle on a seemingly undefended Astartes homeworld

3) The length of the book. It was something like 50+ chapters on eBook. Normally I would always want more chapters for a HH entry but this felt like it was dragged out for little actual content.

[Lord Tharand]

The book can mostly be described as Lord of the Rings in space where Vulkan is the ring.

 

It had good ideas but I struggled to make it through this book for all the reasons mentioned above.

 

Ultimately the two standout items for me were 1) Degath - I really dug him and he seemed to have more depth of character than the other traitors around him.  2) The Daemonette scene was really done well.  I think the entire book could have been the Salamanders struggling through the Ruinstorm against it's horrors and in the process having an spiritual awakening.  

 

Instead the book is saddled with goofy boarding actions by traitors that always fail because of one plot device or another.

[Icarus1138]

 The authors seem to forget that the Word Bearers are not just fanatics, they are WARRIOR fanatics. You have to cut them to pieces, blast them to shreds, cut their head and shoot a few shots in them to stop their advance, for they ain't stopping, for anyone, unless the Dark Apostle commands it. They are the definition of the holy warrior, the zealot, the crusader, and yet they appear as the most inept strand of the astartes ever written in prose.

 

I thought I'd speak to this a bit, since I've had similar thoughts.

 

I believe there's actually a possible reason for this, though not a good one. As we all know, the 30k/40k setting draws heavily on actual history for inspiration. It's why we have ancient Egyptian space marines, viking space marines, Roman space marines, and so on. Games-Workshop, with a few exceptions, draws exclusively from European history and mythology. Europe's most famous religious warriors were the Crusaders, but the trick here is that "Crusading Knight" has already been claimed thematically by two other legions, the Imperial Fists and the Dark Angels. In 40k of course they consolidated those influences into the Black Templars.

 

There were other fearsome types of warrior that were heavily influenced by religion, but they either come from cultures that GW has not really drawn on for inspiration (Muslims, Aztecs, etc) or from cultures already claimed by other legions. Essentially, Word Bearers got the "Religion" tag in their fluff but every major religious warrior type was assigned somewhere else. Teutonic Knights, Templars, Hospitallers, Berserkers, etc. I think the result of this is when a 30k author/fan thinks of any type of feared and militarily effective religious warrior, they are predisposed to think of Sigismund's boys or Dark Angels crusaders or Germanic Pagan Space Wolves rather than the legion that would more logically produce the 30k equivalent to the Knights Templar (or whoever).

 

This has an effect on how their battlefield performance would be perceived. Knights are bad-ass, go IF Templars! Angels are amazing, go Sanguinius! Jomsvikings were hardcore, Space Wolves must be too! Priests... wait, aren't priests terrible at fighting? Word Bearers... must have other talents I guess.

[karden00]

I think I've asked before but...

Did you guys think the large wreck described when they are leaving Ultramar was one of the Kingships? Blessed Lady or Trisageon (sp?) ?

[Conn Eremon]

I think I've asked before but...

Did you guys think the large wreck described when they are leaving Ultramar was one of the Kingships? Blessed Lady or Trisageon (sp?) ?

It's the Abyss, right? From the early novel, Battle for the Abyss? The first revealed Kingship, destroyed in Macragge's orbit?

 

All the question marks are because I didn't really try to retain much information from that book, and so might be misremembering.

[God-Potato of Mankind]

Pretty sure it's the Kingship.

 

Also +1 to the portrayal of the Death Guard being almost literal moustache-twirling bad guys. I'm surprised he didn't have them maniacally laugh when they caught the dropship on Nocturne.

 

"Mwhahahaha! At last, my cunning plan has come to fruition! Mutley - TO THE PODS!"

[karden00]

 

I think I've asked before but...

Did you guys think the large wreck described when they are leaving Ultramar was one of the Kingships? Blessed Lady or Trisageon (sp?) ?

It's the Abyss, right? From the early novel, Battle for the Abyss? The first revealed Kingship, destroyed in Macragge's orbit?

 

All the question marks are because I didn't really try to retain much information from that book, and so might be misremembering.

 

I dunno about the Abyss. Wasn't there a whole bunch of dead Ultras & Word Bearers? Only one Ultramarine was on the Abyss, and he was nice n vaporized. Plus, if I recall correctly, the wreckage was a little bit out there, not close up & orbiting Macragge like the Abyss (as of Unremembered Empire) was. 

 

I just feel like it has to be either a) not one of the kingships or b) one of the two remaining kingships and its going to lead to a story about how they took one out. 

[havlar]

I loved it.

It's the story of grief, sacrifice and miracles. Miracles in time of greatest darkness.

For me, the author had managed to capture what wh40k was about - despite all the weaknesses of the novel.

[b1soul]

I loved it.

It's the story of grief, sacrifice and miracles. Miracles in time of greatest darkness.

For me, the author had managed to capture what wh40k was about - despite all the weaknesses of the novel.

Nick, is that you?

I feel sorry for the Salamanders fans who hoped that this books would be their Prince of Crows or Legion

 

Trust me mate...no one with a non-lobotomised brain would expect a Kyme book to be the next Legion

[Midgard]

I am about a third of the way through so far, and it is not bad... but then, my expectations have been tempered. I did like "Vulkan Lives", and thought the Imperium Secundus arc had a few interesting moments, but then, I was looking at "Deathfire" as more of an adventure novel than a piece of great literary fiction. For what it is, it does its job (at least so far), though perhaps lacking refinement of writers like Abnett or ADB.

 

I find the writing style to be somewhat workmanlike, and occasionally rough around the edges, but for the most part it does its job reasonably well. The characterizations (again, in the part I have read thus far) are OK, if nothing special - I get a number of hyper-focused personalities out of it, and while I thought Numeon was rather sympathetic and interesting in "Vulkan Lives", so far he seems to be rather one-dimensional ("Vulkan Lives! Grr!").

 

My biggest beef with Kyme's 30K Salamanders is that they don't appear to be much different from his 40K Salamanders. With some Legions, I can understand the justification for the relative lack of changes (i.e. Night Lords, who were bastards before the Heresy, and who just threw off the mask of loyalty while remaining utter bastards afterwards), but with the Salamanders, I am somewhat thrown off by it. You would think that a Legion that suffered near-total casualties and was forced to drastically alter its doctrine and organizational structure might end up with some kind of a profound change, so that their pre-Heresy and Heresy-era outlook can be considerably different from their culture ten thousand years later. I mean, even the Ultramarines, the "baseline" Chapter of 40K, are shown to be considerably different from the Ultramarines Legion of the Heresy era, and it has been subtly suggested in fiction that the Chapter's 40K rigidity and belief system are a perversion of what Guilliman's intentions were to begin with (i.e. flexibility rather than adherence to doctrine).

 

That said, I did temper my expectations somewhat; in movie terms, I was not expecting "Citizen Kane" here, but was hoping for a "Die Hard", and I think this is exactly what Kyme serves. Just like with any action movie or superhero flick, thinking too deeply about it will expose all sorts of flaws and deny the reader the enjoyment of the story. It does mean that a certain degree of depth is sacrificed, and I suppose that after reading some of the premier authors associated with the Heresy series, many of us came to expect the depth that came with most of Abnett's and ADB's works, or with "A Thousand Sons", or any of the other premier works in the series. So far, I am enjoying "Deathfire" on the basic level, and am not regretting the purchase; that said, unless the novel drastically changes the tone in the remaining two thirds of it, it would probably be somewhere at or slightly below Heresy baseline (which, to me, is still "Angel Exterminatus", as the most "average" novel in the series).

[Marshal Rohr]

Kyme boxed himself in by structuring the novel EXACTLY like the Odyssey. That's why it feels weird.

[Knight of the Raven]

Nick, is that you?

There's no accounting for taste, no need to pretend only the author could love this story. I mean, I love Equestria Gir-

 

"I CAN'T WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

 

-Mass Effect 3. I love Mass Effect 3, and that game is reviled not only because of its ending, which I didn't mind.

 

Or to be more board-friendly, I loved Faith and Fire and Hammer and Anvil. And the protagonists are a maverick Sister of Battle (who by all rights should have been shot by her canoness years before the first novel) and a pacifist hospitaller. There are also a bunch of other named sisters of battle but they're just window dressing.

 

That said, subjectively, I despise what happened to Vulkan... but do we actually have evidence Kyme was the cause? It could be someone else who pitched that idea and he liked it enough to include it in his stories.

[havlar]

 

I loved it.

It's the story of grief, sacrifice and miracles. Miracles in time of greatest darkness.

For me, the author had managed to capture what wh40k was about - despite all the weaknesses of the novel.

Nick, is that you?

Excuse me, sir?

[b1soul]

The book can mostly be described as Lord of the Rings in space where Vulkan is the ring.

That's actually a funny but quite appropriate comparison

 

Of course, LotR was written by Tolkien and Deathfire...well, let's just say Deathfire was not written by an authour of Tolkien's skillset

[HeritorA]

The book can mostly be described as Lord of the Rings in space where Vulkan is the ring.

That's actually a funny but quite appropriate comparison

Of course, LotR was written by Tolkien and Deathfire...well, let's just say Deathfire was not written by an authour of Tolkien's skillset

That's to say it mildly

[Midgard]

So I finally finished "Deathfire" last night, and had some time to gather my thoughts. My earlier assessment still stands - it is a reasonably enjoyable novel, though not necessarily an outstanding one. There were great parts, passable parts, and sections where I shook my head wondering what the author (and/or the editor) was thinking.

 

First, the good. The story moved at a brisk pace, and did not feel bogged down at any point. Some of the characters started out interesting enough to keep my attention, though by the end many turned one-dimensional. The middle section (in the Ruinstorm) was generally rather good, and the beginning, especially the part until Numeon's arrival on Macragge, was also very good (even if it made me wish for more Thiel and less Numeon). There was some imaginative work with the sirens, and Kyme did a pretty decent job with exposing the inner conflict within the Salamanders that led to them being susceptible to illusions and mind-tricks. I did not think Laestygon's portrayal was bad, and the interactions between him and Quor Gallek were rather believable (though from the Word Bearers, it was Degat who stole the show). I did not mind the Magnus angle too much, as it is not too far apart from his role in the Heresy thus far, as witnessed in far better "Scars". The dreary atmosphere of the passage through the Ruinstorm was well done, and I thought that the novel's overall mood was right; to me, it felt like the Salamanders were flirting with disaster at every step of the way until the final part of the novel.

 

Next, the bad. The characters did lose most of their depth about 2/3rds of the way through the novel, and some of their actions seemed to be uncharacteristic and driven by plot device (the shipmaster, in particular, but he is far from the only example). I did not like how the Narek plot was handled - there was a lot of potential there, but it went beyond the level of suspension of disbelief I was willing to grant the novel. The way the Death Guard character's plot arc ended was way too anticlimactic, especially after he was built up the way he was, and the same goes for Quor Gallek, who actually had some nice character-building moments early in the novel only for them to be squandered later.

 

Finally, the ugly. I REALLY did not like the resolution to the Ruinstorm issue (

they had to want it bad enough... and because of that, in a matter of a single short chapter they managed to easily accomplish what they could not do for about half of the book

), and the last portion of the book set on

Nocturne

was one Deus Ex Machina device after another, which partially invalidated the tense atmosphere of the rest of the novel (

so the Salamanders are close to extinction... except that the second they make it to Nocturne, they suddenly get reinforcements that take away the feeling of the desperate last stand... Numeon's eventual death/self-sacrifice was a plot device rather than an emotionally charged moment it was supposed to be... the attack of Nocturnean wildlife and the planet's elements against the Death Guard was another moment where I could not suspend my disbelief... and so on and on

). In fact, the last part of the novel was easily the weakest, and everything after Magnus' intervention took a dramatic drop in overall quality, feel, and pacing.

 

Overall, I think this was still an enjoyable read for the most part, but I would consider "Deathfire" to be slightly below average for the Horus Heresy series (for reference, "Angel Exterminatus" is the series' mean in my opinion; while mine might not be a popular opinion on certain forums, I thought that "Vulkan Lives" was a bit above that mean). My closest reference point to it would be "Descent of Angels", where the conclusion was also rushed, and the nice atmosphere built up through most of the novel was compromised by a hasty, Deus Ex Machina ending that was not entirely satisfying. I do not regret spending money on "Deathfire", and would be interested in Kyme's conclusion to his Salamanders Heresy-era trilogy (which will hopefully provide redress for some of the more egregious faults of the latter parts of the book, and redeem some of the surviving characters), though I would also not go into it with the expectations of a literary masterpiece; instead, my expectations will be similar to those of a satisfying, if not necessarily particularly deep or thought-provoking, dark action flick.

[b1soul]

I can't get over cleansing life-eater virus with...flamethrowers

[HeritorA]

I can't get over cleansing life-eater virus with...flamethrowers

nobody can - except Kyme's fanboys. Their's taste in literature always amaze me

[Ingo Pech]

I had to quit the book after the scene where the "Preacher" told, that he had cut off one of Ferrus Manus´finger to shape a scalpel from it... 

 

I´m fed up with reading all those silly Iron Hands-"droppings" in his novels and short stories. And he has to write something about the Iron Tenth in EVERY FRIGGIN paper...

 

 

- In "Feat of Iron" he described the Iron Hands as totally incompetent in her warfare and Ferrus could ony be rescued by a dagger, given to him - of course - by his brother Vulkan. Because his other weapons and his iron hands aren´t sufficient... 

 

- In "Imperfect" Ferrus ist depicted as a dimwitted clone for Fulgrims pleasure and some regicide-games... Yeah, of course... 

 

- "The Phoenician" is another crappy Iron Hands/Emperor´s Children-story to Gabriel Santars cost...

 

- And "Vulkan Lives" is full of more blabla-Ferrus Manus-is-dead-and-haunts-his-brother-as-a-ghost-rubbish.

 

 

This is so annoying and irksome. I´m on the brink to write Nick Kyme and aks him, if he was slapped by an Iron Hands-fanboy in middle school or something...

 

 

And coming back to "Deathfire": the whole book sucks. Flamethrowers killing the life-eater, Death Guard as canon fodder, allmighty Salamanders, a Perpetual-Primarch... *yawn* I´m done with Nick Kyme after reading this book. 

[DarkChaplain]

Oh no, Clone-Ferrus isn't as great as the real deal so Fulgrim throws a fit over it. How dare they!

Seems like an incredible amount of salt coming from an Iron Hands fan. If you want to read something with them as protagonists, The Damnation of Pythos, Meduson and in parts Angel Exterminatus and The Seventh Serpent are your friends.

[Ingo Pech]

Oh no, Clone-Ferrus isn't as great as the real deal so Fulgrim throws a fit over it. How dare they!

Seems like an incredible amount of salt coming from an Iron Hands fan. If you want to read something with them as protagonists, The Damnation of Pythos, Meduson and in parts Angel Exterminatus and The Serpent Beneath are your friends.

I´m a fan of balanced writing. From novels where both parties - protagonists and antagonists - are on a nearly equal level. And the Iron Hands don´t have to be the most perfect badasses of all 20 legions, no more than the Death Guard or the Ultramarines. But Nick Kyme tends to glorify the one and caricate the other.

And nope, I´m no big friend of "Serpent Beneath". Too much Sharrowkyn-Mary-Sue-characterization. But yeah, I do like "The Damnation of Pythos". The story is... meh... The discription of the Iron Tenth is good. Not glamorizing but explaining, showing their strenghts and their weaknesses. And a novel without a happy ending.

The problem with Nick Kyme is: the Sallies were my favorite legion some years ago. But not since Kyme took up the mantle to write their 40k and 30k novels... I like their style, their background, their nature. But not their "newer" evolution.

At the beginning of the Horus Heresy-series I hoped that every legion would get their one or two novels where their background is explained and elaborated. Where you could read about their history, their art of war, their pros and cons and so on. But I´m very disappointed with the last books in the series... With the exception of "Scars". Chris Wraight did - in my opinion - a great job for the White Scars. Without portraying their opponents as dorks.

Do you see what I mean?

And I just think that some legions like the Iron Hands, Death Guard, Night Lords or Dark Angels are a little on the short side until now.

[HeritorA]

Oh no, Clone-Ferrus isn't as great as the real deal so Fulgrim throws a fit over it. How dare they!

Seems like an incredible amount of salt coming from an Iron Hands fan. If you want to read something with them as protagonists, The Damnation of Pythos, Meduson and in parts Angel Exterminatus and The Seventh Serpent are your friends.

Ingo Pech is totally correct. There are no Gods in this universe to justify Kyme writing. It's should be balanced - exactly like PoD or Path of Heaven - not that kind of abomination that are Vulkan Live and Deathfire