Dawn of Fire: The Martyr's Tomb

[Nagashsnee]

Well here we are again, another Dawn of Fire novel, while the iron kingdom was in my view 'ok' the series as a whole has failed to capture me, but the weather here in Greece is getting pretty damn hot and the AC in my house broke so it was literally too hot to sleep much aT which point might as well give Martyrs Tomb a chance. 

 

 

Non spoiler review, its very much a Dawn of fire book, there are some very vague connection to other book in the 'series' but ultimately its just a stand alone 40k book set slightly before the 'current' era.  Its better then the Wolftime, and that's the nicest thing I got to say. None of it is bad, but it is very bland. The sisters are perfectly sistery, the templars crusade and the guard exists. None of it is bad, but none of it is particularly well done or memorable either.  Like most of the series books i fail to see what makes it a Dawn of Fire book rather then a 40k book set 50-100 years before the current year, i fail to see what having read the previous book added to this one.

 

Edit: Chaos exists, there is a pretty solid Nurgle character, but i almost always enjoy a nurgle character. 

 

That's not to say that it was a chore to read, there was certainly some fun scenes and it added some nice little details to the era indomitus. But I would never re read it again, nor would i recommend it to anyone other then those wishing to complete the Dawn of Fire series. 

 

On a series wide note, we are now 6 books into Dawn of Fire, and i still do not know what the series is suppose to be about, what its building up too, and have no real favorite characters who originate from these books.  Heck i dont even know who the bad guy is or what he wants, other then Abaddon and vague eviiiiiil stuff. 

 

6/10 There are far far worse on offer from BL.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[DarkChaplain]

3 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

On a series wide note, we are now 6 books into Dawn of Fire, and i still do not know what the series is suppose to be about, what its building up too, and have no real favorite characters who originate from these books.  Heck i dont even know who the bad guy is or what he wants, other then Abaddon and vague eviiiiiil stuff. 

 

The ending of The Iron Kingdom makes what it's building up to pretty obvious, I thought. I speculated plenty over on that thread.

 

Started on this one last night, since I couldn't sleep either (despite reasonable temperatures), but not far enough in to make a judgement one way or another. The Appendix on the Crusade was good, though - still a crime these aren't recorded for the audiobook editions - BL, why?!

Looks like they're stablishing a secondary route into Nihilus that'll allow for the torchbearer fleets to reach various worlds, to bring a bit of the timeline dissonance in order without relying solely on the Nachmund gauntlet and the Psychic Awakening content that's yet to go down there.

 

Generally, though, it might not be a bad idea to read the prologue of Helbrecht: Knight of the Throne, also by Marc, before this one. It's kind of setup for this campaign's relevance, and features Guilliman.

Edited July 3, 2023 by DarkChaplain

[Nagashsnee]

2 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

 

The ending of The Iron Kingdom makes what it's building up to pretty obvious, I thought. I speculated plenty over on that thread.

 

Started on this one last night, since I couldn't sleep either (despite reasonable temperatures), but not far enough in to make a judgement one way or another. The Appendix on the Crusade was good, though - still a crime these aren't recorded for the audiobook editions - BL, why?!

Looks like they're stablishing a secondary route into Nihilus that'll allow for the torchbearer fleets to reach various worlds, to bring a bit of the timeline dissonance in order without relying solely on the Nachmund gauntlet and the Psychic Awakening content that's yet to go down there.

 

Generally, though, it might not be a bad idea to read the prologue of Helbrecht: Knight of the Throne, also by Marc, before this one. It's kind of setup for this campaign's relevance, and features Guilliman.

Spoiler

The hands of Abadon? The evil cardinals ring/weapon? Abadon collecting the shards to make the anathame? I cant say I have felt that was a present consistent theme in most of the books, and definitely not the series overall.  I just feel its missing its Horus, its Beast, its central event/character that ties it all together.   

 

 

Bad idea Helbrecht may not be, but I feel we should judge the dawn of fire books on the dawn of fire materials.  Say what you want about the HH but at least it plastered the HH logo on everything (if anything on too much). 

[Petitioner's City]

I really have liked everything else I've read by Collins, even if the prose can be overwrought, so I am excited for this. A shame it didn't grab you @Nagashsnee, but hopefully it will be different for me :) 

[Urauloth]

I wanna know why Audible never notifies me about new WH40k releases and why they don't seem to show up in the new releases tab for me. I prettymuch have to keep track of what's available by using this forum at this point. Anyway, just picked this up, really looking forward to it. Will post thoughts once I've read (listened to) it.

[Blood Angel Scout]

Enjoyable expansion to the Dawn of Fire series, been awhile since reading the previous ones so could be wrong but think it was all new cast, instead of continuing plots of other novel, few direct links but more continuing the themes of the series.

 

Only a first read through but seems a little disjointed at a couple of points...the book to me is 95% is "show and tell" then at a few key moments becomes "tell not show" where I had the sense I may have missed something or a page or two, that the "big" action/development/twist just happens with a couple of lines to explain it. Whether this was intensional, to demonstrate the power of faith, the sense of the miraculous, unexplainable, being unexplainable, challenging the logic and order of reality, some of the passages felt a bit thin to me, especially compared to the rest of the novel. 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

2 hours ago, Blood Angel Scout said:

Enjoyable expansion to the Dawn of Fire series, been awhile since reading the previous ones so could be wrong but think it was all new cast, instead of continuing plots of other novel, few direct links but more continuing the themes of the series.

 

Only a first read through but seems a little disjointed at a couple of points...the book to me is 95% is "show and tell" then at a few key moments becomes "tell not show" where I had the sense I may have missed something or a page or two, that the "big" action/development/twist just happens with a couple of lines to explain it. Whether this was intensional, to demonstrate the power of faith, the sense of the miraculous, unexplainable, being unexplainable, challenging the logic and order of reality, some of the passages felt a bit thin to me, especially compared to the rest of the novel. 

 

It's not quite an all new cast - one of the three leads is Katla Helvintr, who previously appeared in Collins' Void King as well as that novel's tie-in short story The Shapers of Scars. One of her retinue in this book may have previously appeared in Ashes of Prospero (same given name, same personality, and the chronology works, but could still be a coincidence given the different authors I guess).

 

I wouldn't argue with "disjointed" based on what I've read so far. I've had the book since Saturday and am only about a third of the way in. Pretty slow pace for me, even taking into account that I did have a pretty busy Fourth of July weekend. I could have found a few hours to get further in the book, but so far it's just failed to draw me in unlike Void King, which I had other problems with, or even the previous low mark of this series which for me was The Wolftime.

 

On the upside, as far as my overall impression of the Dawn of Fire has fallen, I was actually encouraged to see the signs that the series is drawing to a close. We're now just under a decade into the Indomitus Crusade, meaning it's only a little over two years until the events of the Dark Imperium novel which DoF has been promised to "dovetail" with. As this book shows (no spoilers, this is obvious from the cover and plot desciption) the entry of the Death Guard into Ultramar, about all DoF now needs to do is put a bullet in the head of the hilariously-mismanaged "Hand of Abaddon" plot and present Guilliman with a resanctified Macragge's Honour to use as his flagship and we can all move on.

[Urauloth]

About a quarter of the way through so far. Not many comments yet except that I really love the depiction of the Death Guard and their attendant cultists. This is by far the best showing the XIVth have had since Lords of Silence, much more characterful than anything in the Dark Imperium books. That's already worth the proverbial price of entry to me however the rest of the novel shakes out.

I also really like Collins' battle scenes here too. This is very much a "so far" impression, of course - if I'd made a post like this 25% of the way through Void King I would have ended up following it up with a less enthusiastic one.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

FWIW, I was wrong about this book being the first time the Death Guard's entry into Ultramar was mentioned in this series. It was referenced in the appendix in at least one of the earlier books. So even less of a non-spoiler and even less of a checkbox being ticked as part of the countdown to the rendezvous with Dark Imperium.

[Roomsky]

The Martyr's Tomb - Marc Collins

 

Marc Collins - Talented author, lovely human being, and Platonic ideal of a bad hair day - is BACK with a decent bolter-porn book, but unfortunately, my first real disappointment in this series (which sucks, because I generally like Collins' writing better than every other contributor thus far.) I'll note in advance that this is both a "humanity: yeah!" story and a dedicated battle story, both of which I personally dislike in my Black Library fiction. If these are 2 things you're looking for, you might like this much better than I.

 

What I've latched onto with every other DoF entry so far is that the book's plot really seemed to take precedence over the action. Even the other contender for the least-good entry, Wolftime, abandoned action almost entirely after the first ~130 pages. There are good characters here, and good world building, and even some good plotting, but it often reads like it's just to prop up battle scenes which is not at all what I read books for. I want action as catharsis for the characters, not characterization to keep the action interesting. And in fairness, I did find the action somewhat engaging, I never zoned out while reading it because Collins' prose and pacing IS good and I WAS invested in the cast, but all I could think by the end was "gosh, I wish I'd been able to spend more time with the characters just being characters."

 

The other issue with the fighting is that there are way too many last-minute saves sprinkled throughout. On no less than 3 separate occasions does a void ship do something at the most dramatically-appropriate moment to stop a main character from getting killed. The bit at the end with the harpoon was the straw that broke my camel's back in this regard. I've also yet to read a book by Collins I think is the appropriate length: This, Grim Repast (good as it is,) and Void Kings are all too long by about a hundred pages. Meanwhile, Helbrecht is too short.

 

The plot doesn't hit the balancing act of being a decent stand-alone while pushing the running threads forward, either. It's a fine stand-alone, I might have even been more positively disposed to it if it didn't have the Dawn of Fire banner, but besides Katla doing something in the last 5 pages and a couple winks at the Hand of Abaddon and the Star Child, it really adds nothing.

 

And regarding my other personal gripe: things are just too nobledark in this one. It starts out very promising: Collins has an excellent voice for every faction present, and it's a great mix of the fanaticism, despair, and internalized madness that make 40k work so well. But by the end, everything just kind of works out for the Imperials. The Death Guard are unstoppable, until they aren't, and the Imperials that don't survive all get an epic, meaningful sacrifice and send-off. It's all too cute.

 

 

 

Gaheris' decision to abandon his post with his entire force of BTs should really not have been justified by the end, yet it somehow goes even better than he expected with the planet he abandoned eventually showing back up after killing ALL the other Death Guard to save his ass instead of, you know, dying in meaningless defiance.

 

 

Alright. Now that I'm done tearing it a new one, here's why I'm still positively inclined towards this book overall:

• As mentioned, the characters are great. This goes so far for me, even in a book where they don't get proper centre stage. I was very glad to see Katla Helvinter return from Void Kings, as she was my favourite part of that book. But everyone from the custodian to the Black Templars to the Sororitas to the Death Guard to that one chad commissar are pitch-perfect, IMO. I don't like some of the contrivances around them, but they're both interesting as individuals and great showings for their factions.
• I'm so sick of Nurgle lately, so hats of to Collins for a really good Death Guard portrayal. They're appropriately varied in their methods of devotion and, as a bonus, they aren't all named "Flatulax" or something equally stupid. Haley, take notes.
• The action itself is punchy and easy to follow. The book makes use of fairly short chapters which is a good fit for a book like this, keeps the battle scenes from getting arduous.
• The first half does have some impressive grimdark, and I loved seeing penitent engines used for once.

If you want an action-heavy read featuring Battle Sisters, a Rogue Trader, a Custodian, Imperial Army, Titans, and Black Templars fighting the Death Guard and triumphing in their darkest hour, this might be one for you!

 

If you want even a meagre continuation of what the series has set up so far, a more plot or character-driven story, or a tale where blind faith and impulsive stupidity isn't rewarded because Emperor, perhaps look elsewhere.

 

Ehhhhh… 5.5/10, the barest positive lean. To Taste because I can see some fans getting a proper kick out of this. I'd also personally be quite happy if all the bolter porn books I read actually met this standard instead of trying to bore me to death. No Brother Genericus to be found!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Roomsky

[Helias_Tancred]

While the Dawn of Fire novels have had a couple winners, overall I agree with the OP, the series is pretty weak on any real connections beyond a recurring character or two? I remember in the beginning they claimed this was going to be the Horus Heresy series of modern 40k. Umm yeah. 

[System Sound]

Finally finished it. And boy oh boy was it a bloody slog. Few interesting characters and and way too many Deus ex Machinas... A novels worth of "this could have been an email".

[Dzirhan]

Mixed feelings on this, there are some good parts but like what's been said before, there's not much to tie in with other books in the series and in some areas it falls short, almost like a standalone Space Marine Battles novel really :) , also while in the lore the Black Templars are numerous, it seems almost like the all whole crusade is just being fought by Ultramarine Greyshields and Black Templars given how many times they appear in the series as the main characters though at least the Iron Kingdom had a White Scars  lineage Primaris Chapter and the Marines Malevolent (though they are expected given Kyme was writing that book). Will be interesting to see who's doing the next one, maybe Haley to advance and tie things up? On a side note, might be nice if Black Library did something like Sabbat War for the Indomnitus Crusade, short stories by various authors featuring different factions or characters.

[Mjasghar]

On 7/6/2023 at 12:50 AM, Urauloth said:

I wanna know why Audible never notifies me about new WH40k releases and why they don't seem to show up in the new releases tab for me. I prettymuch have to keep track of what's available by using this forum at this point. Anyway, just picked this up, really looking forward to it. Will post thoughts once I've read (listened to) it.

They used to allow preorders but I guess that ate into BL preorders so now they only appear at the top of new releases on the day. 

[Nagashsnee]

I have been thinking on this, and i feel we need a book from the Chaos perspective, a grounding book that lays out what the overall plan is, how they aim to achieve it and showcases the other sides reaction to indomitus unleashed. 

 

This will not only FINALLY ground the series around a central plot ( its the hands of abaddon, its the shield worlds, in the ring of doom, its the dagger of doom, its....) and in a way that Imperial characters can remain as clueless as they have been.

 

It will be a chance to build up some actual main antagonists with actual character, goals,depth. 

 

It will keep the theme of showing us how indomitus is going but from a fresh perspective and allow BL to finally show how chaos is actually handling a much more lawless galaxy.  Show us some chaos held systems, show us what they are doing with the ground they take long term (for me i would like a couple of planets that have been chaos held for say 30-60 years.   Give us chaos pdf trying to fight off the primaris invaders and show indomitus in full swing from the defending perspective. 

 

The villain/plot device of the week is for me at least not cutting it.  The vague threads connecting book that may have been released/read 1-2 years before the current one is not cutting it. The lack of overall theme/villain/anything other then INDOMITUS is simply not cutting it.

 

The saddest parts is i believe allot of the Dawn of fire books would have been better received if BL had NOT done the series/marketing. Its the next horus heresy! Its a interconnected numbered series! The books carry on! Was just saddling the books with expectations they must have know would not be met.  If it was just 'books in the age of the indomitus crusade' then it would have freed them from allot of baggage. 

 

Martyrs tomb is for me the perfect example of this, its a perfectly fine stand alone book with vague connections to some other stand alone books all set in the age indomitus, and on that merit its perfectly fine. The moment we say ok what does it give/add/achieve as  book X of the X series is where the points start getting deducted. 

 

Bring it home, ground the plot, introduced some main vilains with a clear goal and plan, and then you can have their captains/champions/allies acting as foils to our imperial protaginists in feature books, as we the reader see the Imperial slowly uncovered the chaos plan/plot/aim from their own perspective before finally having the imperial make their own plan/plot/aim to counter chaos towards the end of the series.

 

You know a overarching narrative. Kinda like Horus trying to achieve his Heresy .  Only better because BL has learned and grown from their experiences with that series, right? Right? .

Edited August 5, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[Dzirhan]

A bit off topic and heretical from me probably, but the Dawn of Fire books after the first book seems to remind me of late 70's early 80's TV show with the voice over saying " with special guest star  Roboute Guilliman"  given the way he pops up in every book , ok a bit exaggerating but it does seem that every book has a major imperial character getting orders from or seeing the Primarch in person, might to be nice to see a story where no one in the book actually recalls a past audience with the Primarch etc

[Helias_Tancred]

However ... this ended up being my favorite of the series! I was pleasantly surprised :)

 

 

[Urauloth]

On 7/7/2023 at 4:33 PM, Urauloth said:

his is very much a "so far" impression, of course - if I'd made a post like this 25% of the way through Void King I would have ended up following it up with a less enthusiastic one.

I brought this on myself.

[cheywood]

Originally I put this off based on the lukewarm reviews here, but I decided I’d better get through it in order to be ready for Sea of Souls.

 

This is probably the most frustrating book I’ve read this year. It has largely enjoyable prose, strong themes, an interesting plot, and decent characters, but everything’s buried under the constant combat. What’s worse is that the combat is especially monotonous. How many times can I read about a close quarters battle between a black armored defender of the faith and a plague marine before I start to get a little nauseous with boredom? Collins and I clearly disagree on the answer. 
 

As with everything I’ve read from Collins there are moments where I’m quite impressed at his ability to hit the right thematic notes and do so with a beautiful turn of phrase, but his last two books have been badly marred by a rather extreme over reliance on action. I get that 40k is always going to have a lot of violence (I obviously like that or I wouldn’t be here), but Collins is an excellent writer when he moderates the carnage, and a rather mediocre one when he’s pumping out fight scene after fight scene. I’d say the same of almost any author, I just rarely see it displayed so starkly.