Krakenblood

[SvenIronhand]

I liked this one, but not without caveats. There are some shout-outs to Chris Wraight's work with the Wolves, such as the 'I recognize my failing' phrase and what not. My main problem was that while it had themes of nostalgia and how our past can trap us, it doesn't really feel like it interrogates these, in favor of telling a fairly standard Marine pulp action story.

 

Spoiler

Had the TSons sorcerer Onouris and his hallucination of (?) his brother Qar (who I think was lost to the Rubric) been an active part of the main story, rather than being the 'final dungeon bosses', I feel like I would have liked this one more. Onouris essentially shows up at the end with the Chapter relic that has driven this whole quest, gets trounced by Ivar in a chapter or two, then dies and curses Ivar to never return home. As is, the main oppositional forces are the Dark Mechanicum Magos and its forces, along with the not-Tzaangor mutants on the dead world that the Wolves find first.

 

Edited November 14, 2025 by SvenIronhand

[grailkeeper]

@Malkydel is a regular here. I haven't had a chance to read this book yet, but He seems a very decent guy.

[SvenIronhand]

1 hour ago, grailkeeper said:

@Malkydel is a regular here. I haven't had a chance to read this book yet, but He seems a very decent guy.

No shade intended, of course.

[Tolmeus]

A few questions for more knowledgeable fraters:

I'm reading it right now and am a little confused about the timeline. When exactly does this story take place?

My guess is as follows: The events of the Siege of Fenris (Wrath of Magnus campaign) are mentioned in detail, as is the Indomitus Crusade. The protagonist said at one point that he was trained by Ulfric the Slayer for decades, but was not present during Magnus's incursion (or was already a Space Wolf). To my knowledge, this event took place in 999.M41, shortly before the fall of Cadia, correct? So we have to assume that this story takes place approximately between 050 and 080.M42. Does that sound about right?

 

Another fact that I found very interesting is that the Ordo Astrates still has a major influence on Fenris at this point, having erected a barrier around the world and monitoring all arrivals and departures to and from it. That's also an important consequence of the events of ‘Wrath of Magnus’, isn't it?

 

Just a personal side note: it's not a major criticism, but I always have difficulty with 40k stories these days when no exact date is given for when the story takes place, as so much is happening at the same time (Indomitus Crusade, 4th Tyranic War, Plague Wars, Silent King, ...).

Edited November 19, 2025 by Tolmeus
Some grammar and spelling corrections