Krieg

This novel didn't really leave a strong impression on me. It can be fairly well summed up as just ‘another Black Library novel' without a huge amount to distinguish it. Perfectly enjoyable, but certainly not a classic of the genre.

The book was released along with the refresh of the Krieg for the game Kill Team, which might help account for its middle-of-the-road nature. I've found many of the direct product tie-in novels to be pretty generic, perhaps there is something about the way these books get commissioned that means the authors are a bit more prone to phoning it in, I don't know.

The basic plot line follows two different timelines. One tells the origin story of the Death Corps of Krieg as they fight a long and bloody war on their home planet against a rebelling planetary governor. In the other timeline, the Krieg come to help an army of Cadians fighting to retake a hive city infested with orks. Both stories are fine, although the first is far more compelling in my opinion. But I kept expecting to find the stories crossing over and wasn't really sure why they didn't. It ends up feeling like two shorter books stuck together. I didn't find the plot brought many surprises either, and none of the characters were especially standout or memorable.

I don't want to sound too negative, as I did enjoy the book. If you like Warhammer 40,000 novels in general - and I love them - then there is plenty to enjoy here: great action sequences, classic 40k over-the-top-ness, and a focus on a fan-favorite regiment of the Imperial Guard. I think, though, there are just better books out there, and if you haven't read them already, for some Imperial Guard action I'd definitely point readers towards the Gaunt's Ghosts series or Honourbound before this book.