‘Sea of Souls’ – Chris Wraight (Black Library)

I might go back to it again, just not for a long time.

It was way back in November, last year, that Chris Wraight’s ‘Sea of Souls’ became that rarest of things; a ‘Chris Wraight book that I didn’t finish’. You can read my thoughts Here but looking back… It wasn’t really the book at all, it was me. I had a lot going on and ‘Sea of Souls’ wasn’t what I was after, in a read, at the time. It happens.

Fast forward a few months, and ‘Sea of Souls’ had been on my mind over the last week; especially when I saw something online offering comparisons to ‘Event Horizon’. I love that movie and that’s all it took for me to find my copy and have another crack at it. This time, I couldn’t put it down until there was nothing left to read. Clearly, the book hadn’t been rewritten, I was definitely in a better place to read ‘Sea of Souls’ this time round. There was more to it than that though, let me tell you about it.

The mighty fleets of the Indomitus Crusade face terrors and dangers beyond imagining. As Guilliman's crusade marches forth, bringing the Emperor's light to thousands of worlds, Fleet Secundus is headed for the darkest dark – the Eye of Terror itself.

Along with warriors of the Adepta Sororitas and the Adeptus Astartes, the Imperial Navy battle cruiser Judgement of the Void pushes deeper into contested space. But as their journey unfolds, the forces of Chaos close in, and a battle for survival is about to begin – one which has ramifications not just for Fleet Secundus, but for the future of the galaxy itself.

I’ll be honest, I’m still not a massive fan of the minutiae of void engagement and while the ship-board politicking held me attention more this time, I could still take it or leave it really. What really kept me on for the ride, this time round, was the creeping deterioration of ‘Judgement of the Void’ and its crew. There is an intriguing mystery to be solved here and Wraight works wonders here, asking questions and throwing up any number of red herrings to keep us guessing and reading. I’m not a hundred percent sure about how Wraight answered some of these questions but I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt as the book works well with what it has. It’s worth pointing out here that while ‘Sea of Souls’ is an entry in the ‘Dawn of Fire’ series, the nature of the crisis (and Wraight’s approach to writing about it) means that the book works well as a ‘standalone’ piece. At least, it did for me, someone who hasn’t read any of the other books in the series.

Back to the book and there is also a rich vein of horror running through ‘Sea of Souls’ which does a great job of both moving the plot forward and giving us moments of grotesque horror as the pay off. I’ve heard that the ‘Warhammer Horror’ line has ended, and that would be a shame, but books like this will definitely keep its spirit alive in the meantime.

What I was mostly here for was what Chris Wraight always delivers so well in his Warhammer work, a richly detailed cast up against something just outside of their ability to handle. Wraight gives us just that here, showing only too well how the overly rigid structure of the Imperial Navy is vulnerable to the shifting, insidious nature of Chaos and how the vast majority of humanity just isn’t equipped to deal with it. The ending may not be in any doubt (and your mileage will vary as to what that means to you personally) but for me, the real joy lies in watching the crew face up to the horror… and be found wanting.

Sometimes, you just have to be in the right mood for a book and ‘Sea of Souls’ was definitely one of those books. It’s still not a perfect read but I’m very glad that I gave it another chance. Recommended for Warhammer 40K fans and those readers who are just after a ‘creepy, haunted spaceship’ read.