‘Dark Disciple’ – Anthony Reynolds (Black Library)

 

Page Count: 254 Pages (at least as far as the ‘Word Bearers Omnibus’ Collection is concerned)

These days, I’m trying not to ‘read the sequel’ straight after finishing the first book; it helps me keep my reading ‘fresh’ but perhaps more importantly, it saves this blog from getting too repetitive. It has happened here before and it’s always a little awkward, isn’t it? ;o)

Last night though…

I’d just come off the back of the kind of Monday where it’s not only a Monday (which is bad enough) but also a Monday where I’ve only got ten working days left before my job finishes up. There were all sorts of confusing thoughts going round my head then and on days like that, well… Those days are exactly the kind of days where you jump straight into a sequel and blog be damned. I was after something familiar and a bit distracting, don’t judge me ;o)

‘Dark Disciple’ it was then and while I might just take a little break now, before tackling the final book ‘Dark Creed’, this ended up being just the book I needed.

Ever driven by his lust for power, Marduk, aspiring Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine Legion, strives to unlock the secrets of an ancient and deadly artefact. This quest throws him and the Word Bearers into a deadly warzone and a desperate battle between their Imperial enemies, the alien Tyranids and a third faction as sadistic as it is mysterious. Surrounded by foes, this could be Marduk's sternest test yet.

While I didn’t have a huge problem with ‘Dark Apostle’ (review Here, or just scroll down after you’ve finished here), I did find that the protracted war for Tanakreg slowed the plot down when it really needed to be moving a lot quicker. That and the building of a ‘Chaos Tower’ that just seemed to take forever… Turns out that I didn’t need to worry about that here and ‘Dark Disciple’ was all the better for it.

The warfare is just as unrelenting but it’s broken up across locations and that made a big difference. I really felt like the scene setting was done now and that things were moving forward with a definite aim in mind. It wasn’t just the equivalent of two sides digging in and taking shots at one another.

And that would have been find on its own but this time round, Reynolds mixes up the threats as well. If it’s not the Imperial Navy breathing down Marduk’s neck, he and his warband must cross a planet with Tyranids landing all around them. And if that wasn’t enough… There are two other factions lurking in the shadows, each with their own agenda. Marduk, and his warband, will meet all of these factions across the course of the book… with no prior warning whatsoever. Reynolds is great here at springing any number of surprises on Marduk, and the reader, in a series of confrontations that make for great spectacle as well as propel the plot forward in the best way. Everything is happening ‘against the clock’ and I found it very easy to get caught up in that urgency.

And watching the intrigue play out, within Marduk’s own inner circle, continues to make for some gripping reading, especially as everyone already knows that everyone else is out to get them. This keeps things tense, even more so as it becomes apparent that action can only be taken during the briefest windows of opportunity… And it does.

And again, that would be enough on its own but Reynolds still finds the time for a seemingly casual sentence that makes a real mockery of humans just trying to show a little humanity in this grimdark universe. There is a lot going on here, amongst the scenes of torture and a corrupted Magos with a touch of the pedant about it, and Reynolds sticks the landing every time.

There are still moments where it felt like Reynolds spends a little too much time drawing the background but on the whole, ‘Dark Disciple’ was a big step forward from ‘Dark Apostle’ and promises good things for the concluding instalment. I should try and read something else, in the meantime, but… Well, we’ll see ;o)