Park Benches & Bookends

The Warhammer 40k universe has always captured my imagination. I find it facinating and terrifying at the same time. Set in the dim and distant future mankind has spread across the galaxy inhabiting countless worlds. This empire is known as the 'Imperium of Man'. The Imperium is constantly at war with aliens, mutants and heretics. The only thing preventing mankind from being destroyed are armies of genetically enhanced super-humans known as Space Marines; fanatically loyal and almost indestructable these fearless warriors smash the enemies of man with brutal efficiency.

The story is very simple; Rynns World is a planet controlled by the Imperium, defended by a Space Marine Chapter known as the Crimson Fists. When the planet is attacked by a massive alien army it is up to the Crimson Fists to repel this attack and save the lives of millions of people.

The book is entertaining and enjoyable if a little repetative, the universe is created in a good amount of detail and explains alot of the history of the Space Marines. There are some very good battles featured although I did find there were a few too many. There is alot of violence in the book and so many battles you start to skim read certain parts.

The book is far from perfect and certainly has its flaws. I'm not sure why but it seems books of this nature are often full of spelling and gramatical errors. I am no expert but by page 200 I had noticed at least five seperate gramatical or spelling errors, and not subtle ones either. This really isn't acceptable and makes the writer, editor and publisher out to be amateurs. Two maps are included inside the book to help the reader visualise the layout of the planet but they aren't great maps and I didn't spend much time looking at them.

Overall the book was a fun bit of sci-fi fluff but the spelling errors and the endless battles meant it will only get a verdict of 3/5 which is a shame.


By Chris