Space Marine [Paperback]

This novel is, without a doubt, the greatest Warhammer 40,000 novel ever written. The author, Ian Watson, has won essentially every Science Fiction award known to man, was Stanley Kubrick's (Director of Platoon, The Shinning, and A Clockwork Orange) go-to-guy for writing and ideas, wrote the entirety of the screenplay A.I. for Stephen Spielburg (and worked hand-in-hand with him during the production), and then in a fit of madness decided to go on and write award-winning Romance novels (I can't even begin to speculate there).

I've seen interviews of Ian Watson talking about Space Marine and he started out by giving the history of tabletop war games. H.G. Wells was the inventor of them and his reasoning was that "he wanted to teach the leaders of the world that no matter how good their strategies are or how well prepared they are, they were going to lose lives". Thus Ian Watson wrote this novel with that in mind. Unlike the Warhammer 40,000 books to come this novel vilifies warfare in its entirety without outright saying it. He also wrote it for people ages 21+.

In this novel you have a true fascist society and Space Marines aren't really buff men ALA the 300, but genetically engineered and indoctrinated child-soldiers (they are not children by the end of their training, however they are recruits when they're still children and trained that, to quote the book "To Slay is to Pray"). You have a world where sexuality is both gleefully explored and discarded through the fact that these eugenically inspired soldiers are chemically [...] on a genetic level and seek platonic love with their brothers. In fact, the entire social structure of a marine chapter is one horribly warped family, where Sergeants/Captains/etc. fill the role of a Father, fellow soldiers that of brother (though throughout the book, when one soldier decides to protect the other, he will refer to him as his sister strangely enough), etc.

The enemies are real and equally terrifying. The three chapters introduce you to the three arch-types of enemies: The Heretic (An insane Asian-descended man who styles himself a god and has reshaped his society into something that I can only think is a Darker Parody of North Korea), the Daemon (creatures from another plane of existence who revel in human suffering; since Watson wasn't restricted by the Black Library "13-16 target audience" these things are truly awe-inspiringly disgusting and [...]), and the Alien (Tyranids who can control their own evolution and do so gleefully, exchanging technology for biology. The description of living ships, the mechanics that go into invading one, and how dangerous the very environment itself is are absolutely mind-blowing).

They may be re-releasing this book with Black Library's "Heretical Tomes" (as of the time of this review there has been no word on that yet), but I would definitely recommend buying it, despite the high price of admission. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. Also, a number of the people who I've met that have read this can no longer read current day Warhammer 40,000 novels because of how they just simply can't compare. So in a way you're saving money :P.

For many people, Ian Watson's Space Marine takes its rightful place among the very best novels based on the Warhammer 40k universe. Not much more needs to be said to them other than that the book is now available after being long out of print at the Dark Library website.

For the uninitiated, Ian Watson's Space Marine is Science Fiction literature of the highest calibre. This highly enjoyable and thought-provoking book explores the meaning of being an Astartes - a genetically and surgically enhanced cyborg giant Space Marine - in the 41st millennium of the Imperium of Man. It examines an Astartes' relationship with his battle-brothers, his Primarch (a Creator figure) and his most dangerous foes comprising the Heretic, the Daemonic Powers and the Xeno. The excellent prose effectively evokes a gothic, alien and horrific atmosphere suffused in blood and religious fervour. Indeed, in the grim dark future, to slay is to pray.

The other Warhammer 40k books that I've read have, on average, been fun, pulpy reads (if you're into this sort of thing). Books that I wouldn't recommend to my father, a guilty pleasure. Space Marine is a book I'm proud to recommend to all literature fans fond of Science Fiction and Horror.

Thanks for reading.

The first part of the book, where the boys are becoming Imperial Fists, was good. The very end was good. But the middle left something to be desired.

There did not seem to be an overarching plot to this book. Instead, it seemed a collection of short stories about the same 3 characters, one of whom seemed to have no personality beyond "must defend Lex." The way the book ends makes sense, but lead-up throughout the book made me believe one of the characters would turn out different. (Trying to avoid spoilers, so can't say more.) The book keeps saying Fists think, but the main character of the book spends every combat running head-first into danger, not thinking. The one character who does think is often mocked for thinking, and then pays a huge price because he thinks before he acts.

The relationship between the boys seemed very forced. The Fists picked up several recruits about the same time, so why force these three to be together? Why not let them find their own friends from their "class?"

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars