Tales From the Dark Millennium [Mass Market Paperback]

The Falls of Marakross by Steve Parker
Interrogater Chaplain Artemius Grohm of the Dark Angels is after a dark traitor in order to bring redemption to his Chapter.

Vindicare by CS Goto
The Tempest of Blades descended onto Orphean Trine seven days ago. It is up to the assassin Nyjia to save the last remnants of her world.

The Prisoner by Graham McNeill
Orina Septimus is a lethal world. Its acid ocean surrounds the Zhadanok Prison Complex, that has received a new and dangerous prisoner. This prisoner is about to make the prison into a slaughter house.

The Invitation by Dan Abnett
Pavlov Curtz, Regent of Kaerograd, hired Lowen Tegget, a headhunter, to track and capture the mass murderer hiding in Namgorod. But when Canoness Olga Karamanz arrives with two battle-sisters, Curtz realizes things are worse than he could ever have imagined.

The Balance of Faith by Darren-Jon Ashmore
Sister Hospitaller Verina is known as the most devout surgeon to come out of her order for generations. Verina and the remnants of the Hyrusian Guards are holding back the enemy to buy time for one of the evacuation centers at Eretov spaceport. Within hours, fifty Word Bearers (towering, dead-eyed monsters of Chaos) will overrun them. All is lost. But the words of Lord Crucius, a dying Dark Angel, helps Verina decide what the next move will be.

Gate of Souls by Mike Lee
The planet Dirge may be bleak, but it is rich in mineral resources. Thousands of prospectors die daily, yet still more come. Recently, a new cult has spread among the population. Colonel Ravin of the Terassian Dragoons has no idea how deadly the tide has turned until Inquisitor Alabel Santos arrives to inform him. A Chaos warship may be hiding close by. Santos believes that the beasts of Chaos are not mining for resources, but are actually excavating for something in particular. And may the Emperor save them all, because it now looks as though Chaos has found what it's been searching for.

Fate's Masters, Destiny's Servants by Matt Keefe
Captain Elogos of the Ultramarine chapter is amazed to learn that his ship has received an Ultramarine distress signal. He and three other captains follow the transmission source to a far distant planet. Records state that no Ultramarines have ever been to this planet, yet they find a primitive fortress that bears all the marks of the Astartes. Upon inspection, the symbol does not match any in the Chapter's long history.

Tears of Blood by CS Goto
Master Kalidian Axryus of the Dark Angels turns his strike cruiser in the direction of the Tyrine system, just inside the fury of the Maelstrom. Unencrypted, repeated signal of warning from the system reports of things which lead Kalidian to believe a renegade Space Marine resides there. At the same time, a little girl named Ela is the only seer to receive glimpses of the terrors that lay in wait for her planet, Kaelor. This innocent little girl may be Kaelor's only chance of survival.

*** Eight good stories of the W40K universe reside in this anthology for fans of the series and games. One of the best things about the W40K novels is that the reader never knows if good or evil shall stand triumphant in the end. However, in this dark and depressing anthology, evil always seems to win. Each story has lots of battles and a couple have some very interesting twists; however, often I ended a story with the feeling that much was left unread. One story left me feeling as though several pages had been ripped out of the novel. I was left wishing that I had never began the story because there was no ending. All-in-all, this is good reading, but nothing special and not worth paying full price for. ***

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This is a collection of eight short stories from the W40K universe. Most of the stories are good and a couple have some very interesting twists. There are some good battle and action scenes, however I often ended up feeling that some stories were not finished.

My favorite story was "The Prisoner" by Graham McNeill. There is lots of action and the prison turns into a slaughter house. "The Invitation" by Dan Abnett is also good, but a few more pages for further story development would have made it great. "Gate of Souls" by Mike Lee is also a good story but it could have been better. "The Falls of Marakross" by Steve Parker is a good basic story, but it also needed further development.

I did not care for "Tears of Blood" by CS Goto, "The Balance of Faith" by Darren-Jon Ashmore, or "Vindicare" by CS Goto. Further I found both stories by CS Goto to be very confusing.

I thought that "Fate's Masters, Destiny's Servants" by Matt Keefe had great potential. This could have been a very good Ultramarine story, but it appears that several pages were omitted from the middle of the story. A huge piece of the story is simply missing.

This book contains a nice selection from most of the 40k factions. The majority of the stories were very entertaining.

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