The Man who Never was

Man of Iron by Guy Haley My rating: 4 of 5 stars There was a lore youtuber, who once mentioned something to the effect of how, Warhammer as a whole, was a story about the defeat of civilizations, who tried to master the galaxy, but at some point, fell from grace. This is true for most races; the necrons, Aeldari, Old Ones, and to a lesser extent, the currently devolved mindless war-mongering oks, or the rabid tyranid who're suspiciously fleeing from something. Humanity's fall being the prime force of the setting, with what following the Dark age of Technology (DOAT), saw them fall from the zenith of their existence, through a series of catastrophic, reality rendering event. We as readers know little as to the exact events which transpired during the DOAT, seeing as how they're little to no actual stories set during the period. Those fictional characters inhabiting the galaxy, know even less, their lives occupied by indoctrination, technol

Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities by Jeff Lemire My rating: 4 of 5 stars Events have gotten decidedly darker. Which is a weird thing to say, seeing as how our prologue was a literal multi-planet sized genocide. But I suppose, we as readers are not good at understanding death, when it's a death toll. When we get to know the tragedies of individuals, that's when our empathy glands start working overtime. There is much to go around this time around. As we go about exploring the pasts of our characters, biological and synthetic. Somehow the latter hitting harder. The plot hasn't progressed much, seeing as how this volume seems devoted primarily to character. But makes you care for their fate all the more. And remember, 'Driller is a real killer'. View all my reviews

The Traitor's Hand by Sandy Mitchell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Summary Commissar Caiphas Cain, hero of the Imperium, returns; this time to face the vile heretics who worship the ruinous powers of chaos. Assigned to the Imperial planet Adumbria, with no gravitational spin, and thus each hemisphere is stagnant in its orientation. Where one side is always facing the sun and is scorched, but habitable. While the side, facing the darkness of space, is perpetual Winterland. The caveat being, a narrow stretch of land in between, in the equatorial region, called the shadow belt, where the climate is barely habitable, and where most of the populace resides. It’s quite a unique geography this planet has, reminiscent of some of the wackier islands from One piece. I bet there is some point in the shadow belt, some mountain, where you could stand on, and see the contrasting land masses; the desert on one hand, and a frozen tundra on the other. Suspected heretic

Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars by Jeff Lemire My rating: 5 of 5 stars It's been a while since I read a good robot story. This one, Descender, is a largely minimalistic, tightly written, gritty tale, which feels like a more emotionally mature version of A.I., with a more empathetic version of David. The world building is detailed, and that narration gives you just the right amount of exposition, enough to keep you hooked, but not boring you with the details. The characters are not one note, and each have their own personality. There's a mixing and matching of various groups and factions, all out for their own goals, but circumstances put them in unlikely teams, where they have to work together for mutual benefit and survival. All the action and fights are not glorified, or bombastic, but serve the purpose of progressing the story, which I appreciate. As is customary in such stories, there is an overarching plot, world ending threats, and secrets

Outer Dark by Robbie MacNiven My rating: 3 of 5 stars Left a bit disappointed after reading, the last outing (which I know), of the Carcharodon chapter. Although we got an appearance of big boy chapter master Tyberos , as well as the pleasure of seeing him single handedly eviscerate an entire Tyranid boarding group, little else was known about his character. Also, the book has an issue with pacing. With the entirety of the first half devoted to slow investigations which go nowhere, and negotiations which seem set up just for the purpose of the plot. Then, in the last arc, things come to head, more like things literally start spilling out from behind the doors, walls, curtains, crevices. They transpire and climax faster than.... //I was going to make a joke related to horny teenagers here, but then thought better. Although, just by adding this disclaimer, you must've already figured out the punchline. Well, it's the thought that counts. // It

Krieg by Steve Lyons My rating: 5 of 5 stars You know how I love reading stories featuring our favorite shovel boys, right? But the problem with reading a full-length novel named Krieg, despite the solid lore and action, is just how morose it seems to get. Who knew, reading about an irradiated planet full of religion fueled child soldiers who venerate a cult of suicide can be so depressing; go figure. For context, the infamous Death Korps of Krieg are a regimental army hailing from the death world of, you guessed it, Krieg. Hailing from a world where horrendous nuclear fallout had turned the surface into a frozen, dark, irradiated wasteland where nothing can survive, the Kriegsman carried a great burden. Of treason and betrayal against the emperor, by their ancestor some millennia ago. Even after the loyalist factions won, and rejoined the imperium, their subsequent generations were forever scarred and changed due to what they see as this ultimate tr

Down Amongst the Dead Men by Steve Lyons My rating: 4 of 5 stars Despite being amongst some of the emperor's most loyal and formidable guard regiments, most other Imperial guard don't relish fighting on the same battlefield as them. The reason? They're damn depressing man. Which is expected, when your entire planet, history and upbringing centers around sacrificing yourself for the emperor. Where you as an individual have no value, less value, compared to other 'essential' resources like, you know, bullets. After all, bullets take time, resources and expertise to craft. Your average nameless numbered Kriegman are legions strong, ready to buy vats grown, trained, indoctrinated and shipped. So, what if you end up suffering ten times the casualties as your average guard regiment, who themselves are no stranger to grievous battlefield casualties. So, what if your value is so low, you're not even given a name, just a serial code pr

Caves of Ice by Sandy Mitchell My rating: 4 of 5 stars You know that joke, where the punchline is 'I slipped and fell into it'? That's Caiphas Cain when it comes to his accomplishments. The man has the collective compendium of common sense that most Imperials, including Space Marines seem to lack. Plus, has luck of the gods, not the chaos ones, that would be heresy. Another observation which came to mind after being regaled by the second in his series of adventures is that, if you're not the phlegmatic Jurgen or Amberly Vail, the last place you want to be, in the same squad as Cain when he's sent out on a dangerous assignment. This time around, it's two different squads that were either decimated or completely obliterated, while acting as his meat shields. If his previous history is any indication, that is a regular occurrence. But on the other hand, this is 40k, and the Imperial guard, who're sacrificed by the millions, j

Extinction by Aaron Dembski-Bowden My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read this story if you want to see some filthy traitor Astartes being hunted down and mutilated by their other traitorous allies. Serving as a prologue to the main stories of the Black Legion series, Extinction sets the stage of the disparage fragmented bands of the erstwhile Sons of Hours, now a shadow of their former selves. Being hounded and eviscerated on a hundred different chaos realms, like a bunch of mongrels. Setting up their inevitable resurgence as the newly formed Black Legion, under former first captain Abaddon. Seeing as how, Aaron Demski Bowden has a track record of writing traitor legions as engaging characters, (go and read his Night Lords series if you haven't yet), I'm intrigued in looking forwards to how he handles the broken legions of the arch-traitor. View all my reviews

A Sanctuary of Wyrms by Peter Fehervari My rating: 5 of 5 stars You remember the Silent Cartographer mission from Halo: Combat Evolved Game. The whole sense of mystery and horror, as the Master Chief arrives at the dark swamp, and slowly descends into the maw to uncover an ancient evil? That's the sense of atmosphere you get while reading 'A Sanctuary of Wyrms'. The story starts without preamble and ends without a climax. Detailing the internecine period which forms the meat of this all too short, but engaging narrative. A group of tau and human turncoats are researching a mysterious yet overwhelming backwater planet, which is a world of exile for broken and unneeded tools of the greater good. There, they discover a sealed bunker complex, littered with dead bodies of Space marines, of the deathwatch. For those of you who know what this entails, might be able to discern just how soon shit is gonna hit the fan. In the face of a greater evil

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall My rating: 5 of 5 stars //Disclaimer: The below review is colored by several regional biases, and a lot of rants which might piss off at least some people. You’ve been warned// I can’t remember the last time I was in anticipation while reading the geopolitics of the globe. Or the last time I was so animated reading the nail biting saga of the scramble for territorial dominance in the Arctic. Hailing from a subcontinent, whose entire post independence history was shaped due to arbitrary lines drawn on a map by some British dude, naturally this topic was something which resonated with me. The book, as indicated, is quite well written and engaging. Really, it’s no small feat that Mr. Marshall was able to condense the entire centuries long history of entire continents into bite sized chunks and chapters. This does make the content entirel

Red Tithe by Robbie MacNiven My rating: 4 of 5 stars Going into this story after reading about the unique lore of the Carcharodon Astra chapter, I had a lot of expectations. Especially after reading about Tyberos the Red wake, who's a veritable beast, even when compared to your standard space marine. After reading it, those expectations were, may be 70-75% met you could say. The space sharks are a chapter whose founding is shrouded in mystery. A fleet-based chapter, they've been wandering the far fringes of the imperium for the past 10000 years, exiled for reasons unknown. There, they wage a silent never-ending war, against the horrors and threats which hide in the shadows, threatening to consume the Imperium. Based on their age, as well as the parts about them being exiled, my head cannon is that they might be the remnants of the legion belonging to one of the lost primarchs. Whatever the offenses of them or their gene father might be, they were condemned

For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell My rating: 5 of 5 stars Caiphas Cain, Commissar and hero of the Imperium, is basically the 40k version of Tanya Degurechaff from The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 1: Deus lo Vult . if you haven't read that book yet, why haven't you? Go and read that right now. A simple descriptor of that story is a middle-aged man reincarnated as a young girl, becomes a conscripted child soldier in an alternate history pre-WWI era Imperial Prussia, with mages acting like aerial weapons. Where she uses her knowledge of real-world military history, as well as her considerable intellect, to commit war crimes which technically are compliant to the Geneva convention. Intrigued? Go read it. Caiphas Cain is much like Tanya, in the sense that, the last thing he wants to do, is to be in the frontlines fighting a war. Or facing down heretics, Xenos or chaos. Unfortunately for him, he happened to be form in the world of 40k, where according to

Death World by Steve Lyons My rating: 4 of 5 stars Imagine a group of soldiers, facing the predator. Now imagine, that every person in that group, is an 80s action movie protagonist, dripping with manliness, swag and regularly give one another, epic handshake like Dutch and Dillon from predator. Now Imagine, instead of a single predator, it's a planet full of predators. Now Imagine, if the entire fracking planet is the predator, and is trying to deal with these pesky creatures on it, like you would deal with mosquitoes irritating your skin. That would give you a near idea as to what you can expect from the novel Death World, by Steve Lyons. If features a mission embarked upon by the legendary members of the Catachan Jungle fighters. As they come across a planet designated as a 'death world'. In case anyone was wondering what that designation meant, it's quite literal and mentioned at the beginning. A little context on these guys. Thes

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga My rating: 3 of 5 stars News outlets keep telling us how, despite the great leaps made by science and technology, despite globalization and relative global peace, in our current world, wealth disparity is at its worst. Where, on one end we see billionaires (and unreported oil trillionaires) whose total assets exceed the GDP of small and some medium sized nations. Ones who can afford to purchase ludicrously exorbitant eccentricities, have entire private nation states under their command, can control the economies of the world and remake it according to their (often naive) whims. And when the end of civilization becomes apparent, the only ones will be fully stocked and furnished bunkers and lifeboats, all ready to create a new dystopian post-apocalyptic new world order. Think 2012, but with less CGI and a lot more suffering. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who work 3 or more jobs, jumping through hoop

Gyo by Junji Ito My rating: 5 of 5 stars Warning: This story contains mature, graphic body horror; Not for snowflakes. Reader discretion required. A man going out on a swim, encounters a mysterious fish. When he returns to land, he finds that the fish has followed him home; one its four legs. Yes, the fish has legs and is walking on land. Jaws, stand aside. Believe me when I say, this is the least horrifying thing one would be subjected to, when reading Ito Junji's Gyo. Even though this is par for course, for those who've Connosseur'd the horror maestro's previous works, such as Uzumaki or Tomie . But Ito Sensei seems to have taken the gross horror to a new plane. Now it seems we should not only be afraid of that which lurks in the shadows; but also, those that dwell in the depths. If H.P. Lovecraft, one of the mangaka's inspirations in horror, were to somehow get a copy of this book in the afterlife, he would be r

Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin, Volume 1 by Fehu Kazuno My rating: 4 of 5 stars If civilization (the game), has a few Starcraft Zerg spawns, and they're led by the Lich King Arthas from Warcraft. That is a good definition of the tonality that one might expect when reading the story. I found a lot of parallels between Mynoghra and Overlord, in terms of the socially inept protagonist, surrounded by a bevy of overtly loyal, overpowered subordinates. As well as the occasional flashes of darkness that they display. To us, who are privy to the thoughts of our characters, they're just a ragtag group trying to survive and thrive. But to those who are unfortunate enough to end up on the opposite side as them, you'd imagine they represent the Cthulhu cultists, with their patron God in tow. Amidst all the city building, fighting and planning, there is a subtle thread of something dark and sinister, a

Batman: Justice Buster, Vol. 1 by Eiichi Shimizu My rating: 4 of 5 stars This title has been something I've been putting off for a while now; mostly because I wasn't sure what to expect, in a Manga version of Batman. Once I started reading though, it was pleasantly better than I'd expected. After the first 3 chapters, I began to even wonder why it took so long to get this crossover of the Batman mythos with the black and white manga aesthetic. Which fits the mysterious gothic dark and gritty atmosphere of Gotham like a Bat glove. The characters and their body language, especially their facial expressions would remind you of the mystery investigative manga stories, like 鴨乃橋ロンの禁断推理 Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri , which also I'm thinking to resuming after this. It introduces the readers to the world of Gotham & Batman, presupposing that you have a generic familiarity with the mythos. It follows the canon at many places, but at tim

ഉദകപ്പോള | Udakappola by P. Padmarajan My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are a few multi-talented personalities in the long, storied history of Indian arts and literature. One who has made their mark on several fields to varying acclaim, is the celebrated and adored versatile Indian auteur Satyajit Ray. A prodigious artist, who has made his mark not only in films, but writing and other fields, venturing into the then niche genres such as sci-fi with an Indian sensibility, as early as the 1960s. An artist who worked along the same path as Ray, in the southern regional sphere, is the often underrated, but now adored Malayalam filmmaker P. Padmarajan; or പപ്പേട്ടൻ as those in the state adoringly called him. Someone who’s thoughts, visions and cinematic sensibilities, often traveled ahead of his times. Which might be a major reason why, during his own lifetime, he gained little recognition for his work. The people he worked with, as well as like minded coll

後遺症ラジオ 1 [Kouishou Radio 1] by Masaaki Nakayama My rating: 4 of 5 stars PTSD Radio, a horror manga where the circumstances surrounding its publication is arguably more interesting than the story itself. Not to mean that the story itself is necessarily bad. It doesn’t so much as scare you, as it creeps you out, with its eerie atmosphere, mysterious happenings, and a narrative which unfolds in piecemeal. Oftentimes, stories which began in one chapter are left unfinished, until another segment is added to its plot somewhere down the line, leaving you with crumbs which you have to assemble and make sense of. Also, in line with the title, the chapters, and oftentimes themes of the story are notated with references to radio frequencies. As the older generations who used the old analog type radio are sure to remember, much like how stations at different frequencies go in and out of focus as you tune the device, just so we see every day glimpses of the insid