I really enjoyed Storm of Iron from start to finish. McNeill put time and effort into making this novel NOT bolter-porn as many Space Marine books tend to devolve into. All of his characters felt unique and had their own build up and pay offs. He did a fantastic job of see-sawing the story between each side having their successes on the field and the siege itself was very well communicated. One of my favourite WH40k novels to date for sure. Definitlely worth a read, especially if you're an Imper...

Some overwrought descriptions and fancifully poetic nonsensical adjectives aside, it's a pretty good yarn. The "bad" guys win, heroes improbably survive. Unaugmented normal soldier officer goes toe to toe in a sword duel with the main protagonist, genetically engineered 2.5m tall superwarrior. Yeah that was a bit ...eh, ...okay. But still kinda cool. Good book, mostly fairly well written. The author obviously did some research and tried to make things make sense. Good on him, and good for fans o...

One of the most popular WH40K novels of all time, STORM OF IRON delivers something unique to the now-enormous genre. This is the only book (at least that I am aware of) where the point of view characters include Chaos Space Marines. While every bit as evil and corrupted as you'd expect, the Iron Warriors that star in this book command grudging respect from the reader, as we learn more about the individuals and their personal motivations. Telling this story from the perspective of both sides of t...

2002’s classic Iron Warriors novel Storm of Iron was Graham McNeill’s second Black Library novel, and introduced us to Honsou, a villain who would go on to feature heavily in future books. On the barren world of Hydra Cordatus, the 383rd Jouran Dragoons man the defences of an Adeptus Mechanicus fortress. Nobody seems quite sure exactly what they’re defending, but a massive invasion force of Iron Warriors suggests it’s something important. The Imperial defenders believe themselves safe behind for...

Wanted to dive deeper into some of the WH40K lore in order to accentuate some of the hobbying I was doing during COVID-19 downtime. To start with, I like the overall plot line, and enjoyed some of the details about siege warfare. There are two really major things that stand out to me as flaws I can’t brush off.It does fine convincing you of the unique specialty that the Iron Warriors have, but behind that is generic bad guy organization. 1 really evil chaos demon guy, and then his 3 lieutenants,...

In many ways, if you have read any Warhammer 40k novels, then you have read Storm of Iron. It wasn't bad, so much as mediocre. There is the standard 40k storyline of a Imperial outpost with hidden importance that comes under sudden attack by chaos. The Iron Warriors themselves don't feel terribly unique in the story, nor does the imperial garrison. There are some excellent moments of action in between lulls of acceptable, but not stellar, storytelling. Honestly, unless you are an Iron Warriors n...

HiThis book was my first Warhammer book. I really enjoyed the story and how the author described the different aspects of the universe. He was very good about describing things in a way that made it easy to picture an object or scene even if you aren't overly familiar with the universe. The characters were interesting and compelling and the story was well paced.

I'm a big Graham McNeill fan. His second novel, Storm of Iron is one of his best works, even compared to the later triumphs of his career. This was the novel which introduced Honsou of the IV Legion, one of the most endearing and evil villains to stride the 40k universe. I read Angel Exterminatus - the Horus Heresy prequel, and the sequels in the Ultramarines series before reading this one, so I had a good understanding of what happened. Right and wrong. The advantages of having read Angel Exter...

Iron within, iron without!I can't recall many, if any books really, that have made me sympathetic to the Ruinous Powers. The God-Emperor of Mankind is my copilot, and all that...but, this book did. I will stand alongside now-Warsmith Honsou as he carries out his next campaign against the cursed False Emperor. Chaos is our true salvation!In all seriousness, this is a very well-written, and very well-told story set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, detailing the fall of Hydra Cordatus to the m...

This was my second foray into the Warhammer universe. And this was much bleaker than the 'Gotrek and Felix' books. I'm guessing this is set very far into the future, as flying machines were only just being invented in the 'Gotrek and Felix' books. This book is a battle from start to finish, which made it a slight struggle for me as I find battles really dull. I felt characterization was really lacking here. We didn't really get to know any of them that well and sometimes it was bloody hard to ke...

Awesome book and superb writing. You find yourself rooting for both side in this story with a pace that keeps constant pressure forwards. The book does take short pauses to build characters but you never lose the tension or fall out of step during these parts. Also the story is cohesive from start to finish with your very first character being important from start to finish no matter how big or small. The plot is strong and the rising action is steady to a roaring climax. The book leaves you wan...

The Iron Warrior traitor legion have come to destroy the imperial guard of the 54th juorgan dragoons, and claim the spoils of war.

Would give it a 4.5. On the whole well written and has surprisingly well detailed descriptions trench warfare and siege strategy. Plenty of gore, with a pretty good plot and structure. However sometimes I found myself frowning at certain descriptions and plot points. A little far fetched in areas. To be expected from the author who wrote the Ultramarines omnibus which also suffers from the same issue.

Alrighty... I'm having a really hard time mustering up any interest in this book, and so I'm calling it quits. This was recommended to me by a friend who is really into the game, but it's just not really my thing. I've been told what happens in the second half of the book, and for me, it's not really worth sticking with it. That pretty much sums it up.

The siegecraft depicted in this bloodied tale was among the most interesting aspects of the book, the other three being Honsou's everyday plight of merely existing within the spiteful ranks of the Iron Warriors, the sheer magnitude of the conflict, and the somewhat apprehensive indecisiveness of the siege by which I mean that the course of battle was almost never unquestioned and it could well have gone either way (except, of course, (view spoiler)[during the final push (hide spoiler)]).Hearing

Simply badass... will admit it was heavy in the detail for seigeworks and trench warfare... so it will hit you with a ton of military terminology and lots of descriptive blocks on troop movement and tactics... but then it zooms back into the head of one of the chaos marines and he runs amok slaughtering everything in his path in an orgy of blood.The book is one part academic, one part brutal gorefest, one part destroyed/desperate defenders, and all together badass!.

Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Iron Warriors Chaos space marines, known for their expertise in siegecraft, are laying siege to a fortress on a desolate world (named Hydra Cordatus). The book is an easy to read science fiction action page turner; two particular highlights of the book for me was the siege warfare and the titans. Siege WarfareIf you’re interested in siege warfare this book has some excellent detail on the ‘science’ behind the siegecraft involved (Ravelins, parallels, sap...

Into the BREACH! Only halfway through, but had to mention Pp. 199-203(ish). Honsou, Chaos space marine, charges up a bastion slope, into the breach, and it’s just about the most hilarious action scene I’ve ever read, on account of McNeill’s seemingly oblivious overuse of the word ‘breach.’ He must use that one word at least 50 times in about 4 or 5 pages. It’s actually unreal how funny this is, and from McNeill too, who’s proven himself as a competent enough writer to my mind. The rest of the bo...

DNF. I got (according to Kindle) exactly halfway through before getting sick of the fact that the CSM kept winning not so much through superior strategy, tactics, or skill as through a dubiously plausible chain of unforced errors from the Imperial defenders. The premise of the Iron Warriors, Chaos's finest siege troops, showing off what they can do vs determined and deeply entrenched Imperial defenders had so much promise. But instead it plays out like the Iron Warriors vs the Keystone Kops, and...

Great book offering a different perspective in the 40k universe.