Dark Imperium: Dark Imperium: Warhammer 40,000, Book 1

Guy Haley brings characters to life through dialogue. I genuinely feel as though I can look into the perspective of the character while reading.

I appreciate this book as it really let me know what was goin in the minds of some of the most legendary characters in the Warhammer 40k series. There was cool past information brought up that really connected some dots for me why some characters are how they are and the nightmares they faced to be the nightmares they became. The coolest part in my opinion wasn't listening to the thoughts of RObot Gilly-mans as much as it was finding out more about the origins and machinations of the Primaris marines, which undoubtedly will lead the lore in the future.I recommend the audiobook edition as well, the narrator was great as capturing the mood of the scenes better than my already creative minds eye could have done.

I really enjoyed this 40k novel. I feel the best part of this book was how it's moving the 40k universe into a new direction. Gives the reader a sense of purpose for the universe.

Loved that it was a familiar, yet different on a 40k novel.

This was an OK book. The prose was pretty strong and I thought that the author did a fair job of presenting the backdrop and leading in to the revival of the primarch. That being said, there were a lot of details left out (perhaps intentionally by GW?).The bar for writing about the return of a loyalist primarch is astronomically high in a universe of novels that has known nothing but the Imperium struggling alone to fend off Chaos for ten millennia. Sadly, this book falls short of capturing the grandeur of such an event and I couldn't help but feel disappointed.It was good enough to make me look forward to the next installment, however. In order to legitimize the new primarch, I really think they will need to allow him to kill one of the Chaos primarchs.P.S. The primaris space marines are a cheap novelty and I hated their introduction.

Not much to say, it’s a solid start to a trilogy and brings more food for thought.

I have read a lot of 40k and HH novels and this one was an absolute pleasure. Guy Haley had upon him the task of characterising a demigod legend and he managed to make him look so godlike and also so human. Bravo.

I loved it all. It was a great Warhammer 40K book and one to start a great series. Guilliman was amazing and so were the side characters. Though I thought it would tell of his revival I am very pleased we get to see the beginning of the Plague War.

It puts on a page that he came back from the dead, was not pleased of what happened to the Empire, that he communicated with his father, that another black crusade happened, that a rift tore the galaxy apart, etc etc. You are like "wow what how more information please" and then the next few pages detail a quarantine protocol of how shuttles are cleaned for the next few pages.Wtf.The writing is mediocre robbing the 40k universe of much of it's coolness factor. Little plot and story. Reads like a bad computer game.Do yourself a favour and read a summary instead of buying this.

The subject matter should be interesting, unfortunately there is a lack of character development, inconsistent pacing, and there are few satisfying payoffs. The battle scenes are well-written in terms of description and strategic logic, but without the weight of characters to care about, or a grounding in a well-explained campaign, they lack tension. In some parts the story reads like a list of things that just sort of happen to various loosely connected characters. We get surface level character thoughts and emotions described, but with little authenticity or grounding in a nuanced explanation of their specific situation.At one point the author dedicates a full five pages to describing the strict quarantine procedures on a hospital world, but doesn't ever explain how demonically possessed men weren't caught by that same system. It was like the author had added his reference notes to the book in order to pad the word count.Another annoyance was the naming of political characters with endless titles, who had absoloutely no bearing on the plot. So much time is spent in meetings and briefings with high-profile movers and shakers, and yet nothing ever happens. No-one ever does anything remotely conniving or treacherous. No-one makes a power play or does something clever. A brief argument with a couple of governors, and Calgar feeling a bit useless is all we get. The roster of rulers is just included as filler and set dressing to emphasise how important Guilliman is, but that could have been done with far fewer words.*spoilers ahead*One of the most jarring moments was when one of the more promising characters just dies suddenly in the middle of the book. No real setup, no real purpose. A handful of random soldiers who were infected in battle wander into a swamp, randomly die, and this somehow summons an army from the warp. How? No idea, never explained. And that character we've been following for half the book? Never mentioned again, a completely pointless thread that was just loosely explored to either hit the wordcount, or shakily justify an army appearing from nowhere. And the army? Nope we don't get to see that actually engage in combat, that all happens "off-screen" and we're told third-hand the planet they appeared on has fallen. So we get a random guy who dies, summoning a random army that doesn't get shown again. And save a few interesting scenes it doesn't get much better from there.The first half was enjoyable but a lot of that was from the promise of later payoffs, or "mystery boxes". However the second half fails to deliver on any of these setups and so falls completely flat. Taken as a whole, not a great reading experience.

Never before has such an interesting idea been rendered so boring.One of the primarchs is back, and he plans on defeating the powers of chaos by appearing in a dirge of a novel.There are no characters here, there is just a list of things which have happened. There is no drive or intrigue, just chapter after chapter of dire exposition that ultimately goes nowhere.Avoid like the plague.

I like Guy Haley as a 40k writer and this book is well written as usual. BUT its really slow. The main construct of RG being unsure the emperor is a God gets pretty tortured and we dont really get any depth on other characters. Not a lot happened and you get the sense that the series is going to be pretty constrained by what the author can or cant do to the main characters. Afraid there are better black library books out there

Never thought I'd read anything worse than the twilight saga, but this is it. This and twilight are the only books I've started and never finished due to their awfulness. I couldn't have cared less or been less interested in any of the characters. The narrative was disjointed and difficult to follow. The book was a massive disappointment due to the characters involved, and I was shocked that the author managed to make this totally boring and uninteresting. To make it worse, I bought the sequel. Don't waste your time or money. Awful introduction to the next phase of Warhammer universe, and has put me off Haley and Primate Marines.