[I am just starting in the whole 'review writing' thing. More of my reviews can be found at www.mjryder.net]
Mention the word Warhammer to any ‘normal' person and the image that forms in their mind will typically involve sweaty, spotty, nerdy teenagers with no social skills and little in the way of personality. Unfortunately, as with all prejudices, the image many people would associate with Warhammer is founded to a large degree upon ignorance. The truth of the matter is of course that as a universe both the fantasy Warhammer, and sci-fi Warhammer 40,000 universes are perhaps two of the best realised, detailed universes in existence today, and dare I say it, far more interesting and involved than anything offered to the masses by the likes of the money-spinning Star Wars franchise .
For anyone new to the grim, dark far future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this latest offering from Steve Parker, Gunheads is a good, solid read from the Games-Workshop publishing wing, the Black Library and is perhaps one of the best science-fiction/futuristic warfare novels I've read in quite a while.
Sold as ‘An Imperial Guard Novel' Gunheads is part of a wider collection of works from the Black Library detailing different regiments of the Imperial Guard - or to the non-Warhammer savvy out there: the humans. If the title alone isn't suggestive of this novel's main focus then the front cover is the big give away - this book is all about tanks. Lots and lots of tanks.
Set on the alien world of Golgoltha, Gunheads for the most part follows the 81st Cadian Armoured Regiment as it is sent as part of a larger Imperial task-force to the world of Golgoltha in the Armageddon system to locate and retrieve the ‘Fortress of Arrogance', a battle tank that belonged to the legendary Commissar Yarrick.
Those of you familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe of course will recognise the familiar name of Commissar Yarrick as the hero of Hades Hive and the wars on Armageddon against the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. While this novel may make the odd reference to the war on Armageddon and the wider picture in the battle for Armageddon, those unfamiliar or indeed new to the Warhammer 40,000 universe have little to worry about as far as actual background goes. Gunheads tells you as little as you need to know in order to understand the main thread of the plot, and then does what Black Library publications always do very well: it throws you straight into the action and puts your at once in the midst of the blood-soaked action.
What perhaps makes Gunheads stand out above a good number of Warhammer novels I've read in the last few years is that Steve Parker actually seems to know what he's talking about as far as the universe goes. A big fault in the Black Library's publishing policy of late has been the fact that many of the authors they employ to write novels for them really don't seem to understand the material they are using. Sure sometimes these new authors create the odd good scene, but reading a novel by someone who isn't able to actively engage with the universe or indeed create a gripping plot really is like watching a very bad music tribute act - it just isn't the same.
It is testament indeed to Steve Parker's Gunheads that his work is able to stand up when held in comparison with many of the Black Library's ‘big hitters' such as Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill and William King. Sure, Gunheads isn't exactly groundbreaking, nor indeed anything radically new or different, but what it does, it does well and as a ‘nuts and bolts' futuristic war novel it is a storming good read.
Gender:
Points: 300
Reviews: 0