Issue thirteen of the Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection takes us back to 2002 for Graham McNeill’s much-loved Iron Warriors novel Storm of Iron. One of Graham’s earliest Black Library novels – alongside Nightbringer, which was also released in 2002 – this tells the story of the Iron Warriors’ invasion of Hydra Cordatus, and introduces a certain Iron Warrior named Honsou who went on to have a rather important career and feature heavily in a number of his other novels. It’s still widely considered a genuine classic Black Library novel, over fifteen years after publication; at the time of writing this article it rates at an impressive 4.12 on Goodreads.
It’s been a LONG time since I last read Storm of Iron, but keep an eye out for a review coming pretty soon [EDIT: here’s that review!]. What comes to mind when I think about it, however, is how far ahead of its time this was in terms of putting Chaos characters absolutely front and centre. Remember, this was a few years before the Horus Heresy series started, eight years or so before Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Soul Hunter tackled the Night Lords, and well over ten years before we started seeing series focusing on famous Chaos characters like Ahriman and Abaddon. Ben Counter’s Daemon World came out in 2003, but between 2003 and 2010 I can’t think of many other Chaos-focused 40k novels.
So it was ahead of its time, and has also managed to stand the test of time remarkably well. How does it work in context of this collection, though? Well…I’d say pretty damn well. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it’s an essential inclusion, and fully warrants coming in at this relatively early juncture in the series. When I looked at Architect of Fate I wondered if maybe my initial thoughts on the series’ objectives – introducing factions and tackling seminal books/events/depictions – was maybe a bit limiting, and needed to be expanded. When it comes to Storm of Iron, I don’t think so; I would say this book fits into both of those objectives nicely.
Ok, so it’s not exactly an introduction to Chaos as a faction. In the majority of the books included in the series so far, Chaos has been there as the big bad looming over the stories, so it’s not like new readers really need an introduction as such. That being said, this is the first of the 40k-era books to include Chaos-aligned viewpoint characters, and you could argue that characters in the Heresy-era books aren’t at the full Chaos stage yet (even in The First Heretic). There’s also an interesting aspect here of showing what sets the Iron Warriors apart from other Chaos Space Marines, with the siege element of the plot allowing McNeill to contrast Forrix and Honsou’s rigid discipline with the bloodthirsty Kroeger, who feels more like the ‘standard’ Chaos Marine depiction from that era.
While McNeill’s depiction of the Iron Warriors is perhaps a touch misaligned when viewed through the lens of having read the Heresy series and things like the Black Legion books, it’s still fascinating to read something this dark and get a glimpse of these characters’ motivations. Even if this hadn’t been the first Chaos-focused book in the series, it would be well worth the inclusion simply for the chance to spend this much time with Iron Warriors as (sort of) protagonists.
Seeing through the eyes of Honsou, Kroeger and Forrix is something new for this collection, that’s for sure. On the one hand it’s hard to really root for characters who are this brutal and genuinely awful, but then on the other hand there’s enough conflict between the three of them to provide plenty of interest and encourage a modicum of empathy. Honsou’s half-breed nature instantly sets him apart as the more sympathetic of the three, and it’s testament to McNeill’s handling of his character that after this book he went on to play such an important part in the Uriel Ventris series.
Honsou in later life (credit: Neil Roberts)
It’s been interesting writing this article, because it’s got me thinking about this book in a way I hadn’t really done for a long time. It can be easy to look back on some of the earlier Black Library novels with a sort of rose-tinted fondness, even while (perhaps rather patronisingly) lumping them together as a bit old fashioned and ‘of their time’. Storm of Iron is definitely one of these early books that shouldn’t be dismissed as not really relevant any more; there are plenty of little details which don’t quite fit with the current IP, but they don’t take away from a damn fine book. If you haven’t already read this, it’s absolutely worth checking out – and it makes a great inclusion in this collection.
I think I’ve talked about the design elements of these hardbacks more than enough over the previous dozen articles, so all I’ll say here is that this is of the same standard, with another cover (from the 2008 edition, not the original) that works really well under the black and white treatment. This one has number 64 on the spine, if you’re keeping track of such things.
I do want to mention, however, that there really haven’t been many editions of Storm of Iron over the years, which means it’s probably been quite a tricky book to get hold of in physical format. Having an impressive (and genuinely good value) hardback like this is an excellent option for anyone who either hasn’t read this or who is after a physical copy to go along with an ebook. Perhaps that should be another one of the series’ objectives, at least for some books – to simply get old, out of print classics back in some sort of circulation.
Click here for the main Warhammer 40,000 Legends Collection page.