The very first Space Marine Battles novel, published back in 2010, Steve Parker’s Rynn’s World kicked the series off in style with an action-packed story of Crimson Fists battling a vast ork invasion. Despite the apparent folly of attacking a Space Marine home world, the Arch-Arsonist Snagrod’s unusual tactics surprise the Crimson Fists, resulting in huge numbers of orks landing onto Rynn’s World. When a million-to-one accident sees the Fists’ ancient and treasured fortress-monastery destroyed and the majority of their warriors slain, a determined defence turns into a desperate fight for the survival of the Chapter itself.
It’s an interesting choice to tackle a Second Founding Chapter rather than one of the bigger names for the first instalment of this series, but then as the Crimson Fists background goes this is one of the biggest moments. Parker gives himself plenty to cover, from a disastrous early attempt to head off the growing Waaagh! to multiple threads once the invasion is in full swing, but he keeps it tightly focused with a range of interesting characters but always returning to two main figures – the Crimson Fists’ Chapter Master Pedro Kantor and the famed Fourth Captain Alessio Cortez. There’s a satisfying sense of contrast and conflict between the cautious, strategic Kantor and the bullish, aggressive Cortez, as the stress of dealing with such traumatic events takes its toll on their long-held friendship.
That conflict plays out as the few survivors from the fortress-monastery, led by Kantor and Cortez, attempt to regroup with what’s left of the Chapter and potentially strike back against Snagrod. It’s a careful balancing act that sees the Fists deal with a situation almost totally alien to them, and provides fertile grounds for the story – and these characters – to develop. It’s not often we see an entire Chapter under threat like this but Parker does a great job of tackling the subject, helped by quite a long page count (well over 500 pages in paperback) and a deliberately measured pace that gradually ramps up over 200 pages of careful development and world building before the invasion really kicks in and the big action scenes show up. There’s plenty of those, although they’re mostly quite small in scale – not so much massive battles as intense, high-stakes skirmishes, including some excellent one-on-one combat scenes.
It’s not a truly in-depth exploration of the Crimson Fists as a Chapter, as that’s not really the purpose of the book (or this series), but it does take in a little of their ritual and philosophy, and gives them plenty of character. Parker’s judicious use of a few human characters – both within the Chapter and without – results in some interesting questions around how they see their role on Rynn’s World, while the unexpected need to preserve the essence of the Chapter gives Kantor and his brothers some difficult decisions to make as the story progresses. Seeing Space Marines with their backs against the metaphorical wall might not be to everyone’s tastes, but there should be enough here for any 40k fan to enjoy. Come for the brutal action and satisfying plot, but stay for the surprisingly relatable and interesting characters – and chances are you’ll want to read more about the Crimson Fists after this.
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