Robbie MacNiven returns to the characters introduced in his short story A Brother’s Confession with the novel Blood of Iax, a Dark Imperium-era Ultramarines story featuring a Primaris-only strike force. Blood brothers Kastor and Polixis – Chaplain and Apothecary respectively – are part of Strike Force Fulminata, and are taking the fight to the invading orks on Ikara IX when the tide turns and Imperial forces hurriedly go on the defensive. The arrival of ork warlord Urgork changes everything, especially as his objectives go beyond simply finding the biggest scrap possible – the canny Urgork has a plan, and it involves Polixis.
While the focus is primarily on Kastor and Polixis, the story actually covers a range of perspectives. Each chapter rotates through various characters’ viewpoints, with sections shown through the eyes of other Ultramarines within the Fulminata, a Guard Lieutenant and even a handful of orks. It’s a good choice to structure things this way, with the ork sections a particular highlight as MacNiven injects some welcome levity with a perfectly balanced depiction of Urgork and his boys which manages to be both darkly funny and genuinely menacing. While they’re not the main draw, these alternative perspectives are interesting in their own right, both ork and Imperial, and it’s hard not to wish for more detail of both the orks and the assorted Guard regiments MacNiven populates the story with.
Of course the brothers get the most page time, as MacNiven explores their roles within the Chapter, their shared history, their differences and similarities, and the way those change over the course of the story. Of the two Kastor is the more familiar and predicatble, driven by fire and fury and liable to rush ahead and think later, while Polixis is calmer, more pragmatic and less emotional. He’s the more nuanced character with his role as Apothecary examined in some detail, both the gory, (largely) dispassionate specifics on the battlefield and its importance within the Chapter. While the Ultramarines’ dialogue as a whole is a little stilted and overly formal, overall the two brothers make for engaging protagonists with a nice combined arc across the whole story, and there’s sufficient variety within the Fulminata to tie everything together.
In fact there’s lots to enjoy here in terms of the way in which a Primaris-only force is organised and operates. The small contingent of Reivers are particularly interesting, from the effectiveness of their terror tactics to the way other Ultramarines view them, while there’s even a hint of Uriel Ventris in one character’s break with the Codex and subsequent reprimand. There’s a sense that MacNiven wanted the Primaris to feel like a genuinely workable military force, and likewise the ongoing campaign to feel as realistic as possible (bearing in mind the super soldiers and alien beasts), and overall it’s mission accomplished, even if there’s still a fair bit of mentionitis for new Primaris terminology.
While it’s not the most complex of plots, the relationship between Kastor and Polixis and the way it’s tested by Urgork’s mad plan is entertaining enough to keep things interesting and engaging, while the multiple viewpoints help by adding context and variation. Although things arguably start off a little slowly, with a large part of the book given over to the setup before things really kick into gear, the varied perspectives ensure that the momentum is maintained, and the final third is action-packed and great fun. The orks are a welcome bonus in what’s ostensibly an Ultramarines novel, and as a whole it’s a solid, entertaining story.
